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| RCA Lyra Digital Player RD2201 |
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Hardware Reviews December 1999 • Vol.2 Issue 12 |
RCA Lyra Digital Player RD2201 | ||
 If your wish list includes one the latest MP3 players on the market, take a look at the RD2201 Lyra Digital Player from RCA. The player makes it easy for you to store your favorite MP3 files, and it produces excellent sound. The RD2201 plays both MP3 and Real G2 files, and it's upgradeable for future formats. The RD2201 is bigger than most MP3 players we've reviewed; it measures 4.5 inches high x 2.5 inches wide x 7/8 of an inch deep, and it weighs a mere 4.5 ounces. The package includes the RD2201 player, a nice set of RCA headphones with padded earpieces, and a 32MB CompactFlash memory card that holds approximately 64 minutes of music. You'll also find a CompactFlash Reader/Writer for saving audio files to the memory card, two AA batteries, and music management software. On the back of the unit, you'll find a removable belt clip and the battery compartment. The player features large buttons on the front of the unit that control the player and adjust the settings and display. The multiline back-lit liquid-crystal display (LCD) shows the song title, performer, album name, and size of each audio file. It also displays what track the MP3 is currently playing and what digital signal processor (DSP) mode the player is in. There are five DSP settings: Flat, Bass, Rock, Pop, and Jazz, and a five-band custom equalizer, all of which can be adjusted. You'll find another button to control the six play modes. These modes include Shuffle, Shuffle Repeat, Repeat (one or all), Program, and Play. The RD2201 produces some of the best audio we've heard, and the sound is crisp and clear even at various volume ranges. There is a volume control on the left side of the unit, which RCA refers to as the Multi-Function Selector Jog Dial. You can push the dial up once to increase the volume by one notch or hold it up a little longer to increase the volume even more. RCA includes detailed documentation with the RD2201, so setting up the card reader to transfer audio files from a CD-ROM or your PC is an effortless task. We tested the RD2201 by first installing the CompactFlash reader, the software drivers, RealPlayer G2, and RealJukebox software on a Pentium II 400 megahertz (MHz) IBM 300PL with 128 megabytes (MB) of random-access memory (RAM) running Windows 98. The system recognized the card reader immediately when we rebooted our test system, and we were able to transfer files onto the 32MB CompactFlash card within minutes. The manufacturer recommends that you wait a few seconds after the file transfer is complete when saving data to the memory card before removing the CompactFlash card. You must use the accompanying Lyra software for saving files to the RD2201 player. After we transferred files to the CompactFlash and inserted the memory card, we only found a few drawbacks to the player. It took quite some time to initiate the song list whenever we turned the power on. We also noticed that when you push the Play button twice, it pauses the song, but after a few minutes the entire unit will shut down, rather than let you resume the song. The RD2201 powers off a bit differently than other players. Rather than having a separate power button or holding down the Stop button for a few seconds to turn off the Lyra, you simply hit the Stop button twice if the unit is in Play mode. This turns it right off. We found plenty to like about the RCA Lyra RD2201, such as saving audio files to interchangeable CompactFlash memory cards using a CompactFlash Reader/Writer and the back-lit LCD display. Audio files transferred to the player in just a few seconds, and we've yet to hear a player that can surpass the RD2201 in sound quality. The RD2201 is priced competitively at $199, and it is well worth the cost. by Buffy Cranford-Petelle
$199 RCA (877) 326-6601 http://www.rca.com
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