RCA Lyra RD2780 (20 GB) Digital Media Player

After seeing that RCA had updated the software I bought a Lyra RD2780 from Amazon. Generally I'm happy with it. I bought it mainly to store and view digital photos that I shoot on photo shoots and trips. It does a good job of transferring photos from my CF card to the Lyra though viewing 6 megapixel 2-3 MB JPEGs is a little slow. Be aware that unless you update to the latest firmware released in early April 2004, you can only transfer one photo at a time. I find that the Lyra does a good job of storing and playing MP3s. Users have had problems playing multiple Mp3s and the Lyra could use some organizational improvement. If you dump all your songs into one folder and make a lot of playlists you will find it works pretty well. Sound is ok, not the best I have heard (my Nex II MP3 player is slightly better) but it's adequate and it has good equalizer and tone settings. It does play video but seems a little small to use it much for that. Battery life is only about 4 hours so if you do a lot of MP3 listening, you may want a different machine. For me, with my photo needs, 4 hours is fine. It does come with a charger AC unit and a cigarette lighter adapter for more extended use.
Construction and control layout is ok, the buttons are a little cheap and the case makes it hard to adjust the volume but these are minor problems. The unit is light, easy to carry for a machine with all its features and does what it is supposed to do. The new firmware implements most of the missing features from the previous versions but some stuff is still left out. I would not have bought the machine with any previous firmware but most features that a user needs are now available.