Out with the old, in with the new

The RCA Lyra's Last Mix

So my old mp3 player (an RCA Lyra circa '99,) is now retired - or, perhaps, passed down to my wife, if she decides to use it. A little over a month ago, I received an iriver H10, actually won it for a playlist contest we had at work (Best Overall for Lethem's Fortress of Solitude.)

Anyway, now that's it's a month later, I thought it would be interesting to go back and look at what is on my old pal, the Lyra. It originally just held 32MB so I had juiced it up with a 192MB Flash card (that cost a pretty penny back then - more then the player) so it held about three full albums at 160kbps. I last loaded it just after Memorial Day weekend, so it's reflective of that a bit. Craig Finn's Lifter Puller and The Hold Steady were on there, along with May 24 releases: Stephen Malkmus, Shout Out Louds and Nikka Costa. A moment in time captured, and the tracks are all still there, until my wife decides she wants to use it and then it will all be erased. She might keep the Nikka Costa on there, but my guess is she'll load it with goodies like Buena Vista Social Club and Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium.

As for the iriver, it's been very good to me so far. After a minor firmware update, I've been uploading so much music on there... it never ends! The Rhapsody-on-the-go sub is pretty amazing. You can download nearly anything off of Rhapsody. There is usually a day-freeze on newly released albums, which I understand. Some albums, though, still aren't downloadable (I'm looking at you Okkervil River Black Sheep Boy) months after their release.

Tracks will expire after a seemingly random time period, but I'm looking at it as a blessing now as it keeps me rotating in new and different music (which I'd be doing anyway.) Latest additions include Koufax Hard Times Are In Fashion and The Capitol Years Let Them Drink.

tags: playlist, music, mp3 player, rca lyra, iriver h10