Customer Reviews

RCA Lyra 20 GB Jukebox MP3 Player

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I previously had bad experiences with other hard drive jukeboxes, but this one worked right out of the box with no problems whatsoever. I already use Musicmatch for my MP3's so that was a plus, but you don't even need the program to copy your music to the Lyra. It appears on your computer as an external hard drive so you can simply drag and drop folders of music onto it, then it organizes them for you into album, artist, genre, etc. The four "soft buttons" as RCA calls them allows you to organize the music in many different ways; its a little complicated, but if you like listening to entire albums the way they were meant to be listened to, then you don't need to do much. Just push a couple of buttons and you're ready to go. All in all, a great product.

What can I say, the thing just works. I pulled it out of the box and I was syncing my entire music collection -- which is substantial -- in minutes. The product supports FireWire, but I still use USB and am glad that RCA chose to let you do it that way too.

You get a nice set of accessories with this so you can play it in your car -- a big bonus. And it supports WMA. I also appreciate the fact that it is compatible with Musicmatch. The price is all right too.

This thing rocks!

Sounds good, transfer speed is okay - it's not instantaneous, but it doesn't take too terribly long.
Couple of gripes - the sorting is terrible: can't play songs by genre, can't even play all of the songs by one artist. If you select artist, then press play, it will only play tracks from one of their albums. Guess you could get around this by not putting album names in your tags, but then you couldn't play by album when you wanted to. You ultimately end up having to make tons of playlists, which is fairly easy but still a hassle.
Also, you can't adjust the tags on the player, even when it's hooked up to your computer - if you want to change a tag, you have to remove the file from the lyra, change the tag on your computer, then re-download it.
These are kind of nit-picky problems, but they irritate me. I'm pleased with the player on the whole, and it fulfills its basic functions well - it holds a ton of songs, and playback is fine. I would recommend it, but just with the caveats listed above.

I love this player. After 3 tries with other jukeboxes I've finally found one that works.

First, I bought the Archos. It sucked, my XP wouldn't even recognize it.

Second, I shelled out the serious cash for the iPod and the $80 firewire card that you have to buy to transfer your music. My computer had a serious difficulties recognizing the iPod too. The iPod is a slick piece of machinery, no doubt...But is it worth the price?

Finally, I'm in mp3 heaven with my 20GB Lyra. It uses a fast USB (it took me about 3 hours to transfer 12GB of music), so I didn't have to buy a firewire card. It's still small enough to take running and it sounds great. I'm happy.

This is becoming a saga, I'll write a trilogy and sell it via this site. I just found out that the reason the Lyra keeps crashing is because I don't use the terrible (in my opinion) MusicMatch software to transfer music files. The tech support person made it clear that MusicMatch is REQUIRED for music transfers, not optional. If you drag and drop you will experience intermittent crashes.

Oh, and I discovered an even better hardware defect. The plug where you connect headphones into got stripped. Basically the metal prongs inside that make contact with the headphone plug have recessed so that I can't get a solid connection unless I hold it in with my hand or use some sort of paperclip while tightening the cord so that the edge of the plug presses against the prongs. How many years have we had this whole "connector plug" technology? 40?

I'm glad some of you haven't experienced any issues, this little thing has put me through hell for the past month. They even refused a return/replacement. Thankfully I bought it on a platinum card, a dispute has been filed with money credited back to me. ... I'd advise waiting for the new generation of mp3 players about to come out from superior companies with up to 100GB and USB 2.

It's not perfect. Having to use Music Match to do tagging is an exercise in frustration. And the buttons are very sensitive, which is a good thing when you're working with them, but a bad one when you toss this into your pocket or bag, and suddenly it's playing a completely different song than the one you picked, or it's repeating them, or stopping completely. If they weren't going to be recessed, then some sort of protective cover might've been a good idea.

But that's pretty much the end of my serious gripes. Anything else is just a matter of my not having taken the time to sit down and read all the info. And even so, I've done pretty well with it, so I can report that it's fairly user-friendly. The hook-up to my computer went very well, and XP recognized the device immediately. Whoever wrote that you have to be organized when you start working with Music Match is quite correct, but that's not a bad thing. If you want your music properly cataloged, do sit down and spend the time to check all the tags MM applies. They're frequently wrong, or misleading, and there's no consistency to the naming. For example, The Beatles appear variously as "The Beatles," "Beatles," "Beatles, The" and so forth. Thus, they show up on different places in your Artist search. That may be okay for an mp3 player that holds maybe 20 cuts, but for the Lyra, it can make a huge difference in how you listen. Take the time to regularize your file information when you start out, and stick to your organizing principles throughout the process of filling the HD, and you'll be a happier listener.

