When we opened the box containing the Iomega HipZip, we were impressed. The HipZip is a funky, silver and blue digital audio player, and it comes in a protective case that can be clipped onto your bag. Two 40MB PocketZip disks come standard with the HipZip, which is just over two CDs worth of music, at near-CD quality.
The internal Lithium Ion battery only takes about two hours to charge, and lasts for an incredible 12 hours, so we were disappointed that we didn't have any more disks. PocketZip disks are AU$209 for a pack of ten, and can be reused numerous times, so the music can be changed on them as often as you wish.
The software included with the HipZip is Windows Media Player 7 and MusicMatch Jukebox, providing an easily recognisable interface for transferring music. In MusicMatch, you simply click on "Send to Device" from the Options menu to transfer the current playlist. This enables you to choose songs from the playlist, and also delete unwanted songs from the player, using the transfer window.
The software shows the size of each music file, with both MP3 and WMA files supported, and features a status bar, with remaining disk space displayed. Unfortunately, it was not possible to transfer files from the HipZip onto our computer using the MusicMatch Jukebox software--files can be transferred to and from the player using Windows Explorer. The download was extremely fast thanks to the HipZips mini-USB connection, and the player displays a message on its LCD that tells you it's connected to the computer.
The HipZip has superb audio quality. It shook the room when attached the Boston Acoustics speakers from our computer, and even though the music was sampled at 64k, there was no distortion when turned up really loud. We were able to customise the sound through the player's equaliser, where it can be set to rock, classical or jazz music, or you can adjust the treble and bass.
The design of the HipZip is very intuitive. All the function buttons are located on the front of the player, with menu and volume controls on one side, and the hold button on the other. The LCD shows a variety of information; battery life indicator, volume level, track name, artist name, track number, elapsed time, equaliser mode, and play mode. The player can be reset to its original settings at any time, if you are unhappy with it at its current settings.
The Iomega HipZip is a fun, easy-to-use digital audio player with excellent sound quality. At AU$669, it's not the cheapest player around, but in this case, you definitely do get what you pay for.
Iomega HipZip
Company: Iomega
Ph: 02 9925 7700; Fax: 02 9955 7788
Price: AU$669.
Rating: 4 Star
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