Customer Reviews

RCA Lyra RD1076 512 MB Personal MP3 Player

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

 

 

I owned this exact product for 7 months before it died unexpectedly. It replaced a Rio that I owned for 6 years and used for 30-60 minutes every day running or lifting weights. The Lyra's battery consumption was horrible compared to the Rio, and even worse to my new 1 Gb Sansa. I'm still on my first battery with the Sansa, and it has played what would have been 3 batteries worth of MP-3's on the Lyra.

The user interface and features on the Lyra don't compared to either the 2000 Rio or the 2006 Sansa. Sadly, Rio exited the business, but the SanDisk product is at least as good. Plus, for the same price I paid 7 months ago for the 512 Mb Lyra, I got a 1 Gb Sansa.

It is sad to see the vaunted RCA name on such an inferior, poorly designed, and undependable product.

This was my first MP3 and I was really excited me and a co-worked purchased the same type. Within two weeks it stopped playing. It would start, but wouldn't stop, go to next song, or anything! I returned it to Walmart and got the same one thinking it was a defect, well the second one did the same thing within two weeks again. I called RCA customer service and all they could say was maybe the batch was bad, because they don't have any problems with the product. My co-workers still works, but she doesn't use hers like I used mine.

I got two of these for my two sons since I had good experience with an earlier RCA MP3 player - the 1080 series.

Unfortunately, one stopped working after a month and without a receipt or anything I gave up on it. The other is fine. So 5 stars if it works - 0 stars if it dies.

No squeal and nice sound.

It seems to have a limit of 1 GB additional memory. I tried it wiht a 4GB SD card and it doesn't see more than 1 GB - might be a driver limit.

The day finally came when i just HAD to get an mp3 player. I didn't want a high-end one since they were too expensive and i really had no idea how to use or care for one. While visiting the local Walmart, i saw a locked glass display of expensive mp3's. Hanging above and outside of the display, all alone, was this lyra 512mb model. The package indicated that it works with windows ME. It has already been established that i'm cheap which is why i haven't yet upgraded my operating system, so this little device seemed to be the right choice. Charlie Brown might have had the same feeling while selecting the christmas tree for the holiday party.

Well, i managed to cram 117 awesome songs onto the unit using the software that was included. Lo, using the earbuds, also included, the mp3 player sounded great! I made a heckuva mix using the CD's in my collection and have been enjoying the mp3 player going to work, while at work, and returning home ever since. It has many frequent flyer miles.

The day finally came when i just HAD to find some new music to overwrite the current playlist on the player. Well, i really didn't want to overwrite it since it was, as stated, a heckuva mix. Instead, i went back to the local Walstore to buy, yes, a second lyra mp3, same make, same model, same rack hanging above and outside of the glass display containing the luxury models at exhorbitant prices.

Well, i managed to cram 113 fantabulous songs onto the unit from my cd collection, and this unit also sounded great!

Go ahead. buy it. It is a good value and if you're cheap like me, you'll celebrate a small victory while tossing pennies into the jar. Four and a half stars.

Absolutely love it. I use it when I work out. It sounds great and is very easy to use. Anyone could figure it out.

I bought an RD1076 this week after 2 years of using the smaller RD1072 (256MB). Two days later I returned the it to the store. I only use the player to listen to downloaded podcasts (spoken word). Since both models have no bookmarking capabilities I slice the podcasts into 2-minute segments before loading them to the Lyra. Obviously the tracks must be listened to in a precise order. When I synced the files to the Lyra they were in some kind of random order, even though the player has a random/shuffle play mode. I called RCA customer support. After 20-25 minutes on hold at the beginning of the day I was told that there was no way to force the files to be played in the order defined in the playlist. If that one problem was fixable it would be perfect for the way I want to use it. But, as it is, it's worthless to me. Oddly, my older RD1072 does not have this problem.

Two problems I do have with my older RD1072 (256MB) is that I can only load 150-180MB worth of files before it quits accepting new files and it won't play *any* of the files on an SD card. So, even though I've really enjoyed having the 1072 for the past two years I don't think RCA knows what they are doing in the MP3 player arena.

I bought one for my wife about six months ago to have for her fitness center workouts. I enjoyed using it so much when I walk and jog that I just recently bought one for myself. Both players work fine. I don't hear any squeal or see any battery problems yet. I also heard some say the arm strap was tacky, but it fits comfortably and holds the player just fine so you don't have to carry it in your hands or pockets (like several I see with ipods and other mp3 players doing). For more serious listening settings, it might be advisable to check into more expensive players, but for working out, this player would be hard to beat for the price (shop around online for best price).

Maybe you won't notice. I didn't at first. There is a faint squeal in the background. I double-checked; it's not in the music files (they sounded fine in a Creative player). I mostly listen to classical music and the squeal really stands out during the quiet parts. Took it back the next day.

I wanted an MP3 that (1)ran on readily available batteries only since I was going to use it for travel and don't want to pack chargers/adaptors (2)had minimal geegaws that would only add to complexity to use/parts to break---I just want to hear favorite songs when I'm too long on the road and (3)was inexpensive in case I end up losing it on the road and (4) could actually be loaded by a person who is of the pre-computer generation. I figured the 8(?) hours of music they say it holds would be better than the 0 hours I had endured in previous trips. My brother suggested against an iPod because my computer isn't an Apple and said I might appreciate the ability to expand my files with the removable card so I bought this one at Walmart. It has worked well but does indeed have a squeal. Since I'm using it for long bus, train, boat rides I can live with the slight squeal but it is present. I had absolutely no problem using my cheap computer to load my songs using windows media player and I have already filled a removable disc since it is so fun having music to go that I wanted some of my second tier songs too.

The RCA Lyra MP3 player has worked wonderfully for me. I take it to the Gym and it has provided countless hours of audio books, MP3s and even encouragment MP3s!
I like the fact that it is expandable.. Just pop in a Scan Disc if you need more Memory and You are on your way. LYRA keeps up with my busy lifestyle and I like that. Ive even downloaded the daily news and kept up with my local news as I was running on the treadmill. In my opinion this is the best MP3 player for the bucks.