MP3 Reviews

First, I want to explain why I started off enthusiastic, but returned the 220 after a week.

1) My simpletech flash card, which works with many other devices, couldn't be read by the Gmini

2) Battery life was around 6 hours

3) The screen was poor, even with contrast settings and backlight

4) Playlists got mangled when used with the resume function

5) Recording using the internal mic picked up loud screen noise

I just replaced it with an iRiver ihp-120. It is my third player, and I think I might keep it.

Here are the properties that the iRiver shares with the Gmini:

-same volume/weight
-browse by folder and connect as external hard drive
-record either by line in or internal microphone

However, the iRiver adds:

-true 16 hour playback, more than double what I had with my Gmini
-a full functioned remote with screen
-built in FM tuner

Now, you can't dump CF cards directly onto the iRiver. However, Macally makes a product which will let you do that. See http://www.macally.com/new/new_syncbox.html for details

I checked out http://www.misticriver.ws for a while before I made my decision. There is lots of good information there.

I selected the Archos on the basis that I could also use the unit as an external Hard Drive. For the price, the Archos GMini 120 gave the largest hard drive capacity when compared to the iPod and the players from Dell and Samsung. I had no problems with the unit being recognized by Win XP, and I upgraded the unit's system software from v1.2 to v1.5 with no difficulty. The controls and menus are functional and logical although the buttons are slightly hard. My player runs 8.5 hours on a full charge, but I get occasional error messages during the last half-hour of use when playing WMA music files (it says there is something wrong with the file). The included ear buds are good, but I prefer my Sony ear buds which give a richer sound. Fit and finish is adequate. The hard drive inside is extremely quiet. I am not interested in the extra cost features so that has not been a problem for me. Overall, this has been a happy experience so far.

I spent weeks researching mp3 players and ended up with the GMini 220. I wanted both the music and Photo wallet features. I travel for extensive time without a laptop and needed something to down load pictures to. The sound quality is great and the photo wallet works great. I've had the unit for 5 months now and it has worked perfectly. I would buy another one (or maybe the GMini 400 series when that comes out)

First, I want to explain why I started off enthusiastic, but returned the 220 after a week.

1) My simpletech flash card, which works with many other devices, couldn't be read by the Gmini

2) Battery life was around 6 hours

3) The screen was poor, even with contrast settings and backlight

4) Playlists got mangled when used with the resume function

5) Recording using the internal mic picked up loud screen noise

I just replaced it with an iRiver ihp-120. It is my third player, and I think I might keep it.

Here are the properties that the iRiver shares with the Gmini:

-same volume/weight
-browse by folder and connect as external hard drive
-record either by line in or internal microphone

However, the iRiver adds:

-true 16 hour playback, more than double what I had with my Gmini
-a full functioned remote with screen
-built in FM tuner

Now, you can't dump CF cards directly onto the iRiver. However, Macally makes a product which will let you do that. See http://www.macally.com/new/new_syncbox.html for details

I checked out http://www.misticriver.ws for a while before I made my decision. There is lots of good information there.

I selected the Archos on the basis that I could also use the unit as an external Hard Drive. For the price, the Archos GMini 120 gave the largest hard drive capacity when compared to the iPod and the players from Dell and Samsung. I had no problems with the unit being recognized by Win XP, and I upgraded the unit's system software from v1.2 to v1.5 with no difficulty. The controls and menus are functional and logical although the buttons are slightly hard. My player runs 8.5 hours on a full charge, but I get occasional error messages during the last half-hour of use when playing WMA music files (it says there is something wrong with the file). The included ear buds are good, but I prefer my Sony ear buds which give a richer sound. Fit and finish is adequate. The hard drive inside is extremely quiet. I am not interested in the extra cost features so that has not been a problem for me. Overall, this has been a happy experience so far.

