MP3 Reviews

Simply stated - this product just isn't compatible with XP. Even if it installs correctly it will fail after a period of the player sitting idle or the player batteries running down.

Technical support is a joke, they have a "customer is always wrong attitude" if you can reach them.

This thing may, or may not, work for you but I don't recommend taking the risk.

the reviews above made me worry - but as a sucker for "small electronics" and a runner I could not resist the nike-philips psa64 (psa[64 ???).
My experience was different from the reviews; I plugged the device in my PC (running XP) - loaded the CD&drivers; even ignored the recommended reboot - using Microsoft's Media Player 9 I could load a mix of MP3 and WMA-files and I was off in literally a couple of minutes. Easy!

I am not impressed by the instructions (no suggestion on what is required and what is mandatory - see WMP use) and the software install (not certified my MS and why ask to reboot if not needed?) - hence 4 stars, not 5...

I have been looking for a portable MP3 player to use at the gym for some time now, and this unit is the first that appears to be geared for the athelete. For the most part the player fits the bill, providing a lightweight unit that fits snuggly into a flexible arm sleeve. Here are the only downsides in my view:

1. The headphones while designed to stay out of the way with a cord that goes down your backside and around to the mp3 player on your arm is a little awkward. Specifically the two earpieces are attached to one another via a plastic arm, which can dislodge if you are doing excercises where you lean your head back.

2. Software setup was not a breeze. It took me a few attempts where my computer rebooted in the middle of accessing the unit for no apparant reason.

3. the headphone connector to the unit is a bit sensitve. I have to wiggle the connector on mine when i attach to the mp3 player to get full stereo sound. Another pair of headphones would probably solve the problem, but it would have been nice to have this work with no problem.

Having said all of this, i am happy with this thing. The only improvement i would make would be a pair of wireless earpieces, but i guess i will have to wait a couple of years before those appear on the market.

My wife purchased this boom box for me for Christmas. Great idea! Wrong player! Fresh out of the box and FM tuner does not work at all. Tried playing a MP3 CD on it and it worked for approximately a half hour than stopped working. Now the unit does not play ANY CD at all. There is not any warranty return information with this product at all. No place to write to or any place to call for help. Seems like they knew they had a bad product.
This is the second RCA product that we've purchased this year that seems to be a complete and total piece of trash. First product was a color TV that died after two months of use. RCA no longer seems to be making products of any quality. Consumers may be better off not purchasing ANY of their products. I know I will not consider purchasing any of them from now on.

I just bought one of these for $49 at walmart. For that price you can't beat it, but it does have it's problems. Occasionally it will lock up in search mode while trying to access the next track. It will play most of my WMA files. It does lock up on the ones I have embedded graphics in. (That is an option on windows media player9) I thought embedded graphics were neat, till I found out it ruins the playing of the file on anything but a computer. It is noisy when accessing data. I have been listening to some OTR with it. One thing nice for OTR is you can fast foward through the file. And there is some noise from the unit itself on the AM band.

I researched around for a MP3 Boombox and the most popular seemed to be the Sony S2 and the RCA line (118, 148, etc). I have tried both the Sony and RCA and went for the RCA because of 2 reasons:

1)RCA plays WMA and mp3Pro files along with the mp3. Those that are not familiar with these formats, they provide equal or better sound quality at lower bitrates. You can put more songs on a CD-R and not give up quality.

2)Approximately half the price of the Sony.

I have had the unit for about 1 week and have NO problems playing Audio CDs, MP3, or WMA files. For those having trouble playing MP3 or WMA files, need to make sure their media is compatible. The product manual suggests the following bitrates:

MP3: 32 - 320kbps
WMA:64 - 192kbps (Sampling rate: 44.1 - 48khz)
Mp3Pro:24 - 96kbps (Sampling rate: 44.1 - 48khz)

PROS: Versatile audio player - MP3, mp3Pro, and WMA. Stylish. Rugged. Comes with a remote. Of course, PRICE!!!! Can't find many Boomboxes that play all the audio formats for under $60.

