Summary:
I purchased this cd changer (for $360) due to its compatability with my kenwood vr2090 multi-room digital receiver. This cd player is everything I anticipated and more. Uninterrupted music, different cds in different rooms simultaneously, juke box control via the vr2090 interactive remote which displays cd and song titles, and much more... are all a big plus.

While I feel that I would still have bought this player over others on the market if given another chance there are a few things I would have preffered be different. For one, this player is HUGE. I had to cut the back out of my entertainment center to accomidate it. (something like 23" deep) Also, it took me two evenings to input the 150 discs titles I have into it via the remote. And god knows when all the song titles will be finished. I think the cd text recoginition is really cool, but only two (the newer ones) of the 150 cds has text encoded. One final complaint is that I can only listen to the player in continuous mode if I set my receivert to analog (since only mechanism A is digital).

Nevertheless this is a great player and I recommend it strongly.

Strengths:
continuous play, multi-room, sort by name/genre, appearance,
cd text reading

Weaknesses:
large size, time consuming text input w/remote

Similar Products Used:
n/a

Summary:
I purchased this unit for $316 complete from www.vanns.com, including shipping! I can't say enough nice things about this unit. I've always thought CD changers were absurd for offering the capacity until I discovered them myself. The continuous play brings your music up so fast you don't realize some of the songs have changed. The dual outputs make it possible to listen to one cd and record another! The only knock I have on it is the remote, be very careful when making your programming selections and keep your eyes on the screen. Don't ever let those batteries get weak or you could be there a while with that remote. The display screens make it possible to see what's playing from across some pretty large rooms. If your Cd collection is expansive this guy makes it seem small. I will agree that the Cd dial is small, but considering the unit, it's not enough to call it a weakness. Text entry is somewhat cumbersome and slow, but once you've done it it's worth it.

Strengths:
Capacity, Continuous play, Dual outputs for each cd transport, very random-random play, big display screens

Weaknesses:
poor button organization on the remote. The unit size: IT'S A BIG ONE!

Similar Products Used:
Technics 110+1 CD Changer

Summary:
Picked this guy up at buyitnow.com for $360. It lists on the Kenwood site MSRP for $499.

I compared sony, jvc, pioneer and yamaha 200 disk changers and found this one to have the two features I desired: random play by music type and continous playback.

After I programmed all my CDs I could randomly play them by group. It has something like 12 preset music typs and 8 more user groups for youself but I don't think you can name them (this is one of the only things that bugs me about this unit). CD's can belong to more than one user group. The continous play works great. During random play it loads a cd in each player (this unit can play 2 CDs at once) so when the song is over, the next random song starts playing imediately while it loads another disk into the first player. This is great during parties or dinners. It has dual zone playback if you have an amp that can do it.

The remote is pretty easy to work but the buttons are a little small.

The unit is pretty easy to opperate and even my wife can figure out how to search for a disk and play it. It took a while to set all the disk titles and music types but it's definately worth it. I guess modern disks have "CD text" which this unit can understand but not one of my disks had text so that didn't help me. This unit can also handle dts disks whenever those start coming out.

The random play is really random and I havn't heard it play the same song twice yet.

It also has a favorite button which, if pushed while a song is playing, tags that song as one of your favorites. You can have up to 36 favorite songs which I think you can play randomly but i'm not sure.

You can load 199 disks while one is playing if you want to but I found it difficult to name them while doing this so I just listened to the radio and inserted and named cd's. Kenwood recommends that you name your CD's as you insert them and this was the most efficient way to do it.

The unit is pretty quiet but it's big, both wide and deep. There is no port to plug in a computer keyboard and some people are hot on the ability to do that but I dont think that would have sped up the process of inputing disk tittles so it doesn't bother me.

Overall I am very pleased with my purchase and recommend this unit to people who entertain alot like me. It has great cd organizational feartures and awesome random playback features.

There are three things I would change about the CD3280M...
Get a larger cd selection knob, one with a divot so you can put your finger in it and spin away.
Get a light inside this thing to show off it's guts because it's really dark in there.
Allow programmable names for user music groups so I don't have to remember that User File 1 is all my dinner music.

These three things droped it from a 5 to a 4.

Strengths:
Plays randomly any style of music i program. Looks sharp.

Weaknesses:
Small cd selection dial.