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Wizpy user review

  • Subject: Wizpy user review
  • From: stumpyuk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2008 03:34:01 -0800 (PST)
  • Bytes: 3675
  • Complaints-to: groups-abuse@xxxxxxxxxx
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  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
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  • Xref: ellandroad.demon.co.uk comp.os.linux.advocacy:591819
Thought I would post this as there doesn't seem to be a "customer"
review anywhere on the net.

I have just bought a Wizpy and have to say that I am very disappointed
with some features.    The physical device itself is sturdy and
robust.   The quality of the display is excellent, and the sound
playback is also very good quality.
Right that is the good stuff out of the way.   Now for the downside:

The menu buttons are counter-intuitive (the volume controls are the up
and down buttons but the graphical volume slider bar is horizontal.
The device doesn't support playlists which, IMHO, is  unforgivable in
such a comparatively expensive device.

Much has been made of the ability of Wizpy owners to boot any PC into
Linux (Turbolinux in this case) from the device.   This procedure is
very simple and has worked first time on several of my PCs.   However
both experienced Linux users and more importantly Linux newbies are
bound to be disappointed with the Linux experience.  There are a very
limited number of applications.   Additional content is only available
via the Wizpyclub website, and at the moment there are no add-ons
beyond what is already installed.   Experienced users will find that
you cannot download and install applications manually, if you do
manage to do this you will find that they have been flushed from the
system at reboot.

The dumbest situation is with the Turbolinux Ripper and encoder.
This allows you to rip music from CDs to the Wizpy player.
Unbelievably the lame and ogg encoders aren't actually installed on
the system and there is no way to manually install them.  This means
that you can't use the installed Turbolinux distro to rip your music
to the player. I have gone to the support site and filled in the on-
line form to get support regarding this issue, but an error in the
coding of the page means there is no way to send your support request!

Also the Wizpy is advertised as coming with online storage, yet
repeated attempts to sign up for this service have failed.

TBH I can't see people rushing out to convert to Linux based on the
limited distro on offer here (which was apparently a big part of the
thinking behind the device).   I can't see too many linux gurus
spending the serious amount of loot to buy one of these and trying to
mod it.

As a portable MP3/movie player it is great, but you can buy as equally
good quality devices for about a third of the price of the wizpy.   As
an introduction to Linux it is piss-poor, for experienced users it is
worse than that.

Stumpyuk

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