5. Imation - RipGO!, Continued

The RipGO! includes a 37-page users' manual that is loaded with pictures and screen shots in order to help you get it up and running. Also included is a quick start guide, which covers the basics. We found the included documentation to be very helpful in obtaining a full understanding of the unit's operation.

We found the sound quality of the RipGO! to be very good. The included headphones were comfortable and easy to wear for long periods of time. The unit had very good bass reproduction which, when enhanced with some of the equalizer presets, produced a very booming bass sound.

When running on battery power, we found the estimated battery life of three hours to be correct. In our testing, we were able to yield slightly more than three hours. We consider the three hours of battery life to be one of the RipGO!'s product weaknesses. We would have liked to see the battery life to be closer to the four or five hour range. You can purchase additional batteries for the RipGO!, but they are rather pricey. Batteries must be charged in the RipGO! Unit, and it takes about three hours to achieve a full charge.

A feature we really liked about the RipGO! was its ability to flash and upgrade the firmware of the device. Imation has continued the development of this product through these firmware upgrades. Although you can't really expect Imation to add new features, the RipGO! does have the ability to correct any flaws or compatibility problems that might be found in the firmware. Imation has already released a couple of upgrades for the RipGO!, and it is easy to flash the firmware using the included USB cable.

As a 4X USB CD writer, the RipGO! performed well, and its test scores were on target with what you could expect from other USB CD writers. Although it is possible to burn CDs while in the battery mode, Imation does not suggest that you do this. The company recommends that you only write CDs while in AC mode. We could not find any evidence of buffer under-run technology on this unit. We didn't encounter any buffer under-runs, but, of course, we would always like a larger buffer and support of buffer under-run technology.

Overall, we found the performance of the RipGO! to be very good. It was very skip-proof during our testing. The unit was easy to set up as well as to use. The battery life is a little below average, but the ability to burn discs as well as play them helped to offset this one minor point. We would not consider the RipGO! the most portable of units, but it does address a serious need for portable storage in the marketplace.