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iRiver ChromeX iMP-150 CD/MP3 Player with 120-Second Anti-Skip and Upgradeable Firmware

iRiver ChromeX iMP-150 CD/MP3 Player with 120-Second Anti-Skip and Upgradeable Firmware

List Price: $79.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: This Energizer Bunny Killer skips like a school girl.
Review: Okay so it's inexpensive, and very versatile! It will play CD's, MP3, and other audio formats. It has an incredible playback memory too - it will remember where you left off for all your CD's!

However, don't buy this if you mostly want to play normal CD's. You only get about 5-7 hours of playback.

Also don't buy this if you want to jog at all or go to the gym - honestly - all of that "skip proof" and all that lingo will not pull through. Your music will stop playing unless you hold it very gently while working out.

I have also started noticing a static sound and some distortion during loud parts of songs. I don't know why this started happening but there is definately a problem.

It takes a long time to turn on and also to skip tracks. The volume is low compared to other players, which might be annoying on a plane or another loud situation.

However this player sounded beautiful before that static problem, and is very nice looking. It comes with a programmable custom EQ, although you can only change a few bands. It lights up, which is nice, and there are a lot of settings like language, etc to help you customize.

It loses one star for battery use, and another for skipping. I won't take a star because of the static problem, as I don't know if mine is defective or possibly got wet, although it does concern me. Really it is 2.5 stars but I'll give it a 3. I suppose it's not bad for the price, but as I said - don't believe that it is skip proof, and be prepared to buy stock in batteries.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Worth the money
Review: For a cd player under $60, you really get the bang for your buck. It contains all the features it says it has. However, there are some minor annoyances which prevent it from recieving 5 stars:
1.) Speed - It takes an average time of 13 seconds for the chromex to "power up". It also takes around 5 seconds to switch from track to track using cd audio, the same goes with data music (mp3, wma, etc.).
2.) Included headphones - These are very cheap, you are much better off using another pair of quality headphones.
3.) ESP - This cd player is not a jogger. Even though a 10-second ESP is set by default, a 40-second ESP is an option. Since I workout in the gym regularly, flawless anti-shock is a must. It works ok, but not great.
4.) Size - If you're are willing to shell out extra money, the SlimX would be a better option.
5.) Volume - I have used 4 different pairs of headphones, and the max volume isn't quite as loud as other cd players I have used in the past. This is absolutely neccesary when you're in a loud environment. Howevever, if you using it in a somewhat quiet setting, then you are good to go.

This is an all-around great cd player, but it didn't blow me away. Even with these minor annoyances, you can oversee them in short time and fully enjoy it. If you are on a budget and want a lot of features in a cd player for under $60, you can't go wrong with the ChromeX.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One sweet MP3/CD player!
Review: I'd been surviving on a mediocre MP3/CD player for several months when I decided I was sick of skipping and inadequate features. I wanted to get a really nice player but without spending very much. The answer was the iRiver ChromeX and it fit the part perfectly.

First of all the features: This thing has everything! The newest firmware upgrade allows you to customize nearly every part of the player with great ease. It has some very innovative features such as a progress bar of the current song, user customized equalizers, and many, many more.

Second, iRiver has great support! The first Chromex I got failed during a firmware upgrade and became useless. I don't understand why they don't design it to still accept firmware upgrade but anyway. I called up iRiver and was able to get it replaced in a few days. The new one upgraded fine and I am extremely please with the company's initiative in serving customers.

So, without going into too much detail, if you want a great MP3/CD Player for a great price, I highly recommend the iMP-150!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Terrific and easy
Review: Other reviews accurately cover the bases...One additional pro and con. The PRO was a terrific surprise...you can remove a CD, replace it with another, and it remembers where you were on up to 20 CD's. I listen to audio books as well as music. I can pull and audio book and drop in a music CD, come back to the book the next day and it goes right to the point where I pulled it the day before. The CON, it's a few ounces heavier than most players so I notice it a little more when running with it.

But, I'd buy it again in a heartbeat!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is a GREAT product!
Review: .
I really wanted to buy an iPod; I mean, to have the capability of carrying around thousands of selections in the palm of my hand! But then I realized there weren't thousands of songs I want to carry around, just hundreds. After all, every time I buy a CD, I'm lucky if there're more than a couple of songs I really want. Why would I want to spend time ripping, transferring, and storing songs I probably won't ever listen to? Anyway, I just couldn't get myself to spend many hundreds for an iPod.

So, I bought this little gem and it's perfect for my use. I've managed to put about 400 songs in WMA format (at 64kbps) on a 80 min (700MB) CD-R that sound just great and there's still some room to spare. They're all songs I want to hear. I also put a half dozen or so playlists on this CD, since this device handles up to 20 playlists. If I want more, I'll burn another CD-R with 400 more. It's no big deal to carry around a couple CDs with the player.

This device has flawlessly played audio CD's, CD-R's (70 & 80 min), and CD-RW's. I used both MP3 (at 128k) and WMA (at 32k and 64k to really save space).

At first, on reading the manual, I thought that I'd never remember all the combinations of the controls. You see, all of the buttons and jog controls serve 2 or 3 purposes depending on the mode you're in. But with actual use, I found they're not only very logically assigned, but that typically you'll setup configurations one time and rarely or never change them again. Things like backlight, contrast, settings for skip speed (fast forward/reverse speed) and many others are not things you'll change often if ever.

