Ok, I got gadget fever today, and I went to Best Buy to get the Insignia Pilot 8GB MP3 player, since I had been playing with the demo a week ago. (Insignia is a trademarked label of Best Buy.) The Pilot has a crazy list of features (listed at the end of this post) that I wanted inside of one very, very light, Bluetooth enabled media player, so I could ride the rollers with Bluetooth headphones on, keep the device away from perspiration, and not have to constantly stare at and reposition white wires.
As importantly, the Pilot doesn't use any special software. (I did not open or install the included CD.) You plug the Pilot into the USB port on your computer. It shows up on the screen like an external drive, and you drag and drop your happy stuff onto the device. You can record songs from Raima Radio and drag them into your device. You drag and drop your vacation photos. Perfect. Easy. Foolproof. Almost.
While experimenting with the voice recording feature, I stuck a headphone jack into the mic jack, talked into the ear bud and froze the thing. Not really sure why, it was probably a coincidence. But I hate when you get something new and almost destroy it. I pressed all of the possible button combinations for 5 minutes. Nothing could make the screen unfreeze. I couldn't turn it off. I didn't have the patience to wait until the battery went dead. I didn't see any reset button. In that I could either take it apart or go back to Best Buy. I took it apart.
Here is how you can reset the Insignia Pilot if the screen freezes; get it to work again and probably void your warranty.
- This is written for someone who does not usually take covers off of electronic devices. I know it is elementary stuff for people who take things apart all the time.
- Since the screen and all buttons were frozen, I couldn't turn off the device.
- Make sure you have good light. Get your small Swiss Army pen knife or an eye glass screwdriver, the kind they sell at Walgreens. If you own a teeny screwdriver actually made for electronic work you would not be reading this.
- On the back of the device there is a little black dot. This dot is stuck on with a small amount of glue, and it covers a teeny cross-head screw. Remove the dot, but don't lose it.
- Place the device screen down on something soft. You don't want to forget that there is a screen on the front because if you press too hard while removing the screw on the back, you may crack or scratch the screen.
- Unscrew the teeny screw (counter clockwise, turn it to the left). Put the screw someplace safe right now. Gently take off the back cover. There are little plastic pieces on molded inside the plastic of the back cover. Take care not to break off these tiny pieces.
- Look at the inside of the device and remember where the wires are positioned. Note that the side of the board facing you when you remove the cover is silver. The side that you can't see, since it is face down, is copper colored. Remember that.
- The silver-colored board has two leads, red and black, attached to a white connector. Think of the teeny white frail connector as a plug. Gently pull up on the connector and disconnect it for a few seconds.
- Look at the frail teeny white plug. Make sure you orient it the exact same way you removed it.
- Make sure the wires are nicely tucked into the space that they were when you opened the back cover, and the silver side of the board is facing up, so you can see it.
- Replace the cover. It snaps into place.
- Replace the screw.
- Replace the black dot that hides the screw.
- Turn on the Pilot because now the screen is unfrozen, and you don't have to go back to best buy.
Here are the features and specs for the Insignia Pilot. I copied these off the box and googled around a bit.
- Built-in Bluetooth wireless audio
- Battery Life: 25 hours for Audio
- Rechargeable and replaceable battery
- Line in audio recording (You need to attach a mic)
- Two headphone jacks
- Video out
- Supports video playback at 30fps
- Stores 2000 songs at 128 kbps based on a 4 minute song
- Stores 8000 photos based on 1 MB .jpg files
- Stores 28 movies based on 1.8 hours length at 300kbps
- Stores 100 audiobooks based on 10 hours length at 16kbps Audible format 3
- Two headphone input jacks
- Capacity: 8GB (the one I got)
- Display: 2.4" TFT wide viewing angle
- Suported Audio: MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, WMA DRM, WMA Pro, OGG, WAV, Audible,
- Video: MPEG-4, and WMV at 30fps
- SD-Card slot for additional memory
- Built in FM RDS Tuner shows track, artist, song title, and you can save this data for reference
- Radio station presets you can assign
- MSC/MTP Capable
- Dimensions: 3.3" x 1.6" x 0.4" really, really light in weight.
- Wired ear buds
- Software for video conversion
- Custom EQ with 4 presets
- Supports subscription music services, audiobook and spoken word projects from Audible.com
- Mini USB 2.0 Cable
- 1 Year warranty
- Price:the 4GB one is $139, and I paid $189 for my 8GB one.
