The Phillips Expanium MP3/CD player is a great player if you are just looking for the function of an MP3/CD player. It lets you listen to 10+ hours of music written onto a single CDR and will even play the coveted CDRW's. The great thing about that is you write a CDRW with the music you want for that week and then when you get tired of it you just erase it and put new selections on.

The skip protection on the the unit is excellent. When reading MP3's you will never hear any skipping due to the nature of the data and the read ahead capabilities of the player. When playing regular CD's the discman is just as impressive. I actually dropped the player off a 4 foot table and not only did the lid stay shut, but it kept playing without a skip. That is impressive!

Now for the Con's:
Like the title says, this player offers no frills. It doesn't support ID3 tags, it has no equalizer, the bass boost leaves something to be desired, and the menu for getting into repeat or shuffle play is confusing as lengthy.

Another thing I noticed about the player is that the more folders you put onto a CDR, the longer it takes to load. And when I say longer, I am talking 5-10 seconds more for each folder. This may not sound long, but when you are in the car and ready to listen to some tunes it seems like an eternity.

Overall I enjoy my player and for the price ($100 Circuit City Open Box) you absolutely can't beat it. One thing I would recommend to those of you with CD players in your cars not supported by the cassette car kit; get a FM transmitter from Best Buy (the one I got was the Sound Feeder SF100 $20). It hooks into the Expanium's line output and DC input and runs off the cigarette lighter for power. This allows you to broadcast a FM signal from the Expanium that you can tune in on your radio. Therefore you can listen in your car without having to use the cassette car kit provided.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 100