Philips EXP3481/17 Portable CD/MP3-CD Player
By: Philips Average Rating: 2.0 Total Reviews: 8
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 On: 2006-03-02
Im returning 1 day after buying.
1. Sounds worse than my old Coby which I wanted to change because it was skipping.
2the earphones are not securely placed in the jack
3. you can not make it loud enough.
4. buttons are positioned in complete chaos - both on the player (below ) and on the control (just over the clip) - you can not help hitting the play/skip while clipping the remote on.
5 The sound is NOT great
I could not help writing the review - pls dont buy it!
On: 2006-02-19
This is my first review on Amazon.com even though Ive been a customer for many years. The purchase was not made on Amazon however. Why post? I guess to share with others my bad experience.
Ive had an Aiwa XP-R100 since 2000 and it recently showed some problem playing CD. I loved the player as it came with DC power adapter and charges rechargeable AA batteries. The sound quality was great. And it has AM/FM digital radio. I spent some time at Target this morning and saw some nice models (different brands, none from Aiwa) but I thought I could probably find something better online. I didnt really find anything quite compelling from CNET or here (didnt know the right keywords I suppose...there must be something good) All $$ has been spent for mp3 player innovation I guess.
So I stopped by Target again this evening after dinner and my friend and I thought this Philip model was the best...looked great and had all the features for the Aiwas replacement.
Not quite.
1. I could start the CD but could not stop and skip songs using either buttons on the player or the "remote". (why no one makes a wireless remote like the Bose iPod SoundDock...and charges more)
2. All buttons were positioned on the bottom of the player...maybe cool for some but not for me. In particular I didnt like how the play button was placed up side down against the adjacent skip buttons! Either you turn your head or the unit to use the buttons! And, the buttons text labels are hard to read.
3. The sound quality of the bundled headphones were quite poor. When connected to my external speakers (my main use case) it sounded worse than the old Aiwa.
So, I had a semi defective unit but with the design and sound quality problem I am returning the unit tomorrow to Target. Its funny one of the reasons I wanted to buy offline was for ease of returning.
For now I think I will live with the old Aiwa and make an effort to digitize more CDs.
Good luck with your purchase. I am off to check out the Zen Vision reviews now!
 On: 2006-02-05
I bought this two months ago, and in general it is a good unit. However, I like listening to audio books that I have made into mp3 files, as well as mp3 music. This is where the Philips fails. Look on the packaging. Look on the directions that come with it. Look on the Philips web page. You will see that it CLAIMS to have a resume functionality. That is to say that you can turn the thing off, and it will start again the next day where you left off. It is only when you go to the product support page that you discover that there is a "feature": in order to save battery power, resume does not apply when using batteries; only when you are using a wall-wart adapter will it resume. Hardly portable. Ive tested this on Panasonic and Sony devices, and the resume will hold for more than a day; I didnt bother going beyond that.
Philips will absolutely NOT take this thing back. This is a "feature" not a defect. Although it seems to be a "feature" that doesnt get attention drawn to it. They deny that there is any deception in claiming there is a resume function, because there is.....when on AC power. But for some reason they choose not to explain this on the packaging or anywhere else that might affect your decision to buy this thing.
So if you need continuity when listening to mp3s, DONT BUY THIS PRODUCT.
On: 2006-02-03
I bought this and didnt use it much for a while, so unfortunately, by the time I found all of its flaws, taking it back was not an option anymore. I made a huge mistake in not researching players.
First, the good: it looks nice. The headphones are just right and they plug into the remote which then plugs into the player, which is great because on my last CD player, I had to throw the remote away with the headphones when they went bust. The CD sound quality is pretty dang good. However, thats about it.
It is NOT jog-proof. I have tried leaving it in my bike basket while I ride around town or in my fanny pack when I jog, and it skips with ESP on. I have to cushion it or carry it in my hand. It sometimes fails to read CDs or MP3 discs, claiming they are non-audio. The hold option sometimes malfunctions, so the player will think the hold option on the remote is on when it is not. MP3 CDs sometimes confuse the remote so I have to press the "next" button twice to skip to the next song. On top of all of this, the design of the player and remote is horrible. The player has buttons on the underside. They are all flat and the same in size so it can take some squinting to find which is which, and forget about pushing any of them if you are fumbling for the player in your purse. The remote also has buttons of the same size and shape lined up one next to the other, so it took a long time to memorize which is which and I always have to LOOK at the remote to see what Im doing instead of being able to feel the buttons with my fingers. The clip is placed badly so that for a long time, everytime I tried to pin the remote onto my shirt I would accidentally press some other button.
As soon as I have some extra cash I am selling this thing and getting something worthwhile.
On: 2005-12-26
This player is horrible or I think I have a defective one as it will not get past the first song of a brand new regular audio CD. The CD works fine in other players. It acts as if there is too much vibration about 1/2 way through the first track, repeatedly. It then proceeds to stop playing and print the word Oops. All this while firmly placed on a solid non-moving surface. I am bringing it back to the store and trying out another model before I make the purchase for a suitable replacement. Also I am not pleased that the remote is the only way to control many functions and get LCD output. The remote is not wireless as one might assume based on the word remote on the packaging. It is not the easiest player to insert and remove discs from as there is not much room for fingers to get a good grip around the disc. It does not come with an AC power adapter (many do not), however the battery life is advertised to be very good. It takes a standard 4.5 volt DC power source so using one of those multiple output AC adapters is probably a good option if you are considering using it in the home or office.
 On: 2005-10-20
The quality is great. I purchased a Philips CD player 5 or so years ago and it is still working as it did the first day I opened it. So I thought I would get this one.
I love the sound quality but there are a few draw backs.
Compaired to other MP3 CD players it loads slowly. Also, if you lose the remote you cant use the FM radio. I also have yet to get the Resume function to work on it.
On: 2005-10-19
I player works fine for CD. But radio is very sensitive to noise. Not worth.
 On: 2005-09-07
Good sound, portability and options, but the fm reception is poor.
The cd player Dont save the option of volume and bass in fm.
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