The D-Link Roq-it 10 GB is a portable hard drive-based MP3 jukebox as well as an external USB hard drive. With a capacity of 10 GB, it provides 150 hours of nonstop music--approximately 250 CDs. It's compatible with MP3, and the firmware is fully upgradable to support new features.
The large, easy-to-read, blue, backlit LCD displays song title, album name, genre, and other track information contained in each MP3 file's ID3 tag. The LCD also displays status of playback and functions. The Roq-it also provides 2 MB of Electronic Shock Protection (ESP) to ensure constant playing without skipping. And it comes with an infrared remote control to control basic play functions.
The equalizer feature has presets for Jazz, Latin, Flat, Rock, and Dance, as well as a custom equalizer setting. The Roq-it provides an audio jack for connection to earphones or playing through speakers. A line-out stereo jack enables connection to an external audio input. The rechargeable lithium-ion batteries provide about eight hours of music, with an average charge time of three hours.
Use the Roq-it as an external hard drive to store your word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and graphics for when you need to be mobile. The hard drive compartment can be opened easily to replace the hard drive with separate 2.5-inch hard drives. The capacity of the hard drive is limited only to the capacity of 2.5-inch laptop hard drives available. The Roq-it uses a USB 1.1-compliant connection for transferring audio files.
The D-Link Roq-it is compatible with Windows 98, 2000, Me, and XP and Mac OS 9 and later. It comes with an AC adapter, head phones, a carry pouch, and infrared remote control.
The D-Link Roq-it 10 GB is a hard drive based MP3 jukebox with a storage capacity of 10 Gigabytes, as well as an external USB hard drive. It is portable and provides over 150 hours of non-stop music. The Roq-it 10 GB is targeted at MP3 music enthusiasts. The Roq-it 10 GB provides 10 Gigabytes of hard drive capacity that also functions as a portable and external USB hard drive. When connected through the USB interface, the Roq-it 10 GB will show up in Windows File Explorer as a drive letter. The user then uses drag and drop features of Microsoft Windows to copy music to the hard drive. No special music manager software is required. The Roq-it 10 GB provides over 150 hours (approximately 250 CD's) of music using a 10 Gigabyte hard drive as the storage medium. It is compatible with MP3 (MPEG 1 Audio Layer 3) standards, which provides audio compression specifications. The firmware is fully upgradeable via the USB interface to support new features when they become available. The Roq-it 10 GB uses a USB 1.1 compliant connection for transferring audio files from the users computer. The Roq-it 10 GB functions as an external hard drive so that users can copy any file (such as word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics) to the Roq-it 10 GB in the same manner as a floppy disk. The hard drive compartment can be opened easily to replace the hard drive with separate 2.5" hard drives. The capacity of the hard drive is limited only to the capacity of 2.5" laptop hard drives available.
1 Waste of Money
I purchased this for my son when this was a new item. There had been nothing but trouble with this ever since. The unit shuts itself down before the battery is dead and then the unit doesn't turn itself off! Finally, it has the equivalent of hard drive crashes once every 5 times you use it. Save your money and buy something else. Finally, like some other reviewers stated, they do not own up to their warranty.
2 Something Special You Can't Find Elsewhere
This is not the most advanced Jukebox on the market, in fact it's probably one of the oldest ones available. It's also known as the Neo II but is exactly the same player. It's big, too big to carry like an iPod and the battery will last 6 hours if you are lucky.
Here's the part that I find amazing. First: The sound quality is very good and Second: This player has the most wonderful shuttle capability that I've ever seen!
Here's how I use it: I immediately removed the 10 gig drive, it's as easy as sliding off the removable cover and then slipping the drive out. I replaced it with a (formatted) 40 gig drive and loaded it to the max. Then, I turned it on and selected "Rand All" with the program button and it sits on my desk, pumping wonderful music into my Bose table radio all day long! I never hear a duplicate, the device never fails and it responds instantly when you press "pause" on the wireless remote (included) should a phone call interrupt my flow.
Yes, I have traveled with it; It's been to West Africa and Europe, it's been on countless flights criss-crossing the US and on a plane, driving my Bose noise-cancellation headphones, there's nothing but bliss.
It's been retired to my desk because I do carry an iPod now when I travel but sometimes I still take the Roq-It because the display is so big and beautiful, so much bigger than any other MP3 Jukebox out there.
So depending on what you need it for, this jewel is "the bomb" if you aren't focused on size or battery life - particularly for the price. It's been dependable but there may not be support since it is discontinued.
