Home > Consumer Reviews > Digitalway MPIO FL100 256 MB MP3 Player

Every dedicated bicycler and gym fanatic needs one of these amazing players. These are the best-kept secret in the MP3 player market. I was unable to find them at any retail locations in Minnesota (not even found at the Mall of America). So I was hesitant to make the online purchase, but I'm glad I did. The player is unbelievably lightweight. And although it's small it manages to feel relatively sturdy due to the metal construction on the back and sides of the unit. The inclusion of the SD memory card expansion is one of the main reasons to buy this unit. The included software MPIO manager works well, however the inclusion of Real Player is probably a poor choice since Real Player (aka Real One) is extremely invasive on any computer. The good news is that you can use any number of other programs to convert files to MP3 or even use the built-in Windows Media Audio (WMA) converter with Windows XP. Although it was generous of them to include the black leather-like case I had to cut a hole in the side so that I could use the volume controls. Had I not cut this hole, the volume button would be constantly pressed in. The included ear-bud headphones are pretty weak but oddly comfortable in my ears. They have no bass. I ordered some Sony NDR-E888LP ear-buds to compensate for this and they worked great but are less comfortable. Using open ear headphones while exercising might be a mistake with this unit since the internal amp seems slightly underpowered. I've used Sony's street-style headphones and they work well if I'm not moving too quickly. With ear-buds the volume is more than substantial for biking at 25mph+. The RANDOM function seems to play songs randomly from the memory card and then randomly from the internal memory, it won't mix the randomization. This could be fixed in a future firmware upgrade. The small gripes I have about the player are really insignificant but a review should be critical. The style can't be beat, the blue backlit LCD is easy to read and it looks fantastic. The `lack' of a remote control is actually a great thing for me on a mountain bike. The last thing I want is another proprietary point of failure and some additional weighted wired device slamming all over the place. The FM Radio works perfectly for me until battery life is dwindling. It even works in my office where some mini-systems won't pick up similar stations. I get about 9 to 10 hours from one Energizer Titanium AAA battery. Using a rechargeable GP 800 mAh NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) battery I get about 7 to 9 hours depending on the operating temperature. I purchased the 256 MB version and recommend spending the extra cash for the additional internal memory despite the nearly unlimited SD expansion capabilities.

I did I did allot of research and read allot of reviews before I bought the mpio and couldn't be happier. Five minutes out of the box I had it loaded from my work computer (win2000) and the software installed just as easily from my laptop (winxp-pro). The transfer software is very easy to use.

The sound is great. It played MP3, WMF and MPG audio. The sound quality was far better than I expected. The ear buds are very nice and work well at the gym. The radio tuner really surprised me too. It picks more stations than my car or desktop radio with amazing clarity. Perfect for the gyms TV stations. It gets all the volume and more than I need. I couldn't imagine listening at it's highest level. The equalizer seems to do a decent job too for such compact device.

It comes with a clip carrying case that hooked tightly to my shorts and I had no problems with it at the gym during either cardio or weight training. Aside from being great looking the design is extremely functional. I could adjust volume and switch titles without looking the controls. The volume has different contours for up and down. The problem others reported with the pouch hitting the volume button has been addressed. It fits perfectly in the case with no adjustments.

I went for the 128 because I felt I could invest in expansion if I needed it. As it is this holds more than enough room for trips to the gym or walks with my dog. I store my music on my computer, personally I would rather have a compact device than some bulky thing.

For the price the quality is overwhelming. I have shown it to people at work and friends. 2 are ordering 1 for themselves.

This player met all of my qualifications:
#1. It's very small. Inside the included belt clip it looks exactly like a pager. You could easily keep it in your pocket or wear it around your neck with the include strap. For me the IPOD wasn't even an option because I wanted my MP3 player to be pocket-sized.

#2 There's no hard drive. The FL100 uses flash memory so there's no chance of skipping during exercise, etc. I don't care what the Mac folks say- if it has a hard drive it CAN skip.

