Good for a temporary solution
Written: Sep 02 '01
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Pros: Brand name, inexpensive, good sound
Cons: poor construction quality, navigation.
The Bottom Line: It's a good inexpensive choice, especially since there really isn't a "great" mp3 cd player on the market. Buy it if you can live with the phone jack problem
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| madlee's Full Review: Philips eXpanium EXP103 Personal CD Player |
Philips was the first to introduce the mp3 cd player, sometime around last Christmas. It seemed to be a natural direction for mp3 players. People were backing up their mp3s on cds and playing them via their cd-roms on the computer, freeing up hard drive space. Burning mp3 cds, allowed you to store more music than any ram based solution and was overwhelmingly cheaper than any portable hard drive.
Plus, the whole cd laser mechanism is very inexpensive to produce and much more durable than a hard drive.
However, 199 dollars (the price for when the exp 101/103 came out) was way too much. You can find traditional cd players for under 50 bucks. All that's added is the software to read/catalog the mp3 cd. Is it really increasing the cost that much?
I finally decided to try the philips out. Reasons were that it was the most inexpensive ($85 from amazon) and the car kit included, which I later discovered is pretty much standard with mp3 cd players.
The EXP 103 sounds great, but was not made to last. The most annoying problem is the phone jack. Simply rotating the male phone plug in the female jack creates a lot of noise. Whether or not that's caused by a poor ground in the jack or if it's just poor quality, I don't know. I'm leaning towards the latter, because I've never seen that problem with cd players before. However, if you plan to be active with it, the phone jack will get on your nerves real quick.
It doesn't include a carrying case, so unless you have the world's largest pockets, you won't be jogging with this thing anyway. It's good if you have a bag you can stick it in while on the subway or on the car seat using the included car stereo adapter.
The Exp 103 greatly benefits from the bass boost. Otherwise the sound is very tinny. Unfortunately that is the limit of the customization. The skip protection is good. I've never heard it skip so far. The rest of the case seems okay: decent hinge, latch. The display is a real disappointment.
The great thing about mp3s is that they allow you to add info/tags to each file. You can also have folders which allow you to group the mp3s and find them faster. The EXP 103 uses a linear cataloging system and does not support any info other than track number. Therefore finding specific files is basically a consequence of memorizing all the tracks on each cd (10 hours of music!) and locating said track number. Good luck.
This navigation is the same as a traditional cd player, but traditional cds usually have far fewer tracks because of the size differences.
There rest of the modes are nothing special. All are typical of a cd player: random, resume, replay...
The earphones included are uncomfortable, larger than most, and decent in sound quality. I used the EXP 103 while working out and the sweat caused the phones to make a static sound...
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 85
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Epinions.com ID:
madlee
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Reviews written: 32
Trusted by: 13 members
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