Philips EXP 401 MP3 CD Player
See it at Amazon.co.uk for £29.99Average Customer Rating
(4.5 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
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(5 out of 5)A great little player
This does exactly what it claims to do; it plays 8cm CD/MP3 disks with no hassle. The 8cm size player really is pocketable compared with a conventional sized player.
It will read both CD-R and CD-RW discs, but I suggest that you buy a few CD-RWs to start. The extra cost will be repayed by not wasting a bunch of CD-R disks as you work out the best way to burn the files.
My CD-RWs formatted by Roxio Direct-CD for drag and drop have a capacity of 169Mb which gives about 2 hr recording time with 'CD quality' MP3s. This is a lot less than the 210Mb unformatted capacity that claims 3hr playback. Maybe other formatting options will give a greater capacity, or reducing the MP3 quality.
With vigorous shaking, the player hardly skips at all even without using the electronic skip protection. Not using ESP will extend the battery life.
Mains adaptor + one CD-R disk are included.
(5 out of 5)MP3 capability at a mini-price
This machine is an ideal compromise for anybody who doesn't want the bulk of a traditional CD/MP3 Walkman, but is prepared to accept something a little bulkier than the latest MP3 players. The 8cm CD format is not great for audio recordings (about 20 minutes max), but superb for MP3 files (180Mb, or over 2 hours of music). CDRs are cheap enough to create a permanent collection, and purchasing even one rewritable CD gives access to more storage than most entry-level MP3 machines. A further advantage is that tracks can be grouped within albums (actually folders in Windows) so you can skip either from track to track or album to album.
The supplied headphones are excellent, and the in-line remote a nice touch (as is the inclusion of a mains adaptor). I haven't had mine long, but initial impressions are that the unit is sturdy and well-made.
On the negative side, it is quite thick (28.5mm), so if you're concerned about the sharp line of that suit, do check first!
(5 out of 5)A satisfied customer
Desperately wanting a personal stereo that could fit in my pocket i straight away started looking for mp3 players. Looking at the stats i realised to get something with several hours playback i would have have to purchase a player with a triple figure memory - translating to a triple figure price. Then i came across this little gem. For an extremely attractive price in comparison to the mp3 players you have something which betters most mp3 players in hours of playback. Using mp3 files on the 8cm 185mb cds you can have up to 4 hours of music. Unlike the usual 'portable' cd players which weigh a ton and are too big for a pocket, this player is perfect pocket size. It is small because it plays 8cm cds and as long as you have cd-r burning capabilities on your computer the different size of cds is no problem as they are readily available from many places. One of my better purchases!
(4 out of 5)Cheap, nice design and most of all: it's so cool !!
Initially I was looking for a basic mp3 player but they are expensive and most of them use AAA batteries which I don’t have and won’t want to invest on them since I already got sets of rechargeable AA’s. Then I found this gadget which can store roughly three albums worth of music in one cd for much lower cost. It’s so cool and trendy, not to mention that the player is roughly the size of a normal 12cm cd.
However, this means that you need to have a cd burner at home in order to record songs into those little cd’s. The included remote control is a bit flimsy too. When I plugged in the earphones to the remote unit for the first time, there was no sound on the right. It was alright after the second attempt and no more problems since then.
As a whole, I’m quite satisfied with this player. If you owns a cd burner and are looking for a personal digital player AND short on budget, then this might be your choice.
Pros:
-cheaper than competitors, eg. ‘Freecom Beatman Mini CD’
-small, similar dimensions to a wallet
-comes with a power adaptor and one blank cdr ready to get you started
-runs on 1 AA battery (not included)
Cons:
-cannot play normal 12cm cd
-doesn’t display track names, only album and track numbers
-bass feature (DBB) below expectations
(4 out of 5)Ma$e welcomes you to the world of mp3
This is a nice little introduction to mp3. Your £30 gets you the player, a blank 210MB CDR, earphone, a separate remote control and a mains adaptor. OK, so what's it like? Fantastic! The sound quality using mp3's recorded at 128kps is excellent - not miles away from CD quality and clearer than tapes. The first thing you'll need to do though is to invest in some better earphones, the supplied ones don't have much bass in them. The second thing you need to get is a set of rechargable batteries - at full blast I got 5hrs play out of the unit. After that it's up to you, you'll really need to give it a whack to make it skip (hasn't jumped once yet for me), it's just about the size of the average walkman so it fits into a pocket OK, and it's not too heavy either. The CDs are super-cool, (you HAVE to see them) and at 128Kbps I've been fitting about 50-60 tracks on a 210MB CD, at 64Kbps I had well over a hundred but the sound suffered. All of this for 1/10th of the price of an iMac.