Customer Reviews

RCA RP2410 Personal CD Player with MP3 Playback

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I purchased this CD Player with the expectation that I would most likely have to return it. As soon as I brought it home, I tried
a cd-rom which contained mp3 files, and it played the songs perfectly. No skipping, no hissing. I have since burned 4 cd-R's with mp3s at various bit rates, and it has played all of them
between 64kbps and 192kbps.

Here is why I would recommend this model:
-It displays both file names and ID3 tags
-It provides the shuffle/mix option
-It allows a lot of flexibility for setting up your data
in folders/subfolders. Beforehand, you can organize your music in multiple groupings by albums, artists, genres, or just put
all your files in one folder. Keep in mind that you need to set
it up on your before you burn the cd.
-It has DSP modes for DBBS and Surround Sound
-AC adapter is included - Battery Use requires 4 AA batteries
-Option available for NiCad Rechargable batteries (not included)

My one observation which might help make sense of some of the bad reviews is this: If you are having a lot of trouble with skipping
or hissing, or tracks not playing, it is not the fault of the unit. Many mp3s which are downloaded from the internet are not as reliable as the ones ripped from your own cd collection.

- I use fujifilm cd-r's 74 minute. I have burned cd's using cd creator on a Dell PC. I have also burned cd's using Iomega Predator & ibook500. I burn at either 2 speed or 4 speed.
One cd was burned on Kodak cd-r 80min at 8 speed. All worked.
- For MP3 creation, I use realaudio's realjukebox (PC) & itunes (mac).
- Either way, on Mac or PC, the cds play in the unit.
- I usually fit 200 to 230 mp3s on each cd-r.
- This model comes packaged with MusicMatch Jukebox

One caveat: Be sure that your mp3 files play normally on your
computer before burning them on a cd. This reduce most any problems that you may run into.

I love this player, and have compared it to many others on the market. It has a large display which can show the Artist name and song title. It supports 8 levels of folders, so you can organize your music by genre, album, artist, etc. I burn my cd's at 12x and have no problems with skipping or hissing, even while running (the anti shock works great!). I use this player when I'm traveling. I can store up to twelve hours of music on a cd in MP3 format, which is much better than packing a bunch of CD's. I also use it for audio books, which is great because you can put a very large audio program onto one cd. I'm confused by some of the problems people are having. I'm suspect to attribute them to many of the problems people have when working with computers in general, user error. As with any MP3 player, make sure the tracks sound good before you put them on a CD, and follow the directions. A low quality file like for instance a 32kbs, or 64kbs is not CD quality. You need at least 128kbs to achieve CD quality, and even then a good ear can tell the difference. It has nothing to do with a player, but rather the file itself. All in all I would buy this player again if I didn't already own it.

This model has worked great. It takes 4 AA's but it also supports recharable batteries. The screen is larger than every other model I have looked at. The best part is the MP3 playback, I was able to fit 200 songs on one CD! And it supports sub folders. As far as some people saying it hisses and skips, I have not seen this. The audio quality is great as long as your MP3s are of the same quality. It doesn't support Direct CD however. I just burn all the mp3s on CDR using EZCD Creator.

I used this unit for three days. Initially, I thought it was great because I could finally listen to tons of my mp3 files on a single CD. After using it for a short while, the player started to show it's ugly side:

Loud hissing, especially bad when in Surround mode. Randomly skipping from the beginning of a song to near the end, this while sitting perfectly still on my desk. Four batteries???!!! And it played for only approximately 4 hours on a fresh set of Eveready alkalines. This thing eats batteries. An unususal amount of force has to be used to get the buttons to operate.

After retuning the RCA player, I purchased a Rio Volt. The Rio player is superior in nearly every way:

It runs on two alkaline batteries and plays longer. Doesn't hiss. Starts up faster, moves between traks faster. Supports WMA files. Has a better LCD. Sounds better. It's smaller and lighter. Has an in-line remote control. Better software bundle. Upgradeable firmware. And the Rio is only slightly more expensive. I'm using the same CDs with my Rio that wouldn't play correctly on the RCA, all of which were recorded at 8x on quality media.

