User experience counts for only part of the reason to buy a portable music player. Apple’s iPod will always win the war of the devices when it comes to the image conscious buyer. The thrifty shopper will take a serious look at the 40GB capacity of the RCA Lyra and quickly respect it’s ability to store all the music and audio books you need for weeks to come. Not only does the package include a hard drive big enough for virtually any music library, it also bundles a USB cable for transfer, an AC adapter in the outlet friendly horizontal box style, car adapters for both power and cassette deck, and RCA cables for connecting to a home stereo. The player supports both MP3 and WMA files, with a solid 10-hour battery life. Track navigation is reasonable, although the controls aren’t quite on the same level as the iPod, Rio Karma, or Creative Zen Touch. The $184 price is almost impossible to beat.
