MP3 Reviews

This MP3 Player uses a AAA battery. This is a terrible design decision. It severely curtails play life (by 1/3 to 1/2 compared to a AA) while the batteries themselves are not significantly cheaper than AA's. I have also had a hard time finding rechargeable AAA's compared to AA's. And while it sounds trivial, it is NOT minor that AAA batteries disappear much more easily that AA batteries at almost 3x the size. I bought 4 rechargeables shortly after getting this. A month later, 2 have disappeared. Did I mention AAA batteries are not notably cheaper than AA's?<br /> Dont buy this.

Not sure why some other reviewers had so many problems; I've never had any trouble with mine. This is a wonderful product, I love the small size, and the sound quality is awesome. It is perfect for taking to the gym because it is so lightweight you forget its even there. My only complaint is that it didn't come with an armband so that you don't have to hold it all the time.

I received this as a gift and what a gift it was! It is an awesome little mp3 player packed with features, from playlists, voice recording, FM tuner and even a simple little equalizer to make your music sound even better.<br /> It does however take a little bit of practice to understand all of the functions. The buttons tend to be a little sticky, audible clicks sometimes don't mean the player recognized your request. FM tuner is cumbersome but at least theres one there! <br /> As far as plug and play, I have had NO problems finding a computer that won't recognize the unit. I have been using Win XP and it meshes very nice. I have the RealPlayer software and it has some nice features.

DO NO BUY THIS CD PLAYER!(...)
You may ask why I hate this so much. Here are the reasons.
1. The ting eats up batteries, I only get 10-15 hours for 2 AA batteries.
2. The sound quality is bad. Out of nowhere it will get all fuzzy and skippy and sometimes it will skip 5 second clips.
3. It reads the cd tracks very slowly.
4. It takes about 30 seconds to load, WHY DOES IT HAVE TO LOAD.
5. You can not just skip right to one song, if you press buttons too fast it will get confused and the laser will move all around for no reason.
6. (...)The prosessor is too slow to show streaming graphics so the games are all skippy. If you play the games a lot you loose even more battery life.
7. The only format that it plays well is mp3. I do not want to waste a ton of blank cds just so that the cd player will play right.
8. You have to keep it still. If you dont then the sound quality is even worse.
In conclusion AVOID THIS CD AT ALL COSTS and buy the newest modest mouse cd. You wont be dissapointed.

This player, given the cost is dissapointing for two reason. First the resume fuction doesnt work right. It constantly will reset back to the begnning of a track, making it difficult if not impossible to listen to audiobooks. 2nd, there is no ability to fast forward (scan) thru mp3 tracks. Again, it ruins spoken word mp3 tracks, which is what I wanted to use most.

The games are fun to play for the 1st 5 seconds. Dissapointing, I had to sell it and now am looking for something better. Its expensive too.

