CD-Player Reviews

This ultimate gadget is a must-have for a true gadget junkie (like myself). I got the DVD L-10 when it first came out and now, the DVD L-50. Sure, it runs hot after a few hours, but so does every portable PC DVD. Please notice that almost everyone that complains about this unit still rates it 5 stars because the movie watching experience itself is awesome. The "1 star" folks obviously didn't buy it or even see it up close. Mine stays hooked up to my home theatre system with the optical audio and S-video connectors when I'm not traveling. I own a Sony VAIO notebook computer with DVD and would ALWAYS choose to view a movie on the DVD L-10 because the quality of the viewing experience is that much better. The hardware MPEG of the DVD L-10 instead of the software MPEG of every laptop except the Apple G3 powerbook is the main reason.

I see all the negative reviews here in which people say you should get a laptop with a DVD drive instead, but I completely disagree. The laptop is heavier, more expensive, sucks up battery life faster, and isn't as readily connected to various pieces of audio-visual equipment in your home. I bought this unit so I could have the best of both worlds: I keep it hooked up to my home theater system on a day to day basis, then unplug it and take it on the road with me for long car trips and flights. Its value cannot be exaggerated when you're looking for a means of keeping a four-year-old happy and quiet while buckled into a seat for two or more hours. Also, it's perfect for family cabin and timeshare trips since you can bring a whole library of movies and plug the unit into virtually any TV once you get there. And if there's no TV just use the flip-up screen. About that screen---I've found that my movie watching experience is different when using it, and in fact I feel MORE "pulled in" than when watching on my bigscreen TV. Finally, regarding the speakers on the unit: if you use headphones instead of the speakers, the dolby surround effect will amaze you. I don't know how they did it, but it's just like being in the theater.

I bought this player when it first came out in 1999. It's the most reliable electronic product I've ever owned. I've traveled all over the world with it, including to Canada, China, Italy, North Dakota, Vermont, and St Croix. It has saved me from going crazy on long flights. I've shoved it in my backpack and carried it all over the place. It even got wet in a rainstorm once. It's tough. After at least 1000 hours of playing time, I've never had any problems with it. The battery still keeps it's charge even after 5 years of frequent use. The display is just as sharp as it was when I first bought it.

I highly recommend it if you plan on getting a used player.

The beautiful styling of the new Sony discman really caught my attention and I love the remote with the digital display. Battery life is great and the shock protection is faultless.

All of these things do add up, but if it doesn't sound great, then what is the point! I bought this unit to replace my ten year old Sony car discman, but when I listened to them side by side with a nice pair of headphones (I used Grado SR60's), my old unit blows this right out of the water! The new Sony sounds muddy with any of the bass features on; tinny with it off. The highs are almost non-existant and there is no warmth to the sound.

If your primary requirement for a portable CD player is sound quality, then this is NOT the one to pick! Now I'm kicking myself for not comparing before I purchased.

(P.S. Anyone interested in taking mine off my hands?)

After the damage of my Sony D-E191 Discman, I come back to Sony for a replacement. After see all the new Discman models (now called CD Walkman), I decide to buy the D-EJ915. Maybe 200 bucks are too much, but this player it's a great value for the price. This CD portable player has big features (remote control with display, anti-skip technology, battery life and carrying case with hand strap). The sound it's good but I recommend you to buy a better headphones to improve the sound quality and bass response (I'm using right now a MDR-G72LP, Street Style by Sony). Still, the volume isn't enough and I can't use the double bass boost without distortion the sound. The remote control is great, letting you use all the CD Walkman functions without touch the unit. The bad notice: if you loose or damage the remote, you may not program, change bass level and the most important, you loose the display. In fact, the unit doesn't have display to reduce dimensions. Bad, isn't true?. The Backlit on the display it's great if you use a lot your CD Walkman at night. The player have a line-out/optical output for those MiniDisc or big sound systems fans. But maybe the big news about this Discman it's G-Protection. The music will not skip under every condition and let you walk, run, jog or ride on your bike like a cassette Walkman or MP3 Player. The battery life it's excellent giving me 20+ hours. The problem: the batteries need 4,5 hours to charge. If you are looking for a small player with large battery life and great anti-skip technology with acceptable sound and you're not worry to spend US$200, this is the CD player to you.