CONS: Sound quality isn't spectacular. Could be louder too. The bass is clean at most volumes, but tends to deteriorate at the peak, like most "low budget" Boomboxes. Navigation and seek are a little slower than expected. Display is small and not backlit.

Overall, the PROS outweigh the CONS in my book. Although the sound is inferior to the Sony, it is above average for a Boombox. I will live with Boombox sound quality and power and the poorly lit display, knowing that I can play MP3 files, amongst others and it is half the price of its competitors. Also, this box will probably take a couple of hits, bumps and come back with some scratches. That's why I'm glad I didn't break the bank to get music while traveling and even happier that I get to put 10 albums on one CD-R. **Grins like an idiot**

After learning many opinions on this player, several of which were negative, I decided that I would go ahead and give this product a chance anyway. BIG MISTAKE! Basically, it flat out didn't work. From the very moment I tried it (and with various types of CD's) it would start up and leave a message on the LCD saying "no disc." It was highly frusterating and even the technical support line way inadequate at best. Generally speaking, I like Memorex products. However, this one could be used only as little more than an overpriced jewel case. Even my off-brand cheap one is more reliable.

I bought this off Amazon brand new, and after 1 week, when I put a disc in, nothing would happen when I pushed play or anything. I put brand new batteries in and still, nothing.

DO NOT BUY THIS JUST FOR THE PRICE! SPEND $20 MORE DOLLARS AND BUY A CD PLAYER THAT ACTUALLY WORKS!

Roses are Red, Bluetiful CD Players are Blue, and if your smart, you'll buy one of these too...

O.K., I know pretty bad, but music puts me in a good mood, and for some reason so does Blue, especially the Blue on this Player.

I don't know why someone else has bashed my beloved CD Player, I have had mine for a little over a year, and have had no problems what so ever. It is the first Memorex product that I have purchased and I would definetly recomend the brand. I was looking at CD-MP3 Players at 3 and 4 X the cost, a friend purchased a Sony and paid over $$$ and mine will do everything that his does, and at the price I paid if it breaks I could buy 3 more for what he paid.

Overall, this thing is awsome for the price. I would, and do recomend this player to anyone, especially those just getting into MP3 Files, it is a great product at a great price to find out if you like MP3 Files, and MP3 CD Players.

This is by far the worst mp3 player I've every used. The disks are expensive 10 bucks a pop, and the non rewritable. MUST I SAY MORE!!!!

I saw the idp and it looked great 500 mb the closet mp3 player to it was a 256 ram version from a different company costing around .... I saw the small "CD" and thought it looked like a great deal.

The set up was a little confusing but that didn't bother me too much

Next step was to download mp3 and transfer them to the idp-100
the speed slow but again i could live with it.

I relized i didn't like a song that i had transferred to the player and opened up the E: drive on the computer to remove the song, no problem right?

After i removed the song i disconnected it from the usb cable and found out that the song was still on the player.
DID I DO SOMETHING WRONG , i looked through the book that came with the player (no sign of how to remove songs) then i went to thewebsite and looked at a FAQ and found out that the player was a "write once device and that there were no intentions to introduce rewritable media"
WHAT this looks like a scam I thought the definition of a mp3 player was the ease to organize,transfer and manipulate your own music.
If i wanted a cd player i would have bought one.
I plan on returning my unit

This product works really well and is simple to use. The programs are simple to install and use. The dataplay disks are tiny, but not impossible to use. Yes, the shape is a bit awkward, but I became accustom to it and knew what it looked like before I bought it, like anyone who would research an mp3 player would do. In addition, it says directly on the package "write-once media." Yes, it is more expensive than burning your cds, but it's also smaller, more portable, and a great concept. If you want something that's smaller but is rewritable, get a minidisc player. Otherwise, this product is fantastic.

