Philips EXP511 MP3 CD Player

The device itself has only one output port (Line Out) so you can't get four point surround or better. Apart from this it's very satisfactory. There are no presets (Rock, Pop, etc.) although to compensate it offers a nice bass/treble adjuster to suit anybody's tastes. This may prove to be a little annoying for some people but I like it. The sound quality is superb (CD Quality MP3 at 128kb sounds exactly the same if not slightly better). It can only play mp3 cd/cdrw and audio cds but is compatable with future audio formats (MP3PRO) via firmware upgrades. The Electronic Shock Protection (ESP) is great too (480secs for MP3 and 200 for Audio CDs). I went for a run last night and it didn't skip a beat. You can also half the ESP to save power and make your battries last for twice as long. I'd reccommend this if you aren't a pneumatic driller. Apart from this you can browse the cd by folder and by track but it plays tracks in alphbetical order. To overcome this you can rename your tracks or put it on shuffle mode. As well as all this you can fit an astonishing 250 MP3 tracks on a standard 650MB CD. This will become 500!!! when MP3PRO is introduced next year. 250 is enough to keep you going for ages anyway, especially if you are using a CDRW.

The Expanium comes with an instructive user manual and some nice accessories including an lcd remote and recharable AA batteries. The battries recharge when you plug in the Expanium so no extra purchase of a battery recharger is neccessary. Nice feature. They last for 7 hours on normal mode and 14 hours on powersaving mode and take 7 hours to recharge. The lcd remote displays where you are in the track and which track and mode you are on. It does NOT display any other info such an song name etc. but the actual player does. The earbuds supplied come with a very short lead. This means that you must connect them to the remote which in turn is connected to the Expanium. This is an awkward affair as the remote then lies somewhere in the region of your chest and drags your left/right ear down depending on which way you have the phones on. I bought new ones straight away because I didn't like the feel of them. The lcd remote and the player itself both come with belt clips although the player's one is detachable.

The only real faults are its size and weight. It's slightly larger than a portable cd player and slightly heavier too although it will still fit in the pocket of my jeans. Don't let this put you off. It's not that bad! The only thing I can come up with to put you off buying this is the fact that it has only one output port and b-grade earphones. It is also lacking a backlight but for the price you wouldn't expect it. Apart from that it's perfect.

The unit takes standard size CD's and with the ability to place up to 10 HOURS of music on one CD, you should need no more than 3 CD's to last you through the year!

The included batteries are a little short lived, and recharging them takes up to 7 hours which can be a slight pain, but the standard Alkaline "cheapo" batteries can last up to 20 hours from my experience with an MP3 CD playing.

The ear pieces are fantastic to say they actually come as part of the kit. Ergonomically designed to fit in well and hold the ear, they produce a very clear and crisp sound, even with the maximum bass setting on!

Comes with an "in-line" LCD screen which have become all to popular to the Mini-Disc players that SONY have produced. Makes browsing your CD a treat!

One word of warning. When making a large CD, do NOT just put them all onto the CD as one long list. Instead, try creating folders on your disc and placing groups of them in there, eg: A-D, E-H< etc etc. As the unit cannot skip multiple songs at once, meaning you would have to press skip up to 100 times to get to a song you like. BY placing them in a folder you can easily locate and play your favourite songs with a few clicks of the button.

The unit is sophisticated enough to recognise directories of a CD and play them at your request. It also has the ability to store up to 2000 favourites in its memory, allowing you to just pop a CD into the player, set it to play favourites and it will automatically start playing all of your best hits!

If Santa didn't bring you one of these for Christmas, then take advantage of the 31% off from Amazon, its a late gift!

-- Amazon review --
As usual, not a fault. Delivered on time and well packaged. Money processed correctly.