3 I wish they had a choice of less than a star
This is the worst electronic equipment I have ever invested in, this player had bugs and defects packed into it right out of the factory, it is hardly surprising that DLink decided to discontinue the production of this unit. What adds insult to injury is that instead of owning up to their obligation to provide care within the warranty period, DLink customer service is playing games to claim that the warranty is void. This is a sheer case of shrugging any responsibility. As a paying customer I am totally dissatisfied with the product and the customer care(what makes me feel better, is that there are at least 3 other people who share my view and that means that DLink will find it extremely hard to survive in this world of customer delight)
NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM DLINK!!!a few dollars 25 more(competitive jukebox) is worth a functioning product..
4 Was nice when it worked
The first problem I encountered was a loose battery connection. I soldered the connection back on and it worked again. Then the power connection fell off, so I fixed that also. Now, after a year and a half after buying it, the unit is no longer functioning due to a 'partition' error. Tech support has no help for this problem, so I'm out $$$.
I'm giving this device 2 stars because when it was working, it had good sound quality (with separately purchased speakers) and was convenient.
Overall, there has got to be a similar mp3 player that is constructed better. I would NOT recommend buying this player.
5 Amazing capability, but doesn't travel well....
I love having 10 GB of music with me, and the Roq-it is small enough to travel in a bag or carry around the gym. I'm satisfied with the battery life, and the blue display is bright and fairly easy to navigate. Here are two problems, though, both related to the operation of the internal hard drive:
1) Shaking, jarring, or jogging with the device are verboten: it skips worse than a portable CD player.
2) Moving through the menu is slow, and worse, it's not uniformly slow, being faster or slower at times for no apparent reason. This, I think, is some of "lock-up" other reviewers have noted. In my experience, the machine usually isn't locked, it's just stuck for a few moments (which seem to last forever). We're used to speed, and this is annoying.
For the price (it's steep) I don't think I'd purchase this item again.
6 D-Link Roq It
Had it for one year. Locks up; cannot locate any vendor on Internet or locally who sells lithium ion rechargeable batteries for D-Link. Love to use, but not working well for short period of time. Mother of two; enjoys traveling with music. Thought this would be the best buy. Need to rethink next purchase of MP3 player.
7 Best there is!
First of all, this unit is manufactured by SSI America and can be found on the Web at ssiamerica.com. I reccommend this unit highly especially if you have a large amount of music on your hard drive. I have loaded over 25 gigs on a 30 gig drive! I bought mine about 11/2 years ago and went thru the necessary "learning curve" with the unit. I first had a 20 gig drive and later had to change to a 30 gig drive since I ran out of room! The main problem I have encountered, and have also read in the reviews, is disconnecting the USB cable too quickly after transferring files to the unit. This causes an "interuption" in the loading process resulting in an "incomplete" downloading and an unknown number of files not being transferred to the unit. To correct the problem one must find the last file that was loaded completely and "reload" from that point. I spent much time with this problem until I finally found that the units' drive was still "working" after the files had been transferred. These are the files "buffers" which also must be transferred. If you hold the unit up to your ear after you think the transfer is complete and you still hear "clicking" from the hard drive, the transfer is not complete! This is very important. The manual says to wait "at least 20 seconds". I think 2-3 minutes is more accurate, especially if you are loading a large number of files. Other than this problem, which seems to be the majority of objections to the unit, I would say this to be the best one out there! I bought one of the first and am very pleased with it. I use it in my car plugged into my "aux. in" line on the radio and never ever have to listen to the radio stuff again!
8 Great MP3 Player!
I first bought one for my little brother. The player's driver was easy to install onto Windows 98SE. We didn't bother with the Windows Media Player application, we just use the player as an external hard drive. I just bought one for myself! I love it! It's so easy to operate, and it keeps my files in clean order so I can play Mudvayne one second then play Enya the next. Here are my tips: When downloading music to the player, don't overwhelm it by downloading way too many files. I'd say keep it at a maximum of 20 files at a time. And, when you just downloaded them, give the player about 20-30 seconds...then you can unplug the USB cable. Also, when you have added lot's of music onto the player, defragment the players hard drive. It's a drive, right! It needs defragmenting just like a normal computer. It will elliminate the possibiility of the player stopping while playing. Enjoy...
9 BAD PRODUCT
Terrible. It's huge, I feel like I should be treking accross the himalayas with some native named Pakash... unbelievable. not to mention that IT DOESN'T WORK. I have 4 GB of songs on it and the damn thing frezes everytime I want to listen to my Incubus. WTF. DO NOT BUY. BUY A WORKING PRODUCT.
10 D-Link MP3 - Big in size, Big in Memory & a Good value
Many complain that this unit is hard to use and too big to carry. For the price you can't buy an MP3 player that is easier to use with more memory. Set-up was simple and out of the box I was up and running in under 10 minutes. Where this unit falls down is the "very basic" instruction manual. Still I'm glad I made the purchase.