I spent weeks researching mp3 players and ended up with the GMini 220. I wanted both the music and Photo wallet features. I travel for extensive time without a laptop and needed something to down load pictures to. The sound quality is great and the photo wallet works great. I've had the unit for 5 months now and it has worked perfectly. I would buy another one (or maybe the GMini 400 series when that comes out)

beware, you get what you pay for...

if you simply want a cd player that plays mp3 cd's and don't care about quality or features, get this.
there are many problems with this, though.
1. resume function does not work, it will only work if you don't turn the cd player off, which is stupid
because it automatically turns off after 60 secs. even then, it doesn't resume where you left off in the
song, only at the song
2. buttons to skip tracks are backwards
3. volume control is made of 2 buttons, not a wheel, so it can be hard to push up when you want to go up
4. random function is not random. the first time you put in a cd, its random, but if you put in the same cd again, it plays the same tracks in the same order
5. music quality is ok, but not great
6. skips about once every 5 minutes even while resting on a table, and about once a minute while walking
7. randomly stops playing a song while walking
8. search function only searches the name of the beginning of songs, doesn't look through the whole filename
9. no backlight
10. if song doesnt have an ID3 tag, it will display "title : unknown author : unknown" instead of just displaying the filename, which would have made a whole lot more sense.
11. bulky and heavy
12. while playing a song above the manufacturers recommended 128kpbs, the elapsed time shown is not accurate

in conclusion, this is a no name piece of ..., and if you are really into listening to mp3 cds, buy something else. I'm on my way to go return this hunk of junk right now....

I bought this player so I could listen to a ton of MP3s burned on to a CD. It works! It's easy to make the CD. Basically burn the CD with about 200 of your favorite songs (it only plays back mp3s) either in folders or all your mp3s on the disc not in any folder. Either way it works. I chose to make folders for various types of music.

The problems:
1- due to the few controls and small display, it's awkward to navigate to find a song you want to play.
2- It can only play MP3s or regular old Audio CDs (no wma or WAV files) You also can't fool it by renaming files to .mp3.

The good:
1.Sound is good. (not great, but then MP3s aren't real high quality)
2.Volume is fine, it gets loud enough.
3.It comes with a Car adapter to plug it in.
4.Has a cassette adapter!
5.Comes with average head phones.
6.Has headphone output and line outputs so you can plug it in to your home or car stereo with no problems.
7.Has 45 seconds of CD anti-shock memory and over 120 seconds of MP3 anti-shock memory! This is cool. This means that most songs will totally load in memory and the CD will stop! This saves battery power. Very cool!
8.You can pick this up about [price]! A great deal!
9. Plays back CD-R and CD-R/W discs
10. A ton of other fetures I'm not using like EQ, random playback

Hint: to plug it in to AC power, go to Radio Shack and buy a 12 volt Cigarette adapter. You can use it for other 12 volt stuff, it's cheap and works great!

In short, while the controls are awkward, you can't beat this for value! I like it.
...

I'm so sad that this just died! I used it continuously for 2.5 years, and it never let me down. I dropped it a number of times, and it kept right on working. It was well worth the price and I hope I can find another one!

I had this product up and running in about 15 minutes. I am using the device wirelessly with WEP encryption. I did have to disable my firewall during the setup process. It was annoying to have to approve every action the software was taking during setup. Ran into a problem using it, once I went from using the Ethernet port connection to wireless, because I re-enabled my firewall. Over came this by adding a static IP address to the device and then allowing that address access through the firewall. The device does everything advertised. I even have it pulling music from 3 different PC's on my network. Upgrades I would recommend to Linksys include:
1. Optical output
2. Enhanced scrolling through folders
3. Display of album art
4. Ability to play video
5. Component video output
6. Upgrade to 802.11g

I agree with many of the reviews written. Once you get it working, it is a great. The problem is getting it to work. Yes the documentation is very weak. I got many clues to getting this to work by looking at the different reviews on this Amazon site. I got so close to getting it to work smoothly until I completed the configuration screen and then the device would not connect. I hooked up the device and I turned on the device and nothing. With no connection and it does not work - of course.

I loaded an updated firmware for my Linksys BEFW11S4 v.2 wireless acccss point router. It was version 3 or the latest one. Next big thing was to change the local area connection - properties / advance / setting to - allow other area network to connect through this computer's internet connection. Where is this written? It was on this web site that I saw that.

