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Phillips EXP301 CD/MP3 Player

Phillips EXP301 CD/MP3 Player

List Price: $129.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent MP3-Cd Player in Every Aspect
Review: I had previously used MP3-CD players by Rio Volt and also by Philips (model EXP 201). They both used to experience some skips when I took them for my daily walk. But this one didn't skip even a single time. Even without ESP on, I can use it for hours without fear of annoyance of skips... Also, the battery life seems to be better on this machine than the other two. The buttons on the previous model were too soft, so even slightest accidental touch could trigger them. But this model has more livable touch. (Of course, there is a 'Hold' lock to prevent accidental actions, but setting that lock every time is no fun. I am happier with the new model.) Also, the display is easier to read. True, the display still lacks a backlight facility for night time reading, but that is livable. Also, the display still is only numeric. ID3 tag display is still reserved for the higher models. But for this low price, I cannot ask for anything more. My dream has come true. Now I am planning to discard all my cassettes in favor of MP3-CD's. One more advancement of this model is that it supports UDF. Now I can store files with DirectCD, giving me an additional flexibility, which was denied in the previous model. The look and feel also have improved. The belt clip that was included was superb too. Just like the old cassette players, I can hang this new 'walkman' on my belt without needing a fanny pack. I intend to buy a couple more for my family members. Thank you Philips for a sound product, finally that I can count on using...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best solution for me! Maybe the best for you as well...
Review: I have tried other personal CD players with CD-MP3 playback, and most of them just do not work. But Philips EXP30117 eXpanium is working perfectly. The only thing you have to do is to organise your mp3 collection properly (different albums in different folders) and burn them! The major advantage of this machine is that you can easily browse your collection. Not with the song names, but with album/track numbers. Now I am listening an MP3 CD with 127 songs, from 7 different artists, and I can easily find what I am looking for. {Tip: print the folder information and use it as a CDinsert} Sound quality is very good, and I just do not have to carry 7/8 CDs with me, but just one.

I have a large collection of CDs and I often listen music on my computer, thus I convert most of my CDs to mp3s. I bike everyday and listen music outdoors. I do not like to carry a lot of CDs with me. But I like to carry a lot of songs from different artists. So a normal MP3 player with limited memory is no good for me. Other players with huge harddisks, like Creative Nomad, are expensive, and you have to transfer your collection to that player. Well I have a lot of MP3 CDs. So I would not be happy to reload them to my computer and then to transfer them to such a device. Best solution, is to find something that can play my MP3 CDs as well as my audio CDs. The solution is Philips EXP30117 eXpanium. If you have similar listening habits, it is the best solution for you as well. You can travel with a lot of albums with very few CD-Rs. Good for holidays, for parties etc.

Philips EXP30117 eXpanium has a nice 45Second ESP so that it does not skip when I am biking. I do not know if it is jog-proof, but I do not think so...

The only bad thing is the battery consumption. In the MP3 mode it can easly swallow two VARTA Longlife batteries in 3 hours (I suppose in normal CD mode it might be longer). You should use Alkaline Batteries (expensive solution), or just buy two/three sets of rechargeable batteries.

Anyway, if you are planning to buy something other than Philips EXP30117 eXpanium, go and read the reviews, some of them are really bad-I mean really really bad!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best MP3 player out there for the money
Review: I just bought the 301, and it plays awesome. I have not had it skip once, even when practically throwing it around. It is kinda hard on batteries, but not too bad. The layout is simple yet very effective. Like the other reviews said, it doesn't show the track and album name, but that's not a bad trade off for the price. I'm completely satisified with it. I researched about every mp3-cd player, and this one is the best. I had a Rio Volt SP90, and that thing was terrible. I used the upgrade they recommended on the comments on it, and it played worse than before. So that was promptly returned for this one. Good buy!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Batteries...
Review: I really am liking being able to burn a CD of mp3s and listen to 16 different albums on one CD. Although mp3 players quickly go through batteries, this one in particular really seems to go through 'em. I don't know where they got the 15 hours of music for 2AAs statistic. For me, it's more like 6 hours. So if you get this one, I'd recommend rechargable batteries.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 2 or 4 batteries
Review: I red in featues that this one has 4 batteries (Plays for up to 15 hours on 4 AA batteries ). But where can one put it?? It has place only for 2 ;) Playtime is about 10 hours without ESP and 6 hours with ESP enabled. But it is really cool thing, very nice sound with Dynamical Bass Boost, great skip protection, even when you don't use ESP and you are playing MP3 CD(because it hadn't to rotate CD every time, only when loading data every etc every 1 minute)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: INCREDIBLE little machine!!
Review: I've had my share of CD players. Even from the first boxy, clunky, heavey, skipping, and faulty players. But now this one being my third one, it had impressed me greatly. Phillips has a pretty good reputation for quality electronics. This device is not only a CD player offering optimum sound quality and ease of use, but it features a brand new feature that is actually worth while.

It has the ability to play Mp3 CDs. That means that instead of burning CDs with the audio format in .wav (which software automatically converts it to .wav from .mp3). Wav files are usually about 10 times the size of an Mp3. So if it were possible to burn a CD qith the format in .mp3 format rather than .wav, you could have literally put hundreds of more songs on one CD. Pretty impressive. So when you burn your next CD and you have this thing, be sure to burn it as a data file rather than a music CD. That way it will remain in mp3 format.

It has a few other features that are all factors in the "mp3-cd compatible". Personally I would pck this thing over any mp3 player. Its cheaper, and holds more than many mp3 players. And you can still play those things that you actually paid for!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Gr8 Product ,Gr8 Price,hanfull accessories with one catch
Review: If u need to resume music from point u left during last listening,this product is not for u.
Second lack of belt clip.
If mfr add these two things..nothing can match it at this price and quality.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Gr8 Product ,Gr8 Price,hanfull accessories with one catch
Review: If u need to resume music from point u left during last listening,this product is not for u.
Second lack of belt clip.
If mfr add these two things..nothing can match it at this price and quality.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Solid perfomance!!!
Review: If you are tired of skipping cd's or not reading cds/cdrs, this is for you! I've even dropped it without skipping -- first cd player I've seen that is this solid... thus the five stars. Works with AC adapter or 2 AA batteries -- and they last...

My only negative is that MP3 filenames are not displayed BUT you can use directories to organize your files... random play feature too. Excellent value for the money.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great piece except resume function
Review: Love this. No complaints except for one major problem: I cannot get the resume function to work on MP3 formatted CD's that hold more than say, 30 tracks. Which is a HUGE problem. I have a few CD's that have over 100 tracks. If I need to stop playing and then resume playing at a later time it will go back to the 1st track instead of picking up where I left off. THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN.


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