compatible with :
mac or pc
windows 98se
windows me
windows 2000 w/service pack 3
windows xp

not made by : bill gates or steve jobs

big easy to read screen and rubberized buttons
small size but still big enough not to lose
cool arm band (included) to keep things interesting if your used to belt clips
expandable storage and updatable firmware (no updates yet have been written)

runs for about 25 hours on a sinhgle battery

has dsp and sounds eXelent when set to "rock" cause of a little reverb

claims to give you 100 free mp3 downloads from emusic.com -i havent checked that out yet)

very short usb cord with what appears to be a proprietary connector (so dont loose it)

the "sport case" dosent fit properly .... but a little work with a hole punch and your on your way

stock headphones sound very good but dont seem to fit in my ear correctly...

keylock switch is on rear (disables other buttons so you dont acedentlly skip track or shut off) so you have to take it out of the case to toggle it

dosent come with a tape cassette adapter but i bought one and it works very well
if your wandering its a phillips ph2050w

display only scrolls thru the track title at the beginning of the track...

i dont know what these other people are drinkin.... this device is an exelent value
just dont drop it and be careful with it (like you should anything remotly expensive)

i have checked the RCA website and aparentlly there are diffrent versions of the lyra mine is the RD1072 with 256Mb
(it will hold more if you feed it a sd memory card)
it can transport any file so the devce doubles as a flash drive (yay for RCA!)
contrary to what others have said this thing DOES IN FACT
PLAY MP3S (also WMA) it is VERY EASY TO TRANSFERR FILES
just plug it into yer usb port then open "my computer" then the lyra pops up as a removable drive
open it then cut and paste mp3s and wmas till your hearts content
i have done all this without even unpackaging the instructions!
i never even installed the music match software (i dont like music match)
and it works without it....

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i once took a palmtop pc with windows ce and installed a freeware mp3 player on it... no headphone jack 2 hour battery life, it didnt work very well
(i bought this used peice of junk for $7) it quit so i decided to get a "real mp3 player'

everything but volume button

volume

this was very great for a while. if u accidently drop it or something it is fine. but after a while the volume button starts to break and then the sound is stuck where it was. i have read many other reviews that have also said this.

Good Sound Nice extras (i.e. earphones, beltclip) Reasonably priced

Propriatery format of mp3's to mpy's Bundled software is not user friendly. No backlit display

At first impression, the player appears to be a great value and bargain player with a lot of features. At second glance, the player looses its lustre. The player is packaged with some nice wraparound earphones and a beltclip that holds the unit securely in place. The real problem with this player is the bundled software and propriatery format the mp3's are encoded to before going to the player. When you are transferring an mp3 from your pc to the player, the musicmatch jukebox software recodes the mp3 into a propriatery format for RCA only called mpy. This format is not readable by anything else inclusive of windows media player. If you transfer the songs to the hard drive of a secondary computer, they are not re-coded as mp3's but rather they are simply transferred as mpy's. There is no mention in the documentation of this and RCA's website fails to mention this also. In addition to this, the bundled software is loaded with spyware to see what you are up to. It is a real shame that RCA reverted to this propriatery format to help copyright infringments. This totally circumvents the reason I purchased the player in the first place and renders it useless to me. Thankfully, I purchased it at Walmart and have since returned it. I really would have liked to have kept it since it was very reasonably priced and is loaded with features but because of the stupid way RCA tried to curtail copyright infringements, I was unable to keep it. If however, you only have one computer and don't mind spyware or a propriatery format, then you may well like this player as it does have a lot of features for the money.

size

many

I bought a Sony Walkman about 15 years ago that beats this thing big. People who say that this unit sounds good should go for an ear check. It’s a huge disappointment for 150 bucks. What's with the price anyway? MP3 players should not cost more than 50 bucks. Specifics: my unit completely controls the volume settings after I pass 30 on the dial, it simply won't let me go higher. What's up with that? I was hoping for a super sounding mega-technology superstar and I got a Made in China kaka. The same day I got this I bought a Technics turntable for the same price for listening my old LPs. Boy I am glad, and this thing is going back to Circuit City. 150 bucks?!!! I just can't get over it. The introductory period for MP3 player should be way over by now, and they should come (with this sound quality) free with the morning cereal.

