Cassette-Clock-Radio Reviews

This is actually a review of Sony CFD-E75 CD/Radio/Cassette Boombox (Silver), exact thing except color. I "borrowed" this from my wife when I found I didn't have any cassette players (except in a car) and had to listen to a cassette. I was impressed by the sound quality for spoken word cassettes. Everything sounds normal like a human is talking! I've also listened to music cassettes and music CD's and am just amazed at how good this sounds. The "wheel" for selecting CD tracks is a great idea and is used for tuning the radio when in "radio" mode. That makes it easy to find your station.Speaking of which, this model has a "real" three section, rotating antenna, not a skinny little wire hanging out the back What won me over though was the FM AND AM reception on the radio section of this item. We live in an area where the big broadcast antenna are on a hill real close to our home so we've always had problems with radio reception. A good adjustable Bass with the Sony "Mega Bass" button does change the sound noticably. I like the styling and I keep the thing on the night stand next to my head so haven't needed the remote. I guess I'll let my wife keep that. HA HA

This was a good purchase. She swears she got it for considerably less than the price shown. But even at the price shown, I think it's darn well worth it!
Highly Recommended!
John Row

I LOVE this boombox. I got it for Christmas, and it has never given me any trouble at all. Worked right away, great sound too. I highly recommend it.

I received this as an Xmas present to use at my office. Great sound and I love the remote. I had to place this on a high shelf in my office and having the remote makes it easier to operate!

read the other reviews- why would a person try to sell you this product, what do they get out of it by listing every feature in colorful detail? It seems odd to me...

This is actually a review of Sony CFD-E75 CD/Radio/Cassette Boombox (Silver), exact thing except color. I "borrowed" this from my wife when I found I didn't have any cassette players (except in a car) and had to listen to a cassette. I was impressed by the sound quality for spoken word cassettes. Everything sounds normal like a human is talking! I've also listened to music cassettes and music CD's and am just amazed at how good this sounds. The "wheel" for selecting CD tracks is a great idea and is used for tuning the radio when in "radio" mode. That makes it easy to find your station.Speaking of which, this model has a "real" three section, rotating antenna, not a skinny little wire hanging out the back What won me over though was the FM AND AM reception on the radio section of this item. We live in an area where the big broadcast antenna are on a hill real close to our home so we've always had problems with radio reception. A good adjustable Bass with the Sony "Mega Bass" button does change the sound noticably. I like the styling and I keep the thing on the night stand next to my head so haven't needed the remote. I guess I'll let my wife keep that. HA HA

This was a good purchase. She swears she got ot for considerably less than the price shown. But even at the price shown, I think it's darn well worth it!
Highly Recommended!
John Row

I just received this cute little number in red for a gift! It looked too small to be functional but I was pleasantly surprised! The sound quality is fabulous and it reaches all areas of my condo. Not only do you get radio but cd, cassette, and a clock radio!!! Now for once in my life I can chose what I want to hear when I wake up or as I go to sleep.
I found this Sony so portable that I have taken it to several picnics and other outside events. It tucks nicely into my car. In my bedroom, it does not overpower anything else-perfect size!
Another plus is the availability of headsets in case I want to crank the tunes in the middle of the night and not disturb my elderly neighbors.
The price is great, features fabulous and colors spectacular so what are you waiting for?

I bought this as a gift for my mom (she's visiting right now) & she's complained that the buttons are a little stiff & the cassette door doesn't open & shut too easily. She isn't too impressed...

This one is the best that I've ever heard at this price range it's even better than those over hundred dollars. It doesn't look pretty but excellent sound. I thought SONY just over priced on everything they make. I was wrong.

I like this boombox for its versatility, appearance, and ease of use. The sound quality is excellent. The features I use most often are the CD player with the sleep function. I compared other models and prices and am happy with my choice. For the price, I think it packs a lot of features and quality.

This product would have been excellent, except for two MAJOR flaws.

1. The radio reception is terrible, it barely pulls in stations that work great on several other radios I have. Thus, this unit is more of a CD player than a radio.

2. When I turn the radio or CD on there is a noticable background hum. I do not know if this is because this unit is defective, or what. I tried doing some troubleshooting (tried other locations, sockets, let it burn in a bit) but no luck.

Rating (Terrible) 0 <--> 100 (Excellent) Sound quality: 90 Looks: 90 Conectivity: 10 Radio reception: 10 Features: 94 Usability: 93 Performance: 10 Overall: 19

Summary: Even if this unit did not hum, the radio reception is not good enough to make me want to keep the unit. It only pullin in really strong stations without static. Otherwise the reception is just too poor.