I was so happy the application appeared finally. It took me over an hour and I kept saying how hard can this be? It is hard when there are not many directions and no FAQs or trouble shooting guide. Once you have it up and running, you will enjoy it. It is so cool to have access to my MP3 files on my surround sound system rather than my little computer speakers. The menu and the screens are boring and not very interesting. Linksys needs to get their screens and interface menus updated. It is not that hard to make them better when the screens are so basic and plain looking.

I'm surprised to read all the negative reviews on here for this product. You'd think that Linksys promised the moon and the stars and somehow came up short. They did not.

Very simply, this product hooks into your wireless network and then plays mp3s on your stereo/tv and displays photo images on your television set. Nothing more, nothing less.

Setup was quite easy as far as installing network devices go... If you have already set up a wireless router in your house, you can handle this with no problem. I have found with other Linksys products that their technical support is fantastic, so if you really get in a bind, don't hesitate to call them.

The method of choosing music and pictures is very basic as many have mentioned, I have found that creating playlists on my PC is the best way to queue up music.

I'm sure in a couple of years that there will be much better products on the market, but for now, if you want to show your friends and family pictures, there's no better place to show them than on your big screen TV while sitting on the couch instead of your relatively small computer screen. And if you're going to listen to your mp3 collection, why not use your stereo instead of your wimpy little computer speakers.

The fantasy is that this product should be the ultimate entertainment product. The reality is that this product gets you out of your computer room and into your living room when listening to your music and looking at your digital pictures.

DONT BUY THIS...

I bought this player when it was $50 and now im regretting it. I've had it for about a month and used it maybe 5 times. NOW it wont even see my mp3 cds. it just searches for like 10 minutes and then it says no cd.DONT BUY THIS BECAUSE IT IS CHEAP ...!IT HAS POOR SOUND QUALITY AND LIKES TO QUAKE AND STOP WORKING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SONG!!!!!!

DONT BUY THIS...

I got this little MP3 CD player when it went on a great sale because my old CD player was five or more years old and didn't really work. I never listen to my CDs anymore, but I was going on a long plane ride/bus trip so I needed something to listen to.

There are skips, some songs that it will refuse to play, and doesn't work too well upside down. Mine had a tendancy to just turn off for no apparent reason, even if it had fresh batteries and the buttons locked. Oh, and the locker is cheap. It kept un-locking and then the player would turn on and run the batteries dry.

Not a huge problem and served me well on my trip. It's now gathering dust and will probably get chucked next time I trip over it.

Great for trips/children who break things/people who want a cheap MP3 CD player. NOT great for music conesueirs or people who move a lot. Whether it is for you, I don't know.

I purchased this product on sale at my local Target last month. So far I've had three problems, 1) I dropped it three times from a distance of about three feet and while it continued to play (awesome bufferring and anti skip) for several seconds the disc did suffer some damage as it came free within the device and became severely gouged as it continued to spin. 2) another issue is that it wont recognize more than 93 mp3 files per disc, the manual says that it supports 99 tracks per album, but i haven't had success yet in burning a cd-r with the multiple albums that the player can recognize. 3) I only use this device with the power adapter that came with the device (a big plus), but I did use Energizer Titanium batteries just to test it and it ate them up with in 6 hours of use. I thought that was rather too quick for my taste. The great features include 1)the right price, 2)compact design, 3)ease of operation, 4)nice packaging(comes with fair quality headphones, i do recommend upgrading though, and a AC power adapter), other features include a hold switch(temporarily disables buttons), a DBBS switch (extra bass), a line out port, and the usual programming options. I recommend this product at the right price.

WITH LITTLE USE THIS UNIT WENT FROM PAUSE MODE TO STOP AND THEN BEGAN TO DISPLAY AN H02 ERROR WHENEVER A NEW DISC IS INSERTED.

VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH RESPONSE FROM PANASONIC.

WILL HAVE TO TRY ANOTHER BRAND...

The picture quality is excellent for its price class, and I liked the way fast-slow foward/reverse works. However, after 2 yrs mine died. It would not eject the DVD. I would hear a rattling noise from the motor when I powered on the player, but the tray wouldn't budge. I couldn't pull the tray out, it froze in position. I had to open the player to retreive the DVD.

