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RCA RD2800 10 GB Lyra Jukebox

RCA RD2800 10 GB Lyra Jukebox

List Price: $249.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Unit failed after 2 days
Review: After 2 days of operation, the RCA RD2800 started to lock up and display error messages--"cannot access disk drive." After a few minutes it would recover. RCA RD2800 Lyra JukeBox has great features and overwhelming storage capacity. I also liked the MusicMatch jukebox software package--but if the item is unreliable--who needs it? I understand this is a new item--so I intend to buy it again in a few months after they've worked out the bugs.
Larry

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: decent player, wish rca had a better support page
Review: hopefully, there already is or will be soon a good web site to support this device. i doubt it will come from rca. having used archos jukebox and wasted money on the nomad, i can say this is not a bad device. now i have no reason to look at an apple ipod--i hate how apple has this rediculous attitude of being the best--worse than sony. bottom line is that with mp3pro support, one can transfer the smaller files quicker without firewire (one of apple's only good hardware endorsements). good news is that there's no proprietary bs transfer [stuff]...just a regular usb hard drive, and as indicated by this fact, the drive is formatted regular, helping the process of upgrading or replacing the hard drive. i was able to put a 20 gig drive in this. not sure if it will have stupid track number limitations yet, but it works basically. however, one needs torgue drivers that are smaller than what i could find readily to open it. i ended up just ripping off the back. that worked out quite well though, i must say. it went back on ok, and the cosmetic damage is covered by the nice black neoprene suite that came with it. i don't quite know what people are talking about high audio quality on this thing; it's average for it's type. people tend to say the archos line is not so good quality, but i don't hear much difference on this--it still breaks up under really heavy bass--not bad though. also, i am having a terrible time distinguishing mp3pro quality from regular on this thing. i think i can tell the difference using my computer, then i transfer both pro and reg to lyra and the pro sounds almost indestinguishably better. i tried a variety of bitrates, and its really weird--comparing 64bit reg to 64bit pro, among other similar comparisons, just doesn't convince me of whether this thing fully supports mp3pro. nonetheless, it doesn't have strange buffer/skip problems like my archos did, and the internal lion batt seems easy enough to replace--philips screws let u at the cylinder battery which should be similar to one of the cylinders comprising a laptop battery, and the batt is wired to a two prong connector that seems easy enough to transfer to a new raw cylinder battery that one could order at a digikey or somesuch place. seems to have good playlist and randomizing functions...haven't tested them yet though. all in all it's one of those few players that have the right form factor and offer semi-nonproprietary interface, combined with no skips or crashes--although maybe i haven't tested it enough compared with other reviewers. i may do a follow up after more testing.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: All Right for a first timer
Review: I bought the RD2800 the other day and found out that it wasn't as big as it looked online. Aside from the next day freezing and some loose piece jiggling in the back i continued to use the jukebox. The main feature that i considered was the car kit and this player delivered. I was also considering the Apple Ipod 10 GB but the features lacked on the ipod with no car kit (BUMMER). One aspect of the player that i don't like is the usb cable, which makes downloading my mp3's so slow, the firwire from apple is much more faster.
The rd2800 is basically a portable harddrive which is slower than the harddrive on my computer and around the same price.
The buttons are really bad, come on now, they should have included a scroll wheel like the ipod esp, for those with a lot of songs. I can see the buttons being jammed in after a coulple of weeks.
Overall, the RD2800 isn't bad it can store a lot of music. The sound is AWESOME with good headphones. It is a bit bulky and to jog with it would be bad idea. What exactly is the slit on the bottom of the jukebox? Since its from an American company, the RCA won't last that long.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: QUALITY PRODUCT
Review: I bought this from Amazon in early July because 1-- the IPOD was TOO MUCH money and 2 -- all the other PC compatible HD players looked cheap (eg - Archos) and/or too big (eg - Nomad)....

I have not been dissapointed. The product is not perfect, but the build and sound quality, as indicated in other reviews, are absolutely top grade. The real proof of build quality was when I was walking in the Best Buy parking lot, had just skipped a couple songs forward (meaning HD access was active) and DROPPED the unit from chest height to the pavement. It has a few dings...but no other indication of any damage. Works great. I dropped a RioVolt MP3 CD player, from a lower height onto pavement, and the unit was trashed....this is a very well built product.

