| Product: |
Pioneer DCP 100 |
| Date: |
03/05/02 (1411 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Can play MP3's, Create Playlists, Upgradable
Disadvantages: Sucks up the battery juice, European plug
I was looking for an MP3 player on the net when I stumbled across this new type of CD/MP3 player. Its called the Dioneer Muliti Codec CD player and it has the ability to play different formats of music. It can play normal CDs of all formats which means it can play Packet-write, Multi-session, Enhanced, Joilet and Mixed CDs (If you don't know what these different formats are I guess it really doesn't matter - what will matter is you can play your favourite Kylie CD that you bought from HMV).
Now, what makes this baby groovy and what attracted me to it is you can also play other formats of music. For examples MP3 and WMA files provided they're on a CD. What this really means is you can copy your MP3s (legally saved, of course!) onto a CD in their compressed format - therefore fitting about 150 songs onto a normal 650mb CD - and this CD player can play them.
So its kinda like a MP3 player but you have to store your MP3s onto a CD instead of a memory stick, but then you can also play all your normal CDs too. Also memory sticks tend to be more expensive than blank recordable CDs.
Now most of my music is on CD but I do have quite a few MP3s that I keep stored on my computer - singles mainly. With the use of this CD player I can quickly store my MP3s onto a CD and use them outside of my computer. It also means I can create long play lists for different occasions using either my MP3s I already have or by creating new MP3s from my CDs. For example, I go to the gym quite a lot and Kiss FM isn't always my favourite choice of radio station. I can put a CD together that will last around 2 hours (though it could perceivable last over 6 hours) of high-energy tunes.
The CD player also has a pretty cool file management system. You can search for tracks manually by scrolling though the names that are displayed on the small screen, that have been sorted alphabetically. This is quite useful if you looking for a particular track yo
u want to play. Its also made easier by having the option to jump forward 10 tracks at a time or individually.
You can also bookmark tracks and they can form a separate playlist. Its pretty easy to bookmark them you just scroll through the main list and press a bookmark button when you want to bookmark the selected track.
The other functions are similar to those you'll find on a pretty decent stereo. An advanced 'repeat-mode' allows you to repeat individual tracks or groups of tracks. A choice of set sound modes - Normal, Classic, Rock and Jazz (I've never got to grips with these though - how do they decide what Jazz should sound like?) gives you different soundcapes to play with along with a graphic equaliser.
The graphical display screen is a little cluttered but with so much information I guess it's hard not to be. But, once you get used to it, its OK. You can see the track, next track, time, track number, graphic equaliser, file type, position in the playback and well loads more stuff.
The batteries are rechargeable but the plug I got was a European two-pin model.
The headphones are adequate and have a multi function remote control on them that allows you to skip tracks, adjust volume and scroll.
As if all this weren't enough, I thought I'd check out the website which has a list of FAQ's. I noticed a download section that I found confusing because there was no line in socket. No worries; what you do is download the software upgrades - in this case an enhanced sound and improved bass sound ? and record them onto a blank CD. Then you play the CD in the players, it recognises the software and uploads it.
How good is that? Well, I thought it was clever.
So far I have no complaints at about my new toy. Well recommended.
Summary:
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