UPDATE: Hot Deal: MP3/CD/VCD Plyarer NOW $96(Portable with Remote)

[VNamee]

Haha...speaking of which, a review on IGN of the AVC soulplayer which blasted it out of the water. I was reading it and saying to myself, I don't have any of these problems with my Rio Volt. Reviewer said, both may be the same OEM, but unless Rio released a piece of crap, both are not the same players. Funny enough, I thought that was probably true. IMO, easybuy2000 just sucks. I've dealt with their stuff before and I was very unimpressed.

 

[HJB417]

The AVC Soul is the same as the RioVolt, both are made by the same company. -MikeHall

WTF are you talking about. Different product, different manufacturing process and companies are in 2 diff countries. I'm telling u, in relation to cd mp3 players, the rio volt is the best of the best though it could use some improvement. From what I hear, this Soul Player is crap. Unless you're desperate for a portable VCD player [ even though all/most stand-alone DVD players can play VCDs too ] get the rio volt or wait for a better product. Quit gassin' me with crappy mp3 cd players such as the soul.

 

[pk9394]

ok...this a very bad deal...I just got myself the NAPA DAV310 for $99 free S/H...

and If you gonna get the Dav309......I recommend you add a few bux for the dav310 one.....it fixed all the bug the dav309 had and with longer battery life..

you can find a much better price at this place: http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/

very good player....and one thing..this little sucker here also does buffering when playing mp3s...

 

[Rob414]

The AVC and RIOOLT are identical. Two different companies and addresses because OEM means both companies buy it label it and sell it as their own. This results in 2 different addresses. The exta $30-$50 you pay is for the RIO name. I sell both of these players and I will sell you whichever one you want. RIO $179 AVC $149. Click here to go to our siteIt doesn't change the fact they are the same.

 

[akina]

I don't know I had bad luck or I don't know how to operate it correctly, but I got napa 309 first, didn't work well, sent it back to exchange for model 310 and still had problem with it. I put mp3 files on cdr and tried to play. The player would take a long time (3-4min.), seemed to be initializing then start to play intermittently. It would play for about 10 secondes, pause 2 seconds then play the next 10 sec. When I play regular CD, it's fine.

For those who have this, should this work just like regular CD player? no initialization time nor lag?

 

[HJB417]

"HJB417,

is there any testing done that can back up your claim that WMA is far superior than mp3? I mean any info that is posted on the web? Not doubting you tho, I used WMA for the past 1 and half years, they do sound slight better. " -kxy

Its best you encode a WMA file and find out for yourself, On my computer it takes 5sec to convert a 60sec Mp3 to WMA. WIndows Media Encoder and the full version of Winamp can convert MP3->WMA. Try both 64 and 90. a 90bit WMA sounds just like a 128bit MP3 [maybe even higher] but a b4bit WMA can be noticeable most of the time. The bad thing about WMA is what they plan to do with it [use you system registry to allow certain people to play certain files] and it doesn't have any ID tags like MP3s.

Also, the Riovolt and the Soul are the SAME FU**ING THING. My bad about my previous post.Look at the bottom of the page

 

[ElFenix]

ummm... when converting MP3 to WMA its impossible for the WMA to sound closer to the CD, regardless of bitrate, because the MP3 doesn't contain all the info that the CD does. also, the majority of WMA encoding tools are crap, pure and simple.

 

[Chaotix]

I have got you all beat for prices. Head over to New Egg and you can pick up the Napa 310 for only $95 + $5 FedEx shipping.

 

[kingink]

Hmmm, I thought that you couldn't advertise your own site in someone else's thread?
Just a question, nothing more.
kingink

 

[BabaJi]

sorry chaotix... but i think pk9394's deal leads with $1

 

[Chaotix]

Okay, I guess I don't have everyone beat for prices. kingink, I don't think your talking to me, but I don't own NewEgg (would be cool though).

Also, some people mentioned that the Napa takes a while to load MP3's. This is because it works just like the Rio, in that it spins up the CD and loads the song into memory, which takes about 3-5 seconds. Then the CD spins back down, and you can shake like you were a British nanny, and it won't skip because it's playing off the memory. I think I am going to buy the Napa for a couple of reasons.

1) Price - I work after school fixin comps for thes school district, and after 2 raises, make $5.65/hour, so I need to save!
2) Remote control - I'm planning on just using this in my car, so the wireless remote will be nice, and I won't be able to look at the LCD very easily, so I don't really care about ID3 tags.
3) Batteries - No need to buy new ones w/ the built in Lithium.
4) I'm not an audiophile - I don't mind listening to 128 bit MP3's
5) VCDs - Having a portable digital video player is just damn cool.

