Customer Reviews

RCA RP2520 MP3 Personal CD Player - Red

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

This thing works well as long as you are using original cds or cd-r media. MP3 and audio playback was great. Once you insert a CD-RW media things take a turn for the worst. Whether you burn as a audio cd or as an MP3 cd, the playback is full of pops, crackles and interruptions. If you use CD-RWs then avoid this player, otherwise it will serve you well.

I purchased this player (RP2520) while on vacation. I had dropped my faithfull and workhorse AVC Soulplayer DMP-01 (basically a Re-branded Rio Volt SP100 or SP90) while exercising. After five years of service, I needed an MP3 player to get me through my 20+ hour drive home. I only had MP3 CDs with me. I went to three (national chain) stores on my last day of vacation and this RCA was the only one that had easy folder navigation (all my MP3 CDs contain albums, each in their own folder) and it came with a car kit at the cheapest price anywhere. It seemed like a good value at the time.

Well, you get what you pay for. The unit plays audio CDs without skipping at all, but MP3 CDs will lock and skip.... and I burn all mine to CD-Rs (not CD-RWs). The problem gets worse as you get near the end of CD. Now, any album I have that is only encoded at 160kbps or less (which is not very many) plays fine. VBR (variable bit rate) and 192/224/320kbps encoded MP3 have trouble after about 1-2 songs. It's as if the buffer gets full, and it's all downhill afterwards. I use high quality name-brand CD-Rs (Sony, Verbatim, TDK, etc). It doesn't matter which brand. MP3s all skip. Audio CDs and Audio CD-Rs all play fine. Strange and sad really.

I tried returning the unit for a second player... it did the exact same thing. So back to the store both units went. I guess I'll try to find a used Soulplayer or Volt SP100/SP90/SP250 somewhere. My Soulplayer never skipped on me once (too bad they don't make 'em anymore). I've heard good things about iRiver players too, maybe I'll have to look into those as well.

I have used this player for over a month now for mp3 discs that I have burned on my laptop or have gotten from a manufacturer (for example, audio books on mp3 CD). I have had no problems. The older RCA mp3 CD player had that proprietary (sp?) Smartrax system that was confusing until you read all about it in the manual--then it was okay for navigating. This model avoids the confusion by adding two buttons for navigating through file folders. So if you favor unabridged audio books on mp3 cd, this player will work great. I just drove 780 miles from central Texas to St. Louis for the holidays, and it played two complete novels fine on just two batteries. When you stop the player and then come back later and turn it on, it even remembers the track you left off on. (I have not yet played a regular CD or a CD-RW disc on the player, so the comments by the other two customers may be correct. But good, reliable mp3 cd players are pretty hard to come by, so the performance of this player satisfies me.)

I like this player and the cassette player adaptor, I have recorded about 160 songs onto a cd in mp3 format, and play them in my car while driving, they work great and I have enough songs to last to any destination timewise.

RCA deserves an award for making the only product that has made me legitimately feel I was cheated out of my money. I spent $40 on this piece of rubbish, but if I had known how poorly it worked, I wouldn't have paid $5 for it. It is completely worthless. The reason for my dissatisfaction (an understatement) is simple; the CD player refuses to play CDs. It's hard to explain, so let me give you an example of what happens when I try to play a CD with the RCA RP2520.

I put the CD in, close the cover, and press play. The CD player makes some noise (you can actually hear the parts inside churn about, as if they were going to work or something) and then starts playing the song 15 seconds after hitting the play button. (Not too bad so far.) The song goes on for about a minute before the song "skips" a little, then the song stops playing completely. (My old CD player could at least get through the first song FFS.) There's about a 30 second pause before the CD player gives up on track 1 and goes onto track 2. After another painfully long pause, the RP2520 starts playing track 2. I don't really like track 2, so I skip to track 7. There's a long pause before the CD player skips track 7 and goes to track 8, and then to track 9, and then to track 10. (Wow, the CD player knows that it can't play a track on a CD, so it takes it upon itself to skip through the tracks until it finds one it CAN play! That's impressive, right?) So, the CD player plays track 10, but not without, of course, the periodic 10 or 20 second pause.

Each and every time I've "used" the RP2520, I've spent more time NOT listening to music than listening to music. I kid you not. The ESP feature has to be a joke because I rarely get through a whole track without some "skipping," even when the player is on a flat, non-mobile surface. Think the ESP feature will let you listen to music with the RP2520 while jogging, riding in a car, or moving in general? No, sorry, it's a lost cause.

In conclusion, I HATE this product with a passion. On the plus side, you get some dandy headphones if you buy it. They work quite well, but why does it matter when the $40 CD player doesn't work?

Upon receipt, unit appeared just great, but it would not play retail recorded language instruction discs. It played my home-burned MP3 discs for about a month, and one day when I went to actuate the unit, there was a loud "crack" and the line output ceased to function. Spend a few bucks more and get a better unit.

I'm here to attest to the fact that it's not just cdr's that this piece of junk won't play. All I've ever put in it were store bought cds. Worked for a month. Now, I put it in, hear the noise like it's reading the disc and then NOTHING. It tells me there's an error. $25 for complete junk.

I didn't save the receipt. I hope Wal-Mart will at least let me exchange it, although for what - another crappy unit.

At first I thought I was the problem, but after reading other reviews I realize it's the machine. It plays, then stops, then there's silence, then it skeps to the next number, then it repeats the whole process all over again and then sometimes it turns itself off! I only wanted a CD player -- I liked the red color that's why I bought it. I did not realize it was an MP3 player - not for me! It is very frustrating!

If I had seen these reviews first I would not have bought the RCA RP2520, but I have one now and I'm glad I got it.

I saw one at Fry's for $30 and wanted something to play MP3 discs while driving around, so I got it. It's working great for me. I've mostly played home burned CDR's and Mini-CDR's and they work and sound great. I especially like how when you shut it off and then start it up later it goes back to the spot where it was playing. The Philips unit I was previously using usually failed at that.

I also played a regular Audio CD to see if it would work and it does. I never read the manual, but I'm able to use all obvious functions like navigation and dynamic base settings just by pushing the buttons, which is all I need.

I've only had mine a few days, but it sounds good, works fine, and looks very nice too. I like the ear-clip headphones that came with it, since the bud type usually supplied with players like this just fall out of my ears faster than I can put them back in. It took some experimentation to find out how to get them on in a comfortable position, but it was worth it.

The only things I don't like about it are things I didn't really expect at this price anyway, like a larger display that showed song info and a volume control on the headphones.

this is the worst mp3/cd player I have ever owned. everything about this product is a lie because when I bought it i put in a cd-rw with mp3s on it and it played the first 5 seconds of the song and then it went silent for about 20 seconds and then skipped to the next track and it kept repeating this over and over. next i put a cd-r with regular songs on it and it did the exact same thing. then i even put in a regular cd that i bought at the store and it did the exact same thing. so whatever you do DOOO NOTTT BUYYY THISS CRAPYYY PRODUCT BECAUSE IT DOESN'T WORK WHAT SO EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!