I've had this cd player for two years now (my dad got it in hong kong for me) and i must say that it is AMAZING. the only flaw is its lid. the lid is flimsy and bends easily, and if it gets dented, it will come in contact with the cd while playing. otherwise this cd player is worth purchasing...i can't wait until sony comes out with a different model with a better lid.

This cd wallet is huge...I mean it fits 264 discs. It's very bulky, not very stylish but hey it does the job. It stores my entire DVD collection which is growing every week. It will take me a long time to fill up all the pages, but it'll be done soon.

The pages inside keep the discs well intact without falling out. Case is sturdy and the zipper quality is good. All in all a decent cd wallet.

There are cheaper brands out there, but in my experience, quality is the true measure of any product. This is especially true when it comes to large CD wallets like Case Logic's CDW-264. As you can imply by the name, this wallet stores up to 264 CDs. I've seen cheaper products that store about the same amount of media, but they aren't as sturdy as this one. This CD wallet uses 2 large plastic slats to hold the each of the 33 pages. (Each page holds 8 CDs.) Other large CD wallets often use flimsy binder-type plastic rings, or the pages are held to the wallet by stitching. Flimsy binder rings can break with age, and stitching can come apart when put under the weight of so many CDs. The CDW-264's flat plastic slats are large and strong enough withstand the wieght of 264 cds easily. I've filled it almost completely with CD-Rs, and it's still sturdy enough to carry by-the-handle (the handle is attached to the spine of the wallet). Even when unzipped, you could easily carry this large CD wallet around without fear of the pages breaking loose. And naturally, the CD pages are smooth and won't cause scratches. What's more, its a great online-buy because it's typically 10-20% less when compared to most retail stores. My only complaint is that the zipper can be difficult to "start" since it rests along the spine. This is where the zipper can make contact with the pages, and you often have to make sure it's clear before zipping the wallet closed. Of course, most people shouldn't find this much of a problem as the over all quality of the CDW-264 wallet is excellent. If you're looking to store a large amount of CD or DVD media, this is should be on the top of your list. It holds a lot of media, it's very sturdy, and it's usually much cheaper online.

I've got several kinds of CD-Wallets from differing brands and this CASE LOGIC is by far the best quality. This is basically a sort of binder with large plastic bands that function as the "rings." These bands are quite sturdy and better than other CD-Wallets that I've used. The bands hold the pages of the CD-Wallet. Each of the 33 pages has 8 pockets (4 pockets on each side of a page). The pockets are made of a woven fiber material that is smooth and won't scratch CDs. Furthermore, the pockets can also fit liner notes. (While most liner notes should fit, thick ones maybe more difficult to insert because the pockets are rather tight.) A zipper on the outside of the wallet closes it neatly. There's also a handle on the outside for easy carrying. I bought this product to store my DVD-Rs and CD-Rs (which were cluttering my work space). It works great. CASE LOGIC tends to be a bit more expensive than other brands, but it's worth it. They're products tend to be consistenty strong and worry free, and this one is no exception. Other, cheaper brands are often made of cheap material; and fall apart with the shear weight of the CDs. If you plan on storing a lot of media (CDs, DVDs, CD-R, DVD-R), then this 264 capacity CASE LOGIC should be on the top of your shopping list. It's strong, can hold a lot of media, and you can carry it easily.

this is the best cd player ever. ive gone thru 3 cd players in 2002. the first three couldnt take my kluzness.(i dropped those things alot) well this helps in two ways. 1) it has this AWESOME hand strap, that makes it easy and convenient to get the volume and song selector button (i think thats what its called)and 2) if i was to drop it down the elevator shaft at the sears tower it still wouldnt skip, let alone break. if you need a new cd player, go with this one. its well worth the 50.00 above the other sonys ive seen. and the head phones are awesome. sooo much better than those wraparounds that just dont like my ears.

