Possibly Hot! Andus ReSound 128MB Voice Recorder/MP3 Player/Storage Device @ ComputerGeeks - 59.99 TWO for 89.98

[Mltsao]

Link

+ Shipping of course (no more room in title)

I'v never heard of this company before and therefore im not so sure about the quality/reliability.
Looked it up and found a few sites that sold it anywhere from 70-80.

Mfg Site

Edit:

Review here Link
To get two you have to enter a coupon. Check your email or search for it on google or your favorite hot deals website.

 

[Crapkilla]

I think I'm missing the two for 89.98 part.
Please fill me in.

 

[WolverineGator]

Great price. I bought a similar one from Outpost, but didn't like it.

Review here:
http://www.dansdata.com/usbmp3.htm

 

[AnimEva]

how in heck do u get two for 90 bucks?

 

[Crapkilla]

Not sure about the company (Evertek?) or shipping, but 64MB version is $39.00 here.

Unfortunately, they also require a $100 minimum order...

 

[Crapkilla]

Originally posted by: AnimEva
how in heck do u get two for 90 bucks?

I figured it out, check at you favorite Tech Bargains site.

 

[tomho]

Originally posted by: Crapkilla
Not sure about the company (Evertek?) or shipping, but $39.00 here.

That's the 64MB version...the one that was originally posted is 128MB

 

[Crapkilla]

Originally posted by: tomho

Originally posted by: Crapkilla
Not sure about the company (Evertek?) or shipping, but $39.00 here.

That's the 64MB version...the one that was originally posted is 128MB

Whoops, my bad, I'll correct it.
But did you notice that the description is EXACTLY the same as the Geeks?

 

[mpguy]

i am kinda lookin for a reasonable mp3 player for running and thought maybe a better choice would be the irock 830 128MB for 70 after 15 mir

any thoughts on comparing the two both of which are non expandable although the irock does allow for upgradeable firmware which might come in handy.

irock at buy.com link i got from tbgns

 

[takhyon]

Does any have this? And does it work without the driver on XP?

Compgeeks says it needs a driver. The manufacturer says no.

 

[Anonemous]

Originally posted by: takhyon
Does any have this? And does it work without the driver on XP?

Compgeeks says it needs a driver. The manufacturer says no.

I would lean toward compgeeks since they have nothing to lose (except you not buying it) to reveal the deficiencies of the product.

 

[hocus702]

I've got XP Home, and it needed the driver--or I just didn't put in enough effort. Not a big deal for me, as every machine I want to use has access to the 'net, and the driver is under 200K in a zip (and I put the zip file on my Web site). Works fine as "removable disk"--copied files over. It does require the included USB cable, large to ultra-tiny (nothing I've seen before). And it also has some strange SCSI driver (?) besides the regular one. Didn't install the other software included for management.

I received my two yesterday, and I just got off the phone--ordered two more as gifts!

These things are incredible, and the battery worked! (other posts questioned it!)... It's far too cool, voice recording is awesome--going to use it today at school in fact, it's small, cute, and volume can drive the earbuds LOUD with no distortion. Nice navigation, even fast forward and reverse! Brilliant blue backlight with dot matrix small but nice resolution. Battery indicator. Hold button for working out, or keeping it in 'record' mode. Picks up sounds from far away with NO problem. CRYSTAL clear. You can delete files. Equalizer works--although I just use normal. It's the size of my THUMB! (okay, so I'm a big guy... but still!) Very cute pearlescent white/silver unit and earbuds. Voice record of 30 seconds was ~116K. Rough calcs (I'm a math major--forgive me) put that over 500 minutes record time on an empty unit.

Any questions, feel free to ask--as you can tell, I'm in the after-Anandtech-recommended-purchase-glow... Of course, this is the only thing I've reordered... Mostly because Kraft stopped their thing!

 

[FPSguy]

Instructions for how to update the firmware so that no driver is required. Use at your own risk -- especially in WinXP.

 

[McDealio]

Originally posted by: FPSguy
Instructions for how to update the firmware so that no driver is required. Use at your own risk -- especially in WinXP.

