I currently have a Kenwood DPC-321 from 1992 that I got as a birthday gift. I’ve just lost the adapter to it and have decided to replace it. I’m looking for a player that, preferably, would have a longer battery life, be much more shock resistant (this one has basically no shock resistance), and is relatively cheap (certainly no more than about $150, if that is at all feasible).
What is the price range on portable CD players at this time? What kinds of features are available for $100-150? Am I being unreasonably cheap, or are good models available for much cheaper (that’s always good)? For those of you that have portable CD players, what to YOU listen to your music on and what do you think of it?
SanibelMan - My Homepage
“Step away from the bell curve, sir.”
I think you’ll find that, like Walkmans, portable CD players have come down significantly in price. You can get them for as little as around $50 or $60. If you want superior sound with no skipping and a more portable size. Look into a miniCD player/recorder (this is assuming you have a source to record from: a regular CD player or your portable if it still works.) There were a few threads discussing them in General Questions if you look back a few pages. If you’re really interested in making your own digital quality recordings the editing capabilities are first rate. You can record a whole disk (approx 74 minutes) then re-arrange the order of the songs, split songs up, delete some and replace them with others, etc; and with no loss of sound quality like you would have on a tape. The mind boggles! Mine was about $150 although you can pay a lot more for bells and whistles (remote, etc.) and less for ones that only play (around $100.)
“I’m the luckiest man in the world, now that Lou Gehrig is dead.” Homer Simpson
My bad, they are collectively known as MiniDisc players and recorders. The discs themselves are hard and self-contained like a small floppy. Several companies make them, not just Sony. Mine’s a Sharp and I’m very pleased with it. You can take a look here: http://www.sharp-usa.com/frame.asp?pageid=/minidisc/
“I’m the luckiest man in the world, now that Lou Gehrig is dead.” Homer Simpson
For skip resistance try a disk player made for use in a car that has a music buffer. I’ve had a sony for three years and I recall it cost around $100. As for batteries I switched to rechargable alkalines. I get about eight hours play time.
“Popeye? Hm? He’s not much of a judge of women!” King Blozo
If you want brand name advice, Sony is good. Fisher and Kenwood aren’t very good. I have a Kenwood myself and it skips when you tap the table lightly a foot away.
– Sylence
I don’t have an evil side. Just a really, really apathetic one.
Sure, go ahead and tell me that Kenwood isn’t good now, after we’ve invested in a tape deck, 100 disc CD changer and Surround Sound receiver.
Actually, it’s interesting - we have a Kenwood amp from years and years ago (I’m not sure how old it is, but it’s a KA-8300 and we’ve had it since before my parents were married, and that was in 1980). And it still works fine today.
If it’s any help here’s the Consumer Reports test results for portable CD players.
They liked the PhillipsAZ7383 as a Best Buy (approx. $100)
They also liked the Panasonic SL-7583 (approx. $150),Phillips AZ7583 (approx. $120) and Sony D-E409CK (approx. $140).
