Excellent copies,ease of use,remote.

Bit lightweight but good for the price.

This machine is a bargain!I paid GBP160,copying cd's is simple,I record using the coaxial cable input for the best quality,playing copied cd's back through my Meridian 588,I can't really tell the difference,maybe a bit of digital glare on certain busy sections of music.Obviously cd's played back on the Pioneer lose out to the Meridian,and so they should considering the price difference,however it is the recording of cd's which is truly excellent on the 609. The featurelist is impressive,and the machine is easy to use once you've read the instruction book.I enjoy using this machine,and making cd's for friends etc,it even copies vinyl well,although some care is needed on recording levels (couple of coasters now)

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None

Versatility.Build.Sound

Takes a little while to get ready if you have to change discs during a radio recording,but what do you want for this money,the moon on a stick ?

Bought this beauty about 9 months ago,and have never looked back. It is used every day,and never complains. I use the co-ax connection to make copies of cd's from my Marantz CD48,which are perfect. It sounds great on playback,better than the Marantz. I use the optical connection to make copies of cd's onto my Sharp MD-MT190 personal Minidisc recorder.These sound great also. I use the analogue connection to record bootleg recordings from minidisc to cd.The level control is useful here.I also record from vinyl,radio and audio tape using the analogue connection. This machine is close to faultless.For anyone wishing to transfer old vinyl and tape recordings to cd for safekeeping,you won't do any better for the money. I'm looking forward to transfering the other 3000 or so audio tapes. The only time my Sherwood D480 twin tape deck gets used now,is for transferring recordings onto cd.The D480 was only £40 cheaper than the Pioneer 609,and I thought that was a good buy. This machine is an absolute bargain,and the price is actually dropping.Buy one,you won't regret it.

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Computer cd burner

Sound quality. Easy to use.

Slow recognizing what type of CD is loaded. Only accept the more expansive audio CD's. You can't use data CD's. The serial copy protection can even stop you from making legal copies.

I picked it up because I wanted to transfer my LP albums to CD. Initially I was very pleased, but over time I realized that it is easy to ruin a CD-R or two. The auto track is one thing. If the recorder doesn't find the gap between tracks you are lost. If you don't find set the level control for the strongest part the CD is ruined. On my PC I can try over and over again until I'm pleased with the result.

Very open and accurate sounding recordings, very easy to operate in manual-track mode. Results sound so good I can't wait to find other albums to record next!

None so far. Default mode is 'auto' rather than 'manual' for recording analog sources and needs to be switched, but that's just a preference thing.

After a couple of auction letdowns('new' Tdk without a remote or manual which I received a refund for and a PDR-05 that was damaged by Mr. Mailman but was insured), I picked up a 609 for a very reasonable price. This is my first stand alone recorder and the results are terrific! I wanted a recorder for copying vinyl to cd without having to lug my Oracle and Rotel preamp across the room to my computer burner each time. Previously made vinyl recording to my computer were actually pretty good but the Pioneer sounds just as nice if not better without all the hassle. It's as easy to use as a tape deck; set the recording level while in pause mode, and hit pause again to record. Just hit pause between each song from there on and finalize the disc when finished(table of contents takes about 2 minutes). I haven't tried any digital recordings yet but the few discs I've made so far have turned out awesome! No pops, clicks, skips, or any other 'recording flaws' have ocurred. Recordings have great depth and sound quite close to the original. There is a very slight 'digital-edge' to the sound when finished but overall it still can sound better than a factory cd of the same album! I'm guessing any glare(and the Pioneer's is neglible, could just be my picky ears) could be reduced by adding on a higher quality outboard Analog-to-Digital converter and then recording through the digital input. I don't really know what a higher priced recorder would offer over a unit like the 609 with recordings this accurate. If you are going to dump money into something get one of these recorders used and use your leftover cash for a turntable/cartridge upgrade or for a nicer preamp. This is by no means an audiophile player for listening, but that's not really it's intentions. Really nice recorder at the price I paid and it seems like it's still in high demand in the auction market. Next I am going to try recording casettes and maybe some soundtrack music from a dvd source.

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easy to use and very reliable. Like I said, not one malfunction or coaster in over a year of service.

can't really think of any. very reasonably priced, reliable and sounds good. what more do you want?