My next DVD player will be non-Panasonic. I used to be a huge fan of Panasonic, but not anymore. A DVD player should last at least 5 years.

PROS: Awesome picture, great value
CONS: Interface quirks

For a Progressive Scan DVD Player, the Panasonic RP56 is a great value. It plays a host of different formats such as CD-Rs, CD-RWs, and VCDs. The picture quality is unbelievably clear and crisp on a good television and the sound is also crystal clear and well separated when piped through a stereo amp and decent speakers. The player also seems relatively sturdy and well made. I haven't had any severe read errors or any other problems with playing or reading DVDs. All of my DVDs including the dirty and scratched Netflix DVDs that I've played have worked fine. So, in those respects, I can't complain at all.

The only problems are some interface quirks that can be annoying. The player doesn't remember where you left off on the DVD when you turn the player off or go back to the menu, which to me is weird. I'm sure there's a setting somewhere that solves that problem, but it really should be automatic. And pressing open to insert a DVD when you turn the unit on takes a little while b/c it has to show you an annoying "Welcome to DVD World" message, which is truly superfluous.

Other than that, I really can't complain about this player's overall performance... it works and performs great where it counts.

I had this DVD player for only about 3 months and it quit working, it kept saying LOAD. I called about how to fix it and they told me to buy a new one. I would not recommend this player!

I bought this DVD player new in November of 2001. It lasted until August of 2002. It just decided one day that the tray wasn't going to open. I opened up the unit and unjammed the tray locking mechanism by sliding it to the right with my finger. The unit immediately opened and gave me my disc. It worked for a week and did it again. So I unplugged it and haven't used it since.

I don't like the idea of paying this much for something and it only last 10 months. When I contacted Thompson Consumer Electronics I was told that the parts were still covered, but I would have to pay over $100 in shipping and labor to get it fixed. That's when I saw the price of the unit was now $98 at Wal-Mart.

As much as I liked the features of the player I can't recommend it due to the short life span. I admit I watch a DVD nearly every day, but I would think that it would hold up better.

This is an excellent DVD player. I've had mine for several months now, and it has performed flawlessly. It plays DVD's and they look beautiful. (We have a 27-inch Zenith Flat Screen). MP3's CD's, VCD's all play wonderfully! I could not be happier - and I am a picky shopper. I shopped no less than 16 months prior to buying this one. I knew what price range I wanted to stick eith, so there is some understood sacrifice in that decision. For the price and features that are offered, this can't be beat. We watch at least a movie every 2-3 days and it just keeps on playing. We made our own MP3 Cd's and plyed them fine, made our own VCD's and played them fine...There's nothing this player can't handle. We have yet to hook up the surround souund and such, but we will after move into our new home and rehook everything up!...

Works good. But the product is made cheaply. Very delicate product. I was disappointed just in 5 minutes after looking at this player.

I was looking for CD players for quite a while until I ended up looking for mini-cd players. They all have 185-210 megs each CD, depending on which you buy, and MP3 encodes at about a meg a minute, so that ends up at 185-210 minutes of music. One reviewer said that they couldn't rip his own songs and put them on, which means he was probably just stupid, because after they're ripped MP3's are all the same, so I don't know what they were thinking. They also said the battery life was only 4 hours, which is also untrue, because I use rechargeable batteries which don't have as long a life as normal batteries and I still get about 8-10 hours of battery life. With normal batteries I get 10-12 hours. One reviewer talked about a click at the end of the tracks, but I didn't find that annoying. I usually listen to my songs at a low volume and didn't even notice it until I went and read these reviews, so I turned the volume all the way up and did hear it, but it isn't loud or anything. The CD player is about 4 inches wide, 4 inches tall, and 1 inch thick. The biggest problem is the thickness, but it still fits into the pockets of all of my pants. I was happy to find that the buttons are designed so that the buttons aren't pushed while it's in your pocket or bag or something. The buttons are still big, and the interface is fairly simple and easy to use. I put MP3's in between 48 and 192 kbps and all of them worked. It loads up very quickly, only about 10 seconds with a new CD. The skip protection is good, if longer then 2 minutes it spins for about 16 seconds while it's playing and then stops spinnin, and then after 2 minutes spins for another few seconds during play. The headphones are good quality, but mine went faulty from not taking care of them very well. It's pretty well built, since I'm rough with all my things, and I have little brothers and sisters that get into it and drop it and whatever else they want to do to ruin my life, and it still works fine.