My former CD/MP3 player was the Philips EXP503, which I had for two years before it I damaged it by mistake (long story). I desperately wanted to buy the same model again, but it was out of stock. I visited the Philips website and saw the new Expanium CD/MP3 player, the EXP521. The EXP503 was definitely the best CD player I've ever owned, so naturally I figured the 521 would be even better...
I couldn't hate it more.
There are several annoying issues with this CD player. Here are the worst that come to mind:
1. It takes a long time to start. I'm driving my car with the CD player hooked to my car stereo, pop in an MP3 CD and hit play. And I wait. I keep driving along, and wait a little longer. I know it's alive because it makes all sorts of noises as the CD spins and the laser reads the information. So finally I lose my patience and look away from the road for a second to see what in the world is taking so long. FINALLY...a song begins. The longest I've ever waited was about 30 to 45 seconds. To some it may not seem like a lot, but again...my old EXP503 spoiled me.
2. I'm a nut for perfect sound quality, which is why I rip my MP3's at the highest possible bit rate (320). When I plug in my headphones into the CD player, I sometimes hear static and broken audio, which drives me crazy.
3. The push button for the bass has to be pressed every time you change CD's. My old EXP503 always kept it on, because the batteries inside remembered the last setting used. The only thing the EXP521 remembers is to cancel the annoying BEEP that you hear every time you push a button.
4. There's no belt clip, which may not seem like a big deal, especially if you're driving...but isn't this a portable CD player? Am I supposed to hold it wherever I go? If that were the case, I'd buy a small portable boombox with a carry-on handle. Again...my old EXP503 had a very useful belt clip.
5. You can't fast-forward or rewind MP3 files. On that same note, you CAN fast-forward or rewind through normal CD's, but the audio transition is very choppy. On most CD players, you fast-forward and you can sort of make out where in the song you are. The EXP521 sounds so choppy you have to let go of the button to figure out how far into the song you are. Unless of course you look at the time lapse and know exactly where you want to stop.
6. The background never lights up, which is pain when you're driving at night and you're looking for a certain song among 100 other MP3's.
7. The buttons don't respond. I'm listening to a song, hit the "next" button and nothing happens. The up, down, left, and right buttons on the left side of the CD player have to be PRESSED to make them respond. The two "Stop" and "Play" buttons on the right are the same. You have to press them either harder than normal or repeatedly to make them work. All the other buttons work normal.
On the other hand, I do have some positive things to say about the EXP521 (which is why it earned two stars):
1. It takes either AA or AAA batteries. Pretty cool engineering idea.
2. The remote control has a clip to attach to your pocket or your shirt (but again...where do you put the CD player itself? Do you carry it or put it in a huge pocket?)
3. It reads ID3 tags, although slowly.
4. It has a good shuffle feature with or without repeat, which I use often on road trips.
5. Other than the occasional crackling, the sound quality is very good. I've heard other CD/MP3 players, including Panasonic's new model, and they sound very dull, like the treble is all the way down. The EXP521 has very clear sound.
Overall, I wish I had saved my money and not bought the EXP521. I'm desperately looking around the internet for any retailer that still offers the EXP503, or even a used one from someone who doesn't like it (how can they not???).
Shame on Philips for making a newer product worse than its predecessor.

Okay. Here is a write up, that I did, on the comparisons/contrasts on MP3 players. Mainly, the Harddrive versions (I.E. Rio Riot/Apple IPOD -both of which I own) and the flash memory type... (I.E. Memorex 3642 Mp3 Player, of which I own as well).
What prompted this little jaunt (of which you may send to as many people as you like) My $499 Apple IPOD died during a sync last month. Just me copying files over to it, and the battery ran out of juice. I would have not attempted to copy music had I known the battery was low, but the battery read FULL STRENGTH. Anyhoo, I called Apple, they said return it for maintenance.

I did. Sent it back.

They returned it, still broke.

To my suprise, there is only a TEN DAY return policy.

TEN DAYS.

I did not realize this at all... and will not ever buy another apple product.

So, after a month or so of messing around trying to find another MP3 player... I decided to go with a flash memory MP3 player, the ones that use memory sticks.

SO, here are the pro and cons of these devices.

Pro's for the Memory Stick Mp3 players

-Cheaper. WAY CHEAPER than Hard drive types.

-If you go into music match and file convert to MP3 Pro and shrink the size of your MP3 to like, say 3o percent... you can really make a good Kompression. Example. My Memorex MP3 player has 32mbs of memory on board. It is expandable to 256mb. 32 mb will basically let you put one cd's worth of music. It is easy to put music on and off of them, due to your computer reading the USB as just another hard drive, so you drag and drop to put on, delete them to take them off. But, after you shrink your files to MP3 Pro 30 percent, you can put twice as many. So, basically a 256mb chip will allow me to put 208 songs on my little less than palm size MP3 player. And it wieghs like 3 ounces.

- More on memory. These little chips are the size of the upper part of your thumb, at least my thumb anyway. They come in 128mb, 256mb, 512mb and even though there aren't any MP3 machines out there to handle them YET, you can even buy a 1.5gig thumb size chip thingy. Considering the size of the chips and the shrinking kompression I told you about earlier, I could shrink my whole KOLLEKTION down to 10 of those 1.5gig chips. At the current shrink rate I am at 5 DVD's, which are way bigger and more fragile than these little chips.

- Not as fragile as hard drive type. You can drop one of these chips and not scratch it. I wouldn't stomp on one with my foot, nor get one in water, but they are encased in plastic. Ruggedish.

