Rating: 
Summary: This unit Locks up during normal use
Review: I won't go over most of the problems discussed by other reviewers (software). Also I don't know if I got a unit that was build defective. I gave this unit 1 star because it kept locking up during normal use. I clipped the unit onto my belt using the supplied case. During an hour walk (not running) the unit locked up 3 times. I had to reset it, which sets it to back the RCA defaults. The unit sounded great, was about the right size, and I could have lived with other features that were not great, but the constant lock up when the unit is moved (if not moved it did not lock up) makes it useless in my opinion. Once again, I may have received a unit that was not up to specification. I hope so, because if so I would buy another unit.
Rating: 
Summary: It's OK, but ...
Review: It works fine and sounds fine, but the USB connection is WAY too slow. Perhaps I'm just spoiled by Firewire, but 10 Gigs going through USB 1.1 is so ... annoying.The iPod, which costs just a little more, is far far more elegant and far far faster.
Rating:
Summary: Unit failed after 2 days
Review: Like the reviewer before me, I found the Lyra Jukebox frequently locks up and must be reset. Too bad-it has great features, fine sound quality, incredible storage capacity and a highly intuitive software package. Since my problem was identical to that described by the other reviewer, I'd assume the lockup problem is generic and not a random failure.
Unfortunately I had to send it back due to this annoying problem.
I'm curious to know if anyone out there has had one of these items for a month or more and not experienced the lockup problem. Your response will tell me if I whould wait a couple of months until RCA straightens out their problem or if I should look at brand X.
Rating:
Summary: Unit failed after 2 days
Review: Like the reviewer before me, I found the Lyra Jukebox frequently locks up and must be reset. Too bad-it has great features, fine sound quality, incredible storage capacity and a highly intuitive software package. Since my problem was identical to that described by the other reviewer, I'd assume the lockup problem is generic and not a random failure.
Unfortunately I had to send it back due to this annoying problem.
I'm curious to know if anyone out there has had one of these items for a month or more and not experienced the lockup problem. Your response will tell me if I whould wait a couple of months until RCA straightens out their problem or if I should look at brand X.
Rating: 
Summary: lock-up problem with the lyra jukebox
Review: the jukebox has great sound but locks up too often. rca needs to correct this problem to make the lyra jukebox a viable usable system. otherwise i could not recommend it to anyone. if any rca people are reading this...please fix the jukebox!!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent product
Review: This is an excellent product. The Lyra is well built and the menus are well thought out. I just bought a unit in late Aug 02 and the common complaint of no battery indicator on the display has been addressed. My unit has a small battery indicator in the upper right corner of the display which shows the battery level in 1/4 increments (ie: full, 3/4, 1/2 etc.) The construction is clean and sturdy. The unit has a crisp, clean, expensive, almost high-end laptop look to it. The buttons all have a positive tactile feel and none of them are loose or wiggle. The buttons also require you to hold them breifly to register your request so that an inadvertant contact will not register. The screen is crisp, clear and easy to read. The backlight comes on automatically anytime you press a button, so you don't have to try and turn on the backlight at dusk or dark like on my PDA. The menus are well organized and thought through. It is easy to get to your music; sorted by either artist, album, title (song name), genre, or user playlist (which are a little awkward to create on the Lyra, or may be created in MusicMatch Jukebox on your PC), the DSP setting, track info, and play modes: shuffle, random, etc. The accesories were superb, it comes complete with everything you may need for personal, home/office, or car use. The headphones are light and comfortable (and I have a big head). The sound quality from them was clear and crisp and had fairly good bass without being muddy or distorting even at high volume levels. The software is fairly easy to use. The two peaces of software are MusicMatch Jukebox 6.1 and the Lyra Jukebox Profiler. MusicMatch Jukebox has been around for quite some time (I've been using it for more than 5 years) and is fast and easy to use. I would recommend upgrading to version 7.2 plus however. The Lyra Jukebox Profiler software is needed to organize the MP3s on the Lyra, this is all done automatically for you using the ID3 tags. My only complaints are that once I installed the Lyra Jukebox Profiler my computer is very slow for awhile after rebooting and the documentation. Every time I reboot my computer now (I'm running Win 98SE) it is very slow and unresponsive for the first couple of minutes (and I do mean minutes). I do not know if this is a proplem with Windows 98SE's USB support or what, but it is very annoying. Secondly, the documentation is almost entirely on the CD that comes with the Lyra. This isn't too bad but its also organized funny, with useage comming first and installation last. The documentation quantity and quality is ok, I've seen much worse but I have also seen better. The complaint that has been made by other reviewers that they did not feel like they could throw this unit around like their portable CD player is obsurd, this is a [$$$] portable hard drive not a [$$] toy that I would buy for a child. The unit appears strong and sturdy, but it is definitely NOT a toy. Over all I think this is an excellent product, very user freindly and well designed. I would recomend it to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: Good as gold
Review: This is my first jukebox purchase. It is a great piece of equipment. Installation was without incident on my XP machine. I had some trouble transferring files with Explorer. If I tried to move a corrupted file the file transfer would bomb under Explorer. I use a wonderful shareware application that handles such events and proceeds to the next file in the queue. The jukebox supports the new MP3PRO file format. I have the latest version of MusicMatch (7.2) (MusicMatch 6.1 is included) which supports track ripping in this format. MP3Pro provides greater audio fidelity at half the file size. This 10G drive will now get you more bang for the buck with this new file format. I am in the process of transferring my CD collection to a digital format so I can get rid of the huge space requirements for keeping 600 CD's at arm's reach. Sound quality is excellent and it provides several DSP settings to tailor the sound to your liking. You can connect the jukebox to your home stereo with the supplied cable. It also comes with a car kit which I will probably not use.
