Insignia Sport 4GB MP3 Player Our rating:

The Insignia Sport MP3 Player is in the same price range as Apple’s iPod Shuffle, but packs quite a few more features for the price. With a spin-wheel and a thin, rectangular body, it even mimics the iPod. It’s very easy to control, even when on the run, which means the Insignia Sport lives up to its name. The Sport has an extra slot for a Micro SD card, and is even bluetooth capable. These two options as well as its ability to play videos set it in a league entirely apart from and above the iPod Shuffle. The Insignia Sport has easy-to-use menus, and can also be configured for left-handed use – a very nifty feature. The Sport makes it simple to find and play your music by artist, album, song, genre, and of course playlist, and you can also build your own “now playing” playlists on-the-spot. It also feataures a clock, an fm-radio feature, as well as a sleep timer. The video and audio quality is superb, and unlike many other MP3 players with radios, one cannot complain much about the radio quality. The only downfall is that since the player doesn’t have an external FM antenna, it must be placed somewhere where FM signals are in easy reach. The Sport is available in black, red and blue, and it looks very stylish. It’s simple, yet sleek.

Insignia’s Sport charges through a USB connection to a computer. It is very easy to transfer music onto and even comes with its own software. However, it’s also compatible with iTunes, Windows Media Player, and other common audio programs should you desire to stick with the program you’re already using. Its battery charge lasts a good 24 hours, which is very impressive. The Sport has been very reliable and did not experience any issues with music transferring or disappearing, a common issue among cheaper MP3 players. Although it did freeze a few times during normal use, it was easily restored to its normal “healthy” state upon being plugged into the computer or reset.

One downfall about the Sport is that it reconfigures and won’t return to your “Now Playing” list when unplugged from your computer. Of course, you’ll still have the playlists you have saved, but losing your currently playing list upon unplugging the device is somewhat of a nuisance. However, other than these few minor issues, the Sport is a winner across the board. It’s outstanding technological specs, durability, functionality, and design style easily make it one. Insignia, a Best Buy brand, did a very good job with the Sport MP3 Player and we not only recommend this individual device, but the manufacturer as a whole due to its cheaper price and overall good quality products.

Linksys WRE54G Wireless-G Repeater Our Rating:

Want better wireless signal in your house? This is exactly what you need. This device homes in on your wireless signal from your router, and then boosts it, extending the range of your wireless network.

The product itself is a small box that can either be mounted right on the outlet, or used with a provided cord and mounted on the wall, or simply set on a surface. Once mounted, all you have to do is aim the antenna straight up. Then you just hold down the auto-configure button, and it will configure itself to repeat the strongest wireless signal it can find that is not secured. If your network is secure, you must connect it to your network or use the software on the provided CD.

This is where we dock a star from the rating. The software didn’t work right at all for us. It is supposed to give you the ability to further configure your product, and to confirm that it is connected to the correct network. It also is needed to connect to a non-secure network. However, every access point scan we did failed, yet we could auto-configure to multiple networks. This was tested on Windows XP and Windows Vista. Furthermore, the software is not Mac compatible.

Once connected to your wireless network, this product significantly increases your signal strength. It increased our signal by over 300%, and we can get an almost perfect signal from one end of our house to the other – before this, we could not get signal at all in the basement, or in many areas of the house. In addition, the internet speed is retained great throughout the house. We recommend getting one of these if your wireless network range needs a boost, or you just want a more reliable wireless signal.

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