The steps listed in that link don't directly apply to the Andus hardware. I played around with the different files and couldn't get a smooth update procedure. I did, however, find a slightly different way to update the Andus hardware based on the instructions in the link and with some files I found elsewhere. I had posted the steps below in a different forum yesterday.

-------------------------------------------------------

For those who want their unit to function as a generic USB mass storage device for Windows Me, 2K, and XP, I found an updated driver and firmware package than can be used for the Andus Resound hardware.

Frontel, Inc. makes a player that looks exactly the same (Muni#1101 Model). You can see the product page here.

In the customer service section, there is a link for "firmware." Download that and unzip it. Here's where it gets a little tricky...

The procedure below worked for me. If you are nervous about updating firmware, then don't do this. If you don't care about loading a driver for every PC you will be using this on, then again, don't do this.

-------- Firmware Update Instructions ... Use at your Own Risk ------------

1. Make sure the Andus MP3 player is unplugged from the PC
2. Run the setup program from the downloaded and extracted s320_C directory
3. If you had already loaded the original Andus Resound drivers, it will tell you there is a conflict and that the previous drivers will need to be uninstalled. Click OK and the installer will remove the old drivers.
4. After the new drivers are installed, remove the battery from the unplugged MP3 player.
5. Plug the MP3 player back into the USB port
6. Hold down the play button and keep it held down.
7. Insert the battery back into the MP3 player (while still holding the power button).
8. Continue holding the power button until the device is detected. If you did it correctly, it will show up in the Windows Device Manager as a "Sigmatel Recovery Device" (or something like that).
9. You can let go of the play button now
10. Now, go to the directory where the drivers were copied (C:\Program Files\SigmaTel\MSCN)
11. Launch the stusbmscupdate.exe utility
12. You will probably get a message something like "The firmware update has detected your device in firmware recovery mode. Currently, the drivers are loading on your system. Please wait until the driver have completed loading, and then run the firmware update utility again.". Several other new HW devices will be detected (the non-recovery portion of the hardware).
13. Once the drivers are loaded on the system, the FW update screen will appear. If it doesn't, launch stusbmscupdate.exe again.
14. It will probably say that it can't detect the current FW version. That is OK. Uncheck the "Quick Download" option and press "Start." You will get a warning that this will erase any files that are currently on the MP3 player. (if you want to save the supplied sample MP3 files, make sure the copy them to your PC before you do this step)
15. After the firmware update is complete, you will need to unplug the USB cable and replug to have it re-detect as the generic USB mass storage device. Note: On my system, I had to use the "Unplug or Eject Hardware" icon to stop the USB drive process before unplugging. You may not have to do this on your system. My laptop is a little picky with USB devices.
16. You should now have firmware version 2.313 loaded on your Andus Resound!

That's it! Now you don't need the proprietary drivers for every PC you will use it on. Also, the menu system is slightly changed / improved with this update.

- Menu selections work better (can use both left and right to select menu items. With the original firmware, pressing to the right cycled through items, but left always took you back to "return.")
- The fonts are a little different
- The volume screen is reversed (in a good way)
- The memory screen looks different (a little annoying, it scrolls the memory details)

There may be other changes, but I haven't had a chance to look through everything yet.

Good Luck!

 

[hocus702]

Took me two tries... But I got the firmware thingy to work. The second time, I refused to let up on the power button until the device driver was installed (to make it a recovery device... didn't say Sigmatel...)...

So, I noticed a few changes... I guess I'll have to play for a few days to see if they bug me or if I love 'em:

• Auto Power-Off is not available--simply hold down the Play/Pause button until the unit says "POWER OFF" and turns off. (if you let up immediately, it continues doing what you were doing). This is nice for POWER ON because it takes one quick tap, not a semi-hold. Almost nifty--in Hold mode, tapping the Play/Pause turns the unit on, long enough to tell you that it's >LOCKED<, and promptly turns off. No more wondering if the battery is dead or if the hold switch is active.
  
