Home > Consumer Reviews > iriver ChromeX iMP-150CK CD/MP3 Player with Car Kit

When I first bought this Cd/MP3 player I thought I was getting a great deal. Little did I know, now I find myself searching for a new Cd/MP3 player. There are a lot of good things about this also. With the headphones it comes with it has a very nice sound, the LCD is also very nice which makes it easy to navigate the hundred of songs you can put on one cd. The cons about this is when you are playing regular cd's it skip pretty easy, the battery life on a regular cd is very, very short, it is also very bulky. If all you are looking to do is play mp3 cd's then this is a good choice but if you are looking to play regular cd's I would go with a cd/mp3 player with a higher anti skip.

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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.

Bought this for travel porpouses. Works as a charm. With a cd of 125 mp3 songs, easy navigation and very good sound. Lots of functions.

I have had this player for about 10 months now and I love it. I use it daily in my car and take it with me on business trips. Battery life is OK with regular CDs and excellent with MP3 CDs. One of the reasons I originally bought this instead of the Slim-X is because I can use AA sized NiMh rechargable batteries. I bring along my recharger and AA batteries for this and my digital camera. You can find a charger and batteries on sale for about $15 - $20 and up depending on the charging time. Although the lid may seem "flimsy", the player has held up well despite many plane and car trips. I take it everywhere.

The sound quality is great, I have yet to find a disc that it won't play and the remote works fine. I love the remote volume control and I use the remote fast forward and reverse for language tapes in the car. I bought my wife the IMP-350 and we both love that as well. It's really a question of how much money you want to spend versus the features.

I love this unit. Since I put it in my car 3 months ago I have enjoyed homemade CD's and regular CD's without a single skip. And I drive a Honda civic over back roads to work every day. The sound is tremendous and the little remote control unit clips close by so I can shut off the unit or move through selections as if I were adjusting my own radio. Whoever wrote it skips on regular CD's probably has the anti-skip buffering turned off because that simply does not happen. And now when I create CD's, I know every format is supported and the entire CD will play perfectly - hours and hours on a single CD! No glicthes, works in 0 temperatures and has been a real pleasure. Good product, great buy.