I have gone through 3 portable cd players in the past few years, dropping one down the stairs, the volume knobs fell off another and the 3rd just decided to stop working. Then I bought this one, it is great, so much better than any of the other ones I have owned. I go to the gym daily and run with this cd player on my hand, it's convient and tough and it has NEVER skipped. I can't say enough good things about this cd player, it's definitely worth the extra money!

I am notoriously clumsy and am known to break electronics extremely quickly. Before purchasing this CD player I had gone through five CD players within the space of a year (of various brands...i think i had two panasonics, one classic, one other kind of sony, and one aiwa). I decided to splurge a little for this discman and was not disappointed. I have had this for almost two years now, drop it almost daily (often from considerable height onto tile floors or concrete), often store it at the bottom of my heavily loaded backpack and it is still in perfect working order. I think that the sound functions are starting to go, as i now have to purchase new headphones every two weeks, but I think I will buy the exact same discman again to replace it, because it is by far the best CD player I have ever had.

I loved this thing when I got it and used it every day during my train commute to and from work. It worked fantastic ... the sound was awesome and it was more than loud enough with the sony headphones I bought for it. I recommend buying aftermarket headphones since the headphones that come with it are big and [crazy] looking and don't sound too great. Then all of a sudden one day the headphone jack (where you plug the headphones in) just stopped working. For a while if I twisted the little plug the right way it would work, but then it just stopped working alltogether. I tried three other pairs of headphones including the ones it came with, and none of them worked. Hopefully mine was an isolated case, but I don't think I would ever buy this again.

I originally bought the Sony D-EJ611 cd player. It was a nice machine, but I ended up returning because of a dispute that I had with the store. This unit compares favorably with Sony's player. The sound is actually really good. Sony's only sounded good with the bass boost on, but this one sounds good even during the normal mode. The bass is a bit weaker than Sony's unit, but the overall sound is better. Unlike previous reviews, I found that the volume actually isn't that soft. The output doesn't seem to be as strong as some other units, but only those people who have been deafened by years of listening to booming car systems would complain. I have to concur that the headphones, although durable, should be replaced. First, they are a bit uncomfortable because they don't fit the contour of the head perfectly. Second, the bass on the headphones is nice, but the overall sound is a bit muddled. I listened to the unit with $10 sony earbuds, and the sound was crystal clear but was too lacking in bass so I use the unit with a pair of translucent green Koss i40 headphones. The player sounds great with these. Overall, I'm very pleased with the unit. It holds its own with more expensively priced cd players. Some minor complaints:The top flips open very fast when you slide the latch. I'm a little worried that the hinges will wear out over time. 20 hours is okay, but other units have more battery life.

I bought this player to replace my Sony portable that stopped working only a while after I bought it. ESP has come a long way since then. This player sports the 3rd generation of skip protection which is a whole lot more effective then in the past. It's not quite to the point where you can run with it(it can handle walking) but it will definitely take all the bumps in your car w/o skipping. It has nice features like resume,cdrw, and has a nice sleek blue design. The headphones are decent and seem to fit better when worn upside-down. It also plays all CD-R's perfectly. Sound is also real good, nothing to complain about(volume may not be enough for noisy situations). For this price this was the coolest and most functional player I could find. I only wish it had a lit up display for evening car trips but those usually come in the top of the line players.

I bought one of these two years ago and I'm still in love with it; and it's been updated since then with some small improvements. It has high end features like sub-woofer output, and digital (laser) input. It makes the perfect clock-radio; has sleep features and can wake you up with the radio, or music from a CD. You can even program it to wake you with a particular song. Best of all, when the alarm goes off, the volume rises slowly from 0 to the level you specify when you set the alarm. I still can't get over how great and full the sound is from the little speakers. I seriously wish I could afford to buy another one for my office.

