Philips got almost everything right with its eXpanium eXp103 portable MP3/CD player. Folder support lets you group your MP3s for easy navigation. Skip protection keeps the unit playing even with serious jolts. And, there's no denying the appeal of being able to store more than 10 albums of MP3s on a single CD.

If only your portable CD player could play MP3 CDs, you'd have an MP3 player with an astounding 650MB of removable storage. The Philips eXpanium eXp103 represents an excellent example of the new breed of player that accomplishes this feat, offering easy navigation and robust skip protection. It's perfect for music fans with CD-R drives who want to take their MP3 collections on the road. We just wish it would display song titles.

The eXP103 looks and performs like a typical portable CD player. Six buttons on the face of the unit control playback, including modes for random and repeat play. The player runs on two AA batteries or an included AC adapter. It even comes with a cigarette lighter power connector and a cassette tape adapter so you can use it while driving. There's a headphone jack, for using the included ear bud-style headphones, and a line-out jack for hooking the unit up to your stereo system or external speakers. Unlike the average CD player, though, the eXp103 can play MP3 CDs, typically those you burn to CD-R disk yourself.

Since MP3 compression can fit more than 10 albums on a single CD, you'll quickly be faced with the problem of how to manage all that music. Philips implemented some clever design strategies to tackle the problem. First, the eXp103 can recognise folders, so you can organize your songs in groups for easy navigation. Press down once on the fast forward or reverse button, and the player will go to the next track; hold the button down longer, and it will go to the next "album"--that is, the next folder on the CD. The player also has a resume mode that can remember where you paused even after the unit is turned off. And there's a feature that lets you create a program of up to 30 tracks, although it can't store the program for later use.

We found that the unit worked well with a wide variety of MP3 CDs. Sound quality was excellent, with little or no audible hiss and a full, vibrant sound across the dynamic range. While the eXp103 does have dynamic bass boost, sound-tweakers should note that it doesn't have other equaliser presets such as the RioVolt features. Although we didn't find the player's "magic electronic skip protection" in any way supernatural, but it did manage to keep music from skipping even after some serious jolts.

The eXp103 disappoints in not being able to display song titles or folder names. The very small and somewhat hard-to-read LCD display shows only track and "album" number. Most flash memory-based portable MP3 players can display an MP3 file's ID3 information, which list the artist, album, and song title, or at least the song's file name. This comes in handy when you're trying to find the song you want to hear among the myriad of choices you have. It's a shame Philips left the feature out.

MP3 CD players solve the problem of storage capacity that today's flash-memory-based MP3 players face. Although not as compact as a flash player, the eXpanium eXp103 offers a good design and compelling feature set, making it an excellent choice for those with CD-RW drives and burning desires to take their MP3 collection on the road.

Philips MP3/CD eXpanium eXp103
Company:Philips Australia
Ph:1300 363 391
Price:AU$549
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