After researching mp3 players, reading customer reviews, and watching the net for new models over quite a few months, I was prepared to be somewhat disappointed. Perhaps because of this, I did not want to spend a lot of money. I am completely SATISFIED and HAPPY with the Memorex MPD8081. This is my first mp3 player. My player's main function is to let me listen to music without having to run the whole computer. It's connected to my Monsoon MM-702 computer speakers and the combination sounds GREAT!

Mini CD's give you the best compromise between low cost, portability, and compatibility with the most widely available devices. This player plays mp3 format files and normal CD-DA (wav files, red book, whatever) only. If there are any mp3 files on a disk, wav files will be ignored. Disks snap onto a spindle which holds them the way a ratchet holds a socket. There is no backlight and the headphone jack does double-duty as the line output. A dial on the side regulates volume and a small switch controls dynamic bass boost. The only other side-mounted control is the sliding latch for the spring-loaded cover. Overall construction is high quality. On my unit, two small places on the side where friction inside the packaging scraped away the paint--very minor.

Comes with street style headphones and three blank 210 MB mini CDs. If you use headphones you will probably want another pair. The non-adjustable headphones included may be adequate for some folks. Sound is good and noise level in the electronics is quite low. No specs are given. No software is included. There is a 4.5V input in back but no included AC adaptor. The unit powers ON via the play button on top and OFF via the stop button pressed twice. Turns off after one minute of inactivity to conserve power. No batteries are included.

Controls are simple, the manual is clear, functions are intuitive and the unit behaves flawlessly. Mp3 format is the only supported format; the manual says up to 384 Kbps. Also says packet writing and multi-session are supported. I have not tested all of these. I've made one CD-R with mp3's in five directories and one CD-RW containing only two wav files. Both work just fine. Random function is quite intelligent--on a mp3 disk all files in a directory are shuffled (no-repeat) and played before moving on to the next directory. You can fast-forward and rewind within a track for either mp3's or wavs. For me, so far, startup time has been very short (6 seconds for 54 songs), but the manual warns that it may take up to 30 seconds on a disk containing many mp3 tracks.

Only caveats you might consider: A previous reviewer was annoyed by the slight click at the end of a song. I was concerned when I read this but I do not find it to be very annoying. Sometimes (not often) a delay between tracks interrupts the "flow" of a recording and that IS annoying. Side topic: don't purchase a bunch of "extra length" 210 MB cd's before testing them with your burner. My first CD-RW burner (Samsung) had trouble using these so I switched to "normal" 185 MB cd's. I have not tested this with my newer burner and I suspect newer drives don't have this problem.

My review would not have been so long if I wasn't very happy about the product. Amazon has treated me very fairly and I praise them. I do, however, believe that product descriptions here and for other items are somewhat lacking. I highly recommend this product.
(original 01-Oct-2002, additional comment 16-Feb-2003)

Addendum
I'm still pretty happy with it, but I might give it only four stars now. I found others comments interesting; you have to wonder about the people who didn't realize it only played mini CD's -- perhaps this speaks to Amazon's sparse product blurb and single picture. The Memorex web site is woefully lacking in product information, as stated by reviewer "gadget_guy". Battery life is decent; get ten hours from alkalines. I would like for the cover to have less free play--it clacks a bit while buttons are being pressed.

I've noticed some annoying sonic 'artifacts' generated by the player's built-in mp3 decoder that do not happen when I listen to the same files with the computer. I'm going to re-encode the problem albums using a different bit rate. (One of them is Peter Gabriel's "melting face" album which is bizare enough without any help from the decoder.) Software tips: I've played around with Easy CD and Nero Burning; I prefer Nero. I made the mistake of purchasing the mp3pro plug-in from ahead for $19. What good is mp3pro when hardly any device supports it? I switched to the free program called CDex for ripping audio from CDs.

