RCA RD2204 Lyra 64 MB MP3 Player

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).