Iomega HipZip review

MP3 players have always been cool - and as they get smaller, lighter and able to carry more music, they just get better.

But there's one thing you can't ignore - without a spare CompactFlash or SmartMedia card they're useless for long trips or those times when you're away from your PC for long periods. The same ten songs wear thin when they're all you've got.

Iomega thinks it has the answer with its HipZip. This handy MP3 player stores music on tiny, removable Clik! Disks, each holding 40Mb (roughly 40 mins of music at 128Kbit/s). They're compact and durable, and while they aren't cheap, costing between £6 and £10 depending on how many you buy at once, they're certainly cheaper and more practical than CompactFlash cards. You can also use the HipZip as a portable storage device. And as it connects via USB, it's extremely easy to set up.

You rip MP3 files from CD using the excellent bundled MusicMatch Jukebox - or Windows Media Player 7 if you prefer using Microsoft's .Wma format. You then transfer them from your PC using a USB cable, which is quick and painless. My 34Mb of files went across in a mere 5 minutes.

Using mechanical storage does have one drawback: compared to recent MP3 players, the HipZip is cumbersome. Battery life is very good, however. The lithium ion battery lasts 10-12 hours between charges. On first impression, I thought sound quality was Iomega's fatal flaw, but that's because the headphones supplied are awful. Replace them, and you'll get a better idea of what the HipZip offers - a sound which, while suffering from MP3's tell-tale brittleness, doesn't lack bass or definition.

The HipZip is well designed and built, but I'm not sure I'd actually buy one. For day-to-day use, you can get a great 64Mb MP3 player for less money, while for longer trips I'd probably plump for a good MiniDisc player/recorder - sound quality is higher and the discs much cheaper. Still, if you want one little box to do both, the HipZip does the job well.