Customer Reviews

RCA RD1060 64 MB Kazoo Digital Audio Player

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The RCA RD1060 64 MB Kazoo Digital Audio Player is not only small, it is very light, a sassy shade of metallic red, and a more than overdue upgrade from my 1989 Sony Walkman. Although there are mp3 players that have a lot more memory etc., I chose this one because of its small size and minimal weight, which makes it an excellent jogging companion.

The Musicmatch software for downloading music onto the player is a bit clunky, but is easy to use and install (even without reading the user manual). I can put about 9-12 songs on the player when I download using the highest sound quality---about 35 minutes of music. I like having the option to add a memory card; it was a key factor in my decision to purchase the player. A 128 MB memory card would increase the memory to 192 MB, which will be perfect for when I can actually jog for longer than 35 minutes...

The sound quality is excellent as soon as you get a new pair of headphones. The ones provided are not adjustable and terribly awkward. I guess RCA assumes we all possess the same size head.

I would definitely recommend this mp3 player for those in the market for a simple-to-operate, small mp3 player with great sound and decent features.

I shopped around for an MP3 player for a while and settled on the RCA Kazoo for three reasons. The first was price. I wanted a basic MP3 player but did not really want to spend hundreds of dollars. The second was that I already had the Music Match software on my PC and figured it would be easy to get an MP3 player that works with my existing software. The third was the style - the RCA Kazoo just looks like a cool little gadget.

I am VERY pleased with this unit. This is the perfect MP3 player for jogging, biking, walking, excercising, etc. The compact size and trendy styling makes carrying it around a pleasure. The controls are very simply layed out on the unit making it a very intuitive device. The sound quality is very good. While it doesn't have the sound quality of a high end audio system, it is better than I expected from an MP3 player in this price range. It is certainly more than adequate for a portable, go anywhere, device.

The 64 MB memory is a good size. I can fit about 16 - 18 songs at the 128 sampling rate depending on their length. You can expand the memory on this unit by adding a MMC card though I haven't seen the need to do so yet. Some of the lower priced MP3 players do not have exapandable memory so it is definitely a nice option to have.

There are only a few minor things I would change. The clear plastic carry case seems a bit delicate. It's great for protecting the device from sweat while exercising but I can't help "feeling" like it's only a matter of time before the case tears. So far, though, it has held up well. The other thing I'm not crazy about is the behind the neck loop headphones. They are good for running and walking but you can't lay down or rest your head back on a chair with them on. I plan to use the headphones that came with this for walking and jogging and then using another over the head style for when I'm weight training or just relaxing.

Overall this MP3 player delivers a super value for the price. I highly recomend this for anyone looking for an MP3 player to use while exercising. It's also a great choice for those who want their first MP3 player or for those still on the fence about buying one. For the price, you really can't go wrong with the RCA Kazoo.

The Kazoo is a great little MP3 player. Its small size, light weight (just a few ounces, even with the two AAA batteries installed), big sound, easy-to-use interface, skip-free playback and fast USB connectivity makes this an excellent unit, particularly for working out.

For working out, the included wrist/arm band is perfect for having the Kazoo readily accessible, but out of the way. There is also an included lanyard for hanging the player around your neck, but this tends to bounce too much.

The player has no equalizer, but does have a number of preset sound modes, including rock, pop, bass, etc., which are quite adequate. The player has no song title display as other players do.

As with most pre-packaged MP3/CD players, the best thing to do with the enclosed headphones is toss them out with the packaging. I paired my Kazoo up with a pair of Sony street headphones, and the sound is great, particularly in the bass preset mode.

The Kazoo will also support MMC expansion cards up to 128MB, for a total possible 196MB of storage (about three hours or so of music recorded at 128Kbps).

All in all, the Kazoo is a great little player with good sound, a good feature set, and a reasonable price.

I've had lousy luck with mp3 players - first was a Samsung mini-yepp which kept crashing my system, then an irock that worked well but couldn't crank out enough volume (a problem I've found with Sony minidisc players as well). This player not only has fantastic sound, but thankfully it uses 2 AAA batteries - it's still pleanty light but the sound is blissful - I haven't had to use any equalizer settings beyond the default. The Musicmatch software is also better than Rio's (the one the other players use). There are a couple of quibbles (I wanted a bit more memory so I bought a multimedia card - it worked fine on first try but you have to add songs separately to each; the display doesn't tell you the track information) but they are small - I'm truly delighted with this unit!

