First Woot. Just bought my wife the cheapo iPod schuffle last week for her birthday. My old MPIO FL100 mp3 player has been flaky since I bought it (shorting on the headphone jack). I hope this one is better.

I just can't imagine saying "hold on... I need to get my FM Modulator!"

STUPID WOOT!

mechanicsc wrote:
No they didn't. Victor made Victrolas, and by the time RCA bought out Victor in 1929 they had stopped making the Victrolas.

"These are the dog-listening-to-the-gramophone people"
/details

Actually, the Victor Talking Machine Company was founded around 1900. The "Victrola" came out around 1906, the earlier ouside-horn disc machines were called "Victors".

They made phonographs with the "Victrola" brand name at least into the fifties. The original brand name denoted an inside-horn disc gramophone.

The trademark, which still belongs to RCA today, did not carry over into the recording division, which is now owned by BMG. The trademark originated in England, but appeared in the States on records before it did there. US Victor and the Gramophone Company in England shared recording masters, trademarks, and technology, and operated as "sister companies" until buyouts here and there rendered the American side as RCA (later BMG) and European side as EMI.

PocketBrain wrote:
p.s. your iPod is only 10 times more expensive, so stick with that.

Uh-huh. My Shuffle was roughly twice the cost of this. And it is 512 megs. My 60 GB iPod Photo OTOH... but now you are comparing apples & oranges.

OK, techies please don't yell at me for my stupid question, but I've never used a voice recorder before...can I use this in class to record my professor and if so, do I have to connect anything to it first? Thanks for any help you can give!

my first woot!!

i feel so...any have a cigarette?

my daughter will love this for her b-day.

i am now an official wooter. thank you for letting me in.

dw

I don't have an answer yet on voice recording, but I bought one anyway. It will be good for times when I don't want to carry my Dell DJ! Thanks Woot - third woot! Now about that Beverage of Choice...lol

Never understood why every cheapie MP3 player gets bashed to no end by the Pod People. I guess none of the Pod People have 10 and 12 year-olds that would like a MP3 player to use on their hour-long school bus ride each day, with a parent that is no where near crazy enough to supply a 10 or 12 year-old with a MP3 player costing what an IPod cost.

Then again, maybe I'm just depriving the poor kids.

lampshade221 wrote:
Then again, maybe I'm just depriving the poor kids.

depriving them would be giving them a good book to read (anyone remember those days?)

256 MB
# FM tuner with recorder
# Voice & line-in recorder''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''voice
# Amber backlit
# dot-matrix LCD display
# Dual-orientation display
# 20-hour battery life

Nice, but it's not an iPod. Haha, just kidding. Very neat. Nice woot!

evilkeo wrote:anyone know how big of an SD card you can use in this?

I have one of these units...got it last Christmas. IIRC, it supports a 512 MB SD card.

I like it even for the private listening of its FM radio feature.

Just for an experiment, I took my portable DVD player and the modulator to play in the car while waiting in the parking lot for wife to grocery shop. It played nicely through my existing car stereo speakers. It reminded me of the 'olden days' at the drive-in movies. :^)

kristalipe wrote:

They weren't that big - standard cheapo CD player headphones for the era (about 8 years ago) - with ear pieces about the size of a quarter, but I only had one on my ear, the window side ear was clear. This was before cell phone ear buds were popular, so maybe the cops don't pay attention anymore. But it is still illegal, and with good reason - with headphones, even earbuds, you can't hear traffic and emergency vehicles around you. Don't wear headsets while driving.

OK, so I won't wear headphones while driving, but when the guys are beside me with the huge speaker enclosures pumping out 120 decibels of full bass that rocks my car back and forth harder than hurricane winds on the gulf coast, and the cop behind him totally ignores them -even though there is a sound level ordinance - I'll think again about putting those tiny earbuds in and listening to my audio books on my 40 minute commute . . . and when it comes to traffic and emergency vehicles, I hear them just fine with my earbuds in as long as I don't blast the sound at full volume. Because that would rock my head back and forth harder than . . . well, you get the idea.

catloversun wrote:OK, techies please don't yell at me for my stupid question, but I've never used a voice recorder before...can I use this in class to record my professor and if so, do I have to connect anything to it first? Thanks for any help you can give!