OTHER - Battery life works as advertised. Firmware upgrades are diminishing the "hang" problem (it's pretty rare now) and have already added a battery indicator. Can FF/RW thru selections, but there is not a bookmark I have found -- shut it off and you are back to the beginning of the selection. Weakest part of product is clearly the silly case that comes with it.

Would buy again without reservation

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very Impressed !
Review: I bought this item here on Amazon and used the free shipping. I got my Lyra Jukebox in 3 days only! Awsome Service from Amazon. I've been looking around for the best music jukebox for awile now, and I'm happy I went with the Lyra Jukebox rd2800. 10 gig is a lots of space!. I've never seen this product before and when I got it, I was surprised how nicely built and compact this is. Sound quality is superb. I pluged it into my PC, and XP took care of the rest. I used MusicMatch 7 Plus to convert all my MP3's to MP3pro's, just drag and drop to the jukebox after that. I also used it to store some of my files so I was able to format my PC and clean it up. It came with everything, even a car kit and the head phones are not the cheap ones either. I'm very happy with it and you will be too if you decide to buy the Lyra Jukebox. And I'm sure you will also be satisfied with the service from Amazon.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: An OK MP3 Player
Review: I had higher expectations of this MP3 Player. The viewable screen for the songs doesn't show much at all so I had to rename all my songs. You annot scroll to another song while a song is playing. The software that works with the Player doesn't work, at all. When the battery is starting to run out, you finaly see a battery metter but then you have maybe 1 minute before it dies.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Still no mp3PRO support, but decent. Save up for an iPod.
Review: I picked up one of these thinking it would have support for mp3PRO -- but I was sloppy and didn't read the fine print. It's "mp3PRO ready"... meaning it's ready for a firmware update that isn't done yet. Other than that it has been decent to me.

On the plus side:
* Lot of storage
* Doesn't need any software to load - just appears as a drive letter in Win2000. I love that.
* The accompanying headphones are better than most portables - still not truly high quality though.
* Decent price for the storage

On the minus side:
* No mp3PRO support yet
* System crashes a lot with seemingly average jostling - I can't walk to the post office with it in my pocket without the system crashing. It's ok if tossed in a backpack though.
* Audible interference buzz - when the drive light flashes, you can hear it causing a bit of buzz in the headphones.
* The USB port is pretty obscure - I could not find a cable that matches the super small port. If you want to use it at home and work, you either have to carry the cable each way or maybe order another one from RCA

Another point which I have noticed is common with hard-drive based MP3 players, but surpised me when I got this was that ther battery is build in - so there is no way to carry a spare. With 10 gigs of storage, I had visions of extended listening "in the field" but that's just not possible. I love my rechargable AAs but they don't help here.

I have since purchased a 10GB iPod -- also uses a built-in battery -- which is otherwise vastly superior to the RCA, but at a higher price point. I'd recommend saving up for the iPod if you want a high capacity MP3 player if you have the means - but, in a crunch the RCA is not too bad.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Amazing
Review: I recently got the rd2800 and it is truly amazing. The mp3pro makes it 1/2 the size. I really enjoyed that. The Ipod is smaller but does not have as much features as the lyra hd jukebox. thank you

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great little toy
Review: I think this jukebox is the best out there. I did extensive research before I bought it and even though it does not have a 20GB drive like some out there; it does have MP3Pro capability that lets you download a lot of music.
Yes, with USB1.1 it is not the speediest but that is why it has 10GB drive. You download a lot of music once and then just update it once in a while instead of using 64 or 128MB player that you have to update every day.
One thing that I really did not like about it is the case it comes with. It is horrible. It does not fit perfectly and really offers no protection to the most of the unit. Only back side is protected. No cover for the screen, buttons, or connector plugs. I think that RCA should offer a leather pouch type case that has clear plastic windows for screen and buttons and easily removable belt clip. Something like some of the cell phone cases. That way screen is protected and you can still press buttons and control the unit.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Lyra Jukebox
Review: I think this mp3 player is the best out of all the players. It has the best features and very good battery life. It AutoSync's with your computer and you can fit 300 hours of music using the Mp3pro feature. This Jukebox is smaller than the Nomad, which I think is the second best jukebox. It is a great product and if you are looking at Mp3 jukeboxes, you should choose this one.


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