Now before I get flamed by Rio Volt lovers, I'm not saying that the Napa is for everyone, but I think it will suit my needs just as well if not better than the Rio Volt.

 

[MikeHall]

The Napa does not support anything over 224kbps, the Riovolt & Soul player do. The Soul supports up to 320kbps, so it should read anything you throw at it. Another thing to keep in mind if your considering WMA vs MP3 is CPU processing. I like to run games with MP3s in the background sometimes, but if I run WMAs the sound gets choppy.

Michael Hall
MP3 Solutions

 

[VNamee]

I wouldn't be surprised that WMA sounds better. In fact, I would hope it sounds better, given its from a multi-billion dollar company, developed after .mp3. Microsoft's video codec is pretty much top notch, approaching dvd quality with mad compression. I wouldn't be surprised that WMA is the same thing, although I don't use it myself. I couldn't imagine even playing a file with the extension .wmv...there's jsut something wrong with that

Btw, who the heck is selling the Soul Player? If that thing breaks, who would you talk to? Is AVC a company?

 

[fobster]

so anyone know where i can get a cheap portable lcd screen to go with this baby, hook it up in my car watch vcds while im drivin if you thought driving while using a cell phone was dangerous, take it to the next level and watch movies while driving heh

 

[Fraggle]

methinks "cheap, portable LCD screen" is gonna be an oxymoron for a while to come... relative to my budget and perceptions of the costs of electonic components. helpful aren't i?

 

[gqstyle09]

stop advertising your site Rob414 or you're gonna be in big doodoo =) just a suggestion

 

[Rob414]

I was receiving a large amount of e-mail from this thread. Didn't mean to "advertise" although I think there was also content to my messages also. I will drop the link if it's bothering you. As far as LCD's try allelectronics.com I bought a 4" there for $139 and no this is not my company.

 

[shadowa]

Robb,

it's GOOD NEWS that you post your selling AVC Soul. Easybuy2000 has delayed shipping the AVC for 2 weeks and now has not picked up the phone for 2 days. If any of you guys can even get easybuy2000 to pick up the phone, let me know. I wanna cancel my order but there's no way to talk to them. (I got a date next weekend that I'm trying to impress.)

So i discourage people buying from Easybuy2000, and frankly, i don't know of anyone else carrying the AVC in stock

 

[MikeHall]

We will be selling the AVC Soul shortly. We should have it in stock by next week. I can't garantee that, that is why we don't have it on our site yet. We also never charge before an order is shipped, in the event that we decide to take a few pre-orders for the Soul.

Michael Hall
MP3 Solutions

 

[Kingofcomputer]

Again, this Napa is a VCD player that also plays mp3 cd, not a MP3 player.
It doesn't matter how poor it plays MP3, its main job is to play VCD. Period.

 

[battyboy]

I bought the AVC Soul from Easybuy when they were promising that it would ship within 2 weeks.... well, its been three weeks. I called and guess what? There's no one to pick up the phone!!! Everytime I check their webpage, the shipping date gets pushed back a couple more days. Too bad I didn't make a screen capture of their two week GAURANTEE ship date.

What the heck???

I want to cancell... I e-mailed and got no response either.

This is worse than Ubid... and Ubid sucks!!!

Should I refuse shipment when it arrives 2 months later and contest the charges on my Credit Card? I should do this just to teach 'em a lesson... but its just more hassles for me.

Easybuy2000 SUCKS!!!

 

[fobster]

same here ordered on lik feb 14th still havent received my soul player from easybuy2000, had the same problem when i called them and email them, no response. no idea what to do :|

 

[Rob414]

As far as easybuy goes the easiest thing to do as a consumer is refute the credit card charges and refuse shipment. Explain to your credit card company that delivery was not made as guaranteed and they will credit your account. P.S.- 2 week ship date !!! You guys are very patient. We use 48 hours as our guideline or don't accept orders for that product. Good Luck !!

 

[JOHNW00]

I have had a Napa Player since it came out and yes the Mp3 is not bad.. but I use the VCD player all the time and its great if you dont have a dvd player that reads cdr's like my HighEnd Sony (go figure). I would recommend the Napa for anyone who wants the best of both worlds. MP3 playback is not as bad as most of you are saying.. its better than most of the cd/mp3 players out there. I agree the remote is kinda cheesey.

 

[DrKatz]

Dudes, want something even better? The DAV310, an even better unit (trust me, it is a great improvement over the 309, is on sale for 95 dollars at newegg.com (plus a mere 5 bucks shipping)
If you want to make copies of the matrix from a DVD you own for personal non-for profit use onto VCDs following the clear and obvious rights given to you under the fair use act (ahem) then this is the player you're looking for.
at 100 bucks w/shipping, its less than the total for the DAV309 on the site the poster listed!