Customer Reviews

RCA Lyra RD2217 1 GB Sport Digital Audio Player with FM Tuner

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I researched ipods and mp3 players for two weeks on Amazon and read countless reviews. This unit promised the most and has delivered. It is tiny, but tough. I have dropped on concrete due to my error twice and the rubberized trim protected the unit. Sound is stereo quality (it passed my Steely Dan test). I use the unit primarily to listen to podcasts of talk radio shows. The storage is incredible at 1 gig. That is plenty. The only knock is that the buttons take some time (in my case about a week) to get used to and skipping songs can be difficult at times because sometimes when I slid it to skip to next song, it does not respond. But..considering the other features, especially small size, looks, sound quality, storage and neat ear buds that hook around without pain to the ear, it's great value for $139-149 price range. It even has a stopwatch and heartrate monitor as well as FM radio built in. And, it looks smart and cool.

I've been using this almost daily for over 3 months now. One of the first days I used I had it I dropped it on a hard floor and the screen went blank. I couldn't get it back on and nearly panicked. I took the battery out and put it back in and it came back to life!! This has happened about 6 times since- this thing is tough! I've dropped it several times and it just kept on playing. It's been left in heat and cold, it's even gotten a little wet. Only thing I haven't done yet is crush it with a barbell!!

I've only used 2 batteries, which is amazing. It took a little time to get used to the menu, but most of the time I put it on shuffle or play a whole album and it's no problem at all. I replaced the stock earplugs immediately with soft Koss earbuds- the sound is great.

As far as another reviewer complaining about the flimsy belt clip: he was right. I left it in my car overnight in the cold, the player was fine, but when I went to put it on my waistband the plastic was brittle and snapped. I tried gluing it with Gorilla glue, snapped again. So that night I emailed customer service. They emailed back the next day and I was able to order replacements. It wasn't a big deal! It's part number 271389, costs $2.99 from RCA Consumer Parts and Accessory Order Center 1-800-338-0376. I went ahead and ordered 2 so I'll have a spare.

I own a Sandisk Sansa too, I love it dearly but I paid too much to risk killing it at the gym. I only paid $49 for this one, 1 GB is enough space I'm not bored with my collection yet- and I feel like I've got my money's worth out of it already! I highly recommend this player not just for sports, but also for kids that might abuse it! Good luck!

I was so excited to get this MP3 player, it had every feature I was looking for. 1GB, digital radio, that you can record from, stopwatch and pulse monitor, and very important for my clumsy but, rubber around it to absorb a fall, and a belt clip. I even got it for an absolutely wanderful price, $122.00.

Well here it goes, first off someone else had mentioned the battery screw sucks, well mine broke the first time I tried to open it, so the only thing keeping it shut is the beltclip that goes over the back. The belt clip is useless, it basically goes over your belt or wastband but can slide off very easily, it doesn't have that little wedge like beeper or cell phone clips. The sound is not impressive at all, at the gym when it wasn't falling off my wasteband I had it turned all the way up, and was still hearing the gym's music, (you have to know that the gym I go to does not play their music loud at all). I like my music loud, and this thing has to be turned all the way up just to be enjoyed, and at its loudest, its not loud at all. It doesn't come with an instruction manual either, (I know for sure its not a mistake, because I first purchased the 256MB one it didn't have one either). It is so hard to figure this thing out, and I'm usually pretty good with electronics. Now worst of all, almost all the music I listen to is mixed my a DJ, after all the dj mixed cd's and files from my computer I downloaded and was so exited to listen to, I found out that this thing automatically puts the songs from each cd or any file from your computer into alphebetical order, that pretty much did it for me, it defeats the purpose of why I listen to music. So if you get this, no matter what order you put your songs in or any cd that you listen to, the songs will automatically be put into alphebetical order regardless of how much time it took you to organize your files... WOW!!!!!???

