The Music is Back on Underwater ...

Lena and the kids have been great in encouraging me to change my shape from roundish to more vertical, and bought me a wonder gift for Christmas in 2008 - the Swimp3 device.  It gives swimmers an alternative to hearing nothing but the sloshing of water or their own wheezing attempts to breath for practices that can range from 30 -90 minutes.

I was excited to get this player because I had heard about it online as I looked at getting back into the water.  I remember back in 1988, my brother Bryan convinced mom and dad to buy him a waterproof plastic case for his Walkman tape player.  As I recall, it hook around the waist like my infamous fanny pack, and was the equivalent of a stronger, more dense Zip-Lock bag with a belt clip.  I think that it fared well in the water, but it required the use of earphones and was a bit bulky - after the swim, your ears felt like you were the recipient of 25 "Wet Willie's" and the plastic pouch dug a nice outline into your lower back.

Now we're jamming!

The SwiMP3 held 256mb (or about 60 songs), and was able to produce about 8 hours of playback from a three hour charge.  Music is transferred via Windows Media Player, iTunes, or direct dropping of music files through the computer.  I used Windows Media and had a handful of playlists that I can use to quickly add music based on the type of workout or mood that I am in.

I noticed that in early 2010 the music was not coming out the right side of the player (the non-control side).  This was ok as I was still able to hear from the left side, and I was happy with that.  Unfortunately, the playback started to get worse through the remaining side, and progressed to the point where the music would play for 10-15 seconds and then the device would shut down altogether. So a delemia - what to do?  I knew that the warranty was expired as the gift was two years old, but I decided to search their website for ideas.  I found a note from someone with the same problem, and they had sent the unit back for inspection.  I figured I'd give it a shot, too.

I got a hold of Finis support through their website, and opened up a return ticket.  Joe, one of the techs there, was very helpful in setting me up with all the info to return the unit for diagnosis.  I paid to ship it to them, and they paid to send it back.  After checking it out, Joe was not able to fix the problem so he sent out a new pair of SwiMP3's, which was awesome.  As a bonus, since my model was the "old one," I was upgraded to the current SwiMP3, which is 1GB and holds around 250 songs with a playback of 15 hours after charging!  I was so excited!

Visit the: Finis SwiMP3 website

I love sharing my experience with the SwiMP3 with folks at the pool, and also the strong commitment that the company has to keep swimmers jamming out during those long and boring laps through the water.  I definitely recommend anyone who spends a lot of time in the water (like me) to check into Finis and their SwiMP3 player.  If you ever want to give my a spin, please feel free to ask the next time you see me in the pool!