Entered CNET Catalog: 11/16/2002
SKU: ACT30017
Manufacturer: Philips Consumer Electronics
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Manufacturer description
Athletes don't just listen to music. They use it. Introducing portable sport audio by Nike and Philips, the worldwide leaders in sport and technology. This CD-mp3 player is specially designed for runners and riders. It's wearable, durable, features remote with display, hand/belt strap, plays small-format CD-R disks burned with mp3 files and features 8 minutes of shock protection.Product summary
The good: Rugged, attractive styling; includes case, remote, and charger; solid skip protection; jogging accessories.
The bad: Headphone ergonomics are poor; no WMA support.
The bottom line: Philips and Nike have designed the slickest mini-CD player to date, but it's not without its flaws.
Average user rating: from 11 users
2.5 stars
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 02/26/2003
The CD8's decent remote has a rudimentary LCD that displays the track and the album number, as well as a rugged, four-way joystick that enables control by feel. We appreciate the fact that you can detach the headphones from the remote and swap in another pair. Many users won't be thrilled with the design of the around-the-neck headphones, which sound decent but don't fit smaller ears snugly.
The most innovative and, at the same time, debatable design element are the magnets that adorn both the remote and the headphone cord. Instead of the standard clips found on most MP3 players' remotes, Philips has gone with a magnet system for wire management. The idea is to clip the remote to a piece of clothing by placing the clothing between two magnets, one of which is embedded in the remote. The bottom line: The system is cool but not entirely practical, mostly because loose metal objects such as keys stick to the powerful magnets. For the uninitiated, mini-CDs have a storage capacity of 185MB, which will allow you to record up to 50 songs--or about three hours of music--on them. If, however, you rip your MP3s with less compression (say, at 160Kbps), expect to get closer to 25 songs, or almost two CDs' worth of music, on a disc. Those are pretty good numbers, and the discs cost less than $1 each when bought in packs of 10.
As far as features go, this guy has everything that you'd expect from a basic, portable MP3 CD player, including random play, a repeat mode, and a dynamic bass-boost option. ID3 tags scroll across the player's LCD but don't appear on the remote.
Philips/Nike bundles MusicMatch Jukebox for organizing your MP3s--sorry, WMA fans--but users should be warned that you'll be able to burn songs to only five mini-CDs with the included software; you have to upgrade to the $20 MusicMatch Jukebox Plus to get unlimited burning. That's no big deal, though, since you can use the software that came with your CD burner instead. It's also worth noting that any CD burner can burn mini-CD-Rs.
One major gripe: We wish that Philips had included a better automatic power-off feature. On one occasion, we accidentally forgot to press stop and found our batteries completely dead the next day. Many other players automatically deactivate after a set period of being paused. All in all, the CD8's sound quality is good, and the included neck-band-style headphones, while less than comfortable, deliver decent sonics. Battery life, rated at eight hours, isn't great, so we suggest investing in a couple of rechargeable AAAs.
Philips says that this PSA offers eight minutes of skip protection, and from our tests, the unit appears to be quite solid in this regard. We shook the heck out of the CD8 for more than three minutes, and it didn't stutter once. Flash-based MP3 players are more of a sure thing when it comes to skip-free playback, but this mini-CD player appears to be well designed for active use.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 User Rating:
2.0 stars
out of 11 user reviews
It takes 2 sets of batteries to play one CD
Pros: Good sound, perfect size and the ability to store 3 albums on one CD.
Cons: Batteries often dont last the time it takes to play a single CD. Headphones are a pain, I mean they hurt.
Review:
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 11 user reviews
Best-CD-Player-Ever
Pros: Excellent Skip Protection, Plays Mini Cd's, The Album Fature is Perfect when u wanna burn 200 tracks, but dont wanna go through them one at a time. The Remote, is ok
Cons: Batteries are a pain to replace, Battery Indicator dosnt tell u ne thing
Review:
User Rating:
4.0 stars
out of 11 user reviews
Great but Guzzles batteries
Pros: I love this, its amazing to run with, light and durable, and plays enough songs to last me a lifetime.
Cons: While the songs last a lifetime, the atteries dont. This is a major battery guzzler, I get maybe 3 straight hours from it, then it quits on me.
Review:
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 11 user reviews
Good value for money, cheaper than flash players, prefer CD12
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Review: Firstly i'd just like to say that Jimmy Beans is a sad little ******, get a life don't get a mac. I dont know wot every one's obsession with flash players is, they suck! you can get the psa CD8 for about 50 bucks cheaper than a flash player that holds 32meg! a complete rip off, and the flash player is only slightly smaller than the CD 8 and has a screen the size of a penut. personaly i couldn't realy give a **** about size so i'd have to say that i prefer the psa CD12 it only costs $250 and you can fit 700meg on one cd and it can play normal audio cds. ps i'm talkin in Australian dolars so just halve it to get US.
User Rating:
1.5 stars
out of 11 user reviews
Long Setup
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Review: I bought it, used it, and returned it. Worse yet it was a gift. My problems mainly had to do with ripping MP3 CD's which takes a lifetime! I have het to fine a software that does not try to upcharge (Music Match) or just plain doesn't work well Roxio, as an MP3 organizer. ALso with the jacket on some buttons are very difficult to reach. Finally the arm band thing is complete bunk. Unless you have zero body mass there is not enough room to fit your arm into the strap. Oh yeah, the earphones are horrid. On the plus side it's a tough little unit that can take a good shaking. I would feel comfortable using it in damp (but not pouring rain) conditions and rugged terrain while running. If you have the patience to deal with creating an 8 hour long mix CD that suits your needs AND the earphones this product is right for you. As for the "It's not an iPod comments." it's not supposed to be. Let it go people not everything is SUPPOSED to work like an iPod. It's a hopped up disc player, duh!