11 D-Link
This is the best buy for anyone who's on a budget, looking for a high quality Mp3 player. It is easy to use and set up with ample memory, even for the most eclectic tastes in music. I have everything from Heavy metal to Jazz on mine. The battery life is a little short, but they are rechargeable so it really doesn't matter. Although it is a little bigger than other players, it is light and cheaper. The sound quality is just as good as CD's (if not better) and no songs can get messed up because of greasy fingers, like with CD's. However, when the battery is running extrememly low and you're kinda running "on fumes" then the songs begin to skip, but they really don't get messed up at all, unless the battery is more than like 3/4 empty.
12 Just an FYI from the D-LINK Website
D-Link Systems, Inc. has issued an End of Life (EOL) Notice for the DMP-HD610 and has discontinued production of it as of Thursday, August 01, 2002. Technical and RMA support for this product shall continue until Sunday, August 01, 2004.
13 Freezes, crashes, hardely works
I just purchased the Roq-it 10 GB from Amazon. Upon receiving the item, which was shipped promptly, I charged it, hooked it up to my computer. After downloading about 3 GB worth of music, I wanted to see how the device worked. After less than 10 minutes of playing music, it froze. Turned off, then turned on to try again. It'd play for a few mintues then freeze. Sometimes when I'd turn it on, the device would get stuck on the boot up screen. I just went to the Dlink website and there is no mention of this product. Not anywhere. No drivers, no firmware, no tech support, no product info.
14 Worked great - for about an hour.
Got it in the mail, opened it up, plugged it in, and dumped about a gig of mp3's to it. It seemed to be fine. I could browse folders, play songs, etc. Great!
Then I dumped the rest of my MP3's to it (about 7GB total) and went to watch TV. Came back later and saw that the file transfer had completed, and all my folders and songs seemed to be on the device. Again, great. So I unplug the USB cable and restart it, like it says to do on the screen. What do I get? "HARD DRIVE ERROR - CANNOT READ HARD DISK - CHECK DRIVE AND RESTART"
Now I'm [angry].
I've had this thing for exactly 1 day. I haven't even taken it out of the house. I haven't dropped it or even moved it from my desk. Restarting the device does nothing to fix the problem. I can't check the drive because the USB connection doesn't work anymore either. So I have a lovely 200 dollar paper weight. I try to call D-link support, and after waiting on hold for 45 minutes, I get a message saying "please leave your contact information and an agent will get back to you". Yeah, right. I'm not holding my breath on that, if you can't even pick up the phone at 4:30 a.m., the deadest time in any call center.
I bought this one because I'd heard so many bad things about the Archos, and I couldn't really afford anything like the IPOD. Guess I'm going back to CD's, because every portable MP3 player I've tried either has great performance but a laughably small storage capacity, or plenty of room for all your music, but no guarantee of even basic functionality due to ... hard drives and components. Oh, and the thing is way too big. And the carrying case for it [stinks]. It's so tight you can barely squeeze it in, and then it covers up all the interface buttons. Very disappointing.
15 Worked great - for about an hour.
Got it in the mail, opened it up, plugged it in, and dumped about a gig of mp3's to it. It seemed to be fine. I could browse folders, play songs, etc. Great!
Then I dumped the rest of my MP3's to it (about 7GB total) and went to watch TV. Came back later and saw that the file transfer had completed, and all my folders and songs seemed to be on the device. Again, great. So I unplug the USB cable and restart it, like it says to do on the screen. What do I get? "HARD DRIVE ERROR - CANNOT READ HARD DISK - CHECK DRIVE AND RESTART"
Now I'm [upset].
I've had this thing for exactly 1 day. I haven't even taken it out of the house. I haven't dropped it or even moved it from my desk. Restarting the device does nothing to fix the problem. I can't check the drive because the USB connection doesn't work anymore either. So I have a lovely 200 dollar paper weight. I try to call D-link support, and after waiting on hold for 45 minutes, I get a message saying "please leave your contact information and an agent will get back to you"...
I bought this one because I'd heard so many bad things about the Archos, and I couldn't really afford anything like the IPOD. Guess I'm going back to CD's, because every portable MP3 player I've tried either has great performance but a laughably small storage capacity, or plenty of room for all your music, but no guarantee of even basic functionality due to [inadequate] hard drives and components. Oh, and the thing is way too big. And the carrying case for it [stinks]. It's so tight you can barely squeeze it in, and then it covers up all the interface buttons. Very disappointing.
