Rating: 
Summary: not worth keeping
Review: The navigation button is so poorly designed that I could not give this product the type of testing it probably deserves. The navigation button (up,down,left,right) is works just fine as long as you never want to navigate down. The button does not make a good contact with the switch that actually moves the curser down the menu. I have to actually pull up on the top of the button to navigate down the menus. This, in my opinion, was reason enough to turn right back around to the store and exchange it. This time, I was smart and tried it in the car (fortunately, it comes with a car charger). To my despair, the new one had the same problem. Sorry RCA. If you can't get something like a simple button right, you're not going to get MY business. A flaw like this makes everything else about the player (sound quality, capacity, price, features) irrelevent. Better luck next time.
Rating: 
Summary: But it doesn't know the alphabet...
Review: Overall, this product is okay, the big problem is what other people have mentioned: the customer support (or lack thereof) on RCA's part. You have to make a long-distance call and wait anywhere from 10 minutes (my shortest time) to 38 minutes (the longest). My complaint is that it doesn't list files alphabetically in the "All Files" folder. It will sort your songs based on genre, band name, or album name, but to do that you have to enter all of that information in the MusicMatch software for each and every song. I'd think that for most people who buy a 40 gig player, they probably have a lot of music and going through each song just may not be possible. Being that I'm an organization freak, I spent a couple hours a day for a week doing it. However there's still nearly a thousand titles, so I started using the "All Files" option, which lays out the folders as they are on the drive. Except this feature doesn't know the alphabet, so you just have to scan and scan and scan and scan... you get the point. I called customer service, and after all that, the customer service guy was totally flippant with me and told me the product wasn't perfect. Don't release it until it is, that's just basic market strategy! He said maybe they'll fix it in a firmware upgrade, but he didn't know. I asked who I had to talk to so I could register a complaint, and he said, "Me, and I already heard you." So I got the address for the legal department, not like they'll do anything. So the problem is, if you have enough music to justify paying for 40 gigs, you may not be able to find it on the Lyra. If you only have a little music, well you'll be able to find it on the Lyra, but if that's the case you don't need it anyway. So I guess decide your priorities before buying. Hope this helps you guys!
Rating: 
Summary: Resume does not work in shuffle mode
Review: In response to Eric Righter: the new firmware adds resume, but as the previous reviewer stated, the resume does NOT work properly in shuffle mode. Shuffle mode itself is very buggy and inconsistent, often playing the same sequence of songs every time you start up. Just wanted to clear that up.
Rating: 
Summary: Resume Problem has been fixed
Review: I just got my RD2840 yesterday and it rocks! The problem previously mentioned regarding lack of resume has been fixed. If you already have the unit you can upgrade the firmware on the RCA website.
You can turn it off and when it comes back on it remembers where it was. Since I have huge mix directories on the drive this is essential.
Battery life is great. It lasts an entire 8 hour work day for me.
Rating:
Summary: TWO IN A ROW DID THE SAME THING- FROZE TILL IT DIED
Review: so i purchased this product based on rca's rep for being a good quality and the fact that it seemed like a killer deal... which is where i went wrong- turns out the rca rd2840 lyra doesn't always turn off when the on/off button is pushed, it instead freezes up until the battery runs out- kind of a bummer on a long flight or drive.. or just considering the investment. i exchanged it for another one that did the same thing again. i've built computers, run websites, and delt with electronics of all kinds and this is one of the most poorly designed products. Oh, and about the 10 hours battery life... within 10 minutes of using it the battery indicator already started dying- i'd say on a good day you might get 6 hours life...
Rating: 
Summary: Lack of resume makes player worthless
Review: This player does everything right, except for one minor detail which would probably take 10 minutes for a programmer to fix! The resume is HORRIBLE. First of all, it does not correctly work when shuffling (and sometimes not at all). Say you are listening to one of your folders, like classical in shuffle mode. Everytime you turn off the player, you have to navigate through the godd*mn menus to get back to the folder you want to resume. I wanted to use this player in the car, but the lack of resume makes this pretty much a pain ... I can't believe something this basic is missing in this player. I would love it if not for this huge failure. ...
