ibiza Rhapsody H1A030BK 30 GB Wi-Fi/MP3 Player by Haier (Black)

ibiza it's just ok. I had several problems with it. First the sound needs to be improved. I was never able to use wireless internet because of connection problems. Writing text is time consuming. To use it wirelessly at home, you have to have expensive wi-fi wireless connection and that's not a good deal.I was never able to make it work when Wi-fi was available.It took me a while before I had it replaced as the operators will suggest ideas to fix it. These ideas did not work, but wasted a lot of my time. The front pad gets stucked, and then the options run wildly up and down making it very diffcult to make a selection. When I asked for help, the operators are not familiar with the device, but they try very hard to be helpful. Ibiza has a short battery life-span not recommended for trips longer than 6 hours unless you purchase a car charger.Ibiza is a good idea because it is compact, it is actually much cheaper than a cd library collection, downloading out of your home is possible (needs improvement), it is available with a 30 GB memory, and you have tons of music without having to purchase individual songs. Download times are rather fast and that is great.

This is a great player for folks interested in Rhapsody's subscription service.

When you buy it upgrade to the latest software immediately. This adds many asked for features (better searching capabilities for music, indexing through a podcast, preset equalizer settings, etc.)

I have a cd sourced library of over 4500 songs and have had no issue transferring it to the Ibiza - nor has the start up time been long either. (Often an issue with large libraries on hard drive players.)

The real treat here, though, is signing up for Rhapsody's on the go plan and having access to millions of songs for download via WiFi - no need to connect via wires. The range of the WiFi is only about 30 feet, but the wireless joy of browsing, discovering, and downloading music reminds my of long ago trips to the music store and flipping through the album racks - except now I can keep any albums or tracks I want.

Also, ditch the cheapy headphones and invest in some decent earphones (do you really need to be told this)? Much better sound.

Lastly, the video is weak. I haven't explored it too much, but it appears that the types of supported video are limited.

Oh yeah - the software developers for the OS are excellent at addressing bugs and doing a new release every 30 to 60 days. Search for the Ibiza Rhapsody forum and find out what they are coming up with next.

All in all, an excellent alternative to the IPod's closed world and a great addition to Rhapsody's subscription service.

I agree with most of the reviews that the Ibiza has great promise and sets out to be a great player. The problem is the quality is absolutely terrible!

I ordered my first one three weeks ago, and when it arrived, the sound only came in through one ear of the headphones. I returned the first one only to get a second one that has completely died on the second day (after also crashing my computer while I attempted to move over my music collection).

The idea of a wifi player is great, and I really like the podcast features. I just can't handle being worried that I'll wind up with a player that I'm spending more time waiting on a new one in the mail than actually enjoying it.

Stay away!

This would be a wonderful product if it actually worked right...

I got it brand new and at first i was impressed. It looks much better in person then pictures show. its sleek and looks nice. The interface is very nice with a well made rhapsody interface.

The touch pad is not too difficult to use.

However the problems started when trying to use the wifi. Simpley put. the wifi signal is not strong enough for the device. I found out its due to the metal casing. This limits the range. Basically unless your sitting close to your wifi source you will get many disconnects. This is very frustrating.

Not only that but the unit kept locking up and freezing on me even when updating to the latest version. Finally rebooting the device stop working so it would be stuck in its frozen mode with no way to turn it off except to let the battery die down.

The "customer" support is nothing more then a web forum in which most of the moderators dont even work for the company...one even had no idea what i was talking aboutu when i asked if they had the firmware drivers available to download on the ftp.

I am really dissipointed not so much that the thing didnt work ...but that it could have been a really awesome device if it would just work like it is supposed to!!

it had tons of podcasts you could download...and using rhapsody without a pc is a snap....but the disconnects and lock ups just really spoil the whole thing.

i cannot recommend it to anyone. Even if the device didnt lock up ....the shabby wifi performance ...one thing that was a selling point of the device due to the rhapsody integration....isn't worth it. My psp has better wifi reception then this device does.

find something else...i returned mine for a refund.

It is my my opinion that this mp3 player works OK as a player although it has some problems. For instance, when you switch it off and turn it back on later and you want to start the player where you were when you turned it off, you have to 1. Go Select Music 2. Hit enter 3. Scroll down to Now Playing at the bottom of the screen 4. Enter Again. With my Creative Zen M, I just turn it back on and it picks up where it left off.
The next thing, which I consider major, if, like I did, you are considering this mp3 player because it is wireless, don't. As a wireless player I find it to be next to worthless. It works OK on my home network, but anywhere else, you will need to know things like WEPs, passwords, etc. to connect to a local area wireless network outside of your home network. I thought it was going to work like my cell phone connects to the internet, but no. Plus if, like me, you are no fan of Rhapsody (lots of bugs, freezes up computers) then too bad, you have to use their program.