Bought a 1 GiG SD today for $20. All in all, I now have an 1 1/4 gig MP3 for $64. Not bad

Not a bad woot, but I also want the ability to be able to record from a mic, preferably external, although a built in, internal mic would be good enough to at least record speech.

kuddy53 wrote:I was thinking about getting this for my giflfriend. Her stereo broke and isnt even in the car. Would this work at all to listen to the radio or mp3's or do i need a working stereo. The speakers work...

You need a working radio in your car, actually any radio should work.

szamos wrote:Not a bad woot, but I also want the ability to be able to record from a mic, preferably external, although a built in, internal mic would be good enough to at least record speech.

From what I've read (I am interested in that too). it will do voice and line-in record in addition to FM.

OK, I am really tempted to buy this, but I keep seeing people say that it will only take a 512 SD card expansion. What is with this? where are you finding this? and you positive? Becuase I have a 1 gig SD card that I was using in a previous MP3 player that went the way of the dodo, and I would love to get this mp3 player, but if it doesnt take a 1 gig sd card, whats the point? you would be left with a 768 mb of memory. if I wanted to be confined to only 512 mbs, I would just get a cd-mp3 player, and be able to get 700 mb of mp3s on a cd...

PocketBrain wrote:This should be a hot seller; expandable MP3 player with FM modulator for your car.
p.s. your iPod is only 10 times more expensive, so stick with that.

hey p-brain...is 9 times more expensive. learn math. and for 10 times the price of this i got 240 times the storage and video playback and a color screen and hard drive usage and....

Viking 1GB 33X Secure Digital Card - SD1GB $24.95 (after $25 rebate)
14.95 for 512mb (after $25 rebate)

www.Buy.com

Alright somebody find out if you can do line in on this baby, because why else is the damn record button there.

Ahhh - what the hey, I'm in for one. My Alpine car stereo plays WMA and MP3, but dropping music to an SD card is quicker than buring a disc. Let's face is, MP3 isn't the last word in audio quality anyway when on a revealing system. Maybe the FM tuner will take the edge off.

Besides, I've bought so little from Woot, that I feel guilty (ROFL!!!!)

How has no one mentioned the FM RECORDING function of this? I dare you to find a standalone FM radio recorder for that cheap. Hell most of the fm adapters for an ipod are $50 and they dont even record. Now I can record Kevin & Bean on KROQ every morning.

And to the so called Apple employee.......I worked for Apple for 6 years and you must be new, people who have no sense of humor dont last long there. Good luck.

thegreatmrcat wrote:Alright somebody find out if you can do line in on this baby, because why else is the damn record button there.

The unit is supposed to do line in recording - also voice and FM.

Is anybody listening to the other poster who said this player is unable to play files in any particular order? Isn't that a strange problem?? Seems like a dealbreaker to me.

You can read the manual for the player at RCA's site:

http://www.rcaaudiovideo.com/NR/rdonlyres/CA8E68C3-4120-4B33-B176-4E51B82B73EA/0/RD2312IB.pdf

There are also firmware upgrades here:

http://www.rcaaudiovideo.com/Cultures/en-US/Downloads.html?ProductID=RD2312

The last one was in Sept 05, but there is update to their desktop software
from Dec 05 - only 3 months ago. So it looks like they haven't totally forgotten
about this player.

Someone asked about the MusicMatch, what I understand from the
docs is that you only need MM to transfer windows DRM files to
the player (or you can use WMP). You can transfer files to it using
drag&drop (USB mass storage) but if you want the to be able to browse them
by artist/album etc you need to "profile" you player. Near as I can tell
this is some app that scans the MP3's on your player and builds a database
that allows the menu system to find tracks.
If the stuff is not profiled, you can also find it by navigating the file structure.

All this is gleaned from reading the manual, so it may be wrong.

but wait, according to the Google ad bot on the top of the page.. I can get one for free by just completing a survey!
" Free RCA Lyra MP3 Player
Complete Our Online Survey And Receive A RCA Lyra Player Free!
(SomeAdvertisingWebsite).com"

what am I waiting for?

mammothwoolly1 wrote:love the rf modulator that only works with a cigarette lighter. Note to self: if I need radio in my car, I will TURN ON THE RADIO.

Silly.

MP# looks pretty fresh, 'cept that trying-to-be-retro red background

apparently you don't know what the FM modulkator does... it allows you to plug this MP3 player into the modulator and play the music through your car radio. :-)
however, most FM modulators/transmitters are pretty crappy in terms of sound quality. For people who want to play their MP3 music through their car stereo but with no line-in or aux in their car stereo, it's the only option.

thegreatmrcat wrote:Alright somebody find out if you can do line in on this baby, because why else is the damn record button there.

OK - I found this in the description at Amazon:

"...Multiple Recording Options Voice Record, Line-In Record and FM Record..."