- Batteries last for like two days. There isn't much going on here, no moving parts, no laser or hard drive to put power to. Most of these flash Memory types have a single AA battery. I use a rechargeable type, so we are talking very low cost here.
In comparison to the hard drive types, where you will get a solid 8 hours of playing, this really whupps up.

- Size. Small. Very small. Mine is three inches by three inches. A square. But, you can get smaller ones. And the memory chips that go in them are the same ones you use for your camera. And you can put files on them. If you want to put a word doc on your memory chip, you can. Your Mp3 won't recognize it, but it is nifty storage.

COMPARISON/CONTRAST

- Size does matter. In the case of hard drive Mp3 players... lets face it, you can, if you so chose to, put a library of congress on these monsters. They are the caddilacs of the hand held devices, and guzzle batteries like gasoline. But when it comes down to it, size is the only thing they have going for them. I don't mean to downplay the hard drive types, but don't drop them, don't shake them, and after shelling out $ to Apple you might consider insurance. Apple doesn't care about you or your apple after 10 days of ownership.

- Price/Komparison. IPOD ran me more bucks. My memorex MP3 player ran me less... The 128 memory chip runs you 50 bucks. Owch. There really isn't a comparison to the two. The memory stick Mp3 players just is great... on this issue. And, you get MORE than a ten day return policy, since you buy these things at Target/Wal Mart etc...

So, that is my review in a nutshell

Ok first of all, everyone who's reviewed this item obviously never got past the second grade. People are giving this a low rating due to the fact that its not made for the new Ipod, when the picture of the item CLEARLY shows the old Ipod in the case. So thats not a problem with the product, but with not reading/looking at the description. Also, reviews for a case aren't the forum for reviewing all the digial music players out there so I don't even understand that one.
Second, this is the cheapest Ipod case I could find, so I didn't expect it to be the case of my dreams. But, in fact, I was really happy with it. It fits snug, has a clip (unlike some of the more expensive ones), covers the screen (a big plus and many covers don't have it!), and leaves all the ports accessible. I think I'll rarely ever take it out of its case. One downside, and the only reason it didn't get 5 stars, is that it is a little bulky. The back of the case has a thick pad and the plastic is kinda thick as well. But I would rather it be thick than tear 3 months into owning it.
So, if you want a cheap and durable case with a clip and screen cover, I would really reccommend this one. If you'd rather have something really slim, have a new iPod, or don't mind shelling out the big bucks, there are some super nice cases in the $40-50 range, but not on this site.

First, let me say that I own this case for my older iPod and think that, for the price, it is great. Sure, you could shell out the extra bucks for some leather case or something, but I didn't feel like going that high-end. It is a very durable case and the addition of the belt clip is nice (although I wouldn't use this case just by itself for protection...if you want to do that, get the NLO stuff).

Second, concerning what this case is designed for...

If you read their "features" on this case, it clearly states:

"Created for older iPods - a great accessory for earlier models of iPod"

What are they supposed to do? Come to your house and check out what kind of iPod you have? Not only that, but they include a picture as well. Geez.

So yeah, if you have an older iPod, this thing is great. But read the description before you buy!!!

While the quality was pretty good, I was distracted by the fact that the output was very little; at full blast, could only hear at normal levels. The earpieces are big and dont seem to be erganomicaly designed for ears. The foam covers were a little helpful for that problem, but fell off very easily, like if you store them in your pocket instead of the carying case, and when the covers are gone, the phones became very annoying to listen through.
I recently bought the panasonic RP-HV152 to replace them and all of the problems of the Koss product were fixed by the Panasonic product. At a similar price range, about four to five dollars, it is a much better suggestion and reccomendation.

While I agree with the other reviewer who said the sound quality on these ear buds is great, I was not able to make these stay in my ears, no matter how hard I tried. On the rare occasion when they did stay, I soon had to remove them because of the pain they caused. The "bud" part that goes into the ear seems overly large, the padding is thin and easily removable, and there is nothing for the ear to grab on to. I am continuing my search for the perfect ear buds....