I tried two of these units.... same problems with both, must therefore assume it is poor design..... MP3 xfer Software frequently locks up..... FM tuner locks up..... and the absolute worst TECH. SUPPORT from the Manufacturer I have ever encounter !!!! called 6 times with NO connection (on hold for over an hour), left messages with NO response, emailed and faxed problems with NO response..... Suggest that NO one EVER buy any product from this manufacturer unless you want to be completely ignored.
Final insult to the unsuspecting comsumer is that several features of this unit advertised on the manufacturer's website (voice recorder, backlight lcd, can't use as a USB storage device without having software installed on all computers invovled in file xfer) and this unit seems to not be supported on website...... no firmware or software updates that desperately seem to be needed. Don't get suckered by the low price..... you get what you pay for .... this company should be ashamed to be in business !!!!

-WEAKEST PLAYER ON THE MARKET
-BUTCHERED THE QUALITY OF MY MP3S
-RADIO IS WEAK
-BAD SOFTWARE
-SPELLING ERRORS AND POOR GRAMMAR IN MANUAL

BUY ANYTHING ELSE

I purchased this FY100 in Feb 03. It was great, I could take it to spinning and pick up the gym frequency, go rollerblading and listen to the radio or mp3s... etc. The software for transferring mp3s from computer to player is easy to use. The "sport" design is durable, I've dropped it on concrete a few times with no worries. However, a few months ago, it started acting up. While trying to use the mp3 player, it will get stuck on "return" and not return to any folder or song. I called customer service and after doing my best to understand their poor command of the english language, I found I could basically reformat the hard drive through the software interface. That did fix the problem, but now it won't play every song in my list, it seems to pick and choose which ones it wants to play. Unfortunately, there is no firmware upgrade on the MPIO web site (which also demonstrates a lack of knowledge of english). Now that it's selling for $50 with the rebate, I can safely assume that they won't ever have an upgrade and are clearing out their inventory of this model.

Then again, for $50 I might buy an mp3 player that only works for a year too.

I bought this thing awhile back because it was small, light, relatively inexpensive (at the time), and was moisture resistant, making for a potentially excellent workout MP3 player. I was BADLY mistaken; this product is inherently flawed. Rio repaired or replaced it no fewer than six times over a one year period; I have also personally repaired the player three additional times in the four months following. The headphones are total garbage; they broke the first time I wore them. Rio replaced them no fewer than SEVEN times. When turned off, the battery continues to be drained for some reason. Once you install a battery don't expect any more than ~24 hours of life out of it, tops, even if you don't actually turn on the player. The case is made of flimsy-feeling plastic. If you want to see track/playback info, you'll need the (clumsy) included remote control as the main unit has no LCD screen, and the remote is not lighted and has the world's smallest buttons. The player reportedly can use a CF card for memory expansion but (a) it won't use a larger-than-64MB card, and (b) card support is REALLY spotty. I've tried at least a half dozen cards and haven't found a single card that works consistently in the unit. I will never buy another Rio product again, EVER. The ONLY saving grace that this MP3 player has: When thrown against the surface of a pond, its rounded shape gave me 12 skips across the surface. My best throw yet.

Check this new little mp3 player. Its called the Wakeman and its the worlds only waterproof mp3 player WWW.drivendistribution.com it holds 128 mb and has pattented water proof headset that can be heard under water as well as above and is available online @ www.drivendistribution.com
Bob Runman founder of Driven Distribution

As many other runners did, I jumped at the chance to buy an MP3 player for running. I returned it after a few days:

1. The memory does NOT hold 60 minutes of music. At the lowest quality, I could only fit about 35 minutes on the memory.

2. There is no armband. Why would Nike not include an armband when marketing the product to athletes? It comes with the 120, and you CANNOT buy it seperately. They are out of stock and not producing more.