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none

Excellent sound, Good bass

No lock feature

I find the Lyra to be an excellent buy for the price. Although its made in China with lower quality plastics, the Lyra has excellent sound. What's nice about the unit is the 5 band equilizer which can be useful when listening to a lower quality mp3. I was impressed by the features and looks of the more expensive models (like NomadII), but I was really disappointed in the audio quality. If you want excellent sound, this is the unit to buy.

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Creative Nomad II

Decent Sound, Good Display, 5 band EQ,Uses CF

Buttons can be pushed unintentionally; Cannot load MP3 files directly from your HD; 128kbps max bit rate.

Overall a nice product. The sound is good (get a better pair of headphones, though). The EQ is a must. The display is better than most. The price of CF memory has gone down, and I use 128MB cards which hold about that many minutes of songs sampled at 128kbps. The unit will not take a beating, though - treat it gingerly. I have not used the expandability feature, but it is a nice touch for when they come up with other formats. Too bad you can't just copy your MP3 files directly to the CF Card - you need to use the Lyra software, which converts the MP3 file to another format for some unknown reason.

Great sound quality compared to others and above all, a real EQ

No hold switch, although they've added it to newwer models.

Like I said, for someone who actually listens to music a real 5 band equalizer, not those crappy pop presets most players come with (although, this player has around 10 of those, too). Also, the display is huge, allowing plenty of room for Artist, Title, and Album, and backlit. It goes through batteries pretty quick (you get maybe 10 hours out of them) and transefer speed is slow (it uses a wierd parallel/PS2 mix), but if you actually want good sound with volume to spare, this is a good player.

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AVC Soul Player, Diamond RIO, CD players

Unshockable; great for exercising! Decent on-board memory (64MB). USB interface.

Took RCA way too long to come out with XP drivers. Music skips or hic-cups.

First off I need to say that this review is for the RCA Kazoo ( model RD1060 ). I 'd like to say that this is a great product but I can't. Once RCA finally decided to release XP drivers, I was all excited about using my new player for exercise. But everything I download skips. Everything. Not horribly--I mean, you can listen to the music just fine, but for about $150, you'd think you could expect skip-free music. It's actually ironic that you can vigorously shake this player up and down while listening to music and it doesn't skip. Any skipping that occurs seems to be inherent in the player itself or in the USB transfer process. At any rate, RCA loses big points for advertising an "unshockable, skip-free" player when, in fact, it isn't. And what really sucks is that I can't take it back because I got it for Xmas and have no receipt.........

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None

Great Sound, Upgradeable, Decent Headphones, 5-band EQ

No Hold function, flimsy materials

I think the Lyra is a good deal for a person who is more interested in the quality of their MP3 players sound output than someone who would use the player during jogging. The player sound actually exceeds that of many in terms of crispness - if the recording is of poor quality, you WILL KNOW THIS, especially if u use the Lyra with some really nice headphones. However, a good MP3 sounds great! Another plus is that the Lyra is a software based player, so upgrading to a new format is simple. In fact, I already have, preferring to use WMA at 64 KBS for portable use. Using the new Real Jukebox 2, not the crap they give u, you can put Real Audio ATRAC3, MP3, WMA, and Liquid Audio on your Lyra, so there are no limitations format-wise. The biggest problem is the lack of a hold button, which really stinks - just walking around with the Lyra in your pocket can make you accidentally hit a button. All in all, I think the Lyra is an excellent value for those interested in sound quality, though it is not suited for truly active use.

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HipZip, Portable CD Players

Decent Sound with EQ option.

Big package, no rechargable batteries and no lock feature for jogging

This model uses fairly cheap packaging that is flimsy and does not accommodate a locking feature so that if used when jogging, the buttons can accidentally be pushed causing false activations of undesirable features.

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