16 Works fairly well... for a while
After having using the RoqIt almost daily for the last 5 months, it works really well, with some exceptions. The problem I have found most recently, the battery contact has broken, making the battery useless and requiring the unit to be plugged in for power. (Hopefully the manufacturer will fix this) Also, the random play only seems to use songs from a few folders instead of all as it seems like it should. It also suffers from random lockups which stop the music when you least want it to. The carrying case and the remote are lacking as well. On the plus side, the sound quality is decent, and the the backlight can be set to stay on all the time, which is nice for using in the car at night. Another nice feature is the ability to pick the next song you want to hear while the current one is playing.
17 I hate this case
this case that this thing comes with is very weird its very very hard to get the thing in but it has holes that align up the the headphone jack usb port ac power place line out and the power switch and its kinda hard to press the buttons on the side either side of the face of the thing like this
X X
X X
Thats kinda what it looks like the x's represent buttons theres more buttons than that but those are the annoying ones. You kinda have to push the plastic covering pretty hard because the plastic is tight because the case is too small the machine is too big the the buttons are on the like a curve. By the way it a bit hard to get it in the case too
18 D-Link
Ok here are some things i have to say about this product
a) size wize its about half an inch thicker than a normal cd of course its a little squared off yea the picture on this makes it look a lot smaller than it is and its not very heavy so thats good
b) its very easy to install especially for xp just plug it into a usb slot and it will detect and a hd and u just drop anything in there even non mp3 files but of course u cant open them just for transportation
C) the playing features are nice play only a folder random from the whole collection repeat a track etc
D)the display stuff is HORRIBLE disgusting ewww... when play the song or just highlight a song the title moves to allow u to see the name but it max characters isnt a lot i like to have my songs in artist - name of album - track number - song title order and maybe i'll be able to see the end of the name of the album this i COMPLETELY HATE :(
E) the battery life is good its a lithium ion battery lasts long thumbs up here
f)the sound quality is pretty good when u use headphones (these are my own headphones the ones it comes with it are cheap uncomfortable ones) or hook it up to a stero but that u have to buy seperately but u can get it like anywhere
Its a nice product but its just way too fat i really dont want to carry around places but its not heavy so u can go walking with it or something. There also isnt a search feature
19 DO NOT BUY IT!!!!!!!!!
This is horrible. I would give this negative stars if that was possible. I chose this over the ipod to save some money and I couldn't be more sorry. Now I have to buy one anyway. First of all - it's HUGE! You could never use it to work out. Second, I have never had such a buggy piece of electronics. Third of all - it's DELICATE. I slid it across my dining room table and the back popped up, revealing the hard drive and NEGATING the warranty - that was on the second day I had it. Unless you buy better headphones than those provided the sound is average at best. This is by far the worst purchase I have ever made on Amazon. There are a billion mp3 players out there - choose another!
20 Decent MP3 Player, Good ext drive
The quality of sound coming out of this thing is rather nice...but the weak bass does hurt it.
As an ext drive, it has what you are expecting. Simple to install (on older OS) if you had to, and the newer OS recognizes this drive without any driver installation. Plug into a USB port, then about 5 seconds later this drive is ready for use.
And you can't beat the price - quality ratio. Not the best of Ext Drive or an MP3 player but it does the job. ... the worst that can happen is that you paid alot for a USB 1.0 ext drive.
Can't go wrong if you ask me.
21 This is a great product but can be bought for L E S S
T H E S I T E T O F I N D I T F O R L E S S I S COMPUPLUS . C O M.
22 Wonderful device for the money
We bought the ROQ-IT primarily as a substitute for a 300 disc CD changer, not so much for as a portable device. I like the large display screen on this compared to the tiny screen on the Archos Jukebox. Copying files over is a breeze and the files are transferred at a rate of about 40 megabytes per minute. The only software you need to install is the USB driver and it is less than 550K in size, which is nice if you want to take the Roq-It to another PC and use it as a portable hard drive. You can leave the installation CD at home and just take a floppy with the driver on it. Everything the player does it does well.
I read many of these reviews (and the info at the D-Link web site) before buying the Roq-It and there were still questions I had that were only answered by trying it. So I'm here to fill in the gaps for you. First of all, there are two shuffle modes. You can play random selections from the folder you are currently in or from files throughout the whole hard drive. It would have been nice if there where a third shuffle mode to shuffle through songs in the current folder AND it's sub folders but there is no such option.
In regular continuous play mode, there are a few options. You can play a folder then stop, play a folder then repeat, or play one folder after another until they have all been played. There is also a mode to continously repeat just one song. It would be nice if you could find songs strictly by track title like you could with the Creative Nomad Jukebox. But if you have your songs organized, it's really not hard to find the song you want. And frankly, I expect that most of the time we will just be playing this in Random All mode anyway. The Roq-It does look at the ID3 tag information while a song it playing. It displays the track title, artist, album, total time, and current time index simultaneously. But it does not use ID3 tag info for finding or listing songs. If it did have that ability and a Playlist feature, I would have rated it 5 stars.