As far as I'm concerned, the RCA player has too many thorns to be considered as a serious contender in this market. I really didn't realize how inferior the RCA player was until I compared it to the Rio. Do yourself a favor and buy the Rio Volt, you won't be sorry.

I've tried it with CD-R's that I have made and it plays them fine! I like the unit and I'm a fussy person! I don't know why other people are having trouble. It could be the blanks that they are using (some CD players are fussy about what kind of blanks are used). But the biggest possibility could be that people are recording their CD-R's at a very high speed. I've noticed that some CD players will not play CD-R's if they are recorded above 2 Speed. So my suggestion to everyone making either MP3 or CD-R's is to make them at 2 speed or even 1 Speed so that they will work on just about all CD or CD/MP3 players.

I wish I would've read the other reviews before buying the RCA RP-2410. I can only assume that "RP" stands somehow for "rip off".

When it suddenly quits playing in the middle of a song you have the memory of an 8-track tape player switching programs. Fortunately with the tape player, the song came back on. The MP3 player just loses its place and that's it!

Other than simply stopping, what other reviewers say is true: obnoxious noises, fast-forward through a track doesn't work (or when it does work, doesn't work good), there are weird skips (the display thinks it's 38 seconds into the track when actually you might be 15-minutes down the road...no rhyme or reason to it unless this is some unwelcome new feature called "Shuffle Within The Track.")

I took it on the road when we travelled recently, thinking I could treat my family to endless music that we like. What I actually treated them to was endless restarting of discs, taking batteries out and putting them back in to reset, etc.

It seems like there should be a law against stealing, which is what taking-your-money and giving-you-a-piece-of-garbage like this reminds me of.

Granted, there were a couple of things I liked about this MP3 CD player, I did like the headphones and the display and the menues. However, considering it ceased functioning less than TWO days after I purchased it, I would not recommend it to anyone! The evening that I bought the RCA RP2410 it worked just fine. The next day, however, it kept freezing in the middle of a song, and yes, like so many others, I had to keep removing the batteries every five minutes to reset it. Then, I dropped it. Yes, I know that that is not the best thing for a CD player, but it wasn't very far, or hard, and it happended while I was trying to reinsert the batteries! Well, after that, it just kept telling me that the lid was open and stopped functioning all together. I returned it the next day and payed to upgrade to a Rio SP100 which is a far superior MP3-CD player (although not without a few glitches). So, please do not waste your time or money on the RCA RP2410!

... It is a huge piece ... It won't even turn on without having to take out the batteries and putting them back in every single time. And when you do get it to work, and you open the latch to listen to a new CD, it won't work again. ...

...My biggest two gripes are that it makes a high pitch noise continuously and occassionally snaps. This happened while I listened to many regular store bought audio cd's also. Most of the problem was solved by turning off the ESP, but that didn't help in MP3 playback, only in CD. Even with the ESP off the CD playback had crackling noise which I don't understand at all. Someone at RCA needs to be fired for this, bad quality, but cool grey design. I think I might return the insides and frame the shell. Piece of!

I have not had the trouble with skipping that some reviewers claim to have experienced. EXCEPT when I tried encoding below the 64Kbps level mentioned in the specs. It is a nice, metal and plastic unit and I have been happy with it except for one problem. The unit takes four (4) AA batteries and requires an 8volt DC adapter. It comes with an AC/DC adapter, but there is really no car kit that would be suitable because of the voltage requirements of this unit.

The 8 levels of folders are really nice. I use Windows XP and simply drag-n-drop whole folders and subfolders onto the CD-R, burn the CD, and have hours of MP3s available already arranged into playlists from the computer. I'm not a techie, so I love the ease of use and the large LCD display. The unit tells me what it is doing (even when it is only reading the folder structure of the CD), what it is playing, etc.

Not the best possible unit available, but for the street price it is quite good.