In summary, I think this is a great product. I will probably buy a second for the other half of my CD collection.
Rating:
Summary: No Customer Support Anywhere
Review: Unit functioned and sounded great for the first 4 months. After adding 5G of files the unit stopped functioning and the PC-based repair utility failed to fix the problem. Customer support information is scarce from the 3 or 4 web sites that the RCA site will direct you too. No phone numbers are listed anywhere. My player is dead and will have to be disposed of. I will check out the vendor's web site first before purchase from now on. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER PRODUCT FROM RCA OR ITS SUBSIDIARIES.
Rating:
Summary: No Customer Support Anywhere
Review: Unit functioned and sounded great for the first 4 months. After adding 5G of files the unit stopped functioning and the PC-based repair utility failed to fix the problem. Customer support information is scarce from the 3 or 4 web sites that the RCA site will direct you too. No phone numbers are listed anywhere. My player is dead and will have to be disposed of. I will check out the vendor's web site first before purchase from now on. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER PRODUCT FROM RCA OR ITS SUBSIDIARIES.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent little mp3 player for the money
Review: Well I have just taken delivery of my one of these units via Amazon.com and listening to it as I type this review. I thought I would share my initial impressions with people. I have a great deal of music and usually burn them to CD-R's and listen to it via my trusty tiny little Sony CD player whilst down the gym. This has become bothersome as I can only squeeze 80 minutes on a CD before I have to change it and if I am trying out new music I don't always know what I burned on to the CD! I figured the handy-dandy display on an MP3 player would change that. Initially I liked the solid-state mp3 players (no moving parts) using compact flash for storage. Ultimately they are limited in storage though; if you buy a big 512Mb card for example you could buy this player so they didn't seem worth it. Then I considered a CD based mp3 player as they are cheap as is the media of course - but again they hold a load but not as much as even the smallest (5gb) hard-disk based players. I like the Apple iPod the most - superb in every respect. I considered, long and hard, buying the 10Gb iPod due out in September 2002. I lack the cash and the patience however so decided I would see what inexpensive options there are around now. Then I spotted this product and from the reviews it looked great - particularly for the price. I think other brands are attempting to be wannabee Apple iPod's here (especially the Create effort - no way is it worth the cost) - think Ford Taurus vs. BMW 740. So how is the thing to hold? In the hand it is about the size of 1.5 packets of cigarettes. It is slightly heavy for it's size; a little heavier than my top-end Sony Discman I would say (conjecturally). Construction is good. Buttons feel nice and tactile; they resist firmly to the touch and you know when you have clicked or pushed one. There are none that are loose or rattle around. The case is of a pressed metal alloy rather than aluminum. Its fine - would withstand some gentle bashing but a firm knock would dent it I would guess. Protecting much of the units' metal case is a removable neoprene case which stretches around the back and four outside corners, leaving the screen, one end (headphones socket & USB) and bottom edge (power) completely unprotected. So care must be taken with this unit! Still it's good a protective case is included - no doubt enterprising individuals will offer something better for a modest charge should sales take off (as I suspect they will, personally.) I give the unit's case 7 out of 10, and the removable case 5 out of 10 - adequate. The screen is clear and displays everything you would want to know about the band, song, album, genre, bit-rate and time that you would want - EXCEPT for the battery which is a serious omission . Still, it's clear and the blue back-light does a good job. You can configure how long you want it to stay on, too, which is a feature missing on many other players.There are many DSP (Digital Signal Processing) functions available in the form of sound presets - Jazz, Rock, Bass, Pop, or a custom equalizer with 5 channels so you can set the sound the way you like it. These seem to work well though I happen to prefer to hear the music the way it was recorded, which is an option, fortunately. The sound quality is excellent. There is no hiss or noise that I can discern during quiet tracks and very little from the unit itself most of the time - it only seems to fire up the hard disk every few minutes to get more data and this results in a barely discernable whirr and quiet clicking for a few seconds. Whilst music is playing this is not noticeable at all. The unit vibrates slightly in the hand during this process and is inert the rest of the time. There is an accompanying light around the power button to indicate this, too - sort of like your computers hard disk access light. The movement makes me feel like I would not want to shake this unit about too much, though; somehow it manages to feel more delicate than my portable CD player. I am not sure why - perhaps because I cannot feel any movement from the CD player when it's playing and is even quieter? Unsure but nonetheless that's the feeling I have from this unit. The headphones feel a little plasticky to the hand but sound good enough and are comfortable on the ear. The unit can certainly pump them full of volume too - it is LOUD. I found my heavy metal rock music sounded suitable at only 75% of full blast so plenty for anyone there, I would think. I tried it (briefly) at full volume for the purposes of this review and it didn't distort either - just made my ears hurt! I give the sound 9 out of 10 - I couldn't fault it but then I am not an audiophile so don't feel I am qualified to give it a perfect score. I would give the construction overall 7.5 out of 10. Good enough, given the price. I don't feel like I can throw it around as much as I have my CD player, though (which shows no ill effects and NEVER skipped.) The unit came with a fair variety of preloaded music to explore which I felt was a pleasant bonus and came with a car charger & adaptor too which I felt was also good value. All in all very good value - I recommend you get one before everybody else hears about them and you have to wait!
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