I've purchased some Koss products in the twenty to fifteen dollar range, and have been surprized by the sound quality, but I was dissapointed by these. I was hoping to use them with my ipod (my apple earbuds are a little blown out), but they are way less powerful than the apple earbuds. I had to turn the volume all the way up just to equal the sound that I got from my apple earbuds at normal volume. And even then, the sound was less full and warm sounding. I immediately converted back to my blown out apple earbuds. These headphones are not terrible, they're good for their price, but I expected greatness. Just go ahead and spend some extra money.

I bought a Buslink Mp3 player in a Datavision Store in NY (Datavision is a big reseller, listed in Buslink page).
The unit sound volume is weak, but this is not the problem. After just 3 months of use the unit wont play mp3 anymore, the screen went crazy every time I start it, and then froze. I contacted Buslink to got a replacement but I got THE WORST SUPPORT, INDIFERENCE AND BAD ATTENTION from they, particulary from Ivan Smith, customer support. Walk away from Buslink. They cannot replace the unit without the invoice from Datavision, they do not honor your waste , confidence nor preference. Stay away from Buslink, a unit that lasted only 3 months and they wont replace. I REPEAT, THE WORST QUALITY AND SUPPORT I GOT IN TONS OF PURCHASES. DONT BUY ANYTHING FROM BUSLINK

got it for Christmas :)...

After going through the manual listened to some different styles mp3s... :

1. The earphones suck... can't use :(

2. The sound of Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 14 'Moonlight' - 1 Adagio Sostenuto was horrible :( Besides the low quality, there was some additinal background noise... So it sucked...

3. Loud rock is ok kinda :(

So I'm ready to return the product...

I recently got this mp3 because my old one wasn't working very well. i love the sleek design on the mp3 but somethimes the buttons are hard to navigate but overall the sound and durability are fantastice its been a couple weeks and there are no flaws except the button placement

I purchased a Rio Eigen and it fell out of my lower cargo pants pocket - about 2 feet to the floor. The display now says "upgrader" and nothing I have read will fix it or get it to work. I'm going to try to return it and see what they do - its only 2 months old. I'll post again with their response.

I've had an Eigen for about two months now. Last week at the gym, the Eigen fell about 4 feet onto a rubberized floor. Shouldn't be a problem, right?

Wrong. It played one more song, then displayed a message, "Upgrader" on its LCD. After doing some poking around on Rio message boards, I learn that this is very common when the Eigen or Nitrus is jostled. Some fixes include upgrading the firmware, reattaching the hard drive's ribbon to the main board, or just whacking the unit against the table a few times. Unfortunately, like most people, none of these worked for me.

The Eigen is a piece of junk. I wouldn't buy it again if a comparable unit were within $100. It just isn't worth the risk.

If I could give a "O" I would. I bought the Rio Eigen with high hopes that it would be a cool, convenient way to have music when I worked out. From the beginning I had trouble with the software - and I am no computer newbie. Of course it was a long distance call to India - at my expense - to try to get things fixed. Finally,it worked for a short time, but within a month the unit would not work at all. I called again (3rd or 4th call, again at my expense) and returned it - $5 or so for postage and insurance. The customer service rep had promised a replacement unit - new. The UPS package (and what a headache connecting with UPS!) said in large letters "RECONDITIONED." I refused the package and am now working with my credit card company to try to get a refund.

I think the Apple case is great if you want only a sleek genuine Apple case to hide your precious Ipod. On the other hand, The case itself is very impractical and doesn't really secure or protect anything. I have a 4th generation 40gb Ipod and I find it annoying to have to pull it out of the case to manipulate the click wheel everytime. There are better cases out there for far less money and better access to your precious cargo.

DON'T keep your baby in this carrier. It's like driving with your child in the front seat, airbag on and no seatbelt through heavy traffic. You are an accident waiting to happen. The Belkin wallet holder has much more padding but no belt holder. I haven't found the perfect holder yet but I'm still on the lookout. The ipod needs to be firmly secured with padding all around the edges, attatched to your body at all times, yet you have to be able to easily access the front of it. Get that perfect case on the market people!!