  (Semi-update--After purposely leaving it on all night with a rechargeable 750mAH battery in it, it's still got the same amount of juice. It was dark so I don't know if it was still on. Either way, not much juice consumption! BTW the NiMH rechargeable AAA's don't show a full readout--but still have enough juice to go for a really long time. Will discover just how long this is (going to leave it on 3/4 volume until it dies) {still going after all day of being on Repeat-All}.
  
  Funny Misspelling in the EQ menu (I believe)--Return is Retrun
  
  Volume is Reversed--so keys are now mislabled, but their directions are correct--left is now lower, right is now higher. Hold button sliding now triggers the backlight (can't remember if it did this before). My unit could always scroll back and forth with the dial. Now I notice that when I press-in to select something like in the EQ menu, it does change the EQ, but doesn't exit the menu--almost nifty now that I think about it! Just scroll to return to go back.
  
  Fonts are definately different. First glance--menu was slightly smaller and serif'd, but everything else was surprisingly nicer. Song titles are bigger, and now instead of starting from right to left from the beginning, most of the title appears and continues as before--so you know what's playing quicker. Recording now is in the format hh:mm:ss whereas it was mm:ss (will be nice for long lectures). REC mode shows the file name and directory in the form -/V001.WAV mm:ss (maybe hh:mm:ss if long enough?). When in REC mode or MP3 mode, the mode is displayed. Yes, the memory info scrolls, but I rarely use it because it always seems to be plenty.
  
  COMPLETELY Unrelated--but reading some of the sites I figured out how the funky earbuds were supposed to work! Put the tiny loop of cord through the end metal loop on the unit, and bring the round unit and cables through. Plug the jack in, and you've got a necklace with earbuds on the side. Works great--I'll use it around the house, but not at the gym or in public--I get too many questions (and/or funky looks) about it (err and myself) as it is!
  
  I suppose I won't mind manually powering down. I'm glad I got the firmware to work--I was worried at first. I have no idea how to (if I could) make it go back even if I wanted! The good news is I've got four of them. Haven't tested the auto-XP recognize feature--it'll be after Labor Day in school when I do. But it's nice to think it'll work. All the added functionality means I'll prolly keep it all anyhow.
  
  And, I didn't have to click-to-disconnect in XP, it just be-booped fine. Different on-screen display when you're USB connected.

Too bad no clock! Every recording shows up as being created 10/30/2000 at 3:45pm. I have no idea what I was doing that day. It would be cool if the date and time were stamped, but fortunately I have no use for such a beast--anything important that I'm taking notes, I simply jot down the time that is displayed on the unit--so I can re-play and hopefully clarify and/or memorize what was said.

PROBLEMOS DISCOVERED: Backlight won't turn off while recording (probably not a huge drain, but still)... Memory info incorrectly (at least at the range I'm at) displays memory available... If you don't use the necklace-strap or something to keep the metal loop on the top still, you can hear it loudly 'clanking' in your recordings, if for example you are writing on the desk... Oh, and it's too easy to lose! Only one close call though. A 5 minute drive and a few thousand heartbeats, and it was right where I left it. Still recording.

 

[2czyz2]

It took me a bazillion tries to flash the firmware with WinXP, but eventually I went back to a system restore point from last month (before monkeying with the sigmatel drivers at all) and started over, and it finally worked.

The device now successfully mounts as an external disk named "Unlabeled" on my Mac OS X laptop! I've successfully copied mp3 files to the device, and copied wav voice recordings from it, all on the mac. Neato.

 

[yhelothar]

I got the 64MB version... drivers won't work on my computer... says it ran into conflicts...
The music drive drivers work.. but the SCSI drivers required for it won't work...

I'm using windows server 2003 and nforce2...
all my other windowsxp drivers work...

 

[Johnbear007]

So anymore comment son this thing?