The sound itself is very good. The device doesn't seem to be affected by jarring. It's quite heavy by comparison to other mp3 players, but of course a HD that size is going to weigh more than than 128k of memory. The controls are easy to learn, the display is fairly clear, and you can control how long the backlight stays on. Battery charge seems to last pretty well, though I come nowhere near the 10 hours mentioned by some users. I'd say 5 or 6 is closer to accurate for my unit. It's not a problem for me, though. You can play it while you're plugged in, and it recharges pretty quickly.

I don't know if the more expensive devices are better than the Lyra. I do know that I'm happy with what I spent and what I got for my money, and that's about the best recommendation I can give.

My Lyra worked out of the box, no problems with windows Xp as long as you follow the instructions. USB 1.1 is a litle slow but just leave it to transfer files over night and in the morning it will be done. Mp3pro playback is great because it gives more room to store other files. Summed up, the best you can get for the price you pay

First off I gave the Lyra 4 stars and not 5 just because it should come with a better case. This unit is one of the nicest I have used. The controls are very easy to use and there is no learning curve.
Once charged up the transfer of songs with the 1.1 usb for example a 80-90MB file takes about 3mins.
The box come with everything you need from the car charger to the audio out cables. All items are excellent quality!!!!! EXCEPT the case. Now I understand that there is alot of value in the in the LYRA box and the case is a "bonous" but with the limit of after-market Carrying Cases I would expect something more protective from RCA.
One suggestion, if you get this find yourself some non-adheasive vinyl (like the stuff the oilchange stikers are made of or pda screen protectors) and cut out a piece to cover the display on the LYRA to prevent scratches.
The LYRA is a solid unit good size not to bulky fairly good looks. This is a must have for any music lover or tech geek. This would make a great gift for a student, fathers day gift, any one!
I am sure that if you purchase this you will be more than pleased. There are many MP3 Players out there this is one of the best!!!!! Dont spend the extra [money] for a MP3 player with the same amount of storage and sleeker looks, there is no need.
Thanks for reading I hope you get one!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been reading, looking and researching hard disk MP3 devices for some time. I finally purchased the Lyra and it surpassed my expectations by a mile. Easy install under Windows 2000 Professional. Great MP3 player and hard disk. No problems with drag and drop. My only complaint is the dependence on Music Match. While Music Match is a fine program. However, I (and many others) organise MP3 using sub-directories. I would like RCA to add the ability to negotiate and play using sub-directories in addition to albums, etc. I have a MP3 CD player which offers this and it is a superior way to select and play MP3s. But, this is a minor complaint. The Lyra is worth every nickle of its reasonable price.

This item is fantastic. The controls are easy as pie, the unit fits in your coat pocket or briefcase, it holds gobs of files, what else do you want. I feel bad for all those suckers who shelled out all that extra cash for an I-Pod. The only complaints are that I hate Music Match and I really prefer Real Player. I tried to transfer my mp3 that were created with Real and the tags did not transfer. But that criticism is of MusicMatch, not the Lyra. File transfers are slow, I loaded the Lyra to a quarter of capacity and it took 90 minutes to transfer the files from the PC. Again, not a major problem. Still, it was a great purchase and I highly recommend it. I use XP and had no problem. Well, that's a lie, the first time I hooked it to my PC the Lyra froze. I think it was my fault as I did not follow the instruction card. Anyway, when it froze it was a snap to reset, so no problem. I guess you need to be a little (very little) computer literate to use the machine, but if you use mp3 files for music, you need to have some computer knowledge. So, in conclusion, if you want an mp3 juke box, this is a good choice.

So, the glowing review above is true, except that the headphone jack no longer works. A marvel of modern technology, 5,000 songs in the palm of your hand, and the 50 year old headphone jack technology doesn't work.

Shame on RCA - I wish I were one of those "suckers" who bought an iPod.