BEST mp3 CD player

Halcyon · Gast

First of all, my sincere apologies for writing in English. I don't know a lot of German, although I've been trying to read this board with the help of babelfish.altavista.com Smile

I'm looking for a new mp3 cd player, but I don't want RioVolt. I already had RioVolt
and I though it was flimsy, plastic, had bad sound quality and broke way too easily.

So, I'm asking what is the BEST CD MP3 portable player at the moment?

Is any of the following good?

Terratec M3PO Go
? Made out of plastic?
- Is NOT firmware upgradable (confirmed by Terratec.de)
? Is sound quality good?
? This was review in Chip 6/2001. How did they like it?
+ Has line-out (unlike Riovolt)
- Batteries only last for 4 hours

SM-200C+ von PINE D'music
? Plastic?
- Good sound quality (according to German computer magazines)
+ Has line out
? Runs how many hours on batteries?
- Very ugly

Mambox P303
? Plastic?
- No line out
- Mambox P300 was *really* bad
- Looks ok

TDK Mojo
? Good sound quality?
- No line out
+ Firmware upgradable (according to TDK)

Kenwood DPC-MP727
+ Line out
? ID3 support?
+ Looks ok

Any comments about any of the above players?

Any other players you think are good?

My near future dream player would be:

- Case out of magnesium alloy or other lightweight metal
- Uses rechargeable LiPo batteries
- Has ID3v1.1 and ID3v2 support
- Support for all mp3 encoders, bit rates, sampling rates, frequencies
- Phone/line out
- Firmware upgradable
- Open and published API for programming own decodes (mpeg+/mpc) and uploading
them to the player
- Minimum of 7 hours of playback (when not using anti-skip/ESP features)
- An ESP feature that allows me to actually run and liston to this
- GOOD build quality. Doesn't fall apart from the line/phone sockets, battery
compartment, LCD display (like RioVolt did for me)

Will there be such a player? I can dream, can I Smile

Any comments (in German or in English) are welcome.

Cheers,
Halcyon

Minetti · Gast

I'm sorry, but I can't think of a better player than the RioVolt at the moment, mostly due to the inavailabilty of the other players. And as you already wrote: all the other players don't have certain features or capabilities that the Volt has, or they lack endurance or other essential things.
Some weeks ago, there was a bigger test in the c't-magazine, (www.heise.de/ct). They compared 12 mobile mp3 cd players, the RioVolt was the only one which had only minor disadvantages. All the others had at least one big point which made them 'unattractive' to me.
Now I own a Volt, and I'm satisfied, as it fits my needs.

Of course I see many possible improvements, but I didn't find any player with the features you figured out yet, and I doubt anyone will be available in the near future. The only thing I'm waiting for at the moment is the player Sony announced for late summer...

-Minetti
(nice to practice some english)

Puri · Gast

I'm a proud owner of the RioVolt for nearly two weeks now, and it is just as I had expected it after reading the producttests. Even though its plastic case is far away from a case you could expect for that money, and you have to be afraid to destroy the remote control only by pressing its buttons, the electronical interior beats any other mp3/CD-player on the market at the moment. Its upgradable firmware, and Rio's ability to read as good as all CD-media types (like RWs und even packet-wrote CDs) makes it the best player available.

Nevertheless regarding your improvement suggestions you are right, the RioVolt doesn't meet all of them, but most. And thats why I would recommend the RioVolt to anyone asking...

heimi · MPeX.net AllStar

>> First of all, my sincere apologies for writing in English.
Your welcome. We love it to show the other people on the board how excellent our English knowledge is

>> Terratec M3PO Go
The best beside the RV I think. In fact it is a Misel Player. You can see a very nice review on this one on http://hardware.dmusic.com/reviews/misel/. The only con I see so far: The firmware is not upgradeable. It has no FastForward-/Rewind. Beside that, it is more expensive than the RV. (549,-DM v. 429,-DM) It has a very nice display and great navigating functions.

> SM-200C+ von PINE D'music
> ? Plastic?
Sure its plastic but it has a good quality.
>> ? Runs how many hours on batteries?
Less than 3 hours with a SM-200C (the former model) This is not too good. Beside that the firmware is not upgradeable. I sold mine soon. Navigating function where boring.

TDK Mojo
>> + Firmware upgradable (according to TDK)
The firmware of the mojo is definetly NOT UPGRADEABLE. See the TDK site, there is a FAQ on this. Bedside that it has no Resume and no FastForward. Very limited at that price.

>> Kenwood DPC-MP727
I had one in my hands today at Media Markt in Cologne. Display looks very small. If it has a ID3 Support you must have good eyes to follow the line. Dont know much about the Kennwood but it looks as flimsy as the Rio.

I agree with you reg. your wishlist. That would be what I would like to receive for as much money as the RV costs. Its a shame that they give us these plastic things that are big and ugly for as much as 500,-DM. You can see a high end - jog proof - Sony Player beside the Rio for as less as 250,-DM. But I hope that the market will grow soon. I bought an Soul (Rio Clone. See http://www.heimi.net/MP3_Player/AVC_Soul_CD_Player/avc_soul_cd_player.html for a - german - review) because I would like to have a cd based mp3 player NOW, but I will drop it as soon as a metal case/LiIon/Jog Proof mp3 player is out (from Sony ? Who knows ?)

Best Regards from Germany
from
Heimi
_________________
http://www.heimi.net
mp3 Hardware Site