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RCA Lyra RD1080 128 MB MP3 Player

RCA Lyra RD1080 128 MB MP3 Player

List Price: $129.99
Your Price: $109.88
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Better off buying your own trumpet and drum set
Review: This does not play MP3 natively!!! You have to install and use MusicMatch .... Audio is "re-encoded" into an MPY format which is substantially different than MP3 (although apparently the same exact size), skipping songs takes FOREVER (I have lost relatives faster than I can skip songs with this thing), and if an MP3 wasn't encoded direct from CD there seems to be a substantial (nearly 100%) chance this thing will freak out with it. If it freaks you have to remove the batteries, wait for a new president to be elected, wipe all songs from it and install new songs - which, by the way takes forever (70MB is over 25 minutes on a brand new 2.8GHz machine). Additionally, the "random" is just a scrambled order that plays over and over and over (until you add another song with MusicMatch)....

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: It's getting there . . . but it needs work.
Review: I bought this because it supports MP3pro files. (Some reviews say that it doesn't, but it now does. RCA just released a firmware update a couple of weeks ago.) Here are some problems I've noticed. I can't get MusicMatch to transfer MP3pro files to the player. It says that these files are not supported by the player. However, I worked around this by treating the player as a drive on the computer and just moved one MP3pro file at a time to the player. (This takes a lot longer, but it works.) I have noticed that the player also makes kind of a "scratchy" noise when it plays some tracks (it almost sounds like playing an old scratched up record). But, I found that I can get files to play without that noise by fastforwarding to the next track on the player and then going back to the troublesome track. Finally, the volume on the player is not that high. The volume level goes up to 50, but on some songs this does not seem loud enough. (I do not listen to songs at extreme volume levels, I just like them to be loud enough to hear.) It's not a bad player, but RCA needs to work some of the kinks out. It looks like another firmware update and an update to MusicMatch could resolve these issues.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful MP3 Player
Review: I reviewed the other comments about this player, and decided I should add my own. The only downside I can find to this player is that if you are looking for a particular song, it may take a little time to get to it. Someone commented on the battery life (saying that it was the mp3 downfall). My husband has a different player, and the batteries barely last an hour. The batteries have lasted me at least 4 hours, and the battery indicator, just moved to half full. I really like the musicmatch software that was included (it's pretty much the same as winamp). It is really easy to download (just read the instructions) songs to the player. Many people choose to ignore the instructions (which is why they just drag and drop).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: fair product, extremely POOR service
Review: I purchased the RD1080 mp3 player as a Christmas present for my wife. After about a month of service, she began having problems with the player. I followed the instructions in the info booklet, and sent it back to the manufacturer for a replacement. That was about 3 months ago and still no player. What I did get was a $25 phone bill, accumulated while holding to talk to a representative. This is without a doubt, the worst service that I have ever received. Take my advice and skip it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Does not support SD memory cards if running Windows XP
Review: The packaging says you can upgrade with either SD or MultiMedia memory cards. 128MB and 256MB SD cards do not work with Windows XP. See the RCA site for details, i.e. "We're working on it."

Otherwise a good player.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Nice try / Good idea combo BUT...
Review: A great idea with a mp3/fm radio combo. Good quality with the radio (could be much better though) -- mp3 quailty is fine with me but the buttons are placed wrong which sometimes forces the mp3 tracks to change while you run. Also, there is no LOCK feature so if you move wrong you might mess up whatever you are listening to. It is a bit large as it does not fit well into many runners shorts 'key' pockets as does the older RCA players and without a lock button, there is no way to put it in the pocket anyway! It is a good deal for the money but very poorly designed. Stick with the Nike mp3 players, they are smaller and better made, plus the sound quality can not be beat! SORRY RCA, TRY AGAIN!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I've owned the Lyra RD1080 for a few months now. I've got more complaints about this MP3 player than any other MP3 player I've owned.
1) The mp3-to-mpy conversion causes some of my mp3 files (around 5%) to be garbled when played on the Lyra. These mp3 files play fine on every other player I've tried
2) The software has no reformat option available. I had to go to Windows explorer, find the portable device mounted as a hard drive, and manually reformat the device myself
3) I could not get the FM tuner to work at all. I live in Chicago, and I couldn't pick up a single FM station.

Even though the price per MB looks attractive for the Lyra, save your money and buy a Rio. I wish I had.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Two In One
Review: Great product. Lightweight and easy to use while you're working out. Price was it; full of value. FM is a nice addition. I'm going to buy one for my daughter after having this one for 2 weeks. Cheers

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Two In One
Review: Great product. Lightweight and easy to use while you're working out. Price was worth the cost. FM is a nice addition. I'm going to buy one for my daughter after having this one for 2 weeks. Cheers

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: You get what you pay for
Review: This player is pretty good for the money, but there there are definately some downfalls. Let me start with the positives. The music quality is very good - at least while in music mode ( not radio). It is small and lightweight, with a helpful screen. It does play wmas, has a good amount of built in memory and is expandable.

Having said this there are some downfalls. It advertises that it plays mp3s -false, lie, misleading. Third party software (musicmatch) will convert mp3s to mpy's and play them but don't expect to drag and drop mp3s onto the player. This is probably my biggest concern. Musicmatch is also a pretty lame piece of software, which is always prompting you to pay for an upgrade, which gets really annoying.

Another great deficiency is that there is no audio balancing on the radio. While playing mpy's, you can adjust bass and treble, or pick from some presets (jazz, rock, pop etc), but these are not available in radio mode. This is a huge mess up in RCAs development of this unit, especially because the radio sounds pretty tinny (like a 1930's grammaphone) even with good reception. Other pitfalls are that the navigation is a little hard, the volume adjusters are small and awkward and the options of how to carry the device are sub-par.

Anyway, overall its not a bad value - but you do get what you pay for.


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