I saw a criticism of this device that it lacks a bass boost - not true. Several play modes can be toggled, including an enhanced bass response; additionally, you can setup your own custom playback response called "User Eq" and crank up the bass just as far as you want.

Upgrading the firmware couldn't be easier. Put the firmware update file onto a CD-R or CD-RW (I recommend CD-RW so it can be erased and reused afterward), load it into the machine, hit Play, it updates itself and switches off; just remove the disk and you're done.

Sound quality is first rate. Skipping has not been a problem. And although I didn't measure it precisely, battery life has been amazing. I played MP3's and WMA's for many hours on a set of pair of AA batteries, although I understand battery time with audio CDs is considerably less. The remote is very convenient and duplicates the thorough control of the main unit.

I have only 1 criticism: The earbud phones supplied (I don't like earbuds anyway) are uneven in cord length; that is to say, there's maybe one foot of slack on the left phone and two feet on the right phone. This is supposedly to allow you to keep the connecting cord in the back of your neck, but it just drove me nuts; I used other phones which I like better, and would have anyway.

This is a GREAT device. I got what I want for my needs and for many hundreds less than the iPod over which I was drooling. I chose wisely.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: So many CD players, so little time!
Review: I read most of the reviews before I bought this one from Amazon and I usually make it a practice to read the bad ones first. Most often they have an insight that will immediately effect my purchase. Something like it burned up a year after bought it. The negatives, and my observations, on this unit can be summarized as follows from the other reviews:

1. Cheaply made case -- The case is as solid as I've seen on any CD player. The last cheapie my brother got me as a present, the pop up door was near paper thin, and broke off in my hand. This ones a block of granite by comparison.

2. UGLY -- This is obviously in the eye of the beholder. There are pictures, so make up your own mind. While its probably few peoples definition of sexy, it has its own charm and design functionality.

3. Hard to use remote control -- Some people out there can't operate a computer mouse properly. I think it takes little practice to use this remote effectively. Its not designed like a TV remote where you can look at the buttons. This remote is designed for you to get the feel of the controls, and use them by touch. The more you use the unit, the better you'll like the remote.

4. Dangerous to upgrade firmware -- True enough, like flashing over a BIOS update on a computer, you better not have a loss of power during the transfer, or you will be throwing this away. From an electronics standpoint there's no way around this cheaply. If you don't feel comfortable doing this, some places will do it for you at a nominal fee.

5. Short battery life -- I can't really say for sure, I got over six hours on top of the line, super alkalines. I got a little over half that from the cheapies and rechargables. Not great, but certainly not as bad as a digital camera.

6. It doesn't do MP3 like an IPOD or other player -- True again, but those players can go for hundreds of dollars, and don't play CDs. This at least gives you an avenue to play both, without paying a premium for the expensive memory, or delicate hard drive storage of MP3 only players.

The bottom line is:
Downsides to a unit like this, only effect a purchase if thats the sole reason you are buying it. You really can't expect a perfect unit for this price. You can spend two or three times more, and get one thats much worse. The sound, controls, and reliability of this unit, make it a top performer. If one of the limitations above is something you can't handle, be prepared to fork over a lot more cash. The iRiver SlimX will probably solve most of the above, and its great, but at near twice the price.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great CD Player!
Review: I bought this CD player because I needed something that would hopefully hold up to the things I put my CD player through (I'm notoriously bad with them and tend to drop them within the first month or two) and play CDs. Basically, this CD player has not only lived up to, but surpassed my expectations. First of all, it looks FANTASTIC. I've gotten lots of compliments on it, and I'm one of the only people I know with this CD player. Second, it's very cool that you can personalize it, much like a cell phone. You can put it your name or a greeting that will show up everytime you turn the player on or off, which, is not important, but a lot of fun. The quality of the music is great, and the anti-skip protection is phenomenal. Nothing seems to be able to make this player skip, and it deffinately gets jossled around when I carry it around school. The only problem with this player (hence the four stars, it would have been 4 and 1/2, but that wasn't an option) is the battery life. They are supposed to last for six hours, which doesn't sound like very much to begin with, but I find that they only last for four or five. Also, the buttons can be easily pressed "on" when the player hits up against something, causing the already limited battery time to get used up, when you're not even using the player. However, I have an AC adapted for my player, so whenever I'm out and about I tend to plug the player into an electric socket, which, obviously, preserves the battery life. Overall, this is a great player, and nice looking too! :-)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Overyone should own at least one of this
Review: It has everything I expected from a cd player(and more). The firmware is outrageous. I've just upgraded the firmware, and realize that now it has games(can you believe it?) and a lot of new functions !!!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Just got it this morning.
Review: I just got this unit in the morning in this blazing NYC summer heat wave. I could say, at first glance, this product is pretty nice. This is also my first CD player. I liked the options on this, it's pretty useful.

Pros:
Stylish design
Nice control and settings
Firmware upgradeable

Cons:
A tad bit bulkier than I thought (height)
Sometimes it takes a few seconds longer to load songs

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Excellent, but...
Review: Pros:
Excellent sound
10 hour battery life on regular batteries.
Plays MP3/CD/CD-R/CD-RW
Firmware upgradeable (this is ridiculously easy)
Excellent remote
Long cables
Stylish design
Easy controls and usage
Anti-skip works and works very well
Easy to see LCD

Cons:
Remote is not LCD remote and/or cordless
No FM radio
No adapter or car kit included (can't even find either so had to use generics)
No rechargeable batteries
No carry case
First unit received was defective (LCD didn't work)

Overall for the price this is an excellent product.


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