I use this cd burner primarily for mixing down my music. I've burned some vinyl and cds as well. I've had it for over a year and it has not malfunctioned on me once. The recordings are extremely good and I found it easy to use. It also has a lot of cool features like automatically marking a new track number when there is silence between songs.

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More reliable than some computer based cdburners i've used. better sound too.

Great quality CDs from digital or analog sources for very little money.

MODEL DISCONTINUED - you need to hunt this one down to get a close-out or a used version. No other reasonably priced Pioneer models (or other brands) are rated so high by so many. For automatic track numbering you will probably need to adjust the sound level at which this unit senses two seconds of silence and thus inserts track numbers. Initially, I had the default setting on and this resulted in it not discerning each individual track. Now that I have adjusted it the only risk is that if you play classical or other music with silent pauses mid-track, you may end up with "extra tracks" (i.e. track 3 on your source becomes tracks 3, 4 & 5 on your burned CD).

Just adding my praise to the rest of these reviews. Very happy to have found an easy to use CD Recorder for my first venture into burning my own CDs. The manual is a bit wordy but oh so clearly written. Once you have burned a few it becomes very intuitive. Great recording quality and even the sound quality is up there with CD player. Many options for recording are available.

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My first burner.

Surprisingly good sound quality for recording and playback

None peculiar to this unit - the CD format is much less forgiving than audio tape.

I purchased this unit primarily to record LPs to CD. I have been very pleased with the sound quality of discs I have made to date. This unit does have an analog level control, which I understand some CD recorders do not. My source is an older Linn LP12 with a Rega arm and a Grado cartridge,and an Arcam Alpha 7 integrated amp.

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No other CD recorders.

high quality recording. musical playback. cdr''s play back reliably. ease of use. price.

none.

i got the PDR609 simply because i''ve had good luck with pioneer digital playback units in the past; apparently the quality level is still there... this unit is extremely easy to use, once you learn how it all works... and the manual is clearly written to facilitate that learning curve. digital recordings are indistinguishable from the originals (i use the toslink connection directly from the source, a pioneer DVL919 combi-player)... analog recordings from cd sources are almost imperceptibly warmer... analog recordings from vinyl, cassette, vhs are noticably warmer and fuller (which suggests a touch of compression), but the overall effect is one of improvement, particularly for vinyl... in any event, all recordings are superior to those made on my venerable nakamichi DR3 cassette (now collecting dust). cd-r''s made on this deck seem to play back reliably on all decks, including my reputedly finicky rotel 955AX... no complaints from friends for whom i''ve made mix discs, presumably played on everything from pc''s to car decks to home systems. as a playback unit, it is as capable as any pioneer deck i''ve encountered... though i use (and prefer) the dac''s from the marantz SR5000 receiver, i always test analog out from any digital component... the 609 is a very good musical source, as is its big brother, the 919 - sweet & detailed, punchy bass... any consumer grade deck such as this, however, can always be improved with an outboard dac, or a receiver or pre/pro with contemporary processing. at this price - and i think it can be had for $250 - you can''t go wrong.

easy to use, top quality recordings

none

I have had the pdr609 for about 4 months, and have had no problems at all. Very easy to use, just follow the manual and you won't go wrong. I'm hooked through the analog connection, and the recordings are great. When recording I set the recording levels a little "hot", I think the recording is better than the original. H ave recorded 45 disks so far and everyone is perfect.

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Perfect recordings.
Easy to use when understood.
Good playback too.

Not the most attractive of separates

I bought this CD-R/CD-RW recorder sceptical that it may not live up to the ratings it's been showered in concerning its recording capabilities. Friends tried to persuade me minidisc was the way to go, and i could see the benefits of such a small and versatile disc. However retailers and web pages assured me that CD-R is better quality sound - i had noticed in the past that minidiscs lacked some of the excitement of the original source CDs, so i eventualy opted for CD-R. And what a brilliant choice the Pioneer PDR-609 made! I can't tell the difference between the original and the copied version on any CD-player, and the playback quality almost matches my highly acclaimed NAD C520 CD player. The countless recording and playback features can be a little overwhelming at first but are proving to be very beneficial indeed now that i understand and can apply them all to my recordings. I thoroughly recommend this recorder, and would advise anyone interested in sound quality over versatility to opt for CD-R rather than MD.

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Friends' MD recorders.
PC CD recorders