#3 The FL100 has lots of memory. In researching this product, it seems that 512MB is about as big as you can get in flash memory. Sure, the IPOD has more, but I normally don't have more than about 5 or 6 CDs in regular rotation. However, if you need more you can always expand memory using the SD/MMC memory card slot. I haven't shopped around very much for memory cards, but I know that the capacity goes up to at least 512 MB, meaning you could at the very least double your memory to over a Gig.

I use the included Real One software to rip CDS at a variable bit rate (128 average). With better headphones I might notice degradation in quality, but so far I have no complaints. Even classical sounds great! Real One seems to be drawing from a better internet database than others (like MediaPlayer). I have yet to find a CD on which it can't find title/track info. Files are extracted into folders: Artist > Album > Track # and Title. You then use the MPIO manager software to download these folders directly to the device.

The architecture of the FL100 is superb. Browse through titles while listening, display titles or MP3 tag IDs, set repeats, delete tracks directly from the device, display 1 of 2 different peak meters while track plays, and so on. The graphic EQ presets are not very good unfortunately. But you can manually set the EQ to your liking. The voice recorder is fun, but even better is the ability to record FM radio. I'm a talk radio fanatic so this is something I use frequently. You can choose high or low quality recording. With only about 40MB free, I recorded about 3 hours of talk on low quality.

I do wish this device had the ability to function like a thumb drive in explorer. Unfortunately all data must be uploaded/downloaded through MPIO manager. Perhaps this could be changed in a future firmware update- I don't know.

Lastly, I would recommend picking up some AAA rechargeable batteries. I use my player all day and burn through about 1 battery a day.

I took a while before choosing the mpio fl100 player. I checked out all the players out there, including the iriver players. The small size and the ability to be expanded was the biggest plus for me. I bought my player about 4 months ago. I have the 256mb version and dropped in a sandisk 256mb sd card. So I have a total of 512mb. Thats a lot of room. I play both music at 128kbps, and audio books/radio shows at 32kbps. Both play great. There is a bookmark option that allows you to play where you left off when you shut down the player. Real important for audio books. Also low bit rates can be played easily.

Transferring songs and other files is easy using the included software. The battery life is somewhere between 7-9 hours. I think the included earbuds are decent quality. The included carrying case is a little too tight, and probably needs to be very carefully trimmed over the volume controls (be careful not to cut all the plastic off in this area).

The only things I don't like is that its shiny side is really easy to mark up and I would guess scratch. And the battery life is just average. But all the positives make these minor. A great player.

Oh and the FM radio is great. The recording feature works, but the quality is only fair. But its a nice extra.

MPIO is very good at making upgrades to its firmware, and adding features. So this is a big plus.

I finally found an MP3 player that could replace my Sony S2 AM/FM radio. The MP3 comes in real handy whenever I'm in the part of the gym that has bad reception and the FM radio is great when i don't want a repeat of my MP3 tracks. After hearing each song 2-3 times with your routine workout, it kind of loses its luster.

Two features I haven't really used are the external memory slot and the voice recorder. Haven't had a chance to buy an external memory card.

The two problem that people complained about to which I concur are 1) the battery has a low life expectency and 2) the sound quality is so-so. First off, i read some comments about the volume not being loud enough or that the sound quality was below average. The reason, in my opinion, is the lack of bass. I've even switched to a pair of high quality Sony headphones that's suppose to increase the bass. In addition, I even adjusted the preset graphic equalizers. Didn't seem to make much of a difference. This leads to our second problem. Because I constantly need to turn up the volume, almost to the max, it drains the battery at a much quicker rate. For gym use, with the volume in the low 30 (range being 0-40), I get a battery life of about 4 hours. But while in the office, with the volume at 7 or 8, I can obtain a battery life of up to 9 or 10 hours. But with that kind of volume in the gym, you might as well listen to the barely audible sound coming out of the gym's overhead speakers.

Overall, this unit is great if you need an MP3 player and a FM radio with an external memory slot. I'm hoping to have a different memory card for each genre of music in the future. If you aren't extremely picky about sound quality, then I would highly recomment this unit. By the way, it looks great too and clips right on to my existing arm band that came with my Sony S2. One other recommendation I would also make is to go out and get some rechargable batteries if you do buy this unit.