I purchased the Sony clock-radio ICF-CD803 several years ago, and was quite pleased with it overall until the button that turned on the radio started not to work. In order to turn on the radio, I would have to set the alarm to the radio mode and then advance the alarm until the radio came on. It was not a major drawback for me, but the one feature of that clock-radio that used to annoy me, (apart from the fact it had only 6 pre-sets,) was the fact that one could not select just the radio to wake up to. One could wake up to the CD, the CD and then the radio, or a beeper alarm. I never understood this, but it wasn't a major drawback for me. I bought the clock-radio for sale here, the ICF-CD873 in November 2002, and it does not have this problem. I can wake up to the CD, the radio, a beeper alarm, or some fairly ersatz birdsong or a running river. Like its predecessor, the sound on the ICF-CD873 is very respectable for a clock-radio. Of course, the sound from its little speakers is not as good as that from my 16" JBLs, but it is not that far behind, and as bright and bassy as any little clock-radio by your bed would need to be. I like the "voice-plus" feature where a (slight Japanese-accented,) woman's voice tells you the time, because, as is common with every digital clock I've ever encountered, the display is too bright at night for me. I cover the display with a CD cover, and if I need to know the time I reach out and tap the button which activates the "voice-plus" feature. The voice also speaks before the alarm goes off, saying "Good morning, it is 6 o'clock A.M." (Or whatever.) I wish it didn't do this. It startled me the first couple of times it did it. But it is not a major drawback for me, and if it was there is a button that switches the "voice-plus" off. ("Plus what?" one wonders.) A more serious annoyance is that there are only 5 pre-sets, one less than the ICF-CD803. It's not a disqualifier, but one wonders "Why only 5?" All-in-all, I'm very pleased with my ICF-CD873, especially if the buttons continue to function past 2008.

I gave my (cheaper) Panasonic RC-CD500 away (and she likes it) then purchased this Sony ICF-CD 873. I like this one better! Sounds great & looks good.

I loved this product for its many functions. It is not yet one year old, however, and has had a complete failure of all systems. The warranty is only for 90 days, so I'm out of luck. The Sony people gave me an address to take it to for repairs (parts, not labor, are still under warranty) but could not give me a phone number for the service center! I was told they did not have one and left to fend for myself. It did not cost enough to track down this service center and hope the repairs cost less than the purchase price.

no problems with it, works perfectly

This is actually a review of Sony CFD-E75 CD/Radio/Cassette Boombox (Silver), exact thing except color. I "borrowed" this from my wife when I found I didn't have any cassette players (except in a car) and had to listen to a cassette. I was impressed by the sound quality for spoken word cassettes. Everything sounds normal like a human is talking! I've also listened to music cassettes and music CD's and am just amazed at how good this sounds. The "wheel" for selecting CD tracks is a great idea and is used for tuning the radio when in "radio" mode. That makes it easy to find your station.Speaking of which, this model has a "real" three section, rotating antenna, not a skinny little wire hanging out the back What won me over though was the FM AND AM reception on the radio section of this item. We live in an area where the big broadcast antenna are on a hill real close to our home so we've always had problems with radio reception. A good adjustable Bass with the Sony "Mega Bass" button does change the sound noticably. I like the styling and I keep the thing on the night stand next to my head so haven't needed the remote. I guess I'll let my wife keep that. HA HA
I don't know why others are saying the sound is poor, but mine sounds great!

This was a good purchase. She swears she got it for considerably less than the price shown. But even at the price shown, I think it's darn well worth it!
Highly Recommended!
John Row

I have purchased not one, or two, but three of these units! Each has survived in the harsh marine environment for less than a year. The problem always lies in the same two areas. The jog switch is not only difficult to use. It is the first thing to suffer from water intrusion. Why they would put such a device on a water resistant unit is beyond me. Obviously the seals cannot be made sufficiently water resistant. The second issue is where the power cord plugs into the unit. This is a standard plug arrangement, and not in the least water resistant. The metal portion of the plug remains visable upon installation.

Admittedly, the environment I use the unit is very harsh. I leave it on the deck of my sailboat where it receives light rainfall and ocean spray. I have been unable to find any water resistant unit other than Sony products. Sony used to make a Sports boombox that was yellow and extremely well built. It lasted me five years on the sailboat! That unit stayed on deck all the time. Even in heavy rainfall and sailed through a Tropical Storm while playing CDs!! It also came with a DC power adapter which is convenience for plugging in the boat. The new models do not.

