Rating: 
Summary: THIS PRODUCT IS HOT!!! few flaws...
Review: It is an awesome player. the cd player is just awesome. the sound quality is great and the lcd display is huge! the ID3 tag support is not the best, but it is good i have to say. next thing is that the navigation is well put. the cd player is good overall, best.flaws are the following:
the buttons, like the other user noted.
the color IS NOT BLACK! it's like a dark maroon, and it somehow contrasts when in light.
when searching for songs, you better remember the numbers!
when searching and finding the song, be ready to wait for about a second to load. everything else is great.
Rating: 
Summary: The EXP503 is a poor choice!!
Review: Pros: Lots of accessories, backlit lcd, reads ID3 tags, great ESP. Cons: Backlit lcd, no line-out, hardware glitches, lack of quality control. Summary: I have owned this unit roughly a month. It has wayyy too many things wrong with it for me to justify the price. One, it has no line-out, which is unforgivable, and the headphone jack is on the front which makes it impossible to mount in a car and make it look good. It also gets really hot underneath when the dc power supply is used. The LCD is backlit blue and looks good, but is really hard to read off-axis. The backlight turns on for about 4 seconds when you push buttons, and then turns off. I think they should have a backlight switch so you dont waste battery this way. The backlight quit working a week ago, so its a moot point anyway. The buttons also beep when you push them, something I find annoying, and the unit beeps when you pause it, something I also find aggravating. The point of pausing it is to NOT hear anything. The unit's headphone jack is also incapable of driving higher-impedance headphones like my Sennheiser 535s, so you are forced to use more efficient ones (like the crappy supplied earbuds). One of the most aggravating things wrong with it is this glitch in the ID3 reader that takes the last part of whatever the artist's name was before the artist name that you are viewing, and tacks it onto the one you are viewing; if the first artist you viewed was Matchbox 20, and the current one is REM, the ID3 readout will say REMchbox 20. The unit also has a display switch, but it doesn't remember your choice, thus, it displays this unneccessarily long filename whenever you switch tracks. The ergonomics are poor, and are hard to use if you use the belt clip. The ESP also turns on whenever you turn the player on, which wastes batteries if you forget to turn it off. The volume control is also recessed, which makes it hard to adjust, and the thing blows through batteries like nobody's business. You can expect maybe 6 hours on standard alkalines. So what's good about this player? Not much. The backlight looks cool (when it works), and the player has good skip protection even when the ESP is off. It does read ID3 tags, and the belt clip is cool. Since I am currently on my second player, which also does not function properly, there is no way I can recommend this unit. I actually liked the player when it worked, but it has too many unforgivable flaws to be sold as a production unit.
Rating:
Summary: What artist, What title
Review: Received for xmas. Burned 2 MP3 CD's (128K, CBR, ID3 V1&2) with Cd Creator files looked perfect w/ UltraTagger & MusicMatch. When played the artist & title may be missing of have extra characters in each. Philips recommended that I use Nero 5.5. I deleted CD Creator and CD Direct and burned the next three CDs with Nero once again every thing looked perfect on the computer and 2/3 of the time the Philips 503 display of artist+title was screwed up. Philips would not respond to web page questions nor to 3 e-mail I sent explaining the results of the Nero test which they suggested. Calling 4 different 1-800 numbers only yielded that the audio division is incapable of diagnosing these type of problems since the responsibility was recently transfered from the PC Division. I traded up to a RioVolt 250 and the display works perfect (PS - The Rio product is feature rich compared to the EXP 503) I'll report any Rio problem as I find them (NONE YET)
Rating: 
Summary: Good device
Review: Sound is very good, noticeably better than my RioVolt. Reasonable feature set, my favorite is the album/folder navigation. Haven't used the batteries so no idea whether the 20 hour number is accurate.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet
Review: Terrific unit. I had the old Expanium and it stopped working form me. Phillips sent this one as a replacement and I would recommend it to anyone. It finds songs quickly, the display is top-notch, and there is no dispute over sound quality.
Rating:
Summary: Sweet
Review: Terrific unit. I had the old Expanium and it stopped working form me. Phillips sent this one as a replacement and I would recommend it to anyone. It finds songs quickly, the display is top-notch, and there is no dispute over sound quality.
Rating:
Summary: No remote included and headphone socket is too loose
Review: The Philips EXP50317 eXpanium Personal CD Player has great sound, way superior to the crappy, cheap sound of RIO Volt series. That's what I expected from Philips, the inventor of the CD format. The navigation through MP3 CDs is quite good but doesn't reach the perfect interface of the RIO Volt series. Still I found it unsatisfactory for 2 main reasons that made me reutrn it:
- The Amazon.com description reads: "Includes AC adapter and 3-key remote control" but no remote is included. Double checking in the manual revealed that the remote is an optional item.
- The headphone socket is very loose so that the headphone plug slips out way too easily.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect player! Impressed!
Review: The sound is great and perfect! I play mp3s at home by hooking up to my Bose accoustic, my car and when I take a walk!.
I wish it had a remote and easy search facility!
I recommend to those who expect perfection in the sound quality.
Rating:
Summary: A Must buy
Review: There are only a couple of high end cd/mp3 players out there now--Exp 503 and Sony DCJ01. The sound quality of both players are really good (I got the DCJ01 from my friend to test it). These 2 players excel (and almost identical) in features. With the exception of the lack of car kit and an extra carrying case for the DCJ01, both players' antishock are very well done. I once drop my EXp 503 onto concrete and it's still fine (except for a few scratches). Jogproof is comparable with G-protection (they are very similar).
I choose this over sony is because Philips has a history in making mp3 players already, while DCJ01 is only the first one out for sony.
BAD STUFF: the in-ear phone is not too good in my opinion, as well as the dark purple color too.
Caution: the Exp takes up quite a lot of battery, so I suggest getting the rechargeable ones, they would proof to be economical very soon.
Overall, I think this is the best cd/mp3 player out there. I would also advise against getting the Riovolt SP 200 because I don't think more features(such as remote and rechargeable capability ) can counterbalance the poor sound quality it offers. Afterall, we buy these stuff to enjoy the sound and music, right?
Rating:
Summary: Very nice, but a couple small issues
Review: This device is quite nice! Nice large LCD, VBR and folder support, full-disc shuffle, etc. The only problems I noticed are:
- No true Line-out. (only one jack for headphone)
- 2 second gap between tracks. This can make live recordings sound a little off.
- Compared to my Kenwood DPC-885 (which is bulletproof), it seems a bit fragile.
But overall, I give it a thumbs up! Get one today!
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