I would test this out in the setting that it would be used in, before counting on it to record something important - the quality of the microphone would be my concern

dancestoblue wrote:dang, my first WOOT purchase and didn't stop to think that WOOT is in Dallas thus has brick/mortor presence in my state thus TAXES! ARRRGGGHH!! Annoying as can be; one of the best things about online shopping is the whole no taxes routine.

sa22112 wrote:TAXSUCKS - put in promotion code field = No Taxes for Texans!

Not exactly. I don't live in Texas, so maybe a real Texan can confirm...but I'm pretty sure that what that code does is refund the $5 shipping charge on some woots (must be over $40 to qualify), not get rid of the taxes themselves. End result is essentially the same on lower-priced Woots (like this one), but once the tax gets over $5, you have to pay the difference if I'm not mistaken. Woot still has to take the bite of paying the whole sales tax amount on the purchase to the state of Texas, so I think that's sorta generous of them to offer the free shipping code to Texas wooters. :-)

If anyone knows any different, I'm sure they'll be right along to set me straight on that, as well as tell me everything I bought at the grocery store this week was stupid and that I could have gotten better deals elsewhere...LOL. (Glad some of these wooter-type people don't wander around WalMart or BestBuy criticizing everything everyone else has decided to put into their shopping buggies.)

Hmmmmmmm....
Lyra for $40, then put my 1gb card in.....
OR
Ipod nano 1gb for $150......

pno4tay wrote:
Actually, the Victor Talking Machine Company was founded around 1900. The "Victrola" came out around 1906, the earlier ouside-horn disc machines were called "Victors".

They made phonographs with the "Victrola" brand name at least into the fifties. The original brand name denoted an inside-horn disc gramophone.

The trademark, which still belongs to RCA today, did not carry over into the recording division, which is now owned by BMG. The trademark originated in England, but appeared in the States on records before it did there. US Victor and the Gramophone Company in England shared recording masters, trademarks, and technology, and operated as "sister companies" until buyouts here and there rendered the American side as RCA (later BMG) and European side as EMI.

Useless trivia: The Japanese consumer electronics brand JVC is an acronym for "Japanese Victor Corporation".

kgonepostl wrote:

This seems to always happen with rca players. They are all garbage.
I'm not joking. Anything that's rca and mp3 = complete crap. I highly suggest you wait for another woot not labeled "rca".

I've had an RCA RD1020 for 4 or 5 years now and use it every single day on my commute. It will only handle a 256MB SD card which is big enough for 'most' audio books. I've dropped it on concrete, grass, wood floors, tile floors, and down a flight of stairs. I broke off one of the tiny tabs that hold the battery door on but the belt clip holds the door closed so that's no biggie. As for not having a rechargeable battery, I have one in my laptop and one in my cell phone and one in my pocket pc and I curse them every time they run out of juice and can't be replaced with standard alkalines to get me through until I can plug them in. If you own a digital camera, you probably own a battery charger for NIMH's that will handle AAA. Charge two and put one in the player and one in your pocket and you're good for 40 hours. Internal rechargeables? No thanks.

I'd buy another RCA in a heartbeat . . . oh, wait . . . I already did.

Good Deal, you only pay 44.99 then you buy a 1 GB SD card which costs 34.00 from ewiz.com (because that don't store a lot in 256 MB). Its only $78.99 and an ipod is what? $200???? But I'm not going to buy this woot...waiting for the day of a 100 buck LCD display!

