Entered CNET Catalog: 10/24/2002
SKU: 0044319201512
Manufacturer: RCA
Manufacturer description
The RD1020 has 64MB of internal flash memory, provides over an hour of mp3 music playback, and can also expand to hold additional music with an optional multimedia card.Product summary
The good: Inexpensive; expansion slot for adding more memory.
The bad: Somewhat limited features; doesn't display song information; LCD isn't backlit; no Mac support.
The bottom line: This simple, inexpensive player may appeal to first-time buyers and younger people but won't impress advanced users.
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 10/23/2002
Design
At 2.6 ounces with two AAA batteries installed, the 1020--with its reasonably attractive, white-and-blue, boxy design--doesn't exactly scream expensive or cutting-edge, and it isn't the smallest digital audio player around. The buttons are well placed, with the volume controls, the Sound Mode button, and the button-lock switch easily accessible from the sides of the unit. If we had a minor complaint, it's with the triangular stop, forward, reverse, and mode buttons on the front of the unit; they're a tad small and feel a little chintzy. And while we liked the included hard-plastic carrying case with a belt clip, it felt slightly loose when attached; we wish that it clamped a bit tighter.
The LCD is surprisingly primitive, with no backlight and no support for ID3 tags. Instead of song information, you just see the bit rate, the elapsed time, the track number, the volume level, the sound and playback settings, and a rudimentary battery-life indicator.
Features
As noted, the player has 64MB of built-in memory and a Secure Digital/MultiMedia Memory card slot on its top for adding more storage. All in all, however, the feature set is pretty basic: you get repeat and random modes, programming capabilities, a button-lock switch, and five equalizer presets.
MusicMatch Jukebox manages your digital music collection (ripping, playlists, and organization) and transfers MP3 and WMA tracks to the Lyra over USB 1.1, the same connection used by other flash-based players. If you don't plan on buying an expansion card, you'll probably want to use WMA tracks ripped at 64Kbps to get more tunes on the device, as WMA offers a superior compression scheme to that of MP3. Sorry, Mac users--no iTunes support is offered. For that, you need to step over to the $129 RD1080, which also offers support for RCA's great-sounding MP3Pro format.
Performance
We had no complaints about sound quality. The included neck-band-style headphones are decent, and the unit plays loud and sounds fine, although its 75dB signal-to-noise ratio is less than stellar; anything higher than 90dB is considered very good.
Transfer speeds, while not sluggish, were a bit slower than those of certain other MP3 players that we've tested. We transferred 17MB of tunes from Sonic Youth's Murray Street to the device in 91 seconds, which translates into a speed of 0.19MB per second. In comparison, Samsung's YEPP YP-90S transfers files twice as fast.
We managed to match the rated battery life of 12 hours, which is slightly above average for flash-based MP3 players these days. No rechargeable batteries are included, but you do get two alkaline AAAs to start you off.
In the final analysis, the $99 Lyra RD1020 isn't going to wow MP3 enthusiasts, but its reasonably attractive cosmetics and included expansion slot make it worth considering if you can find it for closer to $80. RCA also makes the step-up $129 Lyra RD1070, which comes with 128MB of built-in memory. In addition, you might want to check out the aforementioned, smaller RD1080, which may be RCA's best deal on a flash-based player.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23out of 23 user reviews
WHAT DO I DO??
