Customer Reviews

Memorex MP3123 CD Boombox with MP3 Playback

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this mp3 boombox for work so that I don't have to have to keep changing cd's and 1 cd would get me through the whole day. Well this was the first one I saw, and I didn't think $50 was that bad, so I got it.

At first it worked good. I noticed right away, that sound quality wasn't that great and it didn't play very loud at all. Then it wouldn't play some of my mp3 cd's. It would say "no mp3". I took it back and got the RCA RCD125 and for $20 more it's much much better. It played the cd that this one wouldn't.

I'd stay away from this one.

I ordered this item through Radio Shack to play my MP3 radio shows. At first, I was impressed with the sound. I had been warned that the controls were a little clunky, and it was a little difficult to get the cds in and out because of the way the "hood" opens, but I could put up with that. What I hated was the way, as the other folks have said, it cuts off the end of each program as it goes on to the next. I would think that Memorex would be well aware of the problem. It does, however, seem to play regular cds just fine.

It skips the last 30 seconds of all mp3 tracks. That is rather disgusting. Plus, inability to play the lower bit rates without garbling it beyond recognition makes this product a loser. The analog FM tuner is a pain. sound quality is so and so. I bought an iRiver SlimX 350 following this fiasco. That product rocks.. Check that out instead.

Purchased my MP3123 from Radio Shack yesterday. It plays MP3s with bitrates down to 24K--beyond the specs--better than any unit I could find. Pretty good sound for a little box. It does, however, seem to have a flaw. When playing MP3 files, it cuts off the last 30 seconds or so of the track and switches to the next track. I listen to audio books and I find this unacceptable. I have contacted Memorex and they don't seem to be aware of the problem, but another reviewer here has experienced something similar. Memorex recommends exchanging the unit for another and nothing beyond that. I hope mine is just a quirky unit and that exchanging it for another will solve the problem. Otherwise it is impressive for an inexpensive player. ...

Works as expected, perfect for listening to OTR shows. I LOVE it.
It is not expensive, cute, small, and not noisy like a computer. It sits next to my bed at night grinding out old time radio shows like a champ. Buy one and see.

Tried this in a store with two ordinary MP3 CDRWs (both burned at 4x speed). Neither was recognized as an MP3 CDRW - the unit just sat there, mute.

(Playing back MP3 CDRWs is pretty much all that I would do with a unit like this, so I didn't test the other functions very much. The radio seemed to work well.)

The search for a boombox that works as well as the Rio Volt line of personal players moves on...

I was looking at this item at Radio Shack for the last few weeks, and it went on sale for twenty dollars off. So I had the clerk plug it in and I popped in a MP3 OTR disc I was listening to on a RioVolt SP50 with earphones.
Bottom line; It played the mp3s ok as far as I could tell, and I didn't expect it to display the title artist and album information, despite the fact that my thirty dollar mp3 Riovolt does.....It did list the directory number and file number, but that was a bare minimum needed to play a mp3 cd. It has a nice blue backlight..It worked ok but I don't know if it has any anti skip buffering, but only an issue here in earthquake prone San Francisco...It worked. We all are listening to Mp3s on computers..This was a very nice table radio player, for old time radio shows. As it is, OTR has bad audio to begin with. I can't imagine any music head enjoying any rock and roll on it, however, since it does not seem to be designed for loud booming sound. But for low volume stuff it is perfect. How much noise do you need, anyway? I value peace and quiet, and this mp3 player fits MY bill.

I've received this product a couple of days ago, and it seems to work fine enough... The major problem I've noticed is, it skips the end portion of the mp3 songs I have burnt on to my CD. Something like the last 30 seconds of each song is chopped off, which is rather annoying at times.
Good point is, it recognized all of the 183 mp3's burnt on my CD effortlessly. But navigating through it is a real pain-
Also, the FM tuner is a knob controlled one, which makes precise tuning rather tedious. A digital tuner is definitely a must.
Sound quality is "okay", not bad, but some tweeting effect noticed at some higher frequencies.
Overall, I don't think it's worth 80 bucks. I had a 25 buck discount coupon, and so I don't feel so cheated;
Good enough if you aren't too particular about too many things..

Purchased for the sole purpose of playing MP3 CD format Old Time Radio shows. Great looking unit, nice visual display, radio works fine and sounds good, but cut off the ending of ALL shows (5-minute show, cut off 30+ seconds; 30 minute shows, cut off last 5-7 minutes).