Another problem unit. Loaded all my CD's. Worked great for 15 minutes, then made a terrible noise and stopped playing. Wouldn't restart and door wouldn't open. Brought to SONY for warranty service. 1.5 weeks later, CDs and CD player returned. Once again, it jammed after about 30 minutes of shuffle play. This time I wrenched the door open (not really that hard), extracted my CDs and am returning it for a refund.

Total convenience! Disc and group naming, keyboard input makes it easy as pie to enjoy.

Only 200 discs

I have the 200 as the slave to the 300 disc mega changers to conveniently listen to all 487 of my CD's. They are all linked toether using the Sony A1 line. So rad! They are all plugged into my 777ES receiver. I hit play on one player, both turn on the receiver switches on and turns to CD. You can set two players so they shuffle between the other, either by disc, group- blend them together - or one song stops the other starts. This is the best way to totally name and conveniently group, store, and play your discs by music type. I even have a Christmas group that was so easy to entertain family with. Perfect. I just wish that the Sony remote for 777ES or the 50ES would download ALL titles, not from just one player. But thats a different review. Buy it and enjoy!

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDPCX 300

Dependable, optical output, controls other changers

none

Sound quality is better using optical output. I just bought a new Sony 400 which I now have daisy=chained with the 210 & this changer. All three are now controled through a Nirvis Slink-e computer interface (see my 400 review). I can now search for individual albums or track and program and save them on custom playlists. Fantastic!

Similar Products Used:

Sony 210 & Sony 400

************FOLLOW UP************
In case anyone was interested....

I took the faulty CX240 in to Sony for the 2nd time. 2 weeks went buy and I received a delivery from UPS. They sent me a brand new unit. But instead of sending me a new CX240, they sent me a brand new CX260. Which is about $100 more. The only difference I can tell is the 2-way remote. Which is pretty cool, but won't get much use since I use my Philips Pronto anyway.

Just figured I'd chime in and let you know that Sony did indeed make good on the situation.

(4 Star rating for having to go to Sony twice to get the problem fixed)

Nothing special

Doesn't play the CD you want to hear.

I own two of these, daisy chained together. One works o.k., the other has constant problems, either not playing at all, or playing wrong cd. Keyboard also has keys that don't work.

Don't buy this model--try something else. Very expensive to fix and hard to keep repaired and working.

CD Text capability and ability to use a computer keyboard for disc naming is great. Eight separate CD groups are a nice touch, too.

Unit won't always play when you press play. I think it is funny that the owner's manual says to turn off power and then turn it back on when this happens. Sounds like a design flaw to me. Changer jams an awful lot when it is playing in the shuffle mode. This unit also skips more than any other unit I have ever own. I have owned Sony audio and video components for ten years, including two floor models. This changer was new-in-the-box and it is the worst Sony product I have ever owned.

DO NOT BUY THIS UNIT!!!

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-C545 5 disc changer
Sony XE-400 single disc player

I wanted a megachanger that would do it all. I've been extremely happy with my old Sony 5-disc changer (base model, 4-5 years old), so, I preferred to get a Sony unit. After much reviewing, reading, and comparing, I settled on this unit. Average retail is around $400. Picked it up locally for $345. I've had it for almost two weeks.

***Like:

· Spinning is 'careful'. Carousel speeds up when starting and slows down when stopping; ride is easy on the discs and much quieter than the changers whose carousels start and stop spinning abruptly.

· Intuitive remote. It's not perfect by any means, but it is quite functional.
It doesn't matter to me though; I've got a Philips Pronto (and you should have one too). :]

· Light behind discs. Carousel changers *have* to have one. A feature you won't appreciate until it's gone.

· Keyboard input (PS/2). If the changer allows text to be input, it *must* have a keyboard input. Typing by remote is hellishly tedious.

· Nice, big, jog dial. You can select discs really easily with this.

· Motorized door. I like these kinds of details. :]

· Sound is good. Perhaps even a little better than the old unit (maybe that's the 'newness' talking... *shrug*).

· Grouping. You can group a bunch of discs together under a name, like "Jacobs discs" or whatever, for easy access. I haven't messed with this yet, but it will be nice.

***Dislike:

- Fast forward / fast rewind buttons only on remote control. What were they thinking?