Lyra.2312/FM
mp3 Personal Digital::RD2312

There is NO LIMIT ON THE SD CARD SIZE - use 1 Gig - 2 Gig or more

Dual Orientation Backlit LCD Screen - Allows the user the convenience of inverting the LCD display for more user friendly ergonomics and comfort

Full Accessory Kit Included - Music Management Software, USB Cable, Line-In Cable, Belt Clip, Neck Strap, Clip Earphone, 1 AAA Alkaline Battery

mp3, WMA, WMA DRM Audible Playback - Plays mp3 & WMA (Windows Media Audio) files. Also, compatible with most secure music downloads from WMA-compliant services that support DRM

Up to 256MB Flash Memory - Stores up to 8 hours of WMA music or 160 songs encoded at 64 kbps as well as being a data storage device. No moving parts for audio playback that does not skip

Digital FM Tuner with FM Record - Record while listening to a FM station in mp3 or Wave format. At a later date you can upload the mp3 or wave file to a PC for personal use.


Dual Orientation Backlit LCD Screen: Allows the User the convenience of inverting the LCD display for more user friendly Ergonomics and comfort

Multiple Recording Options: Voice Record, Line-In Record and FM Record
Listen to several hours of audiobooks, newspapers, audio magazines or radio programs.

Built-in up to 256 MB Memory

Expansion Slot for SD or MMC Memory Cards - NO LIMIT TO SIZE

Compatibility: MP3, WMA, WMA DRM

Battery Life (Continuous Playback): Up to 20 Hours



To answer the question who does not have an MP3 player?

"Despite all the buzz about portable digital audio, fewer than one out of ten U.S. households own an mp3 player," said Dan Collishaw, Vice President, Worldwide Audio and Video.

Here is the link to the RCA homepage:
RCA Lycra page

Link to RCA Technical Specs

Link to RCA Owners Manual



More links
Amazon.com



J&R Music



Buy.com

rayn wrote:
I would test this out in the setting that it would be used in, before counting on it to record something important - the quality of the microphone would be my concern

Thanks that was my concern - that it would really only be good for talking directly in to.
Thanks also for a direct answer - what is with all these hostile and smart-aleck comments people are posting?
They really need to get more sleep or just get a grip!

Too expensive by half. C'mon!

Johng333 quoted:
""Despite all the buzz about portable digital audio, fewer than one out of ten U.S. households own an mp3 player," said Dan Collishaw, Vice President, Worldwide Audio and Video."

Yes that is probably true, but what about the average Woot household??
There are at least 3 in my house that I know of! lol

My first woot. I've been a woot voyeur for several months. The FM modulatorizer reminded me of my old Weston light meter . Subsumed by a wave of nostalgia I was sucked in and regurgetated by the sub $50.00 price tag on this baby. I have fallen. I feel cheep and loose but I am no longer a woot ingenue.

It will happily bang about the car and no doubt give several hours of useful service.

mbuchman wrote:Anyone know if you are stuck using MusicMatch with this thing? I am in the market for a small portable music player, specifically to modify for use in a pool.

-Matt

I have a RCA Lyra 4G MP3 and you are not bound to MusicMatch (which sucks). I use Windows Media Player to sync my music over. The only disadvantage is that WMP's playlists aren't compatible with RCA's format.

I'm looking at getting these for my kids. Cheap MP3 that if they lose or tear up, I won't feel like I'm out of a lot of money. For 7 year olds, it beats burning CD's that keep getting scratched.

Despite the debates about product quality, it does seem to be a good deal. Overstock.com has the same package for $79.99.

Most excellent WootCast, sirs! One of the best yet!

ReginaFilangee wrote:
... BestBuy criticizing everything everyone else has decided to put into their shopping buggies.)

criticizing at bestbuy would be doing them a favor


friends don't let friends shop at betsbuy

Seems to be some confusion with some of the Wooters.

This comes with an FM "Modulator".

An FM Modulator "Modulates". Its a transmitter. Not for "receiveing" fm radio. It's for "sending" a signal from the Mp3 player TO your car radio.

