Philips Expanium EXP103 Personal CD Player
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- Anti Skip Buffer: 45 sec.
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Before you buy an MP3 player. Think about this
Pros
Play CD MP3's with 150 songs each on them. It doesn't skip when jogging. Comes with a lot of peripherals.
Cons
You need to have a computer with a CD burner drive.
Recommended it?
Yes
I was thinking about what category this review should go under and I wasn't sure if it would be portable CD or MP3 players. Let's get one thing straight. If you're going to buy a Discman, you should consider the Expanium. It plays CD's and has 100 seconds of anti-skip protection which allows for jogging without your CD skipping.
Now, let's look at its alter-ego. Not only does it play Wave files, but it plays CDs that have MP3 files. A CD holds about 150 songs in the MP3 format. What that does for me is when I travel, I only have to bring 10 CD's with me and I can carry around 1500 songs. What that means is that That the Expanium now competes with the Nomad 6GB Jukebox. Except, there is no downloading time for all those MP3 I would have to transfer and it's $200 is a lot easier to swallow than the $419 price tag of the Nomad. (Of course, you still have to carry around a couple CDs).
The Expanium comes with headphones, an AC Adapter that would charge rechargeable batteries (not included) or allow you to play without batteries, a cassette connecter allowing you to play in the car, and a cigarette lighter AC adapter so you can play it in the car without batteries. 2 AA batteries are used for playing your Expanium on the go. It seems to last for about 8 hours of continuous play. I expecially like that it shuts off quickly if it is dormant for more than 5 minutes.
I'm very impressed with mine. I think the sound quality is crisp and I even got some Noise-Reducing headphones which really help the sound quality ($80 at Brookstone).
How do I create CD's with the MP3 format on them?
Your best bet is to get onto Napster or some other file-sharing web site and download the MP3 files. Then, with a CD creating software, like Adaptec Easy CD Creator(usually standard on a Windows platform) you can create a CD with the MP3 files. You can also use software like AudioCatalyst by Xing to help you change your Wave Cd's into MP3 files. So, if you don't have a computer with a CD burner(about $125 for an internal burner drive), the Expanium is probably not for you.
What do you recommend if I want to listen to a lot of music on the go?
If you're going to be jogging, I recommend a small mp3 player like Rio's Nike model. They only hold an hour of songs, but can be enough for a workout. The problem is if you want to change the songs, you have to hook up to the computer and download the songs again. If you want to be walk around with the player in your jacket or pocket you probably want one that is expandable so that eventually you might be able to have a couple hours of downloads in your pocket. Another option could be the Nomad Jukebox, but it's very expensive. Rio and Philips make two excellent MP3 players that are very affordable (Under $200).
The amazing thing is that every time another device comes out, it adds a wrinkle. Everyone is expecting the Cell Phone, PDA, MP3 Player, and digital camera to converge into one device. I'm personally going to stop buying MP3 players until the technologies start to converge at an affordable price. In the mean-time, I'll be listening to my Expanium.
Now, let's look at its alter-ego. Not only does it play Wave files, but it plays CDs that have MP3 files. A CD holds about 150 songs in the MP3 format. What that does for me is when I travel, I only have to bring 10 CD's with me and I can carry around 1500 songs. What that means is that That the Expanium now competes with the Nomad 6GB Jukebox. Except, there is no downloading time for all those MP3 I would have to transfer and it's $200 is a lot easier to swallow than the $419 price tag of the Nomad. (Of course, you still have to carry around a couple CDs).
The Expanium comes with headphones, an AC Adapter that would charge rechargeable batteries (not included) or allow you to play without batteries, a cassette connecter allowing you to play in the car, and a cigarette lighter AC adapter so you can play it in the car without batteries. 2 AA batteries are used for playing your Expanium on the go. It seems to last for about 8 hours of continuous play. I expecially like that it shuts off quickly if it is dormant for more than 5 minutes.
I'm very impressed with mine. I think the sound quality is crisp and I even got some Noise-Reducing headphones which really help the sound quality ($80 at Brookstone).
How do I create CD's with the MP3 format on them?
Your best bet is to get onto Napster or some other file-sharing web site and download the MP3 files. Then, with a CD creating software, like Adaptec Easy CD Creator(usually standard on a Windows platform) you can create a CD with the MP3 files. You can also use software like AudioCatalyst by Xing to help you change your Wave Cd's into MP3 files. So, if you don't have a computer with a CD burner(about $125 for an internal burner drive), the Expanium is probably not for you.
What do you recommend if I want to listen to a lot of music on the go?
If you're going to be jogging, I recommend a small mp3 player like Rio's Nike model. They only hold an hour of songs, but can be enough for a workout. The problem is if you want to change the songs, you have to hook up to the computer and download the songs again. If you want to be walk around with the player in your jacket or pocket you probably want one that is expandable so that eventually you might be able to have a couple hours of downloads in your pocket. Another option could be the Nomad Jukebox, but it's very expensive. Rio and Philips make two excellent MP3 players that are very affordable (Under $200).
The amazing thing is that every time another device comes out, it adds a wrinkle. Everyone is expecting the Cell Phone, PDA, MP3 Player, and digital camera to converge into one device. I'm personally going to stop buying MP3 players until the technologies start to converge at an affordable price. In the mean-time, I'll be listening to my Expanium.