Pluses - The deciding factor for me to get this was the AA battery .. my Panasonic with it's AAA using rechargable batteries lasts about 45 minutes .. so I really like the AA .. not sure why more mp3's dont use it. Another plus my XP computer loaded the mp3 players as a drive and I could drop and drag my songs into the player ... No special software to check in songs I already have (unlike the Panasonic). Sound is good with a very good set of headsets. Is very easy to use if you just want to play music while working out .. I use shuffle feature for random play. I don't need them sorted. If I did this player may not sort properly from what I've read.

Minus - well , sort of ... I guess none are perfect. How funny. A big metal screw which requires a screw driver to hold battery cover. Mine also broke right away .. but I just put a rubber band around it .. so it's no problem. The cover just protects the battery, not hold it in place.

This device is totally useless for someone who wants a compact device to listen to books and radio programs from audible.com despite the detail info in the description. The instructions do not explain how to get it to re-start a book or radio program where one left off. This means if you have listened to 3 hours of a 6 hour book, there is no way to get to where you are except let the thing play for 3 hours! After much experimentation, I discovered a way, but it required 2 extra steps BEFORE turning off the machine and it only worked occasionally. Often when I tried to go from one audible selection to another it froze up with the screen saying PLEASE WAIT forever. The only way to fix that problem was to dislodge the battery. BUT to do that you needed a screwdriver to get the belt clip off! So if you are out driving or exercising and it freezes, you are out of luck. When I called LYRA's help desk (could not find any relevant info on their web site), the customer service rep said the device can accept audible type files, but it really is intended for music only, not for books. She said there were no ways to make bookmarks or to pickup where you left off. The device also loaded the audible programs randomly, not in the order as they were added, which makes it difficult to listen to multiple radio programs in chronological order. And if you are trying to scroll through your files to find the next date, 9 times out of 10 it froze and you were no where near your screwdriver!
I am returning the device to Amazon IF they ever send the return envelope, which was promised two weeks ago.

UGH! I'm frustrated.

If you're into sports, this is for you. I love it. It took awhile to learn the buttons but it does everything I need without useless gadgets. Great sound, very sturdy and easy to load.

Worked pretty well for the first month except that there is no way that I could find to bookmark the books I was listening to. At one month, though, the cheap belt-clip broke off while I was jogging. So much for "Sport Digital..." The clip is just a little tab of cheap plastic coming off the back of the unit, no spring clip like a cell phone would have, and it flexes a little bit every time you put it on or take it off of your belt. After about 1 month of this, it broke completely off and fell on the ground while I was jogging.

I emailed RCA to get them to replace it and they called the belt clip breaking "an act of nature" and said it voided the warranty. A few weeks after the clip broke, the unit started displaying gibberish instead of the name of the song that was playing and the unit shuts down after about 30 seconds. RCA won't replace the unit due to the so-called "act of nature" so I am out of luck. The unit was > $100 at the time and RCA gives you the finger for buying their crappy product.

Bad service + bad product + doesn't stand behind product = don't buy the POS.

Nothing about this player makes sense. It is as if it was designed by graduates of Boston College. The buttons take FOREVER to respond, if they respond at all. The order that the songs are in make no sense. Alphabetical..really? I have no idea what RCA was thinking releasing this bomb on the general public.

RCA had a good idea but a bad design. The Software is like trying to find your way through a maze that has no exit. I was a system network engineer and I was ready to bounce it off the walls a few times. The clip broke when trying to ugrade the firmware before we had a chance to use it. I had to call and order another clip which took over and hour. Save up and buy something better or go get a root canal it's less painfull.

I've used quite a few mp3 players for workouts: creative muvo and nano which are great but the battery doors are a bit flimsy. Trekstor which is also a great player, pretty durable; awesome sound. These are not splash proof.

But this Lyra player is awesome!! Mainly b/c the battery life is Amazing. I never have to worry about it. I've been using the AA battery they included for 2 weeks now. 2 FR*GGIN WEEKS! And as of today, it's only gone down 1 bar.

The only downside is it can be a bit hard to navigate but I assume after more use that will loosen up. I've even used the calorie counter and heart rate and they have worked well.

To me, this is a buy!