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No-Name MP3 Player Woes

Modeps

Modeps

Lifer
For Christmas this past year, I mentioned to my dad that I wouldnt mind getting an MP3 player (specifically an iPod). I have a MP3 CD player in my car, but try as I might, I would get bored quick with them.

My pop is a bargain shopper, so when he came across the 30gb PoGo Ripdrive, it seems almost too good to be true. Voice Recorder, FM Tuner, Recordable Radio, basically a portable USB hard drive and nice sized at only $200. Reviews are fairly good so I said go for it.

I was very happy at first. Interface was great, performance was quite good... but then the troubles started. I used it mostly at work while sitting at my desk and didnt notice any real issues. When leaving for work a few times, I noticed that it was shut off... I thought I had absent-mindedly just shut it off, but it kept happening. Basically any time I would put it in my jacket pocket and walk with it, it would crash after a few seconds. I thought maybe it was shorting against something metal in my pocket, but there was nothing in there.... then I figured that I wasnt locking the buttons so that was shutting it off... Nope, that didnt help either. It was about this time I noticed that every now and again the hard drive would click.

I contacted their tech support, and they told me to install the new firmware that wasnt released on their website. Honestly, I had little hope for this because it was clearly, to me anyways, a hardware issue.. not a software issue. Sure enough my problems continued... Crashing whenever walking with it. Contacted tech support again, they told me the same thing, reinstall firmware (in a canned email response, same that I got the first time).

So, I called them up, got some joker who informed me to install the firmware. I told him I did a few times, and he was like, OK then email us again and we'll give you an RMA number. Finally.

At this point, their refund of the full cost policy had lapsed. Replacement, or I'm screwed.

I sent it in, didnt hear word one for 3 weeks even after several emails trying to find out what was up, then finally recieve a package from them in the mail. It's a Ripdrive, no note, packing slip, anything at all... Just a ripdrive wrapped in bubble wrap. I deduce that it's a 'brand new' one (or at least refurbished).

I plug it in, throw some music on it and find that it no longer crashes when I'm walking with it. Groovy, finally a working MP3 player. I load it up, figure out how to basically throw my iTunes library files on it so now I've got a portable library of MP3s. I'm more than happy again.

I get roughy 2-3 weeks good use out of it at work... This brings me to today. I disconnect the drive from the USB cable at work, I bring it to my car, jack it into my aux plug and turn it back on (it shuts off after being disconnected from the usb cable). I feel the Ripdrive vibrating strangely... Great and the hard drive makes a strange noise. The bootup process takes roughly 10 minutes (usually takes about a minute) and I'm greeted with a list of 3 folders of mp3s... (3 CDs worth of music). Thinking it may be a fluke, I shut it off and restarted it... same 10 minute boot.

At that point, I wanted to throw the thing out my car window and just say screw it. But I brought it home, plugged it into my computer and all the MP3s are there. Good (they're backed up on the computer anyways, but at least it didnt kill them all). Unhooked it, tried the boot again, same 10 minute boot, same vibrations, same end result. Hooked it back up, ran scandisk on it to no avail.


Cliff Notes:
- Dad bought budget MP3 player that seemed too good to be true
- Problems Started after full refund period ended
- Sent back, replacement received 3 weeks later
- Got 3 more weeks of good use out of it, started screwing up again
- Want to throw it out the window
- It was too good to be true

🙁
 
and to think a 20gb player was available for around $180 shipped from a reputable company(rio), with minimum problems(1% hdd failure rate reported, stranger's internet reviews arent as trustworthy as you think). ill post my ninja black modded karma pics sometime. dead sexy with $8 of paint i tell ya.
 
I just emailed the company asking for a refund. I cant wait when they tell me no because it's past the 30 day return period.

Also, I re-read the Ripdrive description page, and found that the section that stated "click here to purchase" has been replaced with the text "The Ripdrive is no longer available"
 
If anyone cares about the progress: Yep, they claim they can only offer warranty service now because I've had it for 4 months. I wrote them a nasty email and will be giving them poor reviews around the web, starting here!

I still love that it failed after about the same time each time. That, to me anyways, shows that there is definately a flaw with the product, and the fact they no longer offer it for sale leads me to believe they knew about the issues and decided to cut their losses, sort-of-speak.

Anyone recommend me a similar player? 30gb for $200 - $300 dollars? I noticed the iPod Photo 30gb is at $350, I may want to pick that up... at least I'll know it's going to work for more than a month.
 
Yes, spending $200 on a toy is being cheap. You got it jackass. Not to mention it was a gift. Try reading the original post before you write useless and inflamatory comments.
 
Guess it's RMA/Ebay time. I also got a noname brand mp3 player Archos 20 gig recorder. It's been almost 2 years and it still works. *knockon wood* Just write the nasty review on the review boards to let others know the crappy quality of this product.
 
No-name doesnt always equal bad, however it helps to check the parentage of the no-name company.....meaning see if its listed as being owned by someone like Sony or Panasonic etc.....a lot of big name companies start up divisions selling small cheap products, quite often using the same materials....

however some no-name companies can be just that, total cheap bullcrap that barely works....lol

im normally happier to stick to big name and pay the little bit extra (ie Creative or Apple in respect to MP3 players, or Denon & Yamaha for home cinema kit etc, not Sony tho, that is just waaaay to overpriced for its quality)
 
Anon, Archos isnt TOO much of a no-name... I've at least heard of them before. 😉

It costs about 7 bucks to RMA this player and I gotta pay that out of pocket because of their shoddy product. I dont like that.
 
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