Customer Reviews

RCA S2501 Jet Stream Series 1GB Sport MP3 Player with Wireless Headphones

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Overall, I am happy with my purchase, even if there are a couple of issues. The sound is good, although when I use it at the gym, I need to have the volume all the way up in order to drown out the gym music. I think that's because the ear buds on the wireless headphones don't fit properly in my ears. They are a littl big. But outside of the gym, walking for example, I don't need the volume up nearly that high.

The largest fault I have with this product is the charger for the wireless headphones. They don't work all that well, in that the connection is touchy and it takes a few minutes for me to be sure they are charging and quite often the charge is not complete. I'm considering having the wireless charger replaced if possible...

The reception with the wireless headphones is good, although I've experienced some static when I have the unit in my pocket at the gym, and I am riding the recumbent bike. When I am lifting weights though, I experience no issues with reception with it in my pocket. And also when walking outside, there is perfect reception.

The battery life on the unit itself is fantastic. I can use it for three weeks without having to recharge it (using it only about an hour or two a day).

If you are a music fanatic, the storage is probably small for most people. For me it is perfect...I have about 200 songs on there plus two hour long podcasts.

My biggest frustration is the FF or RW function, which may be present on other MP3 players as well. If I am 30 minutes into a podcast for example and missed something, I need to be very careful how I rewind or it will go all the way back to the beginning and the only way I know to get it back to where I was is to just hold the Forward button down, which takes quite a while to FF back to the place where I was.

I don't have any experience with any other MP3 players, as this is my first one. But I wanted it for the wireless functionality and I am overall very happy with it's performance. Even with the issues I stated above, had I been able to try this before purchasing, I still would have purchased this unit.

This is a pretty sweet unit. It's nice looking and small, and relatively easy to use if you're even slightly technologically inclined. You'll have to play around with the menu system for a while to get a feel for how it works, but that won't be a problem because you'll probably be fascinated by it for a while.

GOOD THINGS
-Small
-Arm Band and Wrist Band
-Has a playlist option
-Wireless and wired head phones (with attachable ear braces)
-Great sound through wireless headphones
-Full color menus
-Radio (and even records radio with excellent sound quality)
-Is compatible with [...] audio books
-Shows photos
-Shows videos
-Water "resistant" (Sweat won't ruin it, but you can't swim with it)

BAD(but should not be considered reasons to not buy this unit)
-Buttons are a little hard to push
-No voice recording capability (but honestly, for this price and the quality of the unit, who cares)
-Included wired headphones are C-
-Videos and pictures are really small
-Only one custom playlist
-Can't listen to radio through wireless headsphones.

The wireless headphones sound pretty good. The wired headphones are the minimum quality they could get away with. Just buy a decent pair for [...].

If you're like me and just want a decent, cheap, and simple MP3 player for the gym and other random occassions, you can't go wrong with this.

The player comes with a link to download music, but that site no longer exists. So, it makes me wonder if I had any problems with the player, would the parent company exist anymore? And how can I be buying a product brand new and the website is already out of business?
That said, now that I have music on it I love it. I love a wireless device. However, you still need to have the payer on you. I can walk about 2 rooms away and then I lose the music.
Also, no shuffle feature, so my songs always start from the beginning and play in the same order.

I purchased this unit to help me workout. I did not want wires hanging down the the wireless was an attraction for me. I like the idea that it is resistant to water, Its light, has proven durable. I use the pedometer extensively and I can check my bmi (body mass index) If I tire of listening to my MP3's (it holds more than 300) I can listen to the radio or record from the radio (but you have to use wired headphones for that) I purchased this as an alternative to IPOD of comparable price and very happy I did. It has served me very well for the last 18 months. The only knocks on it is they did not use bluetooth for the wireless. they used their own proprietary kleer technology, it works but you have to use the wireless headphones associated with the unit. there is only 1 gb of memory.

a bit overprized and the wristband is too tight. Headphones broke after a few uses (the hook that holds it over the ear); but it's still usable. Buttons are hard to push in.

Any one know where I can get the plastic replacement ear clips for the wireless earphones? One of the plastic clips broke while I was attaching it to the eaphone. I tried calling RCA(Audiobox) and talked with several people who stated that they would get back to me and to date(two weeks), no one has. It's just a very small inexpensive piece of plastic but without it the wireless earphones do not stay in place when I run. Need help.

"Wired" runner

I had this shipped to me here in the UK as it was just reviewed in a gadget mag and it looked like what I was after. I have never had an MP3 player before and never wanted the whole i-pod thing. I am doing a 26 mile walk for charity and wanted something that was not too cumbersome - love those wireless headphones and would last the distance (14 hours battery time) 340 songs is plenty for what I want it for.

Its easy to use, I would say that it works better with the arm band rather than the wrist band, so it obvisouly helps to be nearer for better clarity.

I am really enjoying using it at the moment - and the pedometer is actually quite accurate - considering it is on your arm, as opossed to your hip.

Can't wait to take it with me on my moonwalk in May - if anyone wants to help me raise loads for breast cancer then please email me for details - you can donate on line.

Great product, glad I waited til I found an mp3 player that is so me.

After reading all the lukewarm reviews and never seeing anyone actually wearing a Jet Stream in real life, I dragged my heels on getting one for myself. I thought 'This can't be the ONLY sporty wireless MP3 player" out there...
6 months went by and it remains the ONLY sporty wireless MP3 player, so I decided to take a chance and get one.
WOW! This thing is not only cool, but it looks like the programming has been upgraded since the last review on here.

1. It's Mac compatible, even though it doesn't say so on the box. I plugged the player into my macbook just to charge it up through the USB and lo-and-behold, it showed the drive, so I tried loading up songs and it totally worked!

2. The wireless headphones light up orange when they're charging so you know that you've connected them to their USB charger properly.

3. I can walk about 20 feet away from the player and the wireless headphones still pick up a signal.

4. You can skip back and forth within songs if you hold down the forward and back buttons. From other reviews, it sounded like people could only skip forward or back entire songs or podcasts.

Yes, the wireless headphones are a bit big to sit in my ears, but this is Way way way better than working out with regular headphones and having the cable bounce around and get all tangled up.

Very cool!

I've had my RCA S2501 MP3 player for about a month. Initially, it was great: Both the player and the headphones could go several hours without charging. (I run a lot -- usually an hour and a half a day. At first, I could go two or three days without having to recharge either part of the unit.)

But in the past few days, the headphones have stopped holding a charge. When I charge the headphones, the orange light stays on continually. (It's supposed to go off when the headphones are fully charged.) And when I use the headphones, they die in about an hour.

I've contacted RCA's tech support. Will let you know what I find out.

Has anyone else had this problem?

I used this unit about 5 times and really enjoyed the freedom of using a wireless unit while I worked out, even though the sound quality was poor, and I am far from picky. That is due to the wireless ear buds being huge, and I don't have small ears, either. They pretty much just rested on the outside of my ears, held in place by the ear hooks, necessitating my turning the volume all the way up to partially drown out the sound of the gym's music. Since the fit was by no means tight, the sound quality of my own music was quite poor as well. The ear attachment was hard to get on and off, and after those 5 uses, the plastic hook that attaches the ear bud to the ear hook snapped. I tried to use the wireless headphones without the ear hook, but it fell out about every 5 steps I jogged. A replacement ear hook is not available from the manufacturer, and replacement wireless headphones will cost me more than the entire unit did.

I am hooked on wireless headphones for making my workouts more productive and pleasant, but will be looking elsewhere for my next player.