Iomega HipZip MP3 Digital Player

Richard Price
31 October 2000

In spite of all the sanctimonious cries of sacrilege from big record labels the MP3 format continues to find new followers.

The latest convert is Iomega with their new HipZip MP3 digital audio player.

Of course, the HipZip utilises the latest digital rights management (DRM) to offer artists and publishers some form of protection against unauthorised distribution of commercial content.

Iomega are also counting on their unique serialised PocketZip disks to prevent illegal copying and give them a piece of the worldwide music market estimated at AU$70 billion.

The Iomega HipZip is a stylish, well designed unit that fits neatly into the palm of your hand or pocket.

It's compatible with popular digital formats including Microsoft's Windows Media Audio (WMA), and can be upgraded to support Audible and Dolby AAC.

The menu-driven controls are easy to access and the LCD display is crisp and easy to read. The screen shows all the info you need including track information.

The HipZip has a built-in equaliser with a number of preset modes. Bass and treble can be adjust separately.

The HipZip plays music stored on Iomega's 40MB PocketZip disks. If the PocketZip looks a bit familiar, it's because they are. Iomega used to call them Clik! Disks, and if you have any they will be quite compatible with the HipZip.

I wonder whether the HipZip is just a neat way of making those old Clik! Disks popular?

The HipZip also features an anti-skip design (buffer) to ensure continuous play even if the PocketZip is bumped around.

IomegaWare and MusicMatch Jukebox Plus are included in the package.

Installing was easy enough. An earlier version of IomegaWare that was running a 2GB Jaz drive was detected and updated. The HipZip and the Jaz drive show up as removable drives in Windows Explorer.

MusicMatch JukeBox is an integrated CD ripper, MP3 and Windows Media Audio encoder, Music Library, digital music player and CD player. The manual is in HTML format.

Tracks can be recorded and encoded from a CD library in a single step, to create near-CD-quality digital music. A PocketZip can hold up to 70 minutes of audio, but only if your MP3s are recorded at the lowest possible quality.

MusicMatch has a trendy interface that looks like it was designed by an art student on "Red Bull", but it is straightforward to use.

I ripped a CD to MP3 and WMA format and the HipZip played both without any trouble.

Using the Line-in or Mic-in jacks on a soundcard as the recording source it is possible to transfer audio from vinyl, cassette, or microphone.

Personally, I can't understand the fuss over MP3. It is not the sort of sound quality I would pay for. While converting CDs to MP3, and navigating around MP3 sites looking for free files to download is time consuming.

If you are not that interested in music files, the HipZip can be used as a basic data storage device. Connected to a computer via the USB cable the HipZip operates like another hard drive.

The HipZip is powered by a rechargeable lithium ion battery, which provides 12 hours of continuous play.

The power supply/charger was a joke. The US/Japan standard prongs had been bent with a pair of pliers to get them to fit (badly) into Australian power points. I hope it is not going to be sold like this!

www.iomega.com
RRP AU$699

By Richard Price, Editor, EnergyME.com

For information on getting a product reviewed email richard@energyme.com