User Rating:
2.5 stars
out of 11 user reviews
few problems
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Review: I have used the Philips Nike PSA CD8 almost non-stop for the past seven months and I have very few complaints so far. The few negative things which I have noticed are: 1)headphones are really terrible, they don't quite fit properly on anyone 2) the strange magnet arrangement gets always seems to get stick to metallic objects at the wrong time 3) the LCD screen is easily scuffed up making it harder to read the titles Positves are :1)fairly rugged design, I've dropped the unit on more than one occasion and it still works! 2)water resistant design and no look buttons are great for jogging. My advice if you purchase this player is to replace the headphones with a better fitting set.
User Rating:
0.5 stars
out of 11 user reviews
This MP3 CD Player Sucks
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Review: Horrible design.... buy an IRIVER 350 or 400, it knocks it's socks off. I had the nike/phillips for 3 days.... took it to the gym... so bulky and poorly designed.... I bought an IRIVER 350 and couldn't be happier.... slim, light weight, great visual display, quicker loading of music, and the same price or cheaper..... The IRIVER has really been one of the best pieces of electronics I have ever purchased.
User Rating:
2.0 stars
out of 11 user reviews
Stricking out with two big companies
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Review: You'd think that putting Nike and Phillips together would be a good thing, but something definitely went wrong somewhere along the line. This player looks awesome, but that's about as far as I got with it. While the price ($129) is reasonable for what it does, there are some serious flaws that need to be understood. 1) Headphones are crappy, with the rubber ear piece casing falling off because its attached by cheap glue, they're also annoying because they sit at the back of your head while the wire comes down the front of your body. 2) The batteries last for probably a total of 6 hours and constantly pop out if the vibrations are too harsh, and sometimes even from little bumps. This requires stopping the player and removing the CD because the batteries go inside the player from the inside. 3) The magnetic clips are so annoying because they stick at the wrong times and dont come apart so easily. 4) This is meant to use for running but its very heavy and bulky and as already mentioned, the batteries have a notoriety for popping out at the worst moments (ie approaching that 5 mile jobbing mark when the last thing you need is your psych up music to stop playing). 5) The volume level resets every time it's stopped so every time you start it, you need to increase the volume on the actual unit, the remote only increases it to another level but there is no sound unless you push the volume button on the actual device. This makes it annoying because it takes away the utility of having a remote. Overall : I say just splurge on a more expensive MP3 player where you wont have to worry about CDs, perhaps an iPod with 10Gbytes. Or otherwise get a minidisk player which stored less songs but it lighter, had a longer battery life, and avoids the problem with skipping. Hope this helps.
User Rating:
3.0 stars
out of 11 user reviews
Ideal for the Audiofile Athlete!
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Review: Small flash players are handy in size, but there playlists are unmanageable due to the time required to re-write via USB, or the cost of add-on media. If you exercise every day, you will probably find youself listening to the same playlist; which I found got old quickly. Hard Drive based jukeboxes are great as far as features and storage, but are the same weight as most CD/MP3 players, 3-6+ times the price, and not nearly as capable of surviving the normal impacts occuring at the gym, the trail, or on the slopes. (for you overwieght, out of shape computer geeks who don't exercise, stick with the jukeboxes... you got the deal going on, fatboys!) 8cm CD-MP3 players, and especialy the ACT300 (PSACD8), allow you to store and carry multiple 3hr playlists for $0.50 each, Are almost as phyically managable as Flash players, and can survive sports crashes far better then the fragile heads and drive arms of Hard Disk based jukeboxes. Only problem with the ACT300 is it's price, which is about 2-3 times the price of the lower quality 8cm players from TEAC,TDK,AVC,NAPA and Memorex. If you want the best and most durable 8cm available today, and are flush enough to spend $200. OTD without flinching, then go with the Philips; otherwise, pickup a TDK or Memorex unit and baby it! (but if you're a terrain park thrasher, downhill bomber, or participate in any any other sport that often requires stitches, then plan on replacing these cheaper units on a regular basis!). See you on the trail!
User Rating:
5.0 stars
out of 11 user reviews
Overall GREAT!!! But...
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Review: Still not an iPod! When are these playa' hatin' fools gonna realize that no mater how hard they try to copy it, it's not an iPod! Apple Rules! I mean, look at this thing, it is just a wannabe iPod! It looks just like an iPod, and they even put a little Apple on it like it a iPod! You have to be a fool to not be recognize that this a cheap iPod ripoff! If you want an iPod just get an iPod. I don't have one, I still use a c. 1985 cassette walkman, but playa please! These fools be rippin da iPod design straight out apples hands! If this isn't oppression, I don't know what is!
User Rating:
1.5 stars
out of 11 user reviews
Very poor design if you are a serious music with training person.
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Review: *the headphones do not fit in your ears (my friend had the same problem) *the remote is awkward *you have to carry it on your hand--no belt clip or case *the magnets are hard to use *and i have a great resistance to reading a 24 page instruction manual The worst thing is having to carry it; the headphones can be replaced, but for that price, you would think you wouldn't have to. Be prepared to spend a lot of money on batteries!