And just think: only a couple of years ago you would have paid this much for a 10GB hard drive alone. By the way, it's not really 10 GB, it's about 9.35.
23 A professional musician's viewpoint
Just a few points for those musicians out there thinking to start playing their backing tracks with an mp3 player (I've been using mini disks for years.) The fact that the player can be set to leave the back light on if you want is a real plus. While you're playing back your tracks, as they're playing you can see all at once: artist, album, title, total time and elapsed time. One point, I found that after I converted my wave files to mp3 ( with MM Jukebox) I had to put in "00" or a track number (must hit the "apply" button and the "OK" button) in the track number of the mp3 tag to get it to display properly. Another thing I like is that the external power supply is very small, probably the smallest "wall wart" I've ever used. If you need to use play lists what you do is create them in MusicMatch and save. Then you go to the directory where they are saved and copy them to the player (they have to be in the root directory). When you access them in the player it shows that it is "parsing" your list and then you can use it. The controls are very easy to use on the job ( I am a keyboard player). The only thing I could wish for is the ability to "auto pause" after every tune so I wouldn't have to stop it by hand. As to sound: I find it to be very good. It doesn't have the bass boost that my Nomad Jukebox has, but that really only matters for headphone listening. And with good phones it's not bad. Also, unlike some mp3 players it plays back all CBR and VBR rates except mp3pro, which I assume could be added via firmware upgrade later. (I've experimented with mp3 pro and am not certain how useful it would be to me. I don't think it sounds better, but it does make for smaller files.)
24 doesn't contain conversion software
I've always wanted all of my 100 or so cd's on one player. I couldn't findan XP friendly device until i came across this thing. It is designed to work as both an mp3 player and a USB hard drive. The mp3 function did not work. Fortunately for others, the mp3 function didn't work because I had to use the worst music software in the world... (GASP)... RealJukebox. That is the only reason why the mp3 playing function didn't work. The contols looked confusing, and d-Link could have improved the design by more than just the device's bulk (it was quite large). The hard drive function, however, works to perfection. The major flaw is that it doesn't come with ripping software, so you will need MusicMatch 6.0 or 7.0 to do anything good with it.
25 Not so great
It seemed to be a really good MP3 player when we first got it, but now after only 2 months, it keeps locking up. Couldn't register it with D-Link because there's no serial number on the back. They tell us to try sending it back to ...them.
26 ... but when it _doesn't_ work ...
I bought this product...for my brother...He wanted a way to transfer files from his desktop computer to his laptop from work...it failed to install on his laptop. The instructions say it works with the default drivers from Windows 2000, but when it was plugged in, a driver installation wizard appeared because it couldn't find the drivers. We tried a bunch of things with the supplied driver disk to no avail. The USB-to-IDE adapter inside the unit is a ScanLogic SL11 chipset so we got the development kit installation off the Internet (which was the same as the drivers provided by DLink) but got no further. We gave up on the laptop.
I took a crack at it and successfully installed it on my PowerBook G3 and uploaded a song to it to try it out. It seemed to work okay. I went back and deleted all the files I put on it but apparently took some of the driver files as well by accident. The unit was now crippled and wouldn't work at all. I think there's a way to reload the software from a PC--except that we couldn't get it to connect to a PC. I was pretty disappointed that the "firmware" in the unit was so frail that a little overzealous deleting and you end up with a paperweight.
In all the process a nightmare. I did get a refund and eventually got him a USB powered hard drive instead. The selling features are very strong--a battery powered USB hard drive that can be expanded with larger laptop hard drives and also doubles as a portable MP3 player. Pretty cool ... if it only worked.
27 Best MP3 Jukebox Currently on Market
I purchased the D-Link Roq-it two months ago. It worked flawlessly until I found the screen flickering and the unit unable to work properly. After sending back the product D-Link replaced my battery and I have had no problems since. While I have heard of other problems, this is a very functional unit: using a 10 GB IBM Travelstar 2.5" laptop hard drive and 2 MB buffer it plays thousands of tracks without skipping. The player has an IR remote (like your TV) for home use and a 5 hour Li-ion battery for portable use. The unit has both line out and headphone jacks and fast USB 1.1 800 k/s transfer. The unit has a bright, large LCD to display ID3 track information and can be used as a portable hard drive. Unfortunately it is as large as a CD player and has good sound quality but poor bass response. This player, however, beats all on the market as of 4/1/02. Here is why:
Archos players: Ni-cd batteries, no true line out, small LCD.
