MP3 Player Hit or Miss: RCA Pearl MP3 Player Review
Overview
The Pearl RCA MP3 player is a small, thumb-drive style MP3 player, and it usually sells for less than $50. It has a 2 Gigabyte flash memory that can hold up to 680 songs, or you can use some of the space to hold documents, videos, photographs or other items.
Features (4 out of 5)
For a tiny player, it actually has many features. You can record your voice or audio tracts directly onto the player, and it holds up to 15 hours of audio. It also supports different formats, including WMA, MP3 and WMDRM-9. This player also allows you to download and listen to audio books.
Another standout feature is the sound. While basically a USB thumb drive, it provides good sound quality. It comes with a customizable LCD screen, allowing you to choose from seven different color schemes.
This is a plug and play device, which means that you don’t have to wade through software programs like iTunes. Just drag and drop your music onto the device folder and you are ready to go. The player is extremely easy to use, and it plays music in the order that they are in your folder.
Body (3 out of 5)
As mentioned earlier, RCA Pearl MP3 Player is extremely small. Its dimensions are 3.2 inches long by 1.1 inches wide by 0.9 inches high, and it weighs less than 1 pound. This makes it easy to take your favorite music with you.
It has a cover over the USB drive end of it to protect the drive from the weather, and it has a microSD card expansion slot, which holds more music than the hard drive. This drive also has a built-in USB interface.
Potential Problems (3 out of 5)
The downside to the body of the unit is that it bulges in the middle, making for an awkward design that can be difficult to hold at times. It also makes the device look bulky. In addition, the battery compartment is huge. RCA could have used some of this space to create an additional USB interface.
The most disappointing part of this player, however, is that it does not come with rechargeable batteries. This means that you will be changing the batteries often since playing music tends to drain battery life quickly. Another issue is that it doesn’t come with a case or a belt clip.
Some people have also run into the problem of not getting the advertised space. You have to reformat your music into FAT 32 to actually get 2 GB of room. It can take a while to transfer music between your computer and the player, as well.
Bang for Buck (4 out of 5)
Overall, the RCA Pearl MP3 Player is easy to use and extremely affordable. While the battery life may be a downer for many consumers, this is a good alternative to the SanDisk Sansa players and the much more expensive Apple iPods. Just be prepared to carry a lot of extra batteries.
References
France, Jasmine. “RCA Pearl (2GB, black)”. https://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/rca-pearl-2gb-black/4505-6490_7-32473780.html#reviewPage1
