Rating: 
Summary: Compact Flash type II (microdrive) support
Review: One of the better things about the Lyra for me is that it uses CF Type II cards. It specifically says on newer printings of the packaging that it supports IBM's MicroDrives.I already have a 1.0 GB Microdrive for my Canon G1 camera so I am going to get a Lyra in hopes of taking advantage of already owning one.
Rating:
Summary: PERFECT!
Review: PERFECT! This MP3 player is just perfect. It is simple and easy to use, and has a very good sound and design. Couldn't be better!
Rating:
Summary: Great MP3 Player
Review: The Lyra is in my eyes the best you can buy without going overboard on the price. Many people have complained about the RealJukebox software that was included--I didn't even bother installing it. There are several programs which will install the software on the Lyra for you, and you can simply drag-and-drop MP3s from Windows explorer, it all depends on the software in the directory Lyra loads from. Another great quality about the Lyra is the utilization of the CompactFlash card. In the future, these cards may be able to hold much more than 64 MB, allowing the expandability of the player's storage. For now, you can simply downgrade the MP3 quality to a lower rate, I normally encrypt at 96 or 128 KBPS, this allows for more storage. Another reason the CompactFlash is useful is that it will allow you to not only use it for your MP3 player, but it is compatible with digital cameras. You can pull the CompactFlash right out of your MP3 player, put it in the camera, and it will store it all (and no, the Lyra won't show your pictures). If you are looking for a higher storage (but bigger) MP3 player, look to the Creative Nomad line. They may be a big more bulky, and more expensive, but they hold much more. The only small complaint I have is that I purchased the Lyra before they offered a USB compliant CompactFlash adapter for the PC, and in the past I have had a few problems with the serial adatper. I believe it is now sold with the USB port CompactFlash drive standard.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the best
Review: The RCA Lyra is the best MP3 player hands down. It was incredibly easy to install, and downloading songs took no time. Many people complain of popping songs with Realjukebox, but they just didn't notice the preferences feature, allowing you to use the error control. That ultimatly fixes the problem. The Lyra has a clear LCD screen and convienient back light. Its state-of-the-art compact flash memory is so easy to use. Automaticly upgradeable,and convienient when you want to change the songs. Unlike on-board memory and such, you can switch cards instead of downloading again and again. The Lyra also comes with excellent headphones, that give a real-life sound. I can just imagine Darren Hayes singing right next to me when I listen to his music with this player. No contest, the Lyra is simply the best there is. Great job RCA, I look foward to buying your products in the future.
Rating: 
Summary: Crap, utter and total crap
Review: This is a piece of junk, the screen went out shortly after is was bought. Avoid at all costs.
Rating: 
Summary: Good sound, but could be better
Review: This is actually my second review, but I feel I now can say more about it since I have been using it for months. First of all, as I said in my original review, the sound quality is outstanding. At the best setting (128 kps), you can fit about the same amount of songs on the player as a CD, and you get the best sound. If you want to add some more songs, however, the MP3 quality can be taken down to 44 kps, and even though you can certainly hear the difference, if you are going on a long trip, the low setting allows you to fit around 40 songs, compared to about 15 at 128 kps. Nothing is better for a long trip. All my CD's are on my computer, which was easy to do with the RealJukebox, and on those long trips I can fit all my favorite songs without the hassel of changing CD's. Batteries last approximately 2 to 2.5 hours, which is pretty good, but there are some drawbacks about the player that disapointed me. The biggest thing is the fact there is no hold button to prevent other buttons from being hit while the player is in my pocket. There is nothing worse than getting into a great song and then bending over and causing the track to be switched. This is an occurance that has aggravated me over and over again. What aggravates me just as much though is when I DO want to change the tracks, sometimes I have to push the button 3 or 4 times to get the thing to work. Other than that, the backlight is great, the preset sound setups are good, and it even features a customizable equilizer. Also, the player features a program command, shuffle, repeat, and other things. The RealJukebox software works great, and is very easy to use, and the hardware for the computer is simple to hook up. I really haven't used any other players so I cannot comment on this compared to them as far as the buttons go, but I can say that if there is a player available with a hold button, I would prefer it over this one, but if it something that may not bother you, the sound quality is great, so I would recommend this product otherwise.