Creative players: Ni-cd batteries, poorly designed, no hard drive functionality.
Ipod: less memory, Mac compatible only.
Treo: no hard drive functionality, dim backlight, no ID3 support.
XP3: same as Treo
You be the judge. You'll find smaller players, but none as functional as the D-Link Roq-it 10 GB.
28 Good Jukebox
I've had the RoqIt for about two months now. Most of the time it worked fine, but it would also to lock up, skip and generally mess up every so often. Then one day one of the connectors to the battery fell off and I sent it back under warranty to get it repaired. Now it is much better. I use it as a portable radio station while I'm driving with it on random and it is great. It sounds like they have a problem with the power connectors to the battery, but they repair it with no problems. Recommended.
29 It Sounded Like a Good Idea...
ALthough I had no trouble whatsoever transferring music from the Windows Media Player, this device, in addition to being rather bulky, has TERRIBLE sound. Even by adjusting the bass to the maximum setting and lowering the treble, all my music sounded as though it were being played through a tin can. I returned it the next day. KEEP LOOKING!
30 all that and then some
I found this a very workable item. I use it on the bike while riding in the gym. I also have used it as a portable hard drive, transporting lots of information from home to work. Forget zip disks... this is the way to go. At a rate of 12Mb/s transfer rate from the USB port, no real problems with time for the downloads. Arranging into folders to better organize helps ease the finding of songs ... already have 1500+ tracks on it and that is not all of my music...
31 Good but could have been constructed better
I ordered the D-Link Roq-it and I loved it until about 24 hours after It came in. After I opened the box I put the rechargeable battery in to let it charge for "at least 8 hours " as it says to do in the manual. After it was charged, I took out the battery until I wanted to use it, again because the manual said to take it out when you're not going to use the battery. I spent the evening and the next day putting music onto the device and I was going to take it to show a friend, so I put the battery back in so I wouldn't have to find an outlet at my friend's house. When I turned on the power switch it wouldn't power up. I plugged it back in with the AC plug and it came on fine. I unplugged it again and it, again, would not power up. I took out the battery to make sure it was in right (which it was) and I noticed that one of the two battery connector leads was loose, like it became un-soldered from its connection. So now I had an MP3 player that I could only use within reach of a power outlet. It basically lost half its function for me because, although I was going to use it at work where I would use a power cable, I also wanted a portable player to replace a walkman that I could take on trips (thus requiring the battery).
What little use I've gotten out of it so far, I've liked. It has excellent sound when I use either my big Sony headphones and when I plug it into my computer's Altec Lansing speakers (w/subwoofer). I had over 24 hours worth of music and I had only used close to 4 of the 10 GBs.
I just wish they would have done a better job with the battery connection. If it's so fragile that it couldn't take me putting the battery in, taking it out, and putting it back in again, it kind of seems like they need to come up with a better connection. I noticed one other person who reviewed this item had a similar problem with the battery.
I hate to send it back but I can't see paying [that much] for something I'm only getting partial functionality out of.
From the reviews I've read about other similar MP3 Jukebox players, it seemed like this one was the better choice. Now i'm not sure what to think.
I'm not sure how common this battery problem is with this unit. If you get one that DOESN'T have weak battery connectors, you'd have a pretty useful device.
32 A Good Bang for the Buck
Just purchased the D-Link after having spent some time reviewing other jukeboxes. Like a lot of people, I would have rushed to have bought an iPod if it a) worked with Windows and b) was, at least, a hundred bucks cheaper. Given that none of the above applied, I was left with what, at this stage of the year, are still slim pickings.
What attracted me to the D-Link was the fact that it has a relatively large capacity for it's price and can function as an external hard drive. Add to that the remote control and the sheer simplicity of transferring MP3 files (just drag and drop - no proprietary software needed) and there's no question that it's a great bargain.
Yes it's large in comparison to other players, but so what? Like a lot of people who buy jukeboxes, I use it primarily as an external music library for my home stereo or in the car. I could care less that it doesn't fit in my shirt pocket.
I do have two gripes, though. First, that because of its small memory buffer (2 megs), this results in more frequent calls to the hard drive - when things are quiet I can often hear the hard drive spinning which is annoying. Second, it seems to me that the D-Link is actually made by SSI America which makes the Neo. The two jukeboxes are the same. However, D-Link won't admit to this and tell you that no accessories (car kit, spare battery etc.) are currently available. So if you want to purchase any accessories you have to track down the people who make them for the Neo. D-Link could be more helpful in this matter.
If people can wait a couple of months and are prepared to shell out around 4 hundred dollars, then it would seem there are a few jukeboxes coming out that will match the iPod. If not, you could a lot worse than the D-Link.