When I recieved my first Ipod 20gb I was really disapointed with the case that came with it. Apart from killing the Ipods good looks I dropped it twice in the first two days because of the rather weak clip. Not only was I dissapointed with the above mentioned, but I couldn't believe that Apple made a case with no protection on the corners for a product that beggs care and attention. I don't know what the statistics are but there is a good chance that if the Ipod takes a fall it will hit the corner at some point in the disaster!
When I recieved my new 40gb Ipod with the dock I couldn't believe that Apple were still sending this case out with a product of this class. Surely someone has made this complaint to the company during the last few years! I gave it a two only because the material it is made of is reasonable quality and it functions - if you dont drop it and are extremly careful when using the clip.

Liar Liar. Be aware this item does not have USB connection, nor does it allow upgrade to 96mb as advertized. Play audible? No way with this model.

I have had this product since April 2001. When it works I love it; when it screws up [which is often] I want to throw it out my car window. Whenever I get back into my car, it seems to have jumped backwards at least 15 minutes in the book I am listening to & then I have to go through the tedious FF exercise & never quite know whee I am. The most frustrating part is when the machine skips forward. I have no idea if it's a minute forward, an hour forward AAAHHHH. But when it works, it's wonderful having it.

This unit is discontinued now but for reference purposes: overall it is a decent performer for a basic mp3 player. It DOES come with a USB connection (I think a previous reviewer was referring to the AR-100 Duo player--an earlier model).
I don't listen to audiobooks but as an mp3 music player it has performed well in the cassette mode and as a stand alone unit.
Downloads were easily accomplished using the furnished software.
Customer service through DUO was outstanding.

PROS: *compact size (great portability!)
*practicality (works great in the cassette deck or with headphones)
*good customer service from the parent company

CONS: *low flash memory (expensive to upgrade with mmc)
*no lcd display
*sometimes need to "reboot" before playing or downloading

A bit pricey, but unfortunately, you need one of these things to unlock the FM radio feature. The big issues: After a couple months of flawless performance, I started to get the noise, random cutoff and extremely touchy controls noted in other reviews here. After one not-too-tremendous drop, the remote stopped working completely. Still writing to Creative about beginning the RMA process.

As far as when it's working, like I said, it's necessary for radio features. On my Muvo2, it's particularly crucial, since the poorly-designed case doesn't allow access to any of the controls (let alone the LCD screen), so if you want to protect the player, you'll either have this or be pulling apart the case's velcro over and over. Unfortunately, the remote doesn't let you change folders, so you'll be pulling the player out from time to time regardless.

The unit is a bit big and awkward, especially with the way it plugs into a Muvo. The 'mode' button is easy to hit accidentally. Of course, I'd live with the drawbacks to get the extra features and accessibility -- if my unit worked. In that case, I'd probably give it three stars.

build was ok. functionality was good.

but everytime i plugged my headphones into the remote, i got a good deal of static and background noise that i didnt get when i plugged directly into my nomad. that ruins my music listening experience and so, i returned mine.

anyone else get this problem? if not, maybe ill give it another try.

It has some neat features, like FM and backlit display for night time. I have the nomad3 mounted under the seat with this display on the console. However, the buttons are funky. Sometimes not working. For example, to turn on the unit, you have to hold the on button for a good length of time - but even that doesn't do it. Sometimes you have to do thisonce, sometimes twice - most often 3 times before it will turn on the player. To turn off, hold the stop button - this always works. There is no album advance either - making skipping an album a chore. Construction is somewhat flimsy so no swinging the player around by the remote...

The device works, but the sound quality is poor. I get much better sound using a cassette adapter

I live in the Seattle area and there are very few dead spots on the FM dial. That being said, the Transpod is capable of producing fairly clear reception. I suspect it would preform better in a market with fewer radio stations using up the FM bandwidth. It is very convenient and I frequently use it in each of my vehicles. The sound quality is acceptable, but not great.

I recently purchased the Transpod, and so far its not a bad little deal. My only complaint is due to the vibration that most car experience in driving or going over bumps, I was a little worried my pods drive would vibrate tod death. I inserted a small piece of foam behind the transpod where it touchs my dashboard to asborb the bounce and it seems ok. Very clear, a good sound. And it broadcasts cleary over some distance at least 30 feet or so...its like having your own radio station...