Pros: Great Size, Very Durable, Excellent Audio Quality, Is XP Compatible
Cons: Battery Life Somewhat Short
The Bottom Line: Looking for a extremely portable/durable player with solid features, great sound, and the ability to upgrade? Look no further then the RCA Kazoo, nothing comes close at this price range!
compro32's Full Review: RCA RD1000 Kazoo (32 MB) MP3 Player
What Made Me Buy This Player...
Working out at the gym can be a somewhat tedious task if you're forced to listen to the music that the gym is playing. I already own MP3 Players, but none of them I would feel comfortable bringing to the gym. So I thought I would just have to put up with the music they play... That is until one day I see a Circuit City ad that had this MP3 player for $39.99 after a $20.00 mail in rebate. I immediately went online to research this player to make sure it wasn't a piece of junk. And after being displeased with RCA digital cameras, it made me somewhat weary of RCA products.
XP Problems?
But to my luck, after reading on epinions.com and other sites, I found out that this truly was a great player. Although, I did read of people having problems with Windows XP systems... Now this worried me since I am running XP now, and didn't know if I too, would have trouble finding the correct drivers on the net and installing them. But I figured, for the price, I would take my chances. And worse comes to worse, I have an old PC running 98 I could use to upload music (although it'd be somewhat of an inconvenience).
XP Compatible!
When I finally bought this player, I was pleasantly surprised!! It was XP compatible out of the box! It had the XP compatible logo on the box and everything. And mine also had the Windows Media compatible logo too, which I am unsure if other players came with WMA playability or not. Either way, I am glad I took a chance. I guess RCA updated their product to be compatible with XP. Good job, RCA.
First Impressions
After opening it, the first thing I noticed was how tiny this played is. It's so unbelievably small and light, you'd think it was a really small pager. The included accessories are really nice, especially for use at the gym! Included is: Behind-The-Head Headphones, Neck strap, Clear Protective Sleeve, Wrist Strap, and USB Cable with software.
The Included Accessories
The first thing I tried naturally was the headphones. I favor Behind-The-Head style headphones over any other type. And not only did these pair sound decent, but they were very comfortable, and fit naturally. The most shocking out of everything was the clear protective sleeve. Most places I read up about this player called it a "Carrying Case", or something similar. But what it really is, is a clear plastic pouch, that you slide the player into. It has little snap buttons that secure the back, and keep the player secured. But what's nice about this design is that there is only two openings, one for the headphones, and the other to access the hold (lock) switch. So, all the other buttons are protected, and when you want to use them, can be easily pressed through the sleeve. I absolutely love this idea, because it protects it from moisture or wet hands to some degree. Again, Great for the gym! The only thing I wish RCA did, was give two sleeve pouches. I must admit it's a rather cheap pouch that probably won't last that long, and since it's cheap, two could have been given. I tried the Wrist strap, which allows you to have the player on your wrist, somewhat like a watch, but it seemed like a hassle when it can easily be thrown into your pocket. And the included neck strap is exactly what you'd expect from a typical neck strap.
Software/Uploading
I hate hearing people complain that the software isn't easy to use. True it isn't exactly drag and drop, but with a slight bit of learning, you'll be uploading in no time. The included software is Music Match Jukebox, that has the drivers necessary to upload to a portable device. Music Match Jukebox is a fairly well known player/organizer software. It came free with this computer, as so do many new computers too. So if you already know how to use Music Match Jukebox (which most should), you practically know how to upload songs already. The process is simple, drag songs from your music folder into play list. Then once you have the songs in Music Match, click "File" "Upload to Portable Device"... That's pretty much it. When you do click "Upload to Portable Device", it brings you to a nice little screen especially made for the Kazoo!. Here you can re-encode songs instantly, reformat the memory on the player, and more. Everything is easy to understand and done quickly. The re-encode feature is priceless to me, because I usually rip my CD's at 192k compression, and that's a bit too high for a portable player, so I re-encode to 128k... Easy... Also, one more thing, a nice little feature I've noticed is that when you plug the USB cable in, it automatically powers up, and uses NO battery life when uploading. It is completely powered by USB. How do I know this? Try plugging it in when there's no batteries inside, it'll still power up. :-)
Player's Functions
What a display this baby has. I've seen other comparable players, and their display is extremely small and hard to read. The Kazoo has a nice big display, easy to read, and even shows bit rates of the songs, battery life, and more. True, the Kazoo won't show you track titles. But to me, and probably most people, track titles aren't really necessary. If this was a Hard Dive MP3 player with 4,000 songs, of course you'll need/want track titles. But for a 32MB player with 10-12 songs, I think you'll have some good idea what's playing without reading it on the display. Also the buttons all have a very nice feel to them, and are placed appropriately. No need to look down to operate it, it can all be done by feel alone.
Audio Quality
What good would such a nice player be without great audio quality? Well, no needs to worry, this player has great sound. And, surprisingly, this player has a lot of power to it; it can be cranked up really loud. And the DSP modes is a great feature to change the sound to ones liking. The only bug I have with this is that the Bass & Rock settings can be a little too bass enhancing, and overdrive the bass on some songs (mostly techno or something with a lot of beat/bass). But most of the time it just sounds great. But I think what matters most for this player, and almost all players is the headphones you use. The pair that came with it are decent, but if you think the sound could be better; by all means, get a better $20 pair.
Final Thoughts
This player is great! Although it won't satisfy everyone, most people will love it. The only people I can't see being happy with it, are people looking to hold tons of songs, like a Hard Drive player (But they cost $199 and up). But other than that, this is even a great gift for someone. People who go to the gym, joggers, and runners, will love it. Battery life was a slight problem with this player, it does seem to go a bit fast. But nothing a pair of rechargeable batteries wouldn't fix! Memory upgrades for this player have gotten very cheap. I just bought a Lexar 32MB MMC card for $11.00 and $4.00 shipping. With 64Mb I fit usually 19-20 songs, and 64 Minutes of music. Isn't that great?
32 MB flash memory for skip-free playback Plays MP3 audio format USB connection for fast downloads Additional memory slot for MMC cards Windows compat...More at Amazon Marketplace
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