I first heard the FS- series from JVC in Florida and when birthday time came, so did an FS-2000. I immediately started a search for a suitable Sub-woofer to enhance the system. I tried a "Bass-bite" unit and was very pleased at how perfectly matched it was. Since then I have purchased several more sub's for computer's. The real plus is that JVC was on the "cutting edge" when they engineered the system with a sub-woofer output in the first place. Now you find several other brand names that are marketing the same thing with their name on it. What a neat form of flattery! The magnet structure of the speaker is as large as the mounting hole opening. As JVC has made a few changes in newer models such as the FS-7000, the basic features are maintained. The speaker has received such huge acceptance based on its performance that JVC is using it in their boom box line with unmatched performance from competitors. I have demo'd and highly recommended this unit to others for several years. I have found no other product that I would rather have invested in.

owned one for 2 yrs. and loved it. great sound from such a small package. perfect for college dorm room, or bedroom use. you wont regret this purchase. great deal.

Pros: Lots of accessories, backlit lcd, reads ID3 tags, great ESP.

Cons: Backlit lcd, no line-out, hardware glitches, lack of quality control.

Summary: I have owned this unit roughly a month. It has wayyy too many things wrong with it for me to justify the price. One, it has no line-out, which is unforgivable, and the headphone jack is on the front which makes it impossible to mount in a car and make it look good. It also gets really hot underneath when the dc power supply is used. The LCD is backlit blue and looks good, but is really hard to read off-axis. The backlight turns on for about 4 seconds when you push buttons, and then turns off. I think they should have a backlight switch so you dont waste battery this way. The backlight quit working a week ago, so its a moot point anyway. The buttons also beep when you push them, something I find annoying, and the unit beeps when you pause it, something I also find aggravating. The point of pausing it is to NOT hear anything. The unit's headphone jack is also incapable of driving higher-impedance headphones like my Sennheiser 535s, so you are forced to use more efficient ones (like the crappy supplied earbuds). One of the most aggravating things wrong with it is this glitch in the ID3 reader that takes the last part of whatever the artist's name was before the artist name that you are viewing, and tacks it onto the one you are viewing; if the first artist you viewed was Matchbox 20, and the current one is REM, the ID3 readout will say REMchbox 20. The unit also has a display switch, but it doesn't remember your choice, thus, it displays this unneccessarily long filename whenever you switch tracks. The ergonomics are poor, and are hard to use if you use the belt clip. The ESP also turns on whenever you turn the player on, which wastes batteries if you forget to turn it off. The volume control is also recessed, which makes it hard to adjust, and the thing blows through batteries like nobody's business. You can expect maybe 6 hours on standard alkalines.

So what's good about this player? Not much. The backlight looks cool (when it works), and the player has good skip protection even when the ESP is off. It does read ID3 tags, and the belt clip is cool. Since I am currently on my second player, which also does not function properly, there is no way I can recommend this unit. I actually liked the player when it worked, but it has too many unforgivable flaws to be sold as a production unit.

I had purchased 2 Philips CD players a little less than 2 years ago and for the wear and tear that my boyfriend and I put them through they lasted & we really got our money's worth. I didn't have any kind of worries in buying another Philips product, however I was leery of the MP3 player part. Prior to my last CD player purchases I had bought an MP3/CD player combo that just was awful built by memorex. The sound quality was poor, and the CD player was laggy to get it going when you first switched the mode from MP3 to CD, so I wasn't sure I was going to like this model, but seeing as though it was from Philips and I had good luck with them in the past I figured I'd give it a try. I purchased the product and immediately was pleased with it because it had many of the same features that my elder Philips CD player had such as the anti-skip, the belt clip, the buttons were all in about the same place, bass & double bass modes etc. As time has gone on I have had my player for a little over a month and I'm very pleased. I have told all of my friends and family about this marvelously pleasing purchase and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for this type of audio entertainment.

When I first heard about MP3 CD players a year or two ago I knew that I had to have one. But as with all technology sometimes it's best to sit it out and wait for it to mature. Thank you Philips for the first grown-up player!