Rating:
Summary: Problems with no resolution yet
Review: I have the RD2840 for 5 days now, loaded almost 3200 files in MP3 and WMA format and thought it was great, until I created a playlist mixing formats. I can play MP3's or WMA ok, but when I go from a WMA file to an MP3 file, the MP3 becomes totally distorted. The only way to stop the distortion is to turn the unit on and off. The funny thing is that if I switch to another WMA from the distorted MP3, it's clear and sounds great. I thought it was a software problem, so I went to the RCA.COM/AUDIODOWNLOADS site and got the latest firmware and loaded it (V1.42) and that didn't help. I then CALLED RCA support and they asked me to reinstall the upgrade and then had me reformat the drive from a FAT32 to a FAT16. No help. Called support again and this time they told me to go get it exchanged at the retailer. Guess what... SAME FREAKIN' PROBLEM ON THE SECOND UNIT !!! Other than this, I like the RD2840, but not sure about quality after having 2 of them with the same problem. I'm off to call support AGAIN.
Rating:
Summary: Better then iPod
Review: I got the RCA to replace an old MTV Evolution 128mb player I had lost, and figured if I'm going to upgrade, I'm going to UPGRADE. The day I got it I had 1000 tracks on it and took it to work with me to play with on my downtime, and show it to a coworker. He could not believe that it held 40GB. He said he had to have one and went out to the electronics store in town and ended up getting an iPod instead, (the salesman told him iPod was MUCH better.) Now we both have 40GB jukeboxes, and it was time to compare. Song Navigation:
iPod remembers where you left off; RCA does not
RCA controls are much easier to use, iPod is touchy, too much for my taste and you had to remove it from the case.
Winner- RCA Size:
RCA is a bit bigger then the iPod and harder to slip in a pocket.
Winner- iPod Extras:
With my RCA, I got a carrying case, cheep-o headphones, tape deck adapter, audio input cables, usb cable, ac adapter, and a cigarette lighter adapter. With his iPod he got, even cheaper ear buds, and an usb cable.
Winner- RCA Price:
Take a look for yourself. (And he had to buy all the extras)
Winner:
RCA Overall:
The RCA has done everything I wanted it to do, yea it would be nice if it remembered where you were, (not good for audio books,) but my coworker told me he wished he had got the RCA. I am glad I got the RCA and do not want the iPod.
Winner -RCA
Rating:
Summary: Great !!!!!!! but need software improvement......
Review: I would be great if all the functions that are added to the playlists (artist-album etc.) work2 the same way with the ALL FILES MENU : 1-The folders are not sorted correctly
2-You cannot add songs to likes/dislikes.
3-If you play your songs from the ALL FILES menu it wont remember the last song played after you turn off the device, even with the new software (december 9)
4-If you go back/up from a folder it doesnt remember in wich folder you were , so you have to go from the first folder to the one you were in (imagine if you have a lot of folders )
5-If you are listening to the last song of a folder i doesnt continue with next folder. I mention this because i have 300+ discs and i already have my collection organized in folders Artist > Album(s) format thats why i like to use the ALL FILES OPTIONS, i use this format with other devices so im very familiar with that.
Rating:
Summary: Bang for the buck
Review: To summarize: About $250, 40gb, it plays your tracks and sounds good. Not as small and sleek as an i-Pod, but cool in its own way. Battery life is good but drops when the unit is filled to capacity with music. It occasionally freezes up but sorts itself out without need for a reset. Many issues resolved by recent firmware update. Included car kit is thoughtful, but the car lighter power adapter is not shielded properly, resulting in a lot of noise. You will end up buying a proper adapter because of this, so RCA needn't have bothered (and perhaps could have cut the price further). That said, running on battery through the car stereo, it sounds fantastic. A big selling point is MP3Pro capabilities. This extends the storage capacity of the Lyra, because a 96k MP3Pro file sounds at least as good as a 128k MP3, but takes up 20-25 percent less space. However, RCA have only included trial software for encoding MP3Pro, so if you want to retain the capability expect to pony up some extra cash to do so. This is RCA/Thomson proprietary technology, they should include the full package when you buy their products. If you have just a small music library and want something to fit in your shirt pocket, go with a 10gb i-Pod in the similar price range, you will be happy with it. If you have 400+ CDs and want your digital music library at your finger tips, go with the Lyra.
| 