Looks like the same model to me. Go Amazon.com link to check it out.

Also - in the woot description: "whats in the Box" "2.5mm line in cable"

I would say that it DOES do line in recording, but I don't know that first-hand.

Will it play your songs randomly?

I have this exact model - I bought it for about $80 about 8 months ago (about 6 months before I got an iPod).

I'm not an audiophile, but this worked pretty well for me. It uses standard MP3 files. The controls are pretty logical and easy to get used to. The 3 background light colors that you can choose are: blue, red and purple.

The manual says that it will accept only a 512MB card, but I've been using a 1GB Sandisk SD card with no problems at all.

In fact, I still use it when I want to listen to FM so it'll sometimes sit next to my idle iPod on my desk (if I don't have a real radio available).

I use the modulator in the car with my iPod now and I think it's a pretty good deal; it's not the most high tech device available but it generally works for me (about 90+% of the time, depending on where I'm driving). One drawback is that you've only got 8 choices (I think) for stations to tune to (4 at the low end of the spectrum and 4 at the high end). If those are crowded in your area, then you might have problems. The only minor issue that I have with the modulator is that I thought the cord was a little short (approx 2 ft long) - I'd like someone in the back seat to be able to control the device.

Someone mentioned the possibility of using the FM record as a sort of PVR. I haven't used this feature too much, but you can only do this if you start recording in advance. You can't rewind the radio program that you've been listening to until you've saved it. Then it's treated like an MP3 file.

Depending on how many songs you have, it takes a while to profile your music so that you can choose songs by the tags (Artist, Album, Title, Genre). There's a utility that runs on a pc that does it faster (but not as convenient). The PC utility only works when the device is connected via the USB cable, but doesn't work when you're working directly with the SD card (in that case you have to use the profile option on the device).

Some facts off of the above linked Firmware update page:

RD2312, RD2315, RD2317 Lyra™ mp3 flash player Firmware/Application Upgrade Version 3.11 fixes:

* Supports a total of 520 songs, in up to 50 folders, with up to 8 levels of subfolders.

And previous version 1.12 fixes:

* Improved Audible playback. Previously, Audible tracks could hang when fast rewinding to the beginning of an Audible track.
* Fixed an issue with external SD cards and the My Selections menu choice.

shirlema wrote:I don't get the FM modulator. Does that mean I can listen to my MP3s in the car (as I would assume) or does it mean I can listen to radio on my player (which is what the description seems to say).

Short answer: Both. The Lyra has a built-in tuner, and the modulator lets you listen to your MP3s in the car.

Longer answer:The package has both capabilities. The player itself has a built-in FM tuner, so you can listen to your MP3s or FM radio. The FM modulator lets you "broadcast" your player's music only far enough that it can get picked up by your car's antenna and come through its speakers. You just plug one end into the cigarette lighter, and the other into the headphone jack on the player. Quality is usually bad, but it will work if you're desperate (i.e. - no line in port on your car stereo) .

Torch wrote:but wait, according to the Google ad bot on the top of the page.. I can get one for free by just completing a survey!
" Free RCA Lyra MP3 Player
Complete Our Online Survey And Receive A RCA Lyra Player Free!
(SomeAdvertisingWebsite).com"

what am I waiting for?

Your inbox will be jammed with spam for the next six months as soon as you complete survey

Already have my Freelance eTunes 512. All built right into the headphones. I just plug it into a USB drive to charge it and transfer files. WIll agree options are fairly limited, but ease of use and comfort are good for me. Now for the item of the day, who cares what it looks like, if your looking for a 256 MB MP3 player, why not this one, don't they always just sit in some pocket, where nobody is going to see it anyways. The FM modulator is a cool touch, would not mind having just that piece.

Could I use both of these items combined to tune to one radio station and broadcast it on another frequency? Or perhaps on the same frequency 0.o? Would this create a tear in the space-time continuim?

I really do like this device as a basic player with FM and Line In recording features, but I forgot to mention a couple of other drawbacks:

- The interface is a little slow as you scroll through lists/menus (especially moving to the next page). it's only a second or so, but just slow enough not to get too used to it.

- If the battery dies and the device shuts down, it seems to lose any settings changed since the most recent graceful shutdown. For example, suppose that you had been listening to your MP3s, then turned the device off. Then suppose that you turned it on again to listen to the radio and after a few minutes, the battery dies. After you replace the battery and turn the device back on, the system would start in MP3 mode again. This applies to other settings such as volume, radio station, etc. It's a little annoying.

I'm in for three - one for me, and one each for my teenage niece & nephew (birthdays coming up in a few months). I looked for affordable MP3 players to get them around Christmas time and they were all too pricey. 256MB 'aint the best, but with the expandable SD card (the same as my camera takes) it will be plenty for my needs.

