cashflow_71's Full Review: RCA Lyra RD1080 (128 MB) MP3 Player
I cannot overstate the excellent sound quality of this mp3 player! I have listened to different iPods and, let me tell you, they can't hold a candle to the sound quality of this tiny mp3 player!!!
Now mind you, I am an extreme audiophile fanatic who is very very VERY picky about sound quality! So picky in fact that I refuse to download music from the internet because I've found for the most part that those who post the mp3s don't care about sound quality as much as I do! Too many times I've gotten mp3s with clicks and pops in them or they sounded unusually flat. For this reason I actually buy my own CDs and encode them into mp3s to control how I want my music to sound.
Let me emphasize something about mp3 encoders: THEY ARE NOT ALL THE SAME!! Some create mp3s that sound really horrible, others sound really good. It also depends on the source CD, whether it was clean or had scratches when it was first encoded. For these reasons I advise you NOT TO USE THE MUSIC PROGRAM PROVIDED ON THE CD TO MAKE MP3S! ****USE ITUNES TO ENCODE YOUR MUSIC INTO MP3S!!!***
ITUNES IS THE BEST MP3 ENCODER ON THE INTERNET!!
iTunes has a check box that allows you to enhance the sound quality of the mp3s when you encode them that makes them sound better than the original CD itself!!
Now back to the RCA Lyra RD1080. It has an FM radio that's a great plus! Now, you're not going to get the same reception as you would on your home stereo so don't expect that. For this player not to have a protruding antenna, it sounds damn good on FM!
And to get to what I think is the biggest selling factor of this unit - the SD (Secure Digital) card slot! It is completely awesome! I've seen the 1GB SD card at Fry's Electronics for $70 with a $20 mail-in rebate! You can fit roughly about 400 songs on that card if you encode them at 96kbps (ON ITUNES!!) as it is perfect for keeping the sound quality in tact and reducing file size.
But let's be real folks, who in the hell is gonna need that many songs in one outing? No one!! It is for that reason alone I think the purchase of a 30GB iPod is completely asinine, unless you're rich and have no common sense! NOBODY IS GOING TO LISTEN TO THAT MUCH MUSIC!!! 30GB OF MUSIC WILL TAKE 32 DAYS OF NON-STOP LISTENING TO HEAR EVERY SINGLE SONG!!! I HAVE OVER 450 CDS AND EVEN THAT WILL BARELY AMOUNT TO 30GB OF MP3S!! IF YOU NEED A STORAGE UNIT, BUY A INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL HARDDRIVE - THEY'RE CHEAPER!!!
And by the way, for those who have Macs, even though it says it only works with OS 10X, it also works with OS 9.2. It shows up on the desktop as a hard drive image. Just drag & drop!
This player is actually worth twice as much as it retails for!! The bottom line is...BUY IT!! BUY IT!! BUY IT!! Oh yeah, I forgot - BUY IT!!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 39.99 Recommended for: Music Lovers - High Capacity Storage for an Entire Album Collection
128 MB of upgradeable flash memory; expandable via Multimedia cards USB connection for fast downloads Digital FM tuner with 10 presets 3-line backlit ...More at Amazon Marketplace
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