The answer may be the expensive option of installing a complete audio system. However, that is expensive, requires wiring to be run through the boat, and, worst, requires putting holes in the boat to mount speakers.

In the meantime, I will purchase one more Sony Sports boombox because I like the price and the product before if fails to the elements. A hundred bucks a year for having tunes on the boat is worth it. This time, however, I am going to try the cheaper version without the jog switch, and treat the power connection with water resistant electric grease.

Just got this today - it has great sound for a small speakers.
The megabass was good considering it does not have any subwoofer.
The bass port in the back helps.

I don't know about the other reviewers, but I have experience with playing mp3 cds with different devices. This one works good. If it is skipping with MP3 songs, it is because it was burned at a faster speed. If you want good compatibility with other mp3 cd players, it is best to burn at 2x speed.

I like the way you can stand it up. Perfect for the back seat of a truck or car. As for the person complaining about the brick power supply, it's because this will let you use a dc power adapter for the car and be able to plug it into the power port.

I love electronics technlogy. This is a very cool little system, especially for the price. I was looking for an mp3 boombox and found this one by Sony and I do NOT regret its purchase.

Its a simple system and has every function I was looking for! When I looked at it in the store I was wondering where all the features could be. But with these few keys you can:

- play mp3 cds,
- shuffle tracks,
- repeat track, directory, cd, album.
- Rewind/Forward Tracks/Directories
- and scan rewind/forward tracks.
- Program your own folders (20) with your own track order up to 20 tracks or files for each folder!

There are 20 presets for the radio and they are very easy to set. The boombox is very intuitive. i figured out how to do everything in about 2 minutes of playing with it w/out the instructions, because everything just makes sense the way it's set up. Kudos to Sony for this!!! I really love it.

Worthy Extras:
Its also waterproof, very light and easy to carry!

PS. One thing that a buyer may expect is a remote, but there isn't one.

The radio/alarm works well as an alarm clock. The beeper mode wakes you up well, and I especially appreciate the remote for snooze in the morning. However, the radio sounds like a 60's era transistor radio. You can't hook up an antenna to improve FM reception.

This is a good alarm clock. Of course the best option in myopinion is the remote control. The stereo isn't much. But you getwhat you pay for.

Cheap construction overall. The tuner dial doesnt line up with the stations. The AM/FM/TV switch doesnt line up correctly. The cassette door doesnt close completely. The sound is decent, but if you're in the market for a inexpensive portable radio, I'd look somewhere else.

I read the previous post from the customer in New Jersey. I am unsure if the item was defective, but I can tell you, I am quite happy with my little portable radio. It serves its purpose and I dont have unrealistic expectations of it as if the item were a boom box type.

I bought this item for my Grandmother's birthday. She doesn't have any CDs and so she wanted a tape-playing clock radio. I chose Sony for its great reputation and quality. At first glance it was dissapointing. It looks cheap and you would swear that its a knock-off. When my Grandma plugged it in to listen to her tape, it wouldn't play. We tried everything! This is the only time I've been so dissapointed with an online purchase and I can't even return it because I bought it over 30 days ago.

Purchased one of these Sony clock radios from Amazon during the fall of 2000. One of a very few that has a cassette player in it. I'm quite satisfied with it. The sound is relatively clear for a unit in this price range. Operates reliably.

I purchased this radio several weeks ago and it's been thrown in the garbage. It has poor radio reception, and tape player is noisy and it does not have clear sound.

It doesn't get much worse than this. The audio quality is similar to sticking your head in a bucket and scraping metal objects around. The tape player ate one of my tapes. The tuner never seemed to work in the AM band... you could go 1/4 the way on the same station/static. To trust this alarm clock in waking you for you future is as smart as tricking yourself into thinking you'll get up 30 minutes after you hear your neighbors car start. Buy this only with a surplus of aspirin...

I was not impressed with this unit, even considering its relatively low price. I purchased it because it is one of the few currently-manufactured clock radios that contains a cassette player. It is cheaply made. The unit I received was defective: when I tried to play a cassette, all I heard was a loud howl. When I accidentally hit the "sleep" button (the buttons are pretty close to each other), I was unable to stop the radio from playing and eventually had to unplug the unit. After some research I found that TIMEX (a company with at least a bit of a reputation) doesn't even make the unit--they've licensed their name to another company. They should be ashamed.