Good price, not so good product
Written: Jun 14 '01
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Pros: Good Price. Car Adapter kit included. Directory Search
Cons: Skips frequently, poor sound quality, cumbersome directory navigation, no software
The Bottom Line: Although cheap, it shows. Awkward, poor design and sound make this a poor choice. There are better (much better).
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| buckc's Full Review: Memorex MPD8505 Personal CD Player |
After researching several of the options of mp3 players, I settled on the Memorex. This was mostly due to the price ($89.99 at Target), and the included car kit. Car kits alone cost around $30, so this seemed like a no brainer. Unfortunately, this is where the positives end.
The first CD I tried failed to work at all. There is a considerable (40 sec) delay when a CD is first inserted. This really is acceptable, as the player is scanning the cd. Anyway, the first CD did not work as it also contained some video files. This was entirely my fault, just something to remember when using this type of player. A second CD loaded up just fine, with the total number of files and directories displayed on the small but functional display window.
Playing the songs is fairly straightforward. Press play, it plays. Press stop, it stops. You can also fast forward and backward through individual songs. Keep in mind when using any of these players that properly named songs and a proper ID3 tag is critical. (The ID3 tag contains info about the song including album, title, year, genre, etc.) Navigating from song to song is easy, but moving to another directory is futile as they are represented by numbers. Useless, in my opinion. You can search for individual songs, but unfortunately this is accomplished using telephone style lettering. Press a button once to get the letter "a", twice for "b", etc. The buttons are also laid out in a circular pattern. Strange, and not user friendly. It's funny this comes with a car kit, because trying to use this in a moving car would be dangerous.
The sound quality is poor. Songs sound tinny and hollow. It is important to note that the included headphones are junk, as is usually the case with portables. A way to change the sound attributes would have been nice. The sound quality pales in importance to the fact that this players skips and drops out excessively. It seems to me this is due to a poor decoder or cheap laser. I come to this conclusion since this problem with this player is widely documented on the web and newsgroups. This alone makes this player a poor choice.
Unfortunately, my experience with this player was fairly short, as the sound output went bad. The right channel went out completely. This was confirmed with the car cassette adapter and another pair of headphones. I promptly returned it for a refund.
I ordered the TDK MOJO from buy.com ($139), and the quality and convenience is outstanding. When buying any of these products, make sure there is a liberal return policy, you may need it.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 89.99
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Epinions.com ID:
buckc
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Location: So. California
Reviews written: 16
Trusted by: 3 members
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