 

[Johnbear007]

I see the manufacturers site no longer exists, and geeks are out of stock (of course)

 

[earsjr]

i originally wanted this deal from compgeeks, but they were OOS for the longest time, and i couldn't wait, so i got a new one off eBay for $60 total. pretty good deal compared to compgeeks.

anyway, the only bad thing about this is on a lot of them, the headphone jack seems to be loose, or very weak. so it's very likely that if you push the headphones in too hard, it'll break something, and you'll only have sound in one ear. some people have even reported not having sound in one ear from the beginning. my first one had that problem, so i returned it and lucky for me the seller sent me a replacement, which i just received yesterday, and it seems to work fine. one of the other lower points about this product is the USB port on the bottom is off-center, so you have to stick the USB connection in at a slight angle to get contact. this was the case for both of the devices i had, so i'm sure it's the same with all of them.

other than those 2 things, this is a very good product for the price. contrary to the advertised "128MB space", you get around 115-120MB, which isn't that much loss at all. the lcd is awesome, and the blue backlight is a real plus. the controls are fairly easy, and nothing on it seems to be susceptible to breaking under normal use. the headphones it comes with are complete crap, so i suggest using something else. the only cool about the ones it comes with are that it clips on top of the unit to make it a necklace. unfortunate the headphones are built into the neck strap, otherwise i'd just cut them off and use separate ear phones...

if you get non-defective, working ones, consider yourself lucky. just make sure compgeeks allows for exchange without any restocking fee, and it'd also be good if they paid for return shipping, because chances are you might have to do that once or twice...

there's my 2, 3, or 50 cents.

 

[metalmania]

In fact, you can get it from Mwave.com for $59.90 plus shipping.

The tricky thing is, the description of that product (SKU:AA21120) is of Apacer Steno which should be much better than this one.

I thought I would get the Apacer one, but instead Mwave sent me the Aundus. And their CSR and tech support really knew nothing. That sucks!

Anyway, I flashed it. Now it works good! Thanks to Mcdealio!

But I will never buy anything from Mwave.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: earsjr
i originally wanted this deal from compgeeks, but they were OOS for the longest time, and i couldn't wait, so i got a new one off eBay for $60 total. pretty good deal compared to compgeeks.

anyway, the only bad thing about this is on a lot of them, the headphone jack seems to be loose, or very weak. so it's very likely that if you push the headphones in too hard, it'll break something, and you'll only have sound in one ear. some people have even reported not having sound in one ear from the beginning. my first one had that problem, so i returned it and lucky for me the seller sent me a replacement, which i just received yesterday, and it seems to work fine. one of the other lower points about this product is the USB port on the bottom is off-center, so you have to stick the USB connection in at a slight angle to get contact. this was the case for both of the devices i had, so i'm sure it's the same with all of them.

other than those 2 things, this is a very good product for the price. contrary to the advertised "128MB space", you get around 115-120MB, which isn't that much loss at all. the lcd is awesome, and the blue backlight is a real plus. the controls are fairly easy, and nothing on it seems to be susceptible to breaking under normal use. the headphones it comes with are complete crap, so i suggest using something else. the only cool about the ones it comes with are that it clips on top of the unit to make it a necklace. unfortunate the headphones are built into the neck strap, otherwise i'd just cut them off and use separate ear phones...

if you get non-defective, working ones, consider yourself lucky. just make sure compgeeks allows for exchange without any restocking fee, and it'd also be good if they paid for return shipping, because chances are you might have to do that once or twice...

there's my 2, 3, or 50 cents.

Thanks for the response! I think I am going to pass on this one considering the problems and probably go with the Apacer for 70$ at newegg or get an iriver.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: metalmania
In fact, you can get it from Mwave.com for $59.90 plus shipping.

The tricky thing is, the description of that product (SKU:AA21120) is of Apacer Steno which should be much better than this one.

I thought I would get the Apacer one, but instead Mwave sent me the Aundus. And their CSR and tech support really knew nothing. That sucks!

Anyway, I flashed it. Now it works good! Thanks to Mcdealio!

But I will never buy anything from Mwave.

Mwave has a pretty good reputation around here. I am sorry to hear you hade problems with them. Does your playe rhave a lose headphone jack?

 

[yhelothar]

I reinstalled windows xp! all the drivers load now! though it won't find the drive inside!! WTF?!?!?1
SOMEONE PLZ HELP ME GET THIS TO WORK!! I WANT TO PLAY MP3s ON IT!!! GRRRR!!!