Home > Consumer Reviews > InnoGear MiniJam 32MB Plus MP3 Player Springboard Module (Graphite) (Now with an extra 32MB)

I tried this thing out for two weeks.
4 weak points:

1. It takes soo long to transfer music to it.
30 minutes per 1 hour of music. This is a drain on the batteries and your time.

2.It's buggy. It Hard-Reset (losing everything on my handspring) my Handspring twice, the thing soft-resets my Handspring soo often, either by taking it out of the springboard slot before it's good and ready, or it just freezes. The User-interface could be much better.

3.It sucks batteries like you won't believe.
It suggests you get special "NiMH" batteries that are $$$ for two, plus you have to get a recharger, so that it can play longer. Using normal Alkaline batteries, you need to stop listening every bit of time so the batteries don't kill too fast. Otherwise it'll die without warning.

4. Serious design compromises. Not being able to put the cover back on the handspring sucks. Also, it really adds to the size and weight of the Handspring.

There is one minor element: Compact Flash cards are still very expensive, although the price will down with time.

I just got a MiniJam and attached it to my old handheld (Prism) for workouts at the gym. When I got the new Treo, my Prism threatened to become excess. Repurposing it for entertainment seemed to be the thing to do.

Intuitive Operation / Reasonable Setup
This is only the second Springboard module that I have used (Eyemodule was the first). I was pleased to find that MiniJam works intuitively. I am typically put off by set up procedures involving disks and devices, but it was painless. I would have been less daunted by set up if the instructions were printed as a simple 1, 2, 3 on the outside of the box instead of the junky graphics. The unit is a lot less junky than the pictures on the packaging seems to indicate. Once it was set up, it couldn't be easier to use. It is intuitive, taking advantage of the familiar icons of traditional products like a cassette tape player and (browser-style)juke box.

Function in the Gym Environment
OK, I wouldn't say that the earphones would never fall out; running on the treadmill would require a different listening apparatus. For my workouts, though, the MiniJam worked great. I am substituting it for a Walkman tape player, so the key benefits were being able to switch to songs that I felt like hearing without winding and longer battery life -- no more droning tape. The drawbacks were losing the earphones once during weightlifting and initially getting the Prism situated on me so that I didn't inadvertently bump the buttons.

Key Observation
When I got my first handheld, I didn't feel compelled to use module expansion. However, it's amazing how when I have two of them the primary one does all the calendaring and traditional functions and -- with the Springboard platform -- the second one gets used more as I imagine Handspring had intended: sort of a Swiss Army Knife of electronic products. I would have still kept the Prism for playing games (any Wordlet enthusiasts?), but it has a lot more life left in it than that.

I recommend the MiniJam. It's just what you'd expect your Springboard MP3 player to be.

To sum it up: it's not a bad little player, just disappointing in almost every way! Get yourself a stand alone module with more memory.

I'm returning my InnoGear module. What a disappointment. I listened to music for about 10 minutes and wiped out almost a third of my battery. The file transfer can only access the 2 MB section of the module, not the removable (and expensive!) media. Data transfer is slow and I'd recommend no less that 128 MB storage for reasonable listening. I had planned to keep this module in all the time but when it is in you can't put on the protective cover. The photos in the photo album are awful on my b/w screen-- not worth the time it takes to load them.

It simply doesn't live up to the hype.

This module can handle two 512MB MMC, totalling 1GB, I was able to fit 213 songs, that's more than 16 hours of 128kbps CD quality music. Hooked to a Prism, it played for 12 hours continuosly. I am so pleased w/ this player, I am going to purchase another one in case I break this accidentally. I wish they never discontinued the Handspring Prism. I just bought an Auterra OBDII scanner/dyno and can monitor my car's performance while listening to my MP3's!!!

InnoGear's MiniJam MP3 Player Named 'Springboard Module of the Year' by VisorCentral. (Business Wire)

MiniJam is the first MP3 player for the Handspring Visor/ PalmOS that provides users with multiple functionality in one unit. MiniJam's large storage capacity -- up to 128 megabytes -- and will also soon allow for the storage of Palm OS applications, databases, and image files. In addition to playing music, The MiniJam is also an e-Book reader and an image/slide-show viewer.

MiniJam is a plug-and-play hardware device for the Handspring Visor Springboard expansion slot. In addition to enhancing the Handspring Visor with an MP3 player, MiniJam provides users with pre-loaded music and an extensive suite of multimedia software, including photo/slide show viewer software and e-Book reader software.