Regarding the inter-song gap created by the player: I began to get very annoyed at this so I searched for a way to rip/encode several tracks into a single giant mp3 file. Long story short, CDex can do the job hassle free. (Wasted a lot of time mucking with the wave editor.) If I had the disk "Abbey Road" I would definitely rip/encode the songs into two or three giant files. Still the best mini-CD player around from what I can tell. Yeah, the iPod is cool, but I'd rather have a new motherboard, Pentium 4, DDR-SDRAM, etc.. for the same money.

WARNING: AT&T representatives ("Dawn: R361" and "Max: N360") themselves said during my troubleshooting (as detailed below) that I should NOT have bought through Amazon, and that they have received a barrage of complaints from Amazon buyers! I still really like Amazon, but they're integration with AT&T is non existent. People should not have to wait 2-3 days for service after they receive the phone. Buy the same phone on Amazon, but a different carrier.

The phone has been a good performer. It took a bit to get used to the round keypad design. The camera is functional but not better than my cheap Intel Pocket PC Digital Camera I purchased in 2000. The infrared interface makes tranferring photos a breeze.

The real nightmare is the Mmode button on the face that also acts as your BACK button. I have been accidentally accumulating charges under $5 per month from the button being pushed when the phone is in the case. I had decided that the Mmode feature was clunky and not viable in the first week of getting the phone. I found out from ATT Wireless that this "feature" cannot be disabled. Therefore, my phione would continue to make connections on its own and I would be billed for them. Unacceptable. The Mmode connection should be buried in the menu like all other options.

I ended up removing the right BACK / Mmode button so that connection was impossible. I have contacted Nokia via email requesting the connection settings within the PC Suite for Nokia 3650 to inhibit the Mmode connection through failure to find the appropriate server or service.

The PROs
- amazingly useful device that is far more than a phone
- the PDA features such as contacts, calendar, note pad,
calculator all work well.
- Great User Interface designed to work with one hand
- The camera is useful and fun. If you attach a photo to a contact,
then a thumbnail of the photo will appear when that person
calls, useful if you are in a meeting or driving an want to see
who is calling.
- PC Suite does good job of synchronizing. I have my laptop,
Jornada PDA, and 3650 all use the same set of contacts,
calendar, and tasks.
- 3Com BlueTooth adapter on laptop connects easily to the 3650,
and moves the large files rapidly.
- Battery life is better than I expected, given the large
color screen.
- The large screen allows for a lot of information and function.
Great for browseing mMode (on AT&T).

The CONs
The version of PC Suite which comes with the phone has problems connecting to many BlueTooth adapters.
The solution is to download the latest (Version 3.0 18-Nov-2003) from the Nokia site.
Once I did this, and installed the 3Com Bluetooth USB adapter (download latest drivers from 3COM),

everything worked perfectly.

In summary, the 3650 is a great phone, and so much more.

After reading reviews and descirptions about this item I ordered my SP150 from a user on Amazon.com who was selling his factory sealed unit for $49. It was a pretty good bargain, considering that its regular price is $99. This workhorse plays WMA's and Mp3's both, has No-Skip (160 sec for CD, 16 min for MP3/WMA), a lit 3-line display, and an adjustable "user defined" setting for the Equalizer.

The case is also pretty neat looking, feels like it has some sort of rubberized plastic coating. The view window (so you can see your cd spinning) is pretty small, but I know why.. Direct sunlight and high heat aren't good for CD's, especially cheaply made CDR's. The Navigation is confusing at first but you get the hang of it after a while. Its like using video game's directional pad. Play is Up, Stop is Down, and Rewind and Skip are Left and Right.

Now for my 3 complaints.

#1-The volume:

40 is the highest it goes.. and at this level it should be blaringly loud, right? Enough to devestate my eardums?! But its not, the music is audible.. but just barely, it seems. How can I listen to Slayer, Manson, or NIN without a deafeningly loud volume? I guess this is some way that the designers are trying to decrease the chances of hearing loss.. Sorry guys but I don't need AVL. I (and the rest of the audiophiles) like music to be LOUD.

