MP3 Jumper
If your trying to solve some problems about your Jumper you can go ahead to the drawbacks section
See bottom part for pictures
Introduction
During it's days, the MP3 Jumper I and II has claimed that it has produced the smallest and lightest portable MP3 player in the world. Currently, as I know, it carries several brand names. Some of them are Baromtec, CMC Magnetics, Maxell HK, IRock and others.
Miniaturization
Because of the size of the product all efforts were made to save space. By sandwiching two double sided PCB's (Printed Circuit Board) and using Surface Mount Technology (SMT) they reduced the overall size of it to be 48x64x16 mm. The two PCB's were cleverly connected together by wireless connectors from both sides.
Because of it's plastic mold casing and SMT components, the unit only weighs 38g w/o battery. When you clip it using your belt clip, it's as if your wearing nothing!! Jumper II also comes with a necklace and it serves it right because of it's weight.
Specifications
The Jumper I and II serves as a 3-in-1 pocket sized gadget. Of course the most basic function of it is to play MP3's. The reproduction of sound is fine when using it's own earphones that come with it and superb when using a pair of SONY earphones. The second function is as a voice recorder. It can amazingly store long hours of voice in it's memory. A 16mb memory can store 60 minutes (an hour) of voice, while a 32mb memory can store 120 minutes (2 hours!) of voice. The recorded quality though is not of the best type, but it would do if you just need to listen to voice recordings. A small drawback is the volume is not at it's peak if you use it on a classroom lecture, but when listening to the voice, you can raise the volume so you can hear the important points of a lecture. The third function is that it can act like a digital storage device. MP3Jumper integrated into this device file storage. If you want to transfer files from a computer, or do not have enough disk space on your floppy disk, you can use MP3Jumper along with its USB or parallel cable.
Power requirements
The interesting part of this player is that it uses only one 1.5V AAA battery. MP3 Jumper I says it's battery can last up to 8 hours. But others say that it lasts only for 6. But anyway!! It uses only 1 battery!! At least you have a backup of another one in case the other one dies on you when you purchase a pair of batteries.
By contrast, MP3 Jumper II 's power will last longer than MP3 Jumper I. This is because it takes less power to operate the built-in memory of Jumper II. Operating in music mode on built-in memory can take an average of 130mA, while on MMC about 190mA. Voice recording in built-in typically takes 110mA while on the MMC a hefty current of 240mA.
Drawbacks section
One major drawback of the MP3 Jumper is it's selectivity of it's MMC (Multimedia Card). Several people had to go through this problem after they have purchased incompatible MMCs (with the price to pay! MMC prices are no joke).
A word of advice, before purchasing an MMC for your MP3 Jumper, try to test it with the unit.
If you are wondering what type of MMC's to buy, I hope this could help: MP3 Jumper I (parallel port) can only have a maximum MMC of 32mb. It couldn't support 64mb unlike what the box cover of Maxell may have written on it. I have tested a Hitachi MMC 32mb and it doesn't work on a Jumper II, unlike what I have written before. The potential MMC to buy is a Sandisk brand (the one that originally comes with the Jumper I). Although, a Japanese manufactured 64mb Sandisk MMC is not compatible with a Maxell MP3 Jumper II (USB). A US Sandisk 64mb may work on a Maxell MP3 Jumper II (USB).
Sorry, but i have a wrong observation about low kbps songs affecting other songs in the MP3 Jumper, my apologies. I'm also not sure if large kbps of songs results in skipping of the MMC.
- I have checked with CMC that a Maxell MP3 Jumper is the same with a CMC MP3 Jumper. Maxell is actually a customer of CMC in HK.
Hidden Features
There are some hidden features of MP3 Jumper II not found in the manual. For instance, don't you know that you can fast forward a song or a recorded voice by pressing and holding the forward button for a certain time while playing. You can do this for both the built-in and detachable memory. Also, you can even rewind a MP3 or a recorded voice by pressing and holding the back button while playing. Though, you can only rewind in the built-in memory and not in the MMC.
Pictures:
More to come next time ......
Last update:
March 1, 2002
- Added in drawbacks section
- Added new topic, Hidden features
March 23, 2002
- Added pictures section
- Added some things in drawbacks section
April 12, 2002
- Deleted something in drawbacks section.... Sorry, wrong observation kbps in songs
May 20, 2002
- Changed information about Hitachi MMC and other things in the drawback section.
May 26, 2002
- Added the Baromtec site
September 29, 2002
- Modified a little the drawbacks section and links
Important Links
Baromtec site - a cool website for your Jumper. It has manuals and the latest drivers for your Jumper. It also has a discussion board about your jumper.