If you're thinking of purchasing a mp3 player for the first time, I highly recommend this one. The player itself is pretty small, but very convenient to carry around (you'll get to hook it onto your belt, hang it around your neck, or even wear it like a watch!) With only 64 mb (it's expandable), I can say you can store almost an hour worth of music in it, which doesn't seem like much, but that's what you get for a basic mp3 player. The price is remarkable; I can't find a cheaper price elsewhere, plus the shipping is pretty fast too. The only problem I have with this player is that it drains batteries fast. Even though it says its life is 10 hrs, I really doubt it. If you plan to get this, get rechargable batteries, that way you don't spend a lot on batteries.

I originally started to buy this player months ago, when the 64Mb was around 99.95 and the 32mb was about 79.95...I waited, and it was worth the wait. The player has come down to 79.95 and is great! I got it home, loaded the cd, (already had most of the drivers and stuff loaded on my computer), it took about
10 minutes to download. If you have Windows XP and Real Jukebox, you can have music going in 15 minutes. I downloaded
13 songs total, about all that 64mb will support...around 48 minutes or so. Just depends on length of the songs you download, bit rate, etc. An excellent little player for the price...you can't go too wrong here, comes with a neck strap, a little vinyl carrying case, and a wrist strap. You can maximize the memory with available memory sticks. A light weight, well made little player for the price. Oh yea, comes with some headphones too.......and my take on the battery thing is this: Unless you strap this baby on and listen to it 12 hours a day, I don't think the battery deal is a major issue, I have played all the songs I downloaded 5 times without losing a single bar on the battery graph.....use rechargeable batteries (recommend to anyone with portable devices) or Duracell Ultras.

This player is worth what you pay for it. Don't expect too much. Music sounds good when ripped at 128, but you lose alot by reducing the rate. I have another MP3 player (Samsung Mini-Yepp) that sounds as good at 96 as this one does at 128.
I originally bought it for running and working out. Unfortunately, the carrying case is made of cheap plastic and broke within two weeks. The unit itself is also seems very light and fragile.
The display, while large and easy to view, does not show track title or artist, which is just a "nice to have".
On the positive side, adding additional storage to the K@zoo is very easy and inexpensive. I have upgraded to 128 and can store almost 2 hours of music at 128MB.
The best part of this unit is the software provided (which was a major factor in my decision to purchase it). I had been using MusicMatch for over a year and is very versitile.

SUMMARY: It is an excellent "starter" MP3 player, but I would not advise buying it for atheletic purposes.

This product is worth the money. Very compact, great sound quality and easy to use. I also own the Archos Juke Box 10 Gigs and the sound quality on the RCA is much better. You can fit approx 13 to 14 songs also expandable memory. The head phone can do without. AAA batteries are included. Its great for working out or jogging.
Features I like:
* Lock feature to prevent key activation
* Play Random or repeats
* DSP: select flat,pop,jazz,rock,bass
* Simple function: Stop, Last, Next, Play
* VERY COMPACT

I was excited to get my new K@zoo mp3 player, and when I got it it took only 10 minutes to get all of the things set up on my computer and another 5 minutes to get about 19 songs onto it. All was decent for about 3 weeks. Within the 3 week span, I went through over 20 pairs of batteries. I put brand new batteries in and the display shown the low battery signal. Then one day I was listening to it while I was working out and shut it off when i was done. An hour later it would not turn back on again. I put brand new batteries in and nothing happened. I was happy for a little, then I was just plain disappointed. Don't buy this product.

And I mean that in a good way. I have been looking at the 1060 for a while now and was set on getting it until I read the reviews saying "if you have XP don't get it, its not compatible." Well, I saw it in a store the other day, looked at the package and it did say XP compatible. Maybe there were older versions that weren't but the one I bought works fine with XP.IMO, its got to be one of the better players for around $... Most others near this price are only 32mb and many of them have no expansion slot like the kazoo. Sound quality is pretty good, even at 96kb. I was curious to see how many songs I could fit in the internal memory at that bitrate, and got 23 songs with a play time of 90 minutes. I generally rip and d/l mp3s at 192kb, but 96kb is sufficient for this player. I could tell little to no difference between 96 and 128.Musicmatch isn't my favorite app, but it works fine for this. 1 gripe is after install MM overrides your default player and becomes the default for all media types. THIS IS SOMETHING I CANNOT STAND!!! It was simple enough to revert files back to the other players I use (winamp and wmp) but its inexcusable for software to do this without asking. MM does let you convert mp3s you already have to a lower bitrate fairly easily so I give it kudos for that.Downloading songs onto the player was fairly fast and simple. Took about 6-7 minutes to transfer 23 songs, and deleting them is even faster, maybe 1 minute if that.Overall Im satisfied with the Kazoo. It is my first mp3 player so I probably don't know what im missing on a fancier model but that's ok for now.Next player I get though will have to have backlight (if there is such a thing, Im sure there is) and track title display.