3. The remote buttons are small, and the casing is too big.

At least it's lightweight and sounds good. I returned my player and am waiting for Sony to get moving and produce some new walkman products (how many of us have the bulky armband radio that's been out for years?)

Theres three things wrong with this thing.
(1) It's not loud at all, u will need a amp to listen to this player.
(2) Only 16MB, I could only put up to 8 songs on it.
(3) IT EATS YOUR BATTERIES UP IN AN HOUR. (Get rechargeable batteries)

But the main thing is the sound, too low, u will not have a good time with this. But for $40 retail, U cant ask for much.

Let's be honest. This has to be the worst piece of electronics I have ever purchased. It was trouble from day 1. First of all, this baby drains Enegizer Titanium E2 batteries in less than 2 hours. Second, I never got my sandisk MMC card to work with it. The player would recognize it but wouldn't play anything on it. Third, KBGear.com is dead so forget about support. Please don't waste your time, money and energy on this MP3 player. Spend a couple of dollars extra and get a decent one.

i must say that i was really discouraged when i read the reviews on the jamp3. saying that "it was the worst mp3 player ever". so i finally got a hold of my very own. i had never had a mp3 player and i was happy when i got it. a little scared because of all the bad reviews, but happy. so i loaded it up and started playing. the volume starts off on 50 but i guess the other people never saw the volume buttons on the side cause it went all the way up to 100 and it was laud. i mean i'm a musician and i deal with laud music every time i perform (so laud it makes the ear drums rattle) and even i say its laud. i have an aiwa xp model cd player and the jamp3 is just as laud if not lauder.
now about the batteries. it does drain batteries. i have rechargeable batteries and they do get drained quickly. i don't know if it drains any faster than my cd player though. i think about the same. i bought some regular sony batteries just to check and i'm still using them. they have gone about 3 days now.
software is good and pretty easy to use. i don't think this mp3 player is for kids but definitely for teens and above. the only problem is it does ask you for a code key when you are installing which i couldn't find anywhere. they say its on the front of the cd but i don't see it. that doesn't mess up the install though and everything works pretty good. doesn't take very long to download either which is good.
the only thing i would have liked it to have is a power adapter plug. i don't know if other mp3 players have that, and they are probably not made for that. i mean what would be the point in doing that when you can just play a cd? the mp3 player is for when you are on the move and don't want to haul around cds, cassettes, 8 tracks, or even 4 tracks. can't forward through the song either. that's not bad because you have all your favorite songs in there anyway. can skip the song though so at least you can do that. memory is not too bad. if you listen at 32 kbps it sounds like an old cassette... so i don't recommend that you use that. i use about 64 kbps and it sounds so much cleaner. i got about 9 songs on my jamp3 on just 16mb of memory. i will be buying the mmc card soon though.

I bought this player 2 years ago. It was working fine until suddenly one day the screen displayed UPGRADE FILE REQUIRED....the disc starts spinning really fast and then everytime it would display the same thing. Creative support also sucks too...

I also have a RioVolt SP90, and stacks and stacks of MP3 CDs. This Creative unit works fine. It's played every disc I've tried, and it behaves pretty much exactly the same as the SP90. It even works with the SP90's AC power supply.

My only criticism of this player -- and this has been true of every MP3-CD player I've tried -- is that on audio CDs where the tracks are crossfaded it inserts a pause where there shouldn't be one.

I'm particularly impressed by how mechanically quiet the M100 is, and its audio performance is also quite fine. There's no audible residual noise even at maximum volume.

The rest of the unit's features are typical: the wired remote is handy; there's plenty of output to drive my Sennheiser headphones; it navigates MP3 and WMA folders quite easily; the display is backlit; the earbuds sound terrible (they're identical to the Rio's).

I bought this from another vendor that was offering a substantial mail-in rebate and free shipping, so its net cost was lower than any other comparable player. I really fail to understand the source of the problems other owners have been having. I use various brands of cheap 80-minute blank CD-R's, and rip using Easy CD-DA Extractor at fairly high bitrates. Some of my files are VBR and some are CBR; the M100 doesn't seem to care about that or about the bitrate or about anything else.

