Looking for portable MP§ CD player ...

2003-09-20 20:05:49

Hi,

I am looking for expert tips a portable MP3 CD player to take along on short and long trips, and to prelisten CDs on flea markets.

It should have the following properties:

1. Not too expensive (shouldn't be much more than 100 USD / EUR)

2. Works with AAs or AAAs - no LiIon or prismatics as I don't wanna lug around 7 charger for all my stuff (on longer trips I usually travel with digicam, photo flash, GPS, flashlight, electric shaver and toothbrush) - so ONE charger and battery type must serve them all.

It is not necessary that the cells be recharged inside the player, and I actually prefer to buy a "naked" player without any accessories as I don't need them anyway.

3. Accepts commercial CD, red book compliant or not, i.e. also those with a copy protection which are NOT Audio CDs according to the red book standard.

My test Un-CD for this is "The Hellacopters - By The Grace Of God" which is not played at all by most of the players I have tried so far (Denver plus several others), played only for a few seconds (Elta 8863, Proline DM 1745 MP3) or with heavy distortion (Philips Expanium series).

4. Plays all MP3s, even with variable bit rate and high constant bit rates

5. Plays CD-Rs as well as CD-RWs

6. PERMANENT shuffle / random and / or RESUME function. PERMANENT in the sense that it does NOT start playing the CD at title one every time I start it as this quickly becomes VERY annoying  :x

Unfortunately the only player which fulfilled all the wishes described above, the eJay Cebop Lax, forgot the random setting everytime I switched it off, and started every CD (Audio or MP3) with title 1. And it didn't let me switch to random before it did so 

7. Key lock against unwanted key touches in the bag or pocket

8. Plays fairly loud - several of the players I tried so far did not play loud enough even though I tried them with truely loud headphones (Sony CD750). This really surprised me as this NEVER was a problem on "historic" equipment - why now

I don't want to kill my ears but now and then I have a desire to hear one or two great songs really loud.

Any MP3 experts out there can recommend a model? Please be specific - THANK YOU

Looking for portable MP§ CD player ...

Reply #1 – 2003-09-20 21:03:24

Maybe you should look into ripping and burning your non-redbook compliant CDs.

That and your loud requirement really limit your options (your inexpensive requirement ALSO limits you pretty heavily to, imho, but i haven't gone shopping lately)

Looking for portable MP§ CD player ...

Reply #2 – 2003-09-20 22:47:08

I am ripping and burning my non-redbook compliant CDs - at home. 

However I want to use the player to listen into CDs offered on flea markets BEFORE I buy them.

There are plenty of MP3 CD players around in the 50 to 100 EUR price bracket but they all lack the one or other feature, as described. However IMO implementation of the functions I'd like should be more a matter of the skills and thoughtfulness of the design engineer(s) or product manager than of price.

Therefore I'll keep walking into the shops, and hope one of you guys (and gals?) out there can give me the tip I'm looking for. And I'll probably raise my target price step by step if I don't succeed.

Looking for portable MP§ CD player ...

Reply #3 – 2003-09-21 00:39:58

The iRiver ChromeX or the old Rio Volt 100 comes close to what you want.
I don't know if it will be loud enough for you or play copy-protected CDs though, probably not.  The old Rio Volt SP250 aka iRiver 250 was supposed to be louder if you can still find one of those around. All of these have resume, remember mode settings and have a hold switch (to lockout the buttons) and should be under $100.