GPX C3960 Personal CD/MP3 Player with 120-Second MP3 Anti-Shock Protection

Rating:
Summary: Spartan though functional player
Review: Being a long haul semi driver I've found that MP3's are the solution to my audio needs since swapping a normal CD every 80 minutes while driving is impractical and some would argue downright dangerous. Originally I had an RCA 2410 which was as useless as a milk pail under a bull, and then later an RCA 2450 which was just the same. For a year I used my laptop as my player but after dropping it multiple times it has ceased to function. A colleague of mine purchased the GPX 3960 for his own use which caused me to laugh long and hard. To me GPX has always been one of those joke brands that you would expect to find in an Alco store (those of you in the midwest will understand) sitting on the shelf by the Emersons. But when he reported that his worked great I had to get one for myself and so far I've grown attached to it.
Unlike the 2 RCA's I've had, this one isn't terribly picky about the burn speed you use to create your CDR's or CDR-W's (yes they work too), the RCA 2410 would sometimes work if you burned at 1x, this model plays just fine on CDR's that were burned at 16x, might even work at higher speeds though I haven't tried yet. Also, it doesn't hang on mp3's encoded at 320 kbps or even variable bit rates. It also has both line out and head phone out jacks, a feature I haven't seen on portable CD players in years. There are some negative drawbacks that keep this from receiving 5 stars. First, it does skip from time to time, though I don't believe it's caused from vibrations since it has survived with flying colors the I70 across Missouri torture test. The skipping must be from occasional read errors though it usually recovers and continues where as both RCA models would either hang all day or jump to another region of the disk. Second, the randomize feature doesn't randomize very well, by that I mean no matter what track I put it to act as the seed for it's random generator it always will play the same order. Third, the interface is very clumsy, changing directories requires pressing two buttons in an esoteric manner so I usually just keep hitting advance to get the directory I want. Fourth, and most annoying, is the slow speed of the fast forward feature. At least it actually does go forward, unlike the RCA 2410 which would go 5 seconds forward and 6 seconds back, but the sluggishness makes fast forwarding through an audiobook ripped from tape a nightmare, and you can't advance to the next track and then rewind. Other minor annoyances are the lack of a backlit display, lack of a cigarette lighter adapter (car users may want to consider snagging a cheap inverter since it only comes with an AC adapter),lack of a cassette adapter, and some may find the lack of MP3 management software bothersome. Sound quality? Well, keep in mind I'm running through a cassette deck in a Kenworth T2000's stock stereo system and the only other experience I have with MP3 players are the RCA's and my laptop. The RCA's, especially the RP 2450 had a rather thin sound to it while this model sounds on par with the laptop.
I can't comment on how the more expensive players such as the RioVolt or iRiver will serve your needs, but if you're looking for a low priced player and can live with the aforementioned annoyances then this one is definitely worth a look.