33 Good MP3 Jukebox for the money.
I bought this unit about two months ago. For the most part, it has lived up to my expectations. The user interface is a little bland, but it works efficient. The OS is a little slow to respond at times. It is very easy to download/upload songs or files from the device. For WinXP and Win2000, there is no need to install any drivers. Just plug the device in and it is instantly recognized. Even though others have stated that play-lists are not supported, I have no problem using them. Although it is a portable device, it may be too cumbersome for jogging (about the same as portable CD player w/o the skipping.) Some of the firmware needs to be updated (maybe they should have a patch) as I have gotten it to lock up on several occasions. The buttons are sensitive so the can be inadvertently pressed when in the travel case. The sound quality out of the line out is excellent, but the headphone out lacks bass even with good headphones. As a portable hard drive, it is excellent. Given reviews of other devices, I would still pick this one over the other hard drive based MP3 Jukeboxes.
34 Brilliant sound and simple to use
I trolled the net trying to learn more about this player before taking the plunge, but am shocked by how WELL this machine works. I find its size entirely reasonable considering that I can store 150 CDs on it.
I would suggest vigorously organizing your music on this hard drive using your PC. Once in a directory, you can set it to play at random. By doing this, this unit becomes your own radio station.
To think that I was considering paying the Audi folks for a CD changer for my car!
35 Good bang for the buck, has room for improvement.
The first impression was not very good. It's extremely plastiky and feels kind of flimsy. The instruction to install the rechargeable battery is wrong. The included cover/bag does not fit.
Then when I thought about it, a 10GB MP3 player for $229 isn't that bad. Afterall, the MP3 player does work, and it does have 10GB of storage capacity.
The Win98 driver was easy to install, and it detects the connection and detachment of the drive reliably. However, getting this puppy to work under Linux is another story. It is currently not support by kernel 2.4.17, but there is a patch available to add this support. Unfortunately, the patch itself is corrupted by all the character encoding and decoding associated with posting plain text files in HTML form. Long story short, I had to hand edit the patch file to make it work.
Once the patched kernel 2.4.17 recognized Roq-it, I had a lot of fun ripping from my CD collection. It's nice that Roq-it is recognized as a hard disk, but the transfer speed isn't that great.
I think D-Link is heading in the right direction, but they need to pay more attention to quality. There must be ways to improve quality without increasing the cost!
36 Be very cautious when loading player
I had a very similar experience to the reviewer from Columbia.
I started moving files while charging and my computer started giving blue screen errors. I disconnected the D-Link and started it up and some files were there.
I reconnected and attempted to move files and nothing happened.
The D-Link then went blank and now does not work.
I am awaiting a replacement. Will see if it works.
So here I sit with no music.
I would NOT recommend this player.
In hindsight I probably should have went with the Archos 20GB player.
37 DEFECTIVE Unit
This is the third MP3 player I've purchased. I've had two RIO products (the 500 and the 800), both of which I've really liked. I decided to move up to a jukebox unit and shopped around before deciding on the DLink Roq-It. From a price perspective, it seemed a good choice -- but the price only matters if the product works. My unit was defective out of the box. The battery contact was soldered in an incorrect location, making the unit not function at all on battery power.
In addition to that, I was surprised at the size and weight of the device (even though I had considered this before purchase). It is HUGE and is completely impractical for use while working out. Although, in fairness, that is probably true of all the devices in the jukebox category. The controls are very cheap and the operating system itself is very slow to respond to the controls.
The worst of this device, besides the simple fact that it was improperly manufactured, was the programming capability. There is no playlist function on the device itself. When you're dealing with 30 or 40 songs on a 128MB device, that's not such a big deal. Random play etc. is sufficient. But for a device that stores hundreds of tunes, a playlist capability is essential. Don't believe the advertising hype: this unit DOESN'T have this capability. They say it handles M3U playlists, but not on the device, only on the software on your computer.
For what it is worth, the machine worked flawlessly (when plugged in), being recognized in Windows and then showing up as an additional hard drive on my system. But it gets a one star rating for the defect, the documentation, the controls and the technical support. Technical support was rude and very unprofessional. I've returned it and will wait to buy a RIO Riot when it comes out.
38 Works Great but Read the Specs....
D-Link says this is a 7.7 ounce player, but check the specs. It's huge. The 7.7 ounces is without the battery, carrying case and harness you'd have to buy to run or exercise with it.
Yes, it's half the price of the Apple iPod, but it's twice the size. Again, this thing is HUGE. It would be better advertized as a portable hard drive that also plays mp3s. But if all you want is a portable hard drive, you can do much better in terms of size.