The cheap $25 Mp3/CD player I got at Wal-Mart actually had better volume. At 20 it was pretty loud, (enough to drown out the country music my mother plays in the car) at 32 (its highest) it was piercing. I have to turn my SP150 all the way up just to be able to hear my music at near-satisfactory loudness. Maybe there's some acessory out there that I can plug the buds into that will let me have some extra loudness. Or perhaps you folks at Sonic Blue will make it part of the next version of firmware.

#2-The Buds:

The earbuds that came with the unit are supposed to be high quality, they're good but I had to fight to get them in my ear. A cheap $4 pair of Maxell buds I got from Rite Aid had more intricate and pleasing sound, but the only way I can even hear my music with the SP150 is to use the buds that came with the set. The SP150's buds would be better if the unit had 10 more notches in its volume.

#3-The Equalizer:
Being able to adjust treble and bass is nice, but being able to adjust midrange as well wouldn't hurt.

#4-The batteries?:
Those "NIMH" batteries that are supposed to come with the unit? Well I got GP brand "super" alkalines with mine. Is that what was supposed to come with it?

#4-The Software CD-Rom:
I'm pretty sure that there was supposed to have been a CD-Rom that came with this unit, well I didn't see one when I opened my package.

Other than those 4 things I'm pretty happy that I bought this. It'll give me lots of enjoyment on the Greyhound ride home to Seattle,WA from Lansing,MI.

(a 3 day trip.)

-Chris Morrow

I ordered my SP150 from Amazon.com from a user who was selling it for $49. It was a pretty good bargain, considering that its regular price is $99. This bad boy plays WMA's and Mp3's both, has a lit 3-line display, and adjustable "user defined" setting for the Equalizer.

The case is also pretty neat looking, feels like it has some sort of rubberized plastic coating. The view window (so you can see your cd spinning) is pretty small, but I know why.. CD's and direct sunlight are bad.

Now for my dislikes...

What the sam-heck is up with the volume?

40 is the highest it goes.. it should be blaringly loud, right? Enough to devestate my eardrums! But its not and that makes me sad.

How can I listen to Slayer, Manson, or NIN without a deafeningly loud volume? NOBODY (especially not me) cares about saving their hearing. I don't need AVL. The earbuds the came with the unit are alledgedly high quality, they're fairly good but I had to fight to get them in my ear. The buds would be better if the unit had 10 more notches, the dude who said "low high volume" wasn't kidding.

The cheap $25 Mp3/CD player I got at Wal-Mart had nicer volume. At 24 it was quite loud. I have to turn my SP150 all the way up just to be able to hear my music. Maybe there's some acessory out there that I can plug the buds into that will let me have some extra loudness. Or perhaps Sonic Blue will make it part of the next versions firmware.

Oh and the EQ.. being able to adjust treble and bass is nice, but being able to adjust midrange as well wouldn't hurt.

Other than the limitted volume this is a great unit.

I think the Rio Volt Sp150 is one of the best purchases you can make. It is better then the new mp3 player or even an Ipod, because those might not support WMA. Also it is faster to download the songs to a cd-r, which can hold 700mb of music and more then 200 songs. I have not experienced any problems, and the sound quality is very impressive.
Product comes with player, batteries, poster, and earphones
Pros
First off it plays WMA (Windows Media Audio) which is what a CD turns into once it gets saved to your harddrive, it also playes Mp3s and regular CDs.
Another Cool Feature is that it has a clear screen to tell you the Title of the song, artist, time elapsed, cd title, and track number (For long titles it will flow like a marqee).

It has very nice battery life and also has a bright green backlight.

The Player itself is thin and simple.

Has resume feature.

Payed 19.99 brand new on eBay

Cons
No radio

hard to get attachments (ie ac power adaptor, remote)

Low high volume

Takes alittle while to load intially

I give the Player 5 stars
Any Questions email me at x___2005@msn.com