Okay, it's not an Internet appliance, but since many people have been tring to hack CD-ROM drives onto I-Openers for MP3 playback, this is kinda relevent. Target is now carrying the Memorex MPD8505cp, a slightly large Discman-type player that has the capability to play MP3 CDs!
As soon as I heard about this, I went out and got one... Like any new product rushed to market, it has some flaws:
Doesn't like MP3s encoded any higher than 192kbit and will experience dropouts if you try to play them. Doesn't seem to like VBR files very much either.
The LCD display isn't backlit, is a bit dim and scrolls VERY slowly.
Compared to my PC-based car MP3 player (0 to MP3 in less than 8 seconds, thanks to MR BIOS and an IDE flash drive with DOS and MPXPlay), it takes a long time to scan the disc for filenames and start playing.
The disc navigation is a bit awkward, it should have had buttons to move up a folder and down a folder, instead of making you enter a numeric representation of the folder you want to jump to on the disc.
Will sometimes get a one second audio dropout, but it's rare.
Can't read Juliet long file names, just shows the 8.3 shortened filename if no ID3 exists.
Eats batteries... Get the NiMH batteries/charger combo from Rat Shack unless you've got Bill Gates's budget for Alkalines, or use the included AC and Car adapters.
Like every other CD player, comes with suckass headphones. Get some Radio Shack Pro 35's, Titanium all the way. :)
Just a single level bass-boost function, no EQ.
Here's what DOES work properly:
CD-RW support... This feature alone makes this a kickass player.
ID3 support, finally, a portable MP3 player that shows you the damned title, artist and album of the song you're listening to.
Pretty good volume level and good audio quality.
Includes EVERYTHING! Car adapter, AC adapter, cassette adapter and some really worthless headphones.
Bragging rights... 10+ hours of music on one cheap (Yes, it works perfect with those absurdly cheap Samsung discs) CD-R disc - tell your buddies with Minidisc where they can stick it. :)
Target's return policy is pretty liberal, so you can return it if you decide one of its quirks is too annoying for you to keep the player... Maybe something better will come out soon, but for now, the price is right, the size is right and the amount of music kicks serious ass.
You can also find these players on eBay if there's no Target near you, but be prepared to be anally violated - these things are ending at $130+ on eBay.