- Disc changing time. This is the thing that led me to buy another unit.
(See my review for the Kenwood CD-2280M) Time between discs is 10-15 seconds.
It doesn't sound like much, but you'll feel the pain when you experience it.

- Limited text capabilities. This unit allows you to name each disc. Problem is
you can only use 13 characters. Lame! Lame! Lame!...especially for a unit with a keyboard input. IMHO, they should double the size of the display and give us *a lot* more memory for text.

- Jog Dial. Can't select tracks with the jog dial. Minor gripe...though still lame.

- Size. Really minor gripe. This thing is huge. I had to cut the backing on my entertainment center to get it to fit.

- No exchangie. Want to put discs in the changer while a disc is playing? Tough.

- Noise. My components are exposed. If there is noise, I hear it. This unit is noisy when changing discs. It's not too terribly bad and would be non-issue if it was behind glass in a rack.

- Expensive. I feel it is a little overpriced.

***Overall:

It's a good, competant, machine. It feels well-built. Personally, I can't live with the limitations and gripes at this price. Most of you probably could. I'm looking for something more, though.

The problem is, I'm looking for the ultimate megachanger. ..and I'm not finding it. *sigh* I give it 4 stars. I'd give it 3.5, if I could.

I think this is the best value among the various changers I looked at, including the other Sonys. Until the end of March '99 (I think) it comes with a free keyboard offer (for data entry). I paid $319 for a demo unit. Crutchfield has it for $399, but shop around. I've seen it offered on ebay as well. I believe it has all of the features I could realistically need. The 260 has the advantage of an LCD remote, but that's at least another $150 and I didn't feel I would really use the LCD readout - after all, the 240 comes with two nice wallets for the CD jackets and they sit on the table right in front of me for quick reference (in fact, I doubt I'll ever get around to entering data into the machine - life is short, and you can see what's what just by glancing at the CD wallet). I have also heard that the 260's LCD remote eats batteries, and to enter a CD index number directly you have to open a door on the remote. For a lot more money, the 280 offers on-screen programming, which I haven't tried, but I don't think that's necessarily an advantage, especially for the money, since the TV has to be on. But that's a matter of personal preference.
The 280 also offers some audio circuitry borrowed from the ES series, but after 30 years of following audio I would bet that no one would be able to hear the difference in a blind test. The 240 sounds as good as a CD player is likely to sound - if you want meaningfully better sound, spend your money on better recordings and speakers.

My favorite feature (apart from being able to choose among 200 CDs almost instantaneously from my chair) is the delete - you can delete cuts from any CD and the changer will remember them. Think of all the albums that have one or two cuts you don't like - you'll never have to deal with those cuts again. Set it and forget it.

The changing speed is a few seconds slower than some other makes, but it doesn't bother me. I mean, what's a few extra seconds? I'm listening to music, not doing laps. Unless you're sitting and counting, I doubt you're even going to notice. But other people may have their reasons for noticing this more than I do.

As someone who grew up with LPs (which I still enjoy), I think this is a remarkably convenient component. Get one and you won't regret it.

Convenient, Sounds fine

Not 100% reliable

Bought the changer for the convenience. Have noticed the problem mentioned by other reviewers: namely, I occasionally need to power cycle the unit to get it to play a disc. I think that it is sensitive to spikes in the line voltage. I have an amp and pre-amp on the same outlet and I find it helps if I turn on the CD player, wait a moment for the unit to read the CD, and then turn on the amp and pre-amp.

Sound quality is pretty good, certainly better than the old TEAC changer it replaced. The next upgrade will probably be an external DAC.

Similar Products Used:

Adcom GTP-350, Adcom 5200, KEF Q-15

I know this is kind of tacky, but I work at an electronics store. Anyway I've got a Sony CDPCX88ES for sale. Ive got it brand new and untouched and sealed in the box. I also happen to have the store warrany on the unit and it is covered for 6 years so you don't have to worry about any warranty or lack thereof from the "GRAY MARKET" internet dealers or Sony. Instead it's covered through a large west coast chain super store.

Its a great unit but I've now decided to build a Denon system instead of Sony. I'm asking $500 for this BRAND NEW PLAYER, but I might be interested in "wheeling and dealing".

Its a 200 disk ES changer, with Sony's patented "current pulse D/A converter". It also has a 2 way remote with led screen, and has an optical output.
If interested reach me at HTTP://STEWARTSEAN@HOTMAIL.COM