It does work well, installs easily, and at 10 GB it has twice the storage of the iPod. But the iPod also doubles as a portable hard drive and with the firewire it does downloads at about 40 times the speed of USB. Do you really need more than 5 GB in such a small package anyway? If you can switch to Mac conviently, iPod is the product you'll want.
If you're stuck in the PC world, then Roq-IT seems to be the best alternative for now, but you just know that won't last long...
39 Sometimes annoying, but generally good.....
I actually would give the Roq-it 4 1/2 stars. Yes, it is not an Apple iPod, but rather a reasonable substitute for much less money. Its 2 MB buffer performs well during exercise (indoor cycling, rowing, and climbing)which is my main reason for purchasing it. Its instruction manual has clearly been written by someone who did not grow up speaking English, but that seems to be the case these days. The user interface is not intuitive. But once you get the hang of it, it actually works well. You can store things in folders in a heirarchical fashion. Learning to navigate around is all that remains. The only real negative is the lack of a "lock" switch. Its large, easy to use buttons are great to work with, but can be inadvertently touched - if you don't watch out.
This certainly is a step up from the Flash-ROM based MP3 players. It is somwhat large as is the "Creative" Hard Drive based systems. Its price is reasonable as well.
40 Good contender in the hard drive MP3 sector
Pros: The unit is solidly constructed, has a good feel and is extremely simple to use. Plug it into your PC's USB port and drag MP3s onto the hard drive symbol that appears in your Windows Explorer. The backlit LCD screen is very easy to read
Cons: The included headphones are flimsy, cheap and sound horrible.
41 Very Cool!!
All I can say is, this is by far the best thing i have ever purchased. Now i can take all of my music wherever i want. Only 2 things that really arent much of a problem, but i had a time getting it into the carrying case, and the navagation is a little frustrating, but like the guy in the other review said once you get your folders straight its excellent! Doubles as a external harddrive, what else would you want in an mp3 player? Unless you are a mac user (in witch case you would probably want the ipod) this is the one 2 get period.
42 Best Value - Great Sound Quality
Just received my DMP-HD610 and wow is it great! I tried this unit because it had the best cost/meg I could find. The sound quality is great. I recommend this to anyone considering purchasing a Nomad or Archos.
43 Best bang for the buck, works great, mega space
I was a little uncertain when I purchased this as DLINK is a networking company and the product was just released. However, it works great. Sound is good. Scrap the cheap headphones it comes with though. Battery life is good. USB setup is a no-brainer and you are off and to the races. The unit is much lighter than expected(and the arcos model that I bought and returned). The screen is also a lot larger and better than the archos unit. I have taken the unit in my backpack cycling, on a motorcycle, in the car and carried while working out with no issues at all. 10GB for around $200 is finally here. My only minor gripe is that the play button isn't embedded enough and can sometimes be tapped through the carrying case. I would recommend this item though!!!
44 This is the most incredible MP3 player on the market.
I recently purchased this D-LINK 10GB USB mp3 player and can only say good things about it. Before I purchased this specific player I had a D-LINK 32MB mp3 player that performed perfectly. I decided to invest a good amount of money into another D-LINK product and I can only say good things. Use of the player is very easy. Its a drag and drop format. Of course having two thousand MP3's as I do, organization is a major issue. All I had to do was organize my mp3's into different folders. For example, I had 7 folders. ROCK, R&B, CLASSICAL, JAZZ, ITALIAN MUSIC, FOREIGN, 70'S etc. etc. All you need to do is open up a folder and fing your song. The sound of the player is amazing. What more could you want?? I would say that the only bad thing about the player is that it looks like the first release of the Nintendo Gameboy. Its ugly, plain and simple. If you have a lot of mp3's and you like to travel (without taking your laptop with you) get this player. Do NOT get the ARCHOS just because it "looks better". It may look much better but the reliability of the D-LINK is unsurpassed. TECH support is A++. My advice: if you have money to spend on a 6GB-20GB mp3 player GET THIS ONE!! (DON'T BE FOOLED BY ITS UGLY APPEARENCE!!)
45 Very Fragile
I have bought this mp3 to be use in my car and home stereo. It is small but it does not fit in a pocket; Also it is a little heavy. The day I recived it, I have started to charge it and at the same time to move my music to it. Then by accident, I unpluged it from the power. The consequences were very bad. It stopped working. It could not access the hard drive. I am not at the US to return it so I hire somebody to fix it. He had to format the hard drive again and to repair a small pin that makes contact with the battery. Now it is working but sometimes it stop working and I have to reset it every time at least once per day. Also It does not organize your songs on the hard drive so it is a mess and If you have a large collection of songs. it will be very boring. The letter case is not very nice. The only good things are the capacity the speed to change songs and the Super screen very nice. (...)