This thing is great. I am quite familiar with MP3 and I try to keep up on the latest technology and I must say that the one most important feature of this player - sound quality - is extremely excellent. All of my MP3s are "archive quality" (IMHO!) and the Philips does an admirable job of reproducing them. Most of my MP3s are variable bit rate, many with BRs ranging from 12 - 320, and I have had no problems there. Needless to say this was a big selling point for me. The ID3 feature (which recognizes artist & song info) is also excellent, as well as the interface, backlight, speed of song title recognition and startup, and included accessories. It is also very compact and light. About the only complaint I can come up with is that it does not include a case... personally I'd like to see a small case befitting this beautiful little player. Needless to say most of the CD player cases out there are bulky and ugly, so I had to create one out of a CD disc case. Ah well, one can dream...

As far as the color, as others have mentioned it is not black, but more of a purple color. However, I like it! Black is so... black. The purple is something of a pleasant change and has a nice iridescence to it.

I bought this player because of the high customer reviews, and they are totally true! THe expanium is very easy to use and never gives me any troubles. I never have to turn on skip protection, even when I'm walking. Quality is A++, no questions there. THere is no resume function, however, for mp3 discs; but I have accidentally discovered a way!
Read this carefully:
start the player with the mp3 disc in it by pressing PLAY,
listen carefully for the sounds it makes (after a while you would be able to memorize the noises),
at the last scratching noise (right before it starts to play), press STOP quickly, twice (to shut it down),
then wait for a sec or two, and then pres PLAY again.
THis should resume it to where you left off last time.
You might not be able to pull this off in the beginning, but after a while when you get more used to it, it should work.
The timing is very important, you have to press STOP at the exact moment, not a half second earlier or later.

NOte: I do not know if this will work for all cd players

I bought this unit a year or so ago and it's given me no serious problems. The switch to open the player is a little flimsy -- a few times I've brushed against it while sitting in the car and it popped open, which is annoying, but I've also dropped the player a few times and it hasn't popped open, which is more important and something I can't say as much for my Sony. The display doesn't show ID3 tags but unless you have no idea what is on the CD you've made yourself, this shouldn't be too big of a problem.

As most previous reviewers noted, the Hold/Resume button doesn't allow you to do both at once and furthermore the Resume option doesn't actually work. I find that with a little file/folder organization, it's easy to find the song I left off at without needing the Resume button, and as for the options being mutually exclusive, if I want to use the Hold option, it's usually because I'm going to be travelling for a long enough time that resuming exactly where I left off is not vastly important. But that's just my take.

If you're considering a flash or hard drive MP3 player, get an MP3/CD player instead. High capacity flash players are expensive whereas CD-Rs easily carry 700MB, and an erasable CD-RW acts pretty much like a mini hard drive. I have little faith in hard drives, as the one in my laptop failed after a year. But what REALLY did it for me is that you can't play a conventional CD on a flash or hard drive MP3 player. What if you're on a short trip and buy a CD? In order to listen you'd either have to a laptop or a CD player in addition to the MP3 player. With an MP3/CD player, this isn't an issue -- it's so convenient it's beautiful.

So save yourself the trouble and get an MP3/CD player! It's convenient and this one is particularly good!

Dont waste another dime on the expensive flash memory for you mp3 player.. dont waste more time uploading, and uploading songs to your flash memery player. GET THIS, or its smaller sibling the exp401. So what if you cant read the song or album name. who gives a (...) about that. I know what i burned on the thing. and if i get confused because two artists plagurized each other well then a quick look from a pc cdrom drive will show me the full file names. It also helps to label the CD if its a cd-r
try labeling flash memory, or taking more than 2 or three flash memeory with you jogging.

This player does not skip.. with the skip protection off it barly skips when i take a miss step. takes alot of motion to get to skip. if only awia had put the same cd drive in their mp3 car player.. that thing skips!! and thats very anoying when i am driving..

This player can hold what over a hundred songs. More if you encode at a lower bit rate then the 220kbps average i get from the HQ VBR encoding method. I have 104 songs on the (iso9660+joliet multi session disc) cd-rw i have in my exp301 right now. the songs are grouped into directorys named in the following format 'artist - album'. I have never had a desire to read id3 tags on the player. I know every song on the disc already, adn can tell instantly what i am listening to since i have only ripped the HITS.