I have had no problems making WMA music file-based CD's for this CD player. I use cheap CD-R's and CD Creator software and everything works fine. I like this player a lot: the player is light and operates quietly. The backlit display is small but readable and all of the buttons are easy to find and work as one would expect. I don't know how it works with MP3 files but with WMA's it is great. The one thing that makes this player odd is that it scans an entire song into its internal memory to reduce skipping. This works fine, but if you are the kind of person who likes to skip around the tracks constantly, then you will get pauses while a song loads into memory. I just use the "random track play" feature myself. Finally, the sound quality is very very good as portable WMA players go.

i purchased this and in the first week it would no longer play cds. i have no clue why, i never did anything to it. i recomend you find a diferent boom box. VERY DISSAPOINTED!!!!!! :(

I have a library of 35 MP3 discs. 20 worked fine right off the bat. Got 8 more to work after burning over 60 CDs trying to figure out what was wrong.

Memorex support is NON-EXISTENT. Sent detailed email to their support group and never heard back.

Still can't get 7 mp3 CDs to work....ready to give up guessing.
These 7 work fine on portable mp3 player and DVD/mp3 and computer.

The ones that work come up in about 12 seconds ready to play.
Works with 128, 160, 256 kbs

Problems:

- Will not read CD...spins forever until you stop it
- 60 to 120 seconds before ready to play
- Lists wrong number of folders
- List total files greater than actual files, repeats earlier songs 1 or more times later in playback list.

Some fixes were:
- only 23 or less files per folder (fixes total file read problem)
- possible limit on number of folders
- Can't handle long file names (unsure of actual limit)

Any suggestions please email me at: cranekenup@attbi.com

I picked up one of these at a local Good Guys. Within a couple of months the CD (and thus MP3) stopped working. As a cassette player it has eaten multiple tapes (mostly books on tape which always sucks to loose one of a multiple tape set). The radio works fine, but 1 out of 4 functions doesn't even start to redeem this unit. I hope other manufactures take note, because IF the unit worked as it was designed, it would be the perfect small portable stereo. I spotted Amazon carrying this while shopping for it's replacement. I still haven't found one that fits the bill, but if you are looking for something like this, I'd try another brand first.

Paid huge money for big storage MB. Recharge system does not work and AA must be used. Often firmware will lock up and it must be re-booted. Lots of trouble getting audible books onto the device. Have bought two RIOs now and both are not a good value.

I bought this (refurbished)player on line after joining the audible.com program. After three days the player malfunctioned. When I called their "customer service" I find that "Realaudio" has acquired the company. They were very nice in advising me that the 900 had been discontinued but would be replaced with a comparable model. So after I sent the unit to them in Arizona at my expense they promptly replaced the unit with a (refurbished) Rio S50.

When I contacted them to advise that the S50 DOES NOT support the audible format that I had initially bought the unit for, I was politely told that they were sorry but they had no plans support any players using the audible format in the near future.

I received my rio 900 as a gift and have had nothing but problems with it from the very beginning. Real Player didn't recognize the mp3 player unless I plugged and unplugged it in several times, turned it on and off... after a while (5-10 minutes) of fiddling with it, it would finally recognize it and I could load music onto it. After a while, the player would tell me it had a full charge and then just shut off after a few minutes. Then it wouldn't turn back on unless plugged into the charger. After finding shareware to replace the software that came with this device I have found that I don't have to play games to get realplayer to recognize it again. Today we pulled out the batter and placed a regular AA battery and it works just fine. I'm ordering a rechargeable energizer battery to see if that will work. For now, AA batteries will suffice.

for the money spent on this, it should not have performed like this... poor software and a defective battery. I will be sure not to recommend this to anyone and I will never by another thing from sonicblue.