TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you're given a review from Amazon's food products. Your task is to generate a rating for the product on a scale of 1-5 based on the review. The rating means 1: extremely poor, 2: poor, 3: neutral or mixed, 4: good, 5: extremely good. 
PROBLEM: Let's get this out of the way, first: Yes the case is made of thin flimsy plastic, and it doesn't look like it can handle drops to the floor.  I'm using it with a Behringer ecm8000 mic and Real Time Analyzer (RTA) software (on my laptop running WindowsXP PRO SP3) to precisely tune notch filters and speaker crossover networks and it works perfectly.  Audio output sinewaves show up very clean and accurate under an oscilloscope, with peaks at 90 degrees (which is a good sign).  No hissing sounds at all, it's very quiet with a mic connected, high frequency-spectrum wise.  For the record, I bought a usb to Toslink output adapter to connect to the amplifier because integrated laptop/PC sound cards are usually noisy as hell.  I think some people are using mics with very low sensitivity or crappy output sources (e.g. cheesy soundcards, amps, receivers or multimedia speakers), or even lousy, improperly shielded mic cables and blaming the unit, but who knows.  What I can safely say is, for the cheap price, the unit manages to produce an output that has a very high gain and runs virtually flat while covering the entire audio spectrum.  WINDOW7 FUNCTIONALITY(updated): At first, it didn't work with WINDOWS7 x64 Ultimate.  I kept getting a message about not being able to find a driver.  And at the time the Icicle website made no mention of Windows 7 compatibility (2 months later, they are saying it's compatible with XP, VISTA and Windows 7).  After nearly giving up, I found my old USB motorola cell phone charger cable lying around and noticed it had a similar mini-usb header to the that of the Icicle's.  I connected the Icicle using the motorola cable into my Windows 7 PC, and to my surprise it was recognized.  I actually got the idea when the Icicle began losing its USB connection (with the original cable) whenever I moved it around a lot.  Could it be the dinky looking USB cable included with the Icile causing intermittent disconnects or driver problems with Windows 7?  I'm really not sure at this point.  What I can say is that the Blue Icicle seems 100% reliable when used with the old Motorola USB cable.  Perhaps the Motorola cable makes better contact or has better shielding--who knows.  (I'm inclined to cut away the white insulation of the original Icicle cable just see if it's shielded to the USB's electrical ground source.  It wouldn't be the first time I find an unshielded USB cable.  Then again, it might be the mini-USB header causing the problem.)

SOLUTION: 5

PROBLEM: We got this in the mail and were eager to try it.  I am a huge fan of Izze Sparkling Juice and figured this would be similar to that.  It was in regards to taste, however.....well, let me break it down.  TASTE: I would give it a four!  It had a slight kick to it, that I love.  A little bit of a bitter taste, which my two older boys seemed to like as well.  In fact my 13 year old was bummed when I said we had finished the can.  My husband enjoyed it as well, though I don't see this replacing his daily Dr. Pepper anytime soon.  BENEFIT: It is 100% all natural juice, and it has 100% of your DV of Vitamin C.  Certainly a bit better for you than your traditional soda, but it has just as many calories as a LARGER can of Dr. pepper!  So, i fyou are like me and have maybe one carbonated beverage a day, calorie wise you aren't doing yourself any favors by switching to this.  I will stick with my Izze Blackberry.  3 stars.  VALUE: 1 1/2 stars, MAYBE 2.  You get 24 8 oz cans for 23 dollars.  Hardly a bargain in today's economic climate.  I like to treat myself occasionally, and a sweet treat is certainly one way I often do that, but 23 dollars for 24 cans of this!  Nope, no way, not happening.  Bottom line:  It was tasty, and we enjoyed it, but this isn't something I can see myself buying for my large family.  The benefits just aren't there, not when I can get 100% real fruit juice at the store for 3 dollars a gallon, and add a bit of soda water myself for another buck, if that.  Save your money

SOLUTION: 2

PROBLEM: It was a sad moment when I was unable to find my favorite cereal in the grocery stores.  I'm not sure why it disappeared, but am so grateful I'm able to purchace this online.  Thanks!

SOLUTION:
5