Mpio HD200 5GB mp3 player. We specialise in selling mpio players, unlike the larger online retailers, we can offer after sales service and advice. Previous mpio customer comment "The MPIO player arrived this morning. Excellent item and a top class speedy service from you. It's a shame all retailers aren't as efficient." Neil York, Barnsley.
MPIO is the company that created the extremly popular MPIO FL100, much praised for those in the know.
Their reputation looks to be re-ignited with the introduction the 5GB mp3 player. However apart from delivering great sound and storage of an extra 5 GB, it includes
other features like voice recording, radio and direct mp3 encoder. That makes it the most feature packed mini HD player on the market. Also it plays other file formats like
mp3, wmv, Ogg and asf.
With 5GB of storage it can hold around 1460 mp3 tracks of 3.5MB in size. Roughly 120 Albums, a sizable collection.
This is the first Hard Drive player available in the UK which allows you to drop and drag files to the player without the need for the manufacturers software, as the drive is displayed as an F: drive on your computer. This will please many users who also want to use it as mass storage device for other files. Also many users prefer to transfer their files in this way. You can also sync the player with an mpio software utility which will identify the artist, album and track.
You can search music on the player in number of ways -> All Songs, Artist, Album, Genre and Title. The toggle control on the side will be familiar to those that have used mpio and wewa mp3 players. You can scroll through the functions and with a 8 line LCD it gives much more viewing space, the menu's include graphics next to the writing. Next to the toggle control is the repeat and play buttons. The volume control is conveniently located on the top side of the player.
MPIO seemed to have concentrated on developing the sonics of this player. It has the best sound of any player I've tried and is definitely better than that of the ipod. Apart from the standard EQ settings of Classic, Rock, Jazz and manual 5 band graphic EQ, it also has some more interesting settings. The 'TruBass' setting as it's name suggests brings a fuller bass sound to the music, with lower frequency. Also the 'SRS' setting (sound retrival system) brings a 3-D sound effects which tend to brighten the sound up and make it more immediate. The 'WOW' is a combination of the two and it's possible to adjust the perceived sound to small headphones / large headphones or small speaker/ large speaker.
The hd200 allows direct mp3 encoding from a line-in source such as a CD player or tape deck. It's possible to adjust the encoding quality from 64kbps to 192kbps.
Another useful feature is the Voice recorder, which records via a small microphone situated on the front of the player. You can also record the radio broadcasts with this feature.
A number of other settings can be adjusted including: LCD Contrast, Auto switch off time, speed of tracks playing, Auto EQ for certain tracks and Lyrics
In Many ways the MPIO HD200 is a natural progression from the mpio FL100 giving more storage almost 60 times as much storage as a standard mpio fl100 128mb player, newer sound settings and more flexibility via direct encoding.
If the sound quality is your priority and you like the idea of the additional functions like radio and direct encoding then the mpio hd200 is hard to beat.
Review by ajbaerg From Calgary, 16th Feb 2005Full review
Good Points:
Fast file transfer, Great sound, Long battery life, OGG support, good looks for not coming from apple.
Bad Points:
Poor documentation, lack of customer support.
General Comments:
I bought this MPIO HD200 player hoping that it would work seemlessly with my Linux box. For the most part it does except that in order to use the music browsing capabilities, you need to run a windows only utility program.
I tried to contact Mpio about this issue and the only contact info I could find was their webmaster's email address. This of course got me nowhere.
Other than that, this is a sweet player. Perfect size, great sound quality, battery life, and user interface. I like the scroll button on the side much better than the ipod touch pad.
Cnet 04/03/2005
Good Points:
Good user interface
Speedy transfer speeds
Good sound enhancement features
Bad Points:
Poor battery life for a microdrive
Chunky playback controls
Customer Comment:
Good sound, good interface.
Just bought it, battery charge duration is poor. But the rest is perfect, little glitch sometime but not abnormal to any other brands.
Intomusic customer feedback - Clive from Rugby 15/3/05
I have tried a transfer from audio cassette to MPIO Line In. It worked fantastically well. I plugged the stereo cassette deck output into the MPIO Line In and there appears to be a perfect match. I left it running and now have a Genesis concert from a Radio 1 broadcast in 1987 'Live at Wembley'. I now have to transfer two Genesis from 1992 at both Knebworth and the Royal Albert Hall; also a couple of anonymous Genesis Old Grey Whistle Test; Phil Collins in both Berlin and Earls Court; an even older Genesis Live somewhere and one labelled 'Pink Floyd Live' which will also be from the same era.
Customer Review by Ruffas - Epinions.com Sept 04
Pros: Loads of features, great battery performance, multi codec support.
Cons: None, that I can think of.
Forget the iPod Mini, and get the HD200. 5GB of storage, makes it the largest of the small HDD players! Does that make sense? Sure it does. Ok so it doesn't support iTunes, but if you don't use iTunes then this is the pocket HDD player for you. 5GB means that you can easily store 2000 songs in WMA (96kbps). That's double the iPod Mini for only 1GB more, due to the better superior WMA compression over MP3. Add an FM radio, Direct recording input, voice recording, DRM and download support (Napster, OD2), plus the ability to use as a portable storage drive and the HD200 from MPIO is a no brainer alternative to the iPod Mini.. Did I mention that it also has double the battery life of an iPod Mini?
Trusted Reviews Feb 2005
They had some good things to say about this player -
"The HD200 can play MP3, WMA, OGG and ASF files, which is quite an impressive range. For anyone that's concerned with sound quality, the OGG support will be an attractive feature. We tried playing tracks encoded at different bit rates, with some encoded at variable bit rate and the HD200 had no problem playing them all back"
"The sound quality very impressive, the HD200 supports SRS 3D sound as well as SRS WOW which adds a very rich bass sound. There is a wide range of preset equalizer settings as well as a manual option. At £159.95 it is one of the cheapest 5GB hard drive players you can buy"
"The mpio HD200 can playback an impressive range of music formats and it's cheaper than its competitors, if you're really strapped for cash, or desperately need OGG support it might be worth considering."
Big display
8 Line LCD 128 x 128
Graphic EQ !
7 type EQ mode (Flat, Pop, Rock, Jazz, Classic, Vocal, Dynamic Bass) and 5 band user EQ setting mode are provided.
FM and Voice Recording function
An FM radio and Microphone is embedded in the fd200. In addition to voice recording through an embedded microphone, it supports FM radio recording.
Supports Multi Format !
Plays MP3,WMA,OGG and ASF files.
Direct Encoding
MP3 encoding via line in
Internal memory
5GB enough storage for around 1280 songs of 4MB each
14 hours Replay
Long replay times are a trademark of Digitalway. 14 hours can be replayed with rechargeable battery
USB
Can be used to store other files
What's included
Player, Headphones, Line-In lead, Software, Manual, ThinkFreeOffice, AC power supply with adaptor.