Pros: HEY I NEED HELP ON MY RCA LYRA 1020. I KEEP TRYING TO PUT IN MUSIC BUT IT KEEPS SAYING THAT "DISK DESTINATION IS FULL" SUM BODY PLEEZ REPLY
Cons: HEY I NEED HELP ON MY RCA LYRA 1020. I KEEP TRYING TO PUT IN MUSIC BUT IT KEEPS SAYING THAT "DISK DESTINATION IS FULL" SUM BODY PLEEZ REPLY
out of 23 user reviews
will break with win 2000 dont buy
Pros: small and cheap if it works
Cons: have exchanged 2, they both got their internal memory fried for some reason, dont buy
out of 23 user reviews
Useless without Musicmatch
Pros: Small, Lightweight, good volume
Cons: No backlight, ID3 tags, radio, Using an SD card is impossible unless you use MusicMatch.
out of 23 user reviews
portable devices"0"
Pros: small and light
Cons: can't use the software that came with it. MusicMatch won't help unless I upgrade and how can I upgrade if I can't figure out why it won't play now? My portable devices says 0 when I try to transfer to lyra..but have downloaded the plug in for it. It wa
out of 23 user reviews
it pales in comparison to the ipod
Pros: its small and compatible
Cons: runs out of memory easily unless you buy the memory card
out of 23 user reviews
Could have been a great product
Pros: Price. Belt-clip easily convertible to arm clip. Batteries last for quite a while.
Cons: Third-party software (Music Match) is required to load music onto the player. that makes absolutely NO sense. And the software is a basic (shareware type) program which is always looking for you to upgrade - for a price.
out of 23 user reviews
Priced Right, Few Features
Pros: If you want a cheap player, this is it. THe Rio is better, the Creative is muchhhhhh worst. All this does is download and play. If you have Windows Media, you can copy to your library and then to your device.If go want cheap, buy this or the RIO.
Cons: The SD memory is a little priciey, but necessary if you want more than 20 songs. You can spend more than $70 and get much more. If you want more, there are so many better players around $150 that do everything. They are twice the player....but they are tw
out of 23 user reviews
Not the greatest of players
Pros: I have an RCA Lyra 1021 and I found it so easy to use even with out a music program.
Cons: Should you ever have a problem with it good luck RCA and Thomson have the worst tech support I have ever seen
out of 23 user reviews
Doesn't work well with Win98/USB
Pros: Cheap
Cons: Keeps on crapping out. Windows cannot find the hardware. The software shows the disc as being full even when no songs show up in the play list. Therefore there are no songs to remove in order to create more room to install more songs. Overall a pile of cr
out of 23 user reviews
Cheap, that's about it
Pros: cheap for it's time
Cons: Only works with musicmatch installed.You have to use musicmatch to upload musics onto the player,which is painful.Cannot just copy mp3 or wma files onto the player. Support Website is a mess, cannot find any driver or firmware updates.
out of 23 user reviews
RCA 1071 does not work with USB
Pros: Good price for what it is supposed to do.
Cons: Christmas gift for daughter that can't be used.
out of 23 user reviews
Good player that has tons of problems.
Pros: Easy to use.
Cons: I habe an RD1020, the external card problems are just unberable, by the way, if anyone could help it would be real nice, email me mumukuds@hotmail.com
out of 23 user reviews
A decent product, expected more though.
Pros: The headphones are cool but the arm band is hard to adjust. I also like the ID3MAN option on it!
Cons: Doesnt have enough space!!!!!
out of 23 user reviews
difficult instalation under win 200
Pros: cheap, expandable, and light weight
Cons: okay i still need to moan about this product but mabey my experince will help someone else. first off you NEED I REPEET NEED to upgrade windows 2000 to sp4 also download any other upgrades that your computer needs (their there for a reason, not to mention
out of 23 user reviews
Its the best player ur gonna get that dosent cost a ton.
Pros: Cheap, name brand, easy to use, comes with phones, easy controls, place for memory card, little protective case with clip.
Cons: Dosent record sound or list song titles.
out of 23 user reviews
Mp3 player at it's simplest!
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out of 23 user reviews
Good Player For Cheap!!
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out of 23 user reviews
well..
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out of 23 user reviews
good product, bad software
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out of 23 user reviews
XMas gift
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Great buy!!!!
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out of 23 user reviews
A GREAT SOUNDING PLAYER FOR THE MONEY
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out of 23 user reviews
"FLASY AND LIGHT"
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