MP3 Reviews

I have had this device for about a year now and I have been happy, for the most part, with it's performance. Everybody wants to know what it is and so forth. It's so small and mobile, makes for easy travel. On top of that it is surprisingly very durable. The only drawbacks I'd like to note for you are the zoom is not very powerful and the pics when taken in zoom function are not crisp. Additionally the software that is needed to run the product through my computer is nothing to brag about. Actually it slows the rest of the computer down so much at times it will lock my system up. Overall I do recommend to all the purchase of this model and for the price it's a fair deal.

I bought this for my boyfriend about a year ago and he absolutely loves this thing. He brings it everywhere he goes. Everyone is always asking what it is & think it's the coolest thing around. The battery lasts long and it's been working good for over a year with no problems. It's a gadget guys' dream.

I have used 4 previous products from Philips: Exp 103, Exp 201, Exp 303, and Exp 503. This product beats Exp 103 in every area. It also beats Exp 201 and Exp 303 in all other areas, except that it does not provide searching within an MP3 track. Philips provided and advertised that you can search within an audio CD track, but who would use an audio track when MP3 is available? The model Exp 503 had a backlight also on the screen, that this product is missing. But the dot matrix display is more clearly readable on this Exp 325, even though limited to external light only. None of the previous models could resume from where you left before, but this new product is very satisfying in this respect. If Philips puts back searching function within MP3 tracks, I would give it full 5-Star rating. Also, I would appreciate the backlight like on Exp 503.

But on all the previous purchases I had paid high prices ... Compared to them, the price ... feels very very attractive... Thank you Philips and thank you Amazon.com !!

I have previously used Philips Expanium portable MP3-CD players exp103, exp201, exp303, and most recently exp503. I was very pleased with the last two (after initial disappointments with exp103 and exp203). So I bought their most recent product, exp325. This one has given me the same disappointment as exp103, that you cannot search within an MP3 track. Exp203 used to skip within songs, because it did not have Magic-100 ESP, that all other Philips products have.

I am very impressed with this innovative feature of Philips, Magic-100 ESP, that it protects very perfectly your player from skips. I have been using it for nearly two years, and so far I have not even once experienced a skip. What more can I want?? Thank you Philips.

I would have given full 5-star rating to this product, if it had search function for MP3 tracks.

There is in fact no good or bad parts of this.. Nothing new in this product than every other adapter..

I bought this because I needed one (Who would have thought?), and am tired of using batteries when I'm using my CD player in the house.. I reccomend buying this product if you are expecting an average adapter! Because that's all that it is..

Guy

This is just another AC adapter, But very hard to find..

The case and accessories are good and reasonably well-made. This will not fit the Lyra 2 but looks to be an exact fit for the older Lyra.

This is a great product if you have the lyra mp3 player. It holds the player very securely and is very comfortable. Don't be fooled by the picture I'ts not as bulky as it looks and can be controlled with ease. Overall i think it is a great poduct, but may be a bit pricey if your a cheapsakte.

I had the need for a product that could be used for: 1. playing MP3, 2. dumping photos 3.Viewing photos and 4. Portable data storage. Along with the Archos products this was the only device which can do it all. I selected this because I prefer the "gameboy" design since it protects the screen well. In fact, I was so impressed with the specs that I was prepared to pay about $170 shipping(to south africa) and run the risk of losing it since there is no support outside US/Europe at all. It all paid off(so far). Fortunately it arrived intact and I have had the device now for 3 problem free months.

It plays music with exceptional quality and photo dumping from all card formats are a breeze with the very flexible optional adapter. TV connection also works well. The video only supports Motion JPEG - MJPEG.AVI files. I have been able to look at .avi videos taken with a Canon camera successfully. However with a downloadeable translation tool from their web site, many other formats can be translated and it works. The translated video takes up a bit more space after translation. Since the device firmware can be upgraded, one hopes that they will come out with more video codecs. The only glitch i found is that the operating system can be very slow when you have large directories. With 80GB of dispace available, a directory can become too large very quickly. That requires a lot of organizing if you have lots of music to store. I also requested from the support people to confirm (before I ordered)whether I would be able to read a Memorystick Duo (with supplied adapter) but there was no satisfactory answer. Battery life is not great, about 3 hours when playing music only, but that should be expected for a device such as this. When only using it for dumping photos, it lasts for days.

A nice feature is that it can read .M3U playlists created on our PC and you can create playlists on the device itself.

An all in all impressive product which have given me countless hours of joy(so far) and I would recommend it for sure. In fact, I have not seen a device on the market yet for the price that can beat it.

-Easy User Interface. Plug and save for your compact flash card without having to turn the unit on if you are in a hurry.
-Nicely designed exterior and 3.5 inch display.
-The screen resolution in review mode wont allow you to determine sharpness absolutely but definitely will allow you to review pictures and show them to friends.
-There are smaller units out there but this is a nice compromise for size and functionality.
-This unit is a hard drive,so don't expect to take this running when you listen to you MP3 player.
-It has good sound quality when using headphones.
-My only complaint is the "case" is just a felt bag, I was expecting something more durable.

This is a good product if you want to get a case for your mini. I have had this case for about a month, and it has kept my mini in perfect condition. The reason I gave this product four stars instead of five, is because it could be made out of better quality materials, but if you are considering getting this product I do suggest it. It isnt expensive, and it is one of the better cases out there. Also, dont expect it to fit in the dock, I did and it doesnt fit so if the only reason you are wanting to buy this is so your dock wont scratch your mini, then dont get this product. Hope this helped!

