Play both regular CDs and MP3 CDs with this convenient personal CD player. Because you can compress MP3 CDS, you can literally play hours of music on one CD! The player features 45-120 second skip protection, and a programmable 30 track CD memory so you can select just the songs you want to hear. Includes a digital bass boost and an extended battery life (24 hours with 2 "AA" batteries). Model #RP2520. One year limited warranty.
1 Tried 2 units, both could not handle MP3s above 160 reliably
I purchased this player (RP2520) while on vacation. I had dropped my faithfull and workhorse AVC Soulplayer DMP-01 (basically a Re-branded Rio Volt SP100 or SP90) while exercising. After five years of service, I needed an MP3 player to get me through my 20+ hour drive home. I only had MP3 CDs with me. I went to three (national chain) stores on my last day of vacation and this RCA was the only one that had easy folder navigation (all my MP3 CDs contain albums, each in their own folder) and it came with a car kit at the cheapest price anywhere. It seemed like a good value at the time.
Well, you get what you pay for. The unit plays audio CDs without skipping at all, but MP3 CDs will lock and skip.... and I burn all mine to CD-Rs (not CD-RWs). The problem gets worse as you get near the end of CD. Now, any album I have that is only encoded at 160kbps or less (which is not very many) plays fine. VBR (variable bit rate) and 192/224/320kbps encoded MP3 have trouble after about 1-2 songs. It's as if the buffer gets full, and it's all downhill afterwards. I use high quality name-brand CD-Rs (Sony, Verbatim, TDK, etc). It doesn't matter which brand. MP3s all skip. Audio CDs and Audio CD-Rs all play fine. Strange and sad really.
I tried returning the unit for a second player... it did the exact same thing. So back to the store both units went. I guess I'll try to find a used Soulplayer or Volt SP100/SP90/SP250 somewhere. My Soulplayer never skipped on me once (too bad they don't make 'em anymore). I've heard good things about iRiver players too, maybe I'll have to look into those as well.
2 No complaints
I have used this player for over a month now for mp3 discs that I have burned on my laptop or have gotten from a manufacturer (for example, audio books on mp3 CD). I have had no problems. The older RCA mp3 CD player had that proprietary (sp?) Smartrax system that was confusing until you read all about it in the manual--then it was okay for navigating. This model avoids the confusion by adding two buttons for navigating through file folders. So if you favor unabridged audio books on mp3 cd, this player will work great. I just drove 780 miles from central Texas to St. Louis for the holidays, and it played two complete novels fine on just two batteries. When you stop the player and then come back later and turn it on, it even remembers the track you left off on. (I have not yet played a regular CD or a CD-RW disc on the player, so the comments by the other two customers may be correct. But good, reliable mp3 cd players are pretty hard to come by, so the performance of this player satisfies me.)
3 I got violated.
This could very well be the worst MP3 CD player I've ever owned. I had a RioVolt last year, that started breaking down after 2 months. I thought that was a terrible product.
This RCA, however, didn't even wait 2 months. It was a piece of junk from the beginning. The headphones had to be PULLED OUT a quarter inch for both channels of the stock headphones to be audible. That was okay, a minor flow, I thought. I put in an MP3 CD that I'd tested previously and found to be working fine. It took about 45 seconds for it to read the disc, and another 10 to load the first track. For a minute, it played normally, then stalled. I tried switching to another track on a different album (on the disc), and it refused to play at all. Often, it never reads the discs (no disc, it claims), or when it DOES play, it never stays stable for more than a few minutes.
As far as redbook audio CDs go, it often skips around, ignoring tracks or refusing to play at all. As we speak, I'm FIGHTING to get it to play the new Fates Warning album. I JUST took it out of the jewel case. It's never been played, no scratches... and this thing acts like it's diseased. Funny, the computer has no problem with it.
I always laugh at people when they say they'll never buy something from so-and-so company ever again because of a bad experience, but now I understand their angst. RCA should be ashamed to have this product on shelves. F*ck RCA.
4 Works wonderful except for one flaw
This thing works well as long as you are using original cds or cd-r media. MP3 and audio playback was great. Once you insert a CD-RW media things take a turn for the worst. Whether you burn as a audio cd or as an MP3 cd, the playback is full of pops, crackles and interruptions. If you use CD-RWs then avoid this player, otherwise it will serve you well.
