Waitec CLIPP

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Waitec CLIPP portable CD-Recorder / MP3 player - Page 1

Lately Waitec expanded its product line and currently offers among with the well-known optical storage devices, MP3 players, LCD monitors, digital cameras and CD media. Although the company now looks to various segments of the market, the developing of storage devices is not neglected. This time we have in our hands a new slim line portable CD-Recorder from Waitec. The Waitec "CLIPP" offers users abilities to store their data in 8cm CD-R media, playback audioCD files, MP3 and WMA files.

The drive is identified as "Waitec CLIPP" v1.11" and supports 4x CD-R writing and 6x reading speeds. The Nero Info tool reports different supported speeds, as you can see in the picture, but the real specs are those already mentioned. Only 8 cm CD-R media are supported for burning and unfortunately no CD-RW media. The playback abilities include audio CDs, MP3, and WMA files. Waitec CLIPP is equipped with a 512KB cache buffer mainly for buffer underrun protection while burning, and also features an 8MB Anti-Shock buffer, to maintain smooth playback under vibration conditions.

Waitec CLIPP can be used either as a portable CD-R player or as an external portable CD-Recorder, connected to your PC. You can connect the drive to your PC through USB connection interface and power it up even through the Waitec Power adapter or the Waitec rechargeable battery set. Waitec states that the supported battery playback operation is up to 6 hours and the recording duration up to 2 hours.

The drive's dimensions are 125 x 99 x 23 mm and weights only 200 gr. On the top panel of the drive there is an LCD screen with various icons appeared during different operations. The control buttons are placed in the middle of the top-opened tray (lid). You can find all the buttons required for playback, such as volume control, play/pause/stop buttons, skip/search forward/back buttons, repeat track button. Especially for the stop button, its function depends on which mode CLIPP is in:

- If it currently playbacks an audio track, it stops the play
- If it does not playback and no power adaptor or USB cable is attached, the stop button powers down the CLIPP.
- If there is no playback, no active USB connector is attached and a power adaptor is connected, the stop button will cause CLIPP to enter in battery charging mode, or power down, if the battery is fully charged.
- If there is no playback and an active USB connector is attached, stop button will cause CLIPP to enter the USB mode.

Another useful control button is the equalizer button, providing seven different equalizing modes and the shuffle button.

The power and USB connectors of the drive are placed in the rear panel of the drive, the open lid switch is placed on left side and the audio output socket on the front side. Lastly, in the right side of CLIPP there is the Hold switch button, used to disable the operation of any button pressed.

On the underside of the drive there is the battery compartment where you place the Lithium-Ion battery pack. The charging and recharging operations are explained in the Waitec manual in detail. Note that the batteries are not initially charged.

On the underside you can also find the master device reset button and the LineOut/Headphone switch, for usage with external speakers or with headphones.

The retail package includes the Waitec CLIPP drive, 2 Waitec CD-R 8cm, one USB cable, one set of headphones, the Power supply and recharger device, user's manual and installation discs. The package also includes Nero Burning Rom v5.5 as recording software.