Mike Walker
Doesn't pull punches
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2001
- Posts
- 541
- Likes
- 14
Well, I was at Radio Shack tonight. I had stopped by to check out the portable cd/am/fm stereo unit that's on sale for 49.95 (usually 79.95), when I spotted the RCA RP-2410 mp3/cd player on sale for 119.95 (it WAS 169.95). Since I've had a VERY good month with my production business, and will receive quite a bit more money than expected (and budgeted for), I decided to treat myself and spring for the RCA. If you've been similarly tempted, DON'T BOTHER!
Within 10 minutes of beginning my initial listening session at home, I was laughing at the sheer number of problems I had encountered in such a short period of time. Where to start? Well, when you insert a regular audio cd, and the unit detects that it's not been "fed" an mp3 disc, it lets out a loud "pop" in protest through the headphones. Fortunately, this pop was never heard when actually listening to music. But other problems were! Continuing with the audio cd (The Grass is Blue from Dolly Parton), the machine would frequently jump from the middle of one track to the beginning of another (not necessarily the next) for no apparent reason. ARRGH! I popped out my regular audio cd and slipped in a cd-r I had burned full of mp3 tracks.
Let the fun begin! Well, not exactly fun! The first time I inserted the disc (with 35 folders and 187 songs) the machine froze...just like a computer that needed rebooting. Since there's no reset button, and ALL controls were frozen, I had to remove one of the batteries, then re-insert. Voila! It found all 35 folders, all 187 songs. So I pushed play, and the music began. Wait...it clipped off the first five seconds of the song. I skipped ahead to the next song, and it was fine, as were all the rest of the songs from the album. But when I skipped ahead to the NEXT album (in a different folder), it AGAIN clipped off the first five seconds of the song. I soon discovered that it clips off the first five seconds of the first song on EVERY album! ARRRGH! Damn, damn, DAMN!
I removed the disc, then re-inserted it, irrationally thinking that maybe re-initializing the player would help. WRONG! This time it found only 27 folders, but all 187 songs! Finding this rather amusing, I re-inserted the disc. There were all 35 folders (and 187 songs). But when I re-inserted it found 22 folders, and 123 songs! LOL! What a p.o.s! Too bad too, because when it was actually playing music, the sound quality was surprisingly good! The unit is VERY well finished, one of the more solid looking (and feeling) portables I've tried. But there are simply too many glitches for it to be taken seriously. As a beta test unit, I could understand this, but as a production model ready for "prime time"? I don't think so!
I didn't even mention the owner's manual which mentions not a single word about how to access the confusing menu options! (It simply says to "navigate through screens"). Gee thanks! I finally discovered on my own that you navigate by using the volume controls (up/down) to move the pointer (OH, now why didn't I think of that?) LOL! I'm torn as to whether to take this thing back, or save it for a Christmas gift for someone I REALLY don't like! Nah...it's goin' back tomorrow! Has anyone else tried this TURKEY? Gobble, Gobble!
Within 10 minutes of beginning my initial listening session at home, I was laughing at the sheer number of problems I had encountered in such a short period of time. Where to start? Well, when you insert a regular audio cd, and the unit detects that it's not been "fed" an mp3 disc, it lets out a loud "pop" in protest through the headphones. Fortunately, this pop was never heard when actually listening to music. But other problems were! Continuing with the audio cd (The Grass is Blue from Dolly Parton), the machine would frequently jump from the middle of one track to the beginning of another (not necessarily the next) for no apparent reason. ARRGH! I popped out my regular audio cd and slipped in a cd-r I had burned full of mp3 tracks.
Let the fun begin! Well, not exactly fun! The first time I inserted the disc (with 35 folders and 187 songs) the machine froze...just like a computer that needed rebooting. Since there's no reset button, and ALL controls were frozen, I had to remove one of the batteries, then re-insert. Voila! It found all 35 folders, all 187 songs. So I pushed play, and the music began. Wait...it clipped off the first five seconds of the song. I skipped ahead to the next song, and it was fine, as were all the rest of the songs from the album. But when I skipped ahead to the NEXT album (in a different folder), it AGAIN clipped off the first five seconds of the song. I soon discovered that it clips off the first five seconds of the first song on EVERY album! ARRRGH! Damn, damn, DAMN!
I removed the disc, then re-inserted it, irrationally thinking that maybe re-initializing the player would help. WRONG! This time it found only 27 folders, but all 187 songs! Finding this rather amusing, I re-inserted the disc. There were all 35 folders (and 187 songs). But when I re-inserted it found 22 folders, and 123 songs! LOL! What a p.o.s! Too bad too, because when it was actually playing music, the sound quality was surprisingly good! The unit is VERY well finished, one of the more solid looking (and feeling) portables I've tried. But there are simply too many glitches for it to be taken seriously. As a beta test unit, I could understand this, but as a production model ready for "prime time"? I don't think so!
I didn't even mention the owner's manual which mentions not a single word about how to access the confusing menu options! (It simply says to "navigate through screens"). Gee thanks! I finally discovered on my own that you navigate by using the volume controls (up/down) to move the pointer (OH, now why didn't I think of that?) LOL! I'm torn as to whether to take this thing back, or save it for a Christmas gift for someone I REALLY don't like! Nah...it's goin' back tomorrow! Has anyone else tried this TURKEY? Gobble, Gobble!
