Sony MP3 CD Player Review

Introduction

After amassing a huge collection of MP3s (over 1500) I absolutely had to have a player for my car. Well, now I have two, one for my car and one for Barb's. We've been using them for a month or two and now can't live without them. We went the "portable with car kit" route since that was the most economical option at the time (May 2002).

Sony D-CJ01

Sony's first portable MP3 CD player. On the good side:

On the bad side:

Update

I replaced this player in my car with a Sony CDX-MP40. This player is now in the living room connected to some PC speakers.

Sony D-CJ506

This model and the D-CJ500 and D-CJ501 are identical, but the D-CJ506 is black and includes a car kit (cigarette lighter adapter and cassette adapter). On the good side:

On the bad side:

Update

Barb's Sony D-CJ506 bit the dust November 2003. We purchased it May 14, 2002, so it lasted about a year and a half. In the middle of playing, it would suddenly stop and say "no disc". Cleaning the lens had no effect. Appears to be a mechanism problem. We replaced it with a newer model.

Conclusions

Both are great players and have served us well. The main problem that I'd like to see resolved is the roulette style shuffle algorithm. Using a true "card deck" style shuffle algorithm would be more useful if you have CDs filled with random songs. To deal with this problem, I wrote a little program that adds two random characters to the front of each MP3 filename. This gives a much better randomness when played in alphabetical order.

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Disclaimers: These are simply random observations I've made while using Sony's MP3 CD Players. I am not affiliated with any of the companies mentioned in this page in any way other than as a customer. All trademarks are owned by their respective owners. There are no ads on this page, and there never will be. Use this information at your own risk. I won't be held responsible for anything that happens to you as a result of reading this. Shake well before serving. The contents of this page are Copyright 2002, with all rights reserved by me, Ted Felix.

Copyright ©2004, Ted Felix