And as far as iPod man (and all his iPod owning/loving buddies):

andymnelson wrote:
hey p-brain...is 9 times more expensive. learn math. and for 10 times the price of this i got 240 times the storage and video playback and a color screen and hard drive usage and....

OK, OK, the iPod ROCKS! Especially with the video playback. But not all of us need or want "that" much for "that" much, even if it is a good deal vs. buying 9 RCA MP3 Players. The iPod would be overkill for both my needs and my budget. I have a $600 camera, and I have a $80 camera - many times I just carry the cheaper one so I don't have to fret about it.

I already have a bluetooth mp3 player headset that you plug a SD card into to listen to mp3s. The headphones were $135 off newegg, they are nice and comfortable, but for me that is a very fair chunk of change and I dont want anything to happen to them. At my work I am constantly around spraying water and bleach which I get splashed on myself quite often, all of this could then damage my headset leading to me having an expensive pair of ear warmers.

This I am looking at for a few reasons. I can plug different headphones into it depending on what I am doing, at work, I can use some cheap ear-buds that I dont care if they get destroyed, or while mowing the lawn I can use some noise canceling ones.

I sure hope that person that said you could use a 1 gig SD card is correct cause I just did my first woot and bought this..

df00l wrote:Could I use both of these items combined to tune to one radio station and broadcast it on another frequency? Or perhaps on the same frequency 0.o? Would this create a tear in the space-time continuim?

(I think this will be my last post on this)
I actually had to try this once and as I expected, it worked ok, not great. It wasn't as loud as when I listened to the station directly. The only tear I felt was when Chuck Norris wept in pity at my use of time.

kuddy53 wrote:Ok so, you plug this in your cigarette lighter and you can play the fm radio and mp3s on it. My girlfriends stereo is broken would this work that way or am i way off?

The FM MODULATOR is a mini radio station. It plugs into a headphone jack on an MP3 player, Cd player... and broadcast it to the car stereo. You have to have a working FM radio in your car in order for this to work.

njmustang wrote:Bought a 1 GiG SD today for $20. All in all, I now have an 1 1/4 gig MP3 for $64. Not bad

Too bad the max capacity is 512MB.

FM modulator looks pretty crappy

I'm gonna woot today. For one I don't have an mp3 player (just never needed one) also this will work great in the trucks here while traveling down the roads of Afghanistan. I'm tired of haji music.

I think some people are looking a bit too deep into this. Take it for what it is, a simple 256k MP3 player with FM modulator.

Obviously there are better MP3 players out there but it all depends on what you use it for. For me, it will just sit in the car while I drive(sales professional) to next client and play a random mix of the week.

save yourselves some time and don't compare it to an ipod

Considering my last mp3 player was only 64MB (Rio 600), I'd say this is an upgrade!

This is exactly what I'm looking for. I don't really listen to music much except when I'm in the car, and it seems silly to drop $200 + on an I-Pod I'll only use for a half hour a day. Assuming the FM modulator works, this is the perfect low-cost solution for me.100 free mp3s sealed the deal for me.

RCA is known very well for their terrible quality when it comes to mp3 players. I have two friends that had their's broke with nothing but normal use. Mine also broke. They are a peice of doody. Beware.

What are the chances this is an I-River in disguise. There's a lot of re-badging going on and this looks very similar, save for the expansion slot...

my first woot. Is for my 10 year old daughter(I am snagging the modulator). She already has a 512 SD card for her JuiceBox(kiddy style(big) MP3/Video player).

Mystic8277 wrote:

You need a working radio in your car, actually any radio should work.

Actually... no, you don't. Wanna listen to radio or mp3s in the car? use the headset.

Looks nice.

The better 1 gig cards will work just fine. I have a couple of "512mb" devices and it's all about voltage and internal memory banks. I have a 1 gig Sandisk Extreme III that I use - and its perfect. Nothin to date has had a problem with it. Note - this is the model above what every big-box retailer sells. It also comes with a data-recovery application. Very slick, but yeah - about $80 last I checked.

edit - this means $20 cards are likely not going to work properly. YMMV.

I suppose if you have a lot of 96-128bit songs you might blow the thing's software up, but on my computer, at 192 bit, 500 songs is about 4 gigs.

Just for the MP3 player alone - that's a great deal. There is a company(Sandisk?) that makes a 0MB player with a SD slot in it - but that's $39. This has the FM transmitter brick, which is good for those of us with older cars, like my 67 Mercedes. No tape deck - just AM/FM. Plug in, drop the player in the glovebox, and go.

edit: OMG. It records voice? 1.25 gig microcassette recorder. That's hours and hours of recording. As for batteries, Ray-O-Vac makes rechargeable alkalines. $8 for a package of two AAA batteries. Good for 20-30 charges each. That's $4 a month for batteries if you charge and swap every day at work.