Rating: 
Summary: Great sound and interface, but some drawbacks
Review: This product has excellent sound quality that surpassed my expectations and putting songs on the card is as easy as can be. The drawbacks, however, exist on the player itself. To begin with, the buttons are very unresponsive a lot of times. I have to hit a button 2 or 3 times sometimes to get it to work. The other thing that especially disabpointed me was the fact that there was no lock option. There is nothing to prevent the buttons from being pushed in my pocket, which will either turn it on and drain my batteries when it is off, or it will change the track when I am listening to a good song. To make sure it is not turned on it your pocket, eject the memory card and leave it in the slot, but not in far enough to be connected. Other than this, I love the player. the different sound modes are great, the different play modes (shuffle, repeat, program) are nice, and the indiglo type backlight is a really nice addition. It is small, compact, and pretty much easy to use, therefore I would recommend this product to any mp3 music enthusiast.
Rating:
Summary: could use a little improvement
Review: Unlike one of the other reviews that used Linux, I had no problem loading MP3 files onto this card without encrypting them. I used RealJukebox Plus. However, I did have some problems loading these MP3s onto another compactflash card. The parallel port/keyboard adapter is also inconvenient, a USB would be better. I was very happy with the sound quality and the fact that this unit doesn't skip, as I use it mainly at the gym.
Rating: 
Summary: It only plays "encrypted" mp3s
Review: Well, it sounds wonderful. The fact that it uses compact flash cards is a definite plus as I already use these cards with my digital camera, and i've found that I can even use the same card with both devices interchangeably. I can have both digital pictures and digital music on the same card at the same time, and just move it between devices as necessary. It also appears to store its operating system on the flash card, making it easy to update. It has some built-in DSP functionality, though mostly in the form of graphic EQ effects, than more sophisticated processing usually associated with the term "DSP" However, it has a few major (in my opinion) drawbacks which make it unacceptable for my purposes. It will only play MP3 files which have been "encrypted" via the included software. This means that its impossible to just transfer mp3 files to the flash card, and have them play properly (they sound like noise with lots of popping). Furthermore, the included software refuses to recognize the PCMCIA slot in my laptop and insists on using the included parallel/keyboard port adapter. Also, after installing on windows NT, the software checked the internet and found an update for itself, but the update failed partway through with a mysterious error message (and, yes, I was logged in as administrator, as the software suggests). I primarily use linux, and even if I used windows I don't like being forced into a particular software application, especially a proprietary one. As far as I am concerned, this item is falsely advertised as an MP3 player, as it will not play files in the MP3 format. I don't want to have to waste time and space re-encoding things just to make them work this this player. Until RCA releases software for it capable of playing regular MP3s, or someone else develops an alternative OS for it which will, i'll keep looking and return this item to the store (in spite of an in-box flier that says not to return to store; I really doubt RCA will fix these problems to my satisfaction over the phone). Nowhere on the outside of the box to they mention this encryption, but there is a big yellow flier about it on the inside (in a sealed plastic bag, with the rest of the documentation). +++ uses reasonably standard compact flash
++ sounds good for a portable device
+ graphic EQ
- more sophisticated or better described DSP functions.
------ proprietary file format
--- requires proprietary windows/mac only software
-- software only wants to create the "encrypted files" on the flash card, via the included interface.
-- what on earth is this encryption for? MP3s can certainly be transferred without running them through an mp3 player. As is usually the case: inconvenience to pirates: 0; inconvenience to legitimate users: 9
I have not tried its G2 capabilities. Fix it so it will play MP3s that I can get on the flash card via linux mount/copy/umount and i'd give it 4 stars and keep it.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic player, but has one major hitch.
Review: While I found the player itself to be fantastic, there was one major drawback that forced me to give it a one-star rating: it does not actually play mp3 or rm files. Instead it uses two proprietary file formats, mpx and rmj, which can ONLY be written by the included RealJukebox software. The only file format it actually handles straight-through is wma (Windows Media Audio), a proprietary format itself. As I have no facility for creating any of these three formats, and the specification for the executable format of the on-board decoder is not open, I was forced to return this device in favor of another CompactFlash player. If you run Windows exclusively, you might consider the Lyra (or its equally proprietary successor, the Lyra II), but otherwise I would highly recommend another player which can handle standardized formats (such as the Kodak MC3 or the Frontier Nex II).
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