I've had my Audio Logic Mp3 player for a year and half now, and I love it. It's not the fanciest mp3-playing gadget out there, but it does the job admirably. It's small & light, perfect for the gym, long walks, waiting in line at the post office, etc as it will fit into any pocket, no matter how small or tight said pocket may be. The expandibility (via smart media card) is nice too. With a 32 meg card supplementing the onboard 32 meg memory, I can fit about 65 minutes of cd quality 128kbps mp3s, and twice that at the lower (but still listenable) quality 56kbps. Battery use is low, and rechargeable AA easy to come by. Controls are pretty basic. "next" and "back" buttons allow you to skip tracks or, held down to skim through a song. A "stop/play/Pause" button also serves as the power button. Volume "up" and "down" buttons adjust the volume level, and a "mode" button allows you to adjust bass & treble, and to select one of the play modes (shuffle tracks, loop all tracks, or just repeat the current track over and over). There's also a hold switch that prevents accidental knocks to the buttons, and of course a headphone jack. A really flimsy/cheap-looking strap attachment is provided, but I got rid of that pretty quick. The display is limited, but functional, similar to a basic CD player. It shows the number and the time of the current track, but not the artist or title. The unit connects to your computer via the parallel port, so I had to switch my printer to a USB to free up that port. It's a little slow, USB would have been better, but it's not bad. The "transfer manager" that allows you to move mp3s back and forth from your computer to the player is very similar to an ftp program and pretty easy to use, if a little on the archaic side visually. I don't have much of an ear for music, so I can't vouch for the sound quality, but it seems just fine to me, especially through better ear phones than the little bud ones provided. To sum up: if you have a free parallel port and don't mind not being able to see the artist/title info on the display, this is the perfect cheap little unit for any situtation where you want a light, portable music source that won't skip as you jolt around.

I am very skeptical of the tiny MP3 players (iPod and such); never used one, never saw the need. But I began an exercise regimen recently, and instead of watching the sports games on the big TV at the gym, I realized that a tiny music player would be ideal. I picked up the Audiovox because I've had good experience with the company (Maestro PDA), the price seemed right, and it had enough storage (128MB) to cover my 60-minute workout.

Easy setup -- just pop in one battery, load the software, plug in the USB cable, and then use the software to select files from your computer to copy to the Audiovox.

Playback is simple -- there's one toggle switch -- press it down once to begin playing or to stop playing, and toggle it forward or backward to move (duh) forward or backward. Volume control is fine, speakers (earbud style) are adequate, although I've never felt comfortable with those tiny things...might get a "regular" set of earphones.

I'm happy -- it's simple, it's small, and it was $107.

The strong point of this EVR-150 is that it produces reasonably loud voice recording quality with no hissing or background noises. It can even record voices from 20 ft and is great for classroom lectures. I have the EVR-500 model and was so impressed by the voice recording quality that I bought this EVR-150. The only other reason for buying is the built-in speaker which makes playback so much easier and not being always tangled with earphone wires.<br /> <br /> Some drawbacks. First, you must use its provided software to download files. This player will not show as a removable drive in My Computer window. Its software is not as useful as using the regular drag and drop like most other MP3 players. E.g. you have to go through some steps to re-arrange the order of the files in your player. You cannot click the mouse to play the file that is in the player folder. Also, downloading and uploading via its software is extremely slow and cumbersome.<br /> <br /> It can only recharge its battery when your computer is on, and not even when laptop is on standby mode. To recharge, the battery must be inside and player turned on. You have to ensure that the battery is not fully drained or you will never be able to recharge it. Unlike other MP3 players, without the battery you cannot even use it as a flash drive. Seems like it was not designed to be used as storage flash drive. It can only be used with computers that have its software installed, and this severely limits its portability.<br /> <br /> If you download an audio file ripped from your CD that is protected and try to play it, the player will freeze up, and you can only shut down by removing the battery, then re-insert battery, in order to operate the player again.<br /> <br /> It does not receive as many FM stations as its sibling EVR-500 or my other MP3 brands. Also static problems.<br /> <br /> The tiny LCD is fuzzy and hard to read even when brightness is raised to max.<br /> <br /> Does not use folders, can only place files at root level, so you have to flip through many files to select your desired file.<br /> <br /> In conclusion, the two good things it has for me are its built-in speaker and voice recording playback quality. The drawbacks described above can be frustrating if you add/delete files frequently, since it comes with max 256 MB.<br /> <br /> Hope this review helps your search.

This unit meets all my MP3 needs with only a minimum of problems. I wanted one so I could use it at work and in the car and for the most part it exceeded my expectations. Good quality sound and battery life. I have noticed a couple problems though.

For some reason it can't seem to read one certain song I have in MP3 format, (of course it is one of my favorites.) It skips to the beat, though that is the only one I have found to date. The only major problem shows up when using the external power adapters. With the 12 volt adapter plugged in there is a high pitched whine even without the vehicle running and with either adapter the sound of the unit reading and indexing the disk is rather annoying. This doesn't happen on battery power so perhaps it is due to the power supply's output of 4.5VDC when the unit only requires 3VDC.

Overall I would have given it a 5 if not for these problems.