Lyra 2 MP3 player doesn't like my CF cards

[Morania]

I got a Lyra MP3 player recently. It's for work and the 64M card that came with it does a great job but when I go to use one of my own CF cards, the music loads and the process looks normal but whn I put it into the player, I get a message saying that there is incompatible media in there. Happens with all cards.
I can't find any info on what type of CF cards to use and RCA doesn't answer e-mails.
Anyone worked around this problem yet?

[Morania]

Is there a formatting process that I'm missing. I used the regular Windows formatting procedure and the lame software from RCA. Does the Music Match program help here?

[Big Booger]

As a result, RCA created their own MPX file format for the Lyra. You must use the MusicMatch Downloader or Real Jukebox programs to create valid MPX files. Each MPX file is an encrypted copy of your MP3. Each MPX file also apparently contains the serial number of the Compact Flash card the MPX file is stored on. When you play your MPX file, the Lyra checks the CF card's serial number against the one in the file. If the MPX file has been moved to a different CF card, you get random noise.

Some other info:

http://web.mit.edu/lxs/www/soapbox/lyra.html

[Morania]

That page is the closest thing I found to my problem but doesn't get to the point of my problem.
I used Music Match and from the looks of things, the loading of the cards turned out successful. Lots of mpx files and the decoder files all in their place. The player doesn't like the brand of card I use. That's the way it appears anyway.

[Big Booger]

Back to that software for a second. I already had a full version of MusicMatch Plus installed on my machine. However, I uninstalled it before I hooked up the Lyra 2. Why? Well, sometimes devices are happiest with a certain version of software. This was exactly the case with the Lyra 2.

Even though I had a superior version of the same software, I could not upload my songs and get them to play. I could export them to the CF (CompactFlash) card, but they sounded like gibberish when played back. I installed and reinstalled everything several times and tried saving the playlist in different ways, but could only listen to the songs if they were transferred using the RCA version of MusicMatch. And forget about drag-and-drop transfers onto the card.

I did some poking around and this is intentional. The idea is to protect copyright infringement. Of course, the software still retrieves MP3 files from anywhere on your hard drive, so its really only symbolic. It has no idea that your file is from a burned MP3 CD of Metallica songs downloaded from Napster. (R.I.P.)

Nevertheless, this is seriously annoying. I mean, I don't like the version of the software bundled with the player. For one thing, it has a little picture of Nipper, the RCA pooch. And it is just silly for RCA to force users to use specific transfer software. You can still use a different ripper, but you are then left with two MP3 programs when one would have done the trick and used less resources.

Even after tracks are uploaded to the player, there is a bit of a delay before they actually play. The unit loads the playback software after you select the first song. This means that every listening session is prefaced by a five or six second gap. This might not sound like much, but it's irritating if you stop and start the player or reload the CF card. You also run into this problem if the player is left idle for a few seconds because the automatic power down function engages much too quickly.

http://formen.ign.com/news/31358.html


Are you using the MusicMatch Player version that came with your LYRA???


Also are you installing the software on the CF cards to play the files???

The software to actually play the "mpx" files on the Lyra is also stored on the CF card, which should be on your original CF card.

Also from your manual it says:

No. PC32CF, PC48CF,
and PC64CF

That those three types of CF cards are compatible with your player. Are the CF cards of those model types?

Manual link at amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...64937?v=glance

[Big Booger]

Another option would be to try to use the .WMA format...


Windows Media Player::Lyra™ Windows Media Player Utility for Windows XP Operating SystemDownload the Windows Media Player Utility for Lyra™ 1 and Lyra™ 2 (models RD2201, RD2204, RD2206, RD2209, RD2211) to utilize the Windows Media Audio Format and the Windows Media Player software with you Lyra™ Player.

http://www.rcaaudiovideo.com/Culture...oductID=RD2211

Direct Utility Download:

http://download.rca.com/download/Lyr...lity_v1001.exe

That can tell if it is just a .mpx issue... and to see if the CF cards you have actually work with your Lyra2.

[Big Booger]

And last thing I can think of:

MemoryX lists your Lyra RD2211 as having a Max memory capacity of 256MB. That means if you add a larger CF, there might be issues.

http://www.memoryx.net/rcalyrdme2.html