# Desperately seeking a special CD player. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720 "2004-10-17T21:40:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anise/32/21721_2.png) [@Anise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anise)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720/1 "2004-10-17T21:40:41Z")
Well, I really couldn’t think of anywhere else to ask. 😉 I can’t exercise to anything slower than 146-156 bpm. Slower music drives me nuts. Dynamix (and some other places too, maybe) stocks special CD’s that have remixes at that speed, but they’re expensive. I’ve seen the CD players instructors use; they have variable speed controls. Is there a portable, personal, Walkman-type CD player that also has these controls??? Anise ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720/2 "2004-10-17T21:43:37Z")
I don’t know about portable CD players, but I wonder if one could use PC software to make MP3s at the higher rate, and then you could use a portable MP3 player to play them. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720/3 "2004-10-17T21:54:18Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I don’t know about portable CD players, but I wonder if one could use PC software to make MP3s at the higher rate, and then you could use a portable MP3 player to play them. This may not be what you mean, but [Audacity](http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) (which is free) has a speed control option. You can speed up any track by whatever percentage you want. Of course, everything sounds like chipmunks on speed. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720/4 "2004-10-17T23:08:56Z")
That sounds like maybe exactly what I had in mind. It saves the mp3 in the faster bpm format, so when you play it in any player it plays at the faster rate? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720/5 "2004-10-17T23:14:26Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > That sounds like maybe exactly what I had in mind. It saves the mp3 in the faster bpm format, so when you play it in any player it plays at the faster rate? Once you’ve changed the speed, it stays changed, so, yes. Of course, you could always “save as…”. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720/6 "2004-10-17T23:21:46Z")
There are no truly portable (ie wearable) players that I could find with pitch control. This is the closest portable CD player with pitch and tempo control. It’s small but not really “wearable”. You might want to try using a mini-disc player. Sound quality is excellent and they are wearable. (see link below) [PSD220 Portable CD Player](http://shoppingstore.jobbankusa.com/Musical-Instruments/product20990-46.htm) > [@](#): > > An incredible practice tool. Dramatically change the tempo of any music CD, without affecting the music’s key, in 1% increments from -33% to +50%. Select portions of music to continuously repeat, at normal or modified tempo, with the A-B loop function. The PSD220 is specifically designed for those situations that require tempo change only, such as aerobics, dance, and instrument practice. Unlike “pitch control” or “variable speed” features on some CD players, the PSD220’s true tempo control can slow or speed the beats-per-minute without warping the music out of its original key. It includes analog and digital stereo outputs for connection to powered speakers or a recording device, 3-band EQ for tone balancing, CD-TEXT display, 3-way power, as well as a built-in mono speaker and a headphone jack with volume control. > Reviews [Sony MZE10 Portable Minidisc Player with 5 FREE Minidiscs SONMZE10](http://www.hifibitz.co.uk/product.asp?id=849) ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720/7 "2004-10-17T23:26:58Z")
> [@Anise](#): > > Is there a portable, personal, Walkman-type CD player that also has these controls??? Why not just buy CDs with faster music? A large amount of electronic music is about 180bpm. Honestly, I’d find listening to a familiar song artificially sped-up to be really weird. ---
**Author:** ![Anise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anise/32/21721_2.png) [@Anise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anise)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720/8 "2004-10-17T23:33:55Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > Why not just buy CDs with faster music? A large amount of electronic music is about 180bpm. Honestly, I’d find listening to a familiar song artificially sped-up to be really weird. Dynamix does have faster music, but it’s very expensive. I’m just used to exercising to familiar sped-up songs-- that’s mostly what they have, anyway. And if their stuff was downloadable as MP3’s it would probably be worth getting an MP3 player… as it is, there are other places for the money to go right now. 😛 (Hmm… I wonder what that little green smiley EXACTLY means…) Anyway, I liked the Audacity idea. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/desperately-seeking-a-special-cd-player/269720/9 "2004-10-17T23:50:44Z")
> [@Anise](#): > > Dynamix does have faster music, but it’s very expensive. I’m just used to exercising to familiar sped-up songs-- that’s mostly what they have, anyway. And if their stuff was downloadable as MP3’s it would probably be worth getting an MP3 player… as it is, there are other places for the money to go right now. 😛 (Hmm… I wonder what that little green smiley EXACTLY means…) Anyway, I liked the Audacity idea. I mean regular CDs. Get a mix set by Paul Oakenfold or John Digweed. Play it in a regular CD player. It’s no more expensive than any other CD. Why this focus on Dynamix’ products?