Home > Consumer Reviews > Compaq iPAQ Digital Music Center MC-1 (with 20 GB Hard Drive)

In the history of product designs, this has to be one of the worst of all time. If you want to pay [an amount of money] for something and spend alot of time on the phone with support people who don't work for compaq and have no idea what you are talking about this is the product for you.

This product is only worth the money if you can connect it to the internet. It really only supports a dial up out of the box, but not an AOL dial up connection. If you decide to use the number supplied to get dial up internet connection, you are connected to MSN support and they have no idea what an Ipaq music center is or why you called. You will get referred to at least 3 different numbers before you give up. The documentation on the device is very poor. I am very computer literate, but this device takes alot of time and energy for even me to setup and use properly. If you just want to play CDs than this device is ok, but to rip cds and autodatabase the info on the cds, this device is sorely lacking, because it is difficult to get it connected to the internet with the supplied information and accessories. Save your money...

I just received my music center today and I am very disappointed. The CD drawer won't open at all so I can't put in any CDs. At a minimum, I will have to send it back under warrany. To me, that is probably not the biggest issue (stuff happens...).

What concerns me is the fact that, after several hours with the unit, I am still not clear if I can transfer files directly from my PC to the MC-1 with the features they have today. Their website says you can transfer files using home phone line networking (HPNA), and their documentation gives very thin information about how to physically connect the unit to HPNA, but gives NO information about transferring files. In fact, ominously it says "*as features are added* you will be able to transfer...files from your PC to you [sic] iPAQ Music Center via Home PNA" If it is a future feature, Compaq should be more clear on their website; if it is a current feature, they should have at least something about it in the documentation...do I need any software on my PC to do the download?...is there a specific process?.. (there isn't any software shipped with the unit, so there is no "read-me" to consult for updates...)

So, what I am left with is a unit that doesn't permit me to load files from CD, nor from my PC where my existing library resides. Basically no good. I did call support and they were polite but clearly were not familiar with the product yet (it took 15min of conversation and time with me on hold while he confirmed that the "Eject" button should, in fact, open the CD drawer, for instance.)

Other comments: the set-up process is somewhat like a TiVo although I found the TiVo user-interface and usability to be far superior. Typing in letters and numbers for the TiVo is much easier and navigating screens much less tedious than on the MC-1. The construction quality seems adequate although the remote seems just a bit flimsy and the button layout is, again, a bit tedious. Sound quality on the few MP3's that were preloaded seemed to be pretty good, although I didn't listen with headphones or to any familiar songs.

I'm sure Compaq will get it right, and the concept is right-on as long as I can easily transfer files between my PC and the MC-1, but I'm sending mine back until they get some of the bugs worked out. I just want it to work.

I received the MC-1 for Christmas this year from my wife (last year she got me a Turtle-Beach Audiotron). My first impression of the MC-1 is that it's pretty simple to use. You plug it in, hook it to your TV, Stereo, and in my case HPNA and poof it works. Setup couldn't have been simpler. For you folks that want 10/100BaseT LAN support, it's available with an external Belkin USB adaptor. My guess is that getting your dial-up ISP to work would be a bit more of a challenge.

It does a good job of ripping and associating the album cover with the CD. The remote is fantastic compared to the small, cluttered Audiotron remote. The remote even acts as a simple universal remote by controlling both your TV and Receiver in addition to the MC-1. The User interface is not very intuitive. Albums are listed alphabetically by artist and the only filtering you can do is by selecting a genre. Since the album info attached to a ripped CD comes from Gracenote (formerly CDDB) the genre info is iffy at best.

The MC-1 has analog and digital inputs, and rumors say that a future software update will allow tracks to be ripped from albums or tapes. That would be a very nice additional feature. However I'd be happier with a better UI.

All-in-all, it's a pretty nice package. I don't consider it a replacement for my Audiotron. Both will live in my audio rack. Each has its good points; the best point for the MC-1 is that it works when LAN is down.

Pros:
* Ripped CD's will play when LAN or Computers are down!
* A TV GUI is nice
* It sounds goods
* The UI is okay
* The remote is very nice, it will even power your TV and Receiver and switch inputs.
Cons:
* Price - [amt] MSRP is a joke. However it is substantially discounted .......
* 20G Drive - A bit small in this day and age.
* You can't transfer MP3s to or from the MC-1 with HPNA or LAN.

Follow-up: Now that I've used MC-1 for a month or so, I can say that it has really grown on me. I really like it (and even am becoming accustom to it's faults). I wonder how I got along without it. I tend to use it now even more than my audiotron (which still surprises me). However the MC-1's sluggish and strange moded interface can be annoying at times. But it's utility outweights it's annoyances. I'm hoping that Compaq will remove most of the annoyances with their upcoming software release.

Even More Info:
Compaq recently update the software and made available a software package called the Remote Media Manager. The new software adds several features: recording from external sources, control of Sony CD Changes, and remote file access from PC's. I was interested in remote file access because I've already ripped a bunch of albums and would prefer not to nurse the mc-1 in re-ripping them. However after several days of fiddling (including debugging with a packet sniffer) I've only been able to get the Remote Media Manager to connect intermittently. Even then the things I have to do to get it to connect are very quirky and weird. My impress is that reliability is getting worse with new software, not better. Hopefully Compaq/Openglobe will start testing there software in the future and avoid future debacles like this one.

I've owned the MC-1 since it was first introduced last year. I've struggled through mutiple software revisions -- each time hoping that the unit would be less "fragile" and tedious to use. Alas, one new problem after another keeps popping up.

- I've had to "restore factory defaults" and start over loading my 3,000 track CD collection, not once, not twice, but THREE times. The last time, I had to send it back to OpenGlobe (Compaq doesn't have a clue about these units) and they still couldn't fix it without wiping the harddrive and making me start over.

- I have to "reboot" my unit at least three times a week -- it hangs for various unknown reasons

- The new "Media Manager" software for downloading music from your PC to the MC-1 is very slow and VERY buggy.

Bottom line: I suspect that OpenGlobe is under intense pressure to get the software written for their various OEM partners like Compaq, Kenwood, and others. They don't adequately test them -- from what I understand there is NO beta test period... just some internal testing (which must not be very exhaustive or they would have surely found all the problems that customers have found) and then they ship it to their OEMs.

It's a very cool concept and if it was reliable, it would be a killer product. But alas, these guys just can't seem to turn out a stable product.

As many other coustermers, it took a bit if time to hook up... (4weeks between calls)including a new account with msn. But finally its working well... no thanks to compaq's coustomer service... and i find it very convient. Its all i expected it to be. i have a lot of music and the music center has given me unending possibilities for organizing it. finally i'm happy with it...