So is this a misuse of the word? Or is this an actual tuner/receiver and not a transmitter for playing it through your car stereo? It looks like a tuner. Anyone know for sure?

EDIT: Never mind. I reread the description. It has a tuner built in apparently and then also has the modulator to broadcast to your car stereo. Mystery solved (by simply reading what I should have to begin with...duh)!

Peace to Woot!

sounddude

JGates wrote:Most excellent WootCast, sirs! One of the best yet!

I absolutely agree and it's just another example of rude Wooters!
You set them straight Matthew!

Who's the oldest Wooter?? Well, foks, I may not be, but - I bought the Iriver as a gift for a teenager, and the sound is fabulous. The rest is too complicated for me - I'm a 50'is person who was into - COBOL!!! I'm gonna' buy one of these strictly for when I go to the gym. Much less expensive than Ipod or Iriver, good enough for my 40 minute treadmill walk. I ust hope it's not too complicated to use, or I'll have to find a 12 y. old on the street to teach me. But I want a Bag of Crap, too, for not being intimidated.

When I first glanced at it (without reading the description) I thought it was a mini-roulette wheel and some kind of timer thingy. This thing looks archaic. The iTrip I bought for my iPod works pretty shabbily, hopefully this works better, but I have my doubts since you would have to be tethered to the cigarette lighter. :\

u4icw0n wrote:first of all, it doesnt really matter who did it first. what matters is who does it best. i am a loyal woot fan, but talking doody about apple will not due. first of all i work for apple, i would not work for a company i didnt believe in. second, if there is any respact to be paid, it shall be paid to the ipod. 256mb is a smurfing joke, and how dare you even make such a silly ass atempt at badmouthing a company that has had to deal with bill 'steal your ideas' gates. i would venture to say that you have little to no idea how apple was even created. market your products, use sales pitches, do what you have to do. but DO NOT run your uninformed mouth about a company like apple, ever.

Boy do I hate Apple--I really know nothing about them and do not hold the amorous love affair with a faceless corporate entity that you seem to have. I do however understand the concept of our disposable society. This my friend is a great deal based upon the fact that when lost/stolen/broken I will not be crying and moaning. It is very similar to my thoughts on sunglasses. There is an inverse ratio to how much one spends on something of this sort and the amount of time that they own said product.
WOOT by its concieved nature is not the Sharper Image Catlaog it is the bargain basement. YOu have been a Woooter since 2/1---much to learn you have young Padawan.

sounddude wrote:Seems to be some confusion with some of the Wooters.

This comes with an FM "Modulator".

An FM Modulator "Modulates". Its a transmitter. Not for "receiveing" fm radio. It's for "sending" a signal from the Mp3 player TO your car radio.

So is this a misuse of the word? Or is this an actual tuner/receiver and not a transmitter for playing it through your car stereo? It looks like a tuner. Anyone know for sure?

Peace to Woot!

sounddude

it does both - it has an FM receiver (the output can be recorded by the device) and also a transmitter (8 frequencies) used to transmit to nearest FM receiver

Don't need another player, but are the 100 downloads from emusic worth the 45 clams? ...somewhere, a baby cried.

could this be hacked to convert the FM modulator to a Uranium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator?

rayn wrote:

it does both - it has an FM receiver (the output can be recorded by the device) and also a transmitter (8 frequencies) used to transmit to nearest FM receiver

Thanks. Just saw that and edited my original post.

Peace,

sd

Thanks, I needed a cheaper option to carry certain places where I shouldn't be taking my video ipod.

Worth poppin' my WOOT cherry for...AND my kids won't be bustin' my iPod now. :) Contrary to popular belief...I do not feel dirty at all. LOL!

icuc22too wrote:What is the slot expandable to?

According to Page 10 of
http://www.rcaaudiovideo.com/NR/rdonlyres/CA8E68C3-4120-4B33-B176-4E51B82B73EA/0/RD2312IB.pdf

Note
The maximum size of
external memory card
supported by this unit is 512MB.