My First DAP-MobiBLU-1500i-And It's DOA!

[Gene]

I'm an old school guy and have always used portable cassette players and PCDP's which I've really enjoyed through the years and especially the early ones because of their quality build. I recently thought that maybe I should try digital audio and went for one of the tiny 1GB ModbiBLU-1500i "Cubes". I ordered one and also ordered one of the new AC adapters for it on Walmart's website and waited patiently for them to arrive.

I checked all the reviews on the net and reviewers were all totally positive on this micro DAP and some reviewers even gave it a "best buy". I thought I had made a great decision especially since I love players that are SMALL!

Well, it came today. I charged it for 3 hours as recommended in the instructions with the AC adapter. Went to turn it on and NOTHING! I checked and rechecked everything but still nothing. The screen won't light and I did notice that the controls seem cheap and loose.

I guess I'll ALWAYS be an "old school" guy because when they say they don't make things like they used to, it's so true! I bought many PCDP's and cassette Walkmen, (not to mention amps and other components), in the old days and I never had a DOA component or even a single thing break down on me. In the last 2 years, I've had a Dell Dimension 4600 computer, a microwave, and now this MobiBLU-1500i come DOA right out of the package!

I've read here where people were on their 2nd or 3rd Rio or iRiver or iPod or whatever DAP in the first year of ownership. I know we're in a "throw away" society nowadays but the failure rate of electronics now is ridiculous! I know I'm going to let everyone know about this failure and you young guys should do the same and not just take all this shoddy workmanship nowadays lightly!

 

[azncookiecutter]

Ouch, that sucks. Although you may try charging the player thru USB, since it was originally meant for the player to charge over USB in the first place, not by the optional AC adapter.

 

[Gene]

I thought of that cookiecutter and it didn't work either. I'm so burnt out with today's build quality. If something works for a year or so, it's great because everyone will just buy the next newest model in the next few months. You know, that sucks because young people nowadays don't realize that shouldn't be the norm! If something doesn't work, even with a liberal return policy, that doesn't make it right. In our disposible society nowadays, it's no big deal if we have to return it over and over again to get it right. Young people, REBEL! Make manufacturers do it right, THE FIRST TIME.

 

[e1ghtyf1ve]

Did you consider the iPod? Better build quality, but still insufficient for me - I'm really old-school! If you want the best construction quality and great sound (some think it is the best), try the Sony MZ-RH910, for $200 or less. User replaceable battery, shirt pocket size, skip free, USB download, broadcast quality recording with digital upload and so much more.

I've either given away or returned my flash and HD DAPs - terribly disappointed with the sweat-shop built junk they market these days.

For the prices they go for, it's purely ripping the young people off!

 

[Sparky191]

Mp3 players do seem quite fragile alright.

 

[bellor_19]

You guys are soooo right. But, you see, the problem is that if this kind of stuff isn't cheap enough for what it offers people (the majority of them) just won't buy. Many will, but many more won't. So the manufacturers cater to those that just don't care about build quality. This all started with CDROM units. You know those units that cost 300 $ in the beginning and many of them still work now? Plextor still makes them the old way but they charge you 150 $ for it. The others sell CDROM units for 30 $. The cheap ones do break pretty fast but... Which would you buy?
I know it's not right... but what can you do? And to be frank... you know that your Mobiblu might not have been DOA. It might have gotten a spike of current from the charger and it could have experienced an xSAV error. xSAV means "x stuck at v". It's a type of hardware error when an integrated circuit gets too much juice and a node (the "x" from the name) within the circuit gets stuck on a particular value (the "v"). This happened to my iPod Shuffle one day when I updated the firmware and now it will only charge for 1 hour at a time. I have to plug-unplug 4 times to get a good full charge from 0 to 100%. That is why I always test my electronics before I charge the batteries

 

[e1ghtyf1ve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bellor_19 You guys are soooo right. But, you see, the problem is that if this kind of stuff isn't cheap enough for what it offers people (the majority of them) just won't buy. Many will, but many more won't. So the manufacturers cater to those that just don't care about build quality. This all started with CDROM units. You know those units that cost 300 $ in the beginning and many of them still work now? Plextor still makes them the old way but they charge you 150 $ for it. The others sell CDROM units for 30 $. The cheap ones do break pretty fast but... Which would you buy? I know it's not right... but what can you do? And to be frank... you know that your Mobiblu might not have been DOA. It might have gotten a spike of current from the charger and it could have experienced an xSAV error. xSAV means "x stuck at v". It's a type of hardware error when an integrated circuit gets too much juice and a node (the "x" from the name) within the circuit gets stuck on a particular value (the "v"). This happened to my iPod Shuffle one day when I updated the firmware and now it will only charge for 1 hour at a time. I have to plug-unplug 4 times to get a good full charge from 0 to 100%. That is why I always test my electronics before I charge the batteries

Great summary - kudos to you!