JazPiper Ubit MP3 Player review

Today I've got another MP3 player review for you all. It is the Ubit from JazPiper. This player offers you 128MB to store all your MP3's (or even other filetypes) trough an easy and fast USB connection.

Here's a look on the box that arrived here some time ago. In it I found the JazPiper Ubit MP3 Player, the stereo earphones with neckstrap, a manual, a small sized CD-rom with the drivers and utilities, an USB cable and a Maxell AAA batery.
First a quick look on the specifications and features of the JazPiper Ubit.

Specifications

plays MP3 (32- 320Kbps and VBR) & WMA
voice-recording (MP3 format) via built-in mic
128mb built-in flash memory (about 2 hours MP3 / 10 hour voice-recording)
LCD Screen (28x18HTN matrix)
blue backlight
iD3tag with song title and artiste display
5 sound modes (normal / jazz / rock / pop / classic)
earphone output : 8mW + 8mW (left + right)
5 playmodes (normal / repeat one / repeat all / intro / random)
superfast USB data transfer (7mbps)
built-in USB connector (direct plug into PC without cables)
upload and download files (incl. mp3)
battery life : 12 hours (play), 9 hours (record)
battery level indicator
key hold, volume, play/stop, intelliknob (next/ff, prev/rew, menu navigation)
dimensions : 32 x 85 x 21 mm / 29g excluding batteries
supports MS Windows 98SE / Me / 2000 / XP

Retail package includes

UBit-128 mp3 player with built-in 128mb flash memory & integrated USB connector
earphones with strap
USB extension cable
1xAAA batteries
CDROM (8cm CD) with driver and software
manual

The JazPiper is a small, light, and tall player. It's sure not too big, in fact pretty small if you compare it to Discmans or Walkmans and it fits well in your hands (or around your neck with the headphones/neckstrap). It offers you 128MB of place to put your data on. Yes it isn't limited to carry only MP3/WMA files it can also carry other things like programs, images,... Unfortunately, you can't upgrade its memory with some sort of memory card, I think this is because they wanted to keep it as small as possible. The player has a very dark blue color with some parts in light grey. Left of the player we have the Play/Pause button, and even more to the left is a small integrated micro for voice recording.
Now lets take a closer at the JazPiper Ubit

Mmm where's the USB connector you ask? Pull of the cap on the right with 'JazPiper' on it and there you have it! I had some problems with putting the player in one of my USB ports so I had to use the included USB cable. Very nice that they provided it in the package!

From left to right we have : a stereo headphone output, a hold button and volume buttons.

Here we have the 'intelliknob' it's used to skip to the next or previous song, prev/rew and for menu navigation.

This is the back of the Ubit, here you need to place a AAA battery

Here we have the included headphones. They have a nice neckstrap system so you can easely wear the Ubit around your neck while jogging or sporting. Just tie the cord that's plugged in to the round on the headphone cables around the iron ring on the left of the player and plug in the headphones!

Also included was this CD-ROM with the drivers and the software. The program 'MP3Player' hasn't too many functions but it works fine. The only thing I'm missing is the ability to rip the music directly from CD's to the Ubit.

Also very nice is that the Ubit works like a Removable Drive for Windows. When you plug it in it gets a drive letter just like your HDD. This allows you to easily transfer files to it through Explorer. You can even run your files directly from the drive! Very nice!

Benchmarks!

One of the things I noticed when I uploaded files to the drive was that my files were transfered VERY fast to the Ubit! I benchmarked this with SiSoft Sandra and the program rated it at 1400KB/s, although I had the impression that it was faster because most of my files were almost immediately on the drive when I transfered them!

Here you have a look at the LCD screen of the player. It's easy to read and it has a blue backlight. You can specify how long you want to backlight the LCD screen in the menu, for 5, 10, 15, or 20 seconds after you push on a button. Also in the menu you have the ability the select one of the five equalizers (Jazz, Classic, Rock, Pop and normal), you can record some audio, delete an audio file, and some more. Also, a nice but not very useful feature is a bar-visualization that comes up when you haven't pushed a button for some seconds. Sometimes this is annoying when you want to check which song is playing. One of the problems I noticed was some problems with the ID3 tag readout. Sometimes the player displayed incorrect or incomplete things.

One of the only things I really didn't like was the headphones. They didn't provide a good warm sound like I expected them to do. If you're planning to buy this player then also buy a pair of decent headphones from Sony of Sennheiser like the Beatman MP3 Player had.

Conclusion
The things I really liked were the fast data transfer and the ability to use the player like a removable drive. The only thing I really did not like was the bad earphones, with a pair of decent earphones this player rocks! The included headphones just don't get the max out of this product.

The Good Stuff
- Plays MP3 and WMA
- Is able to store 128MB of audio/data
- Fast datatransfer
- Small, light and fits well in your hands
- Easy to read blue backlighted LCD screen
- It's able to record audio

The Bad Stuff
- The bad earphones
- Sometimes little problems with the ID3-tag readout (incorrect or uncomplete readout)

The JazPiper Ubit receives a 7/10 from DV Hardware

Added: April 16th 2003
Product reviewed: JazPiper Ubit MP3 Player
Reviewer: LSDsmurf
Score: 7/10

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