I am ripping my mp3's in VBR format at a quality of 100% using the great software that come with my sounblaster live card.. something called creative playcenter 2. if you have an old verson go and get an update from their website. They make it so easy to rip and encode using the best encoder known to mankind franhoufer!

If your going to rip your cd collection i suggest using a cd rewriter drive to do the ripping. you will have many more glich free mp3's this way.. it has to do with the quality of the head tracking and positioning.. read only cdrom drives are made much cheaper by skimping on the head positioning hardware

I would also suggest ezcd creator for multisesson, or direct cd for udf (DRAG AND DROP like a big floppy disk) formated CD's. You will most probley get a basic edition of this great product with what ever cd burner you have, or will buy. If not then go and buy version 5.0 on here.

I love this CD player. One thing I don't really use is the jogger belt because it doesn't have the support needed for the CD player. Also I've had my CD player since they year 2000, my headphones just started to go out so i can't use them anymore. But the antiskip is good.

When I recieved my portable cd player I couldnt wait to try it out. I listen to the sound quality it was crisp and clear. It didnt even skip when i shook it very hard. I went jogging with it and I forgot I had the headphones on they were so light. I am always showing off my new cd player and everyone loves it. Batteries were a concern for me but it has a built in battery charger! Another thing, I didnt find the display hard to read. And after a minute I just memorized were the buttons were. Its not that hard to figure out. It does have nice quality. Its not one of those cd players you have to be careful about that are flimsy. This is very sturdy. I think its a wonderful cd player.

This CD player is wonderful. It never skips (unless you like to pound it with a sledge hammer!) due to the Anti-skip Memory II, the head phones sound great and are very comfortable, and the design is awesome. Some reviewers complained that the voices sounded fine, but the music didn't; that's true only if you don't push the head phones all of the way in. If you do this, then it sounds great. Another thing that is quite cool about this is that if you use re-chargable batteries, then you can re-charge them with the CD player. It comes with a plug-in that allows you to re-charge your batteries while still in the player! Another thing that come with it is a belt with a spot for the CD player. Excellent for when you go jogging, walking, or biking! It never skips! There is only one flaw that I have found though; the display isn't the easiest thing to read...But overall, this is an awesome portable CD player. It's is great for joggers, people who accidently drop/abuse their electronics (the clumsy ones...like myself), and anyone in need of a top notch CD player! You're going to love it! Enjoy!

Pros:The sound is good<br /><br /> Cons: Sometimes when jogging the Atrac cd in the cd player skips. Sometimes the Sonicstage software will say cd write is successful but when cd is inserted in the cd player it cannot be read. Some songs have limits to the amount of times it can be burned. Sonicstage will not burn a song that has reached the limit to the amount of times it can be burned.Sonicstage software is great idea but the software needs to be improved when it comes to writing music files to a cd.

After using this device for several months now, I will make the following quick comments:
1) This _IS_ an mp3 player. I was almost deterred by another review that stated the contrary. It plays mp3s quite nicely.
2) The atrac format is great. You can fit 24 hours of music (1.28GB of mp3s) onto one CD without losing sound quality. (I did notice a sound quality difference when I accidentally had the program set to AtracPlus.)
3) The one negative side to the atrac format is that it can take about five hours to convert/burn a CD (this on a fairly high-end computer). Let it run overnight, and you wake up to a nice new CD.
4) The battery performance is amazing. The walkman must have some sort of memory, because I noticed that the atrac CD is not always spinning. This would explain the long-life, as well as the complete absence of skipping. You can juggle the thing and not hear a skip.
5) Good jog dial and display, although they could eliminate the CD and folder icons that take up character space when switching folders.
If you own lots of CDs, this is a great way to store a lots of music on one disc. I recommend it.

I have previously owned three different MP3 players and this one is definetly the best. The shock protection is great; I've never experienced it skipping during regular movement ie: walking / running. I've even dropped it and my music doesn't skip. It's easy to use, and the battery life is excellent. Its only down side is that it doesn't have a built in radio and the battery charger was not included. But as far as MP3 quality is concerned, I wouldn't purchase a different model.