ca10452

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Value Rating
 1 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $225.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
Sorry to say this machine SUCKS! STAY AWAY! I've had nothing but headaches and re-do's. I get error message after error message. I've changed CD's to record on and I get the same result! If you are wanting to use the equipment to just play CD's, fine. But if you want to use it what it's designed to do, forget it! It won't consistently record. You will go through cases of CD's just trying to get it to Finalize properly. Total garbage! Invest your money in something other than this piece of crap!

Strengths:
None. Plays music but doesn't record or duplicate. Worthless. Works good as an anchor I suppose. I'll try it this summer on my boat and let you know.

Weaknesses:
Error messages, inconsistent recordings, total junk!

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Price Paid:  $225.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
I am sending a warning out to those who may be considering this unit: DO YOUR HOMEWORK and read the reviews for ANYTHING you might consider, but especially this unit. I am currently on my THIRD deck of this model (which was a replacement for the far superior RCDW1) becasuse of TOC errors on brand new discs-esp. TDK Music-and errors of C-13 and C-14. The operation manual is no help with very limited information on any subject concerning the unit, and is no help concerning these error reports at all. According to Sony Repair in Laredo TX. it's my discs I'm feeding the machine. Because the discs aren't Sony's own, there's a chance they won't work. Pure bogus nonsense here. Any discs branded the right way (with digital audio recording in the logo on the pack should work, but no! they don't. Maybe TDK is right and the batch I'm using is defective, but I doubt that seriously since they do work in my MacBook Pro Laptop (take that Sony!).
This is the first ever Sony product that has truly caused me hurt and pain in recording. I've used a number of Sony products for over thirty years including pro gear, but this model really gives the company a black eye. I feel obligated to let those unsuspecting folks who might be experiencing the same problems know that they are not alone and maybe it's time we all need to gang up on the once proud company called Sony and demand that this model be withdrawn, redesigned and built properly-so it runs at least ten years. It really gives me grief to have to write a truly bad review about a company product that should not have gone this route at all. A truly sad model from the inventor of digital audio!

Strengths:
Changer deck
Great info panel as to what unit is doing time wise and other information for recording.
Toslink digital inputs and outputs
Ability to label discs recorded

Weaknesses:
Errors of C-13, C-14 and other TOC types
Finalize function doesn't always engage
Only one set of analog out and in jacks (needed a set for each deck)

Similar Products Used:
Sony RCD W1
Harmon-Kardon Dual Recorder

Price Paid:  $250.00 from Fry's

Summary:
WOW! Had this in the box for a little over a year and decided to experiment with the Recorder! OUTSTANDING! Just what I needed! I'm a casual songwriter with outdated "cassette" recording equipment into which recorded again onto cassette tapes. Took a recorded cassette tape of mine and analogly recorded it upon a CD-R. This machine automaticallly digitally re-recorded and self mixed the control levels of my "demo" and gave the recording an enhanced sound quite comparibly to mastering without the high cost!

Many other quality features too on this unit as mentioned before by other's!

I'm so amazed I'm going to buy another one just to have as a back up!

Strengths:
Low price, high quality recordings, easy to use, compactible.

Weaknesses:
None!

Similar Products Used:
Tascam cassette recorder previously.

Thunder-Pig

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
4.25 of 5, 8.00 votes

Price Paid:  $150.00 from Fry's

Summary:
I hadn't set out to buy the Sony RCD-W500C CD changer/recorder, (or any other)but I'm glad I did. I normally make music CDs on my computer with good results, so I really wasn't looking for a recorder at all. I was however, looking to replace my aging single CD player in my home stereo with a multi-disc changer. This Sony was on clearance sale for the same or lower price than many units that were changers only, so I bought it. Not until after I got it home, did I begin to understand the capabilities of this machine. First of all, it's big and heavy. I like that. I'm suspicious of gear that feels flimsy, no matter how stunning specs it may have. As a CD player/changer, it played every kind of disk I fed it, though an MP3 disk I made on PC with Cakewalk PYRO was a tad hissy. To me, the real trick for this machine is it's recording capabilities. I expected it could copy direct from source CD to CD-R, which it easily does, but I had no idea it could record analog audio direct to CD-R. I've been exploring this feature the most. I've copied DVD audio from concert DVDs to CD-R, I used a signal generator on my PC to record a calibration CD that matches my equalizers, I recorded analog audio from my PC of MP3s modified with winamp plug-ins, I copied VCR audio to CD-R, I recorded 2-track audio of my friend playing guitar straight from his mixer, and just for kicks, I recorded a few phone calls to CD-R, just because I could. The only things I didn't like are the confusing copy protection rules and the headphone amp output seems kinda low (using AKG 240M phones). Also, the manual could have been better.

Strengths:
Full function CD changer/recorder. Direct A to B copies are flawless. Analog input to CD-R recording feature is a blast. Big heavy sturdy machine.

Weaknesses:
Headphone output amp level seems low. Manual could have been better.

Frank F.

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.06 of 5, 17.00 votes

Price Paid:  $299.00

Summary:
The cd recorder is becoming a rarity these days with the onslaught of DVD recorders IMHO w/o dvd-dvd dubbing they're necessity wonders me.. The RCD-W500c is a great if not superb cd recorder with the strength of a programable 5 disc changer behind it... I had Doubts of it's accuracy with multiple cd's dubbing to one cd, but if you use the cd synchro option there is absolutely no gaps between tracks the recorder,pauses reads TOC of the next disc and then promptly burns the next track.. It has many Menu options also you can adjust the sensitivity of the trackmarkers, the digital record level of the Optical input(rare) the digital level of the 5 disc dubb deck(manual record only) The record level of the analog input(With Super Bit Mapping included!) MP3 Files/albums reading Fader controls on dubbing.. stop Gaps between tracks(alot of options for a non-pro deck) Of course SCMS copyguard has it's flaws but it will change to analog when detecting this. The Finalize time of one minute is excellent also... I tried to squelch the net rumors that it can't finalize 80 minute cd-rs & was correct no such trouble at all.... Plus where are 74 minute blanks now ?? The record/playback sonics are also superb for this Price... Overall a great machine with few flaws with the exception of no level control when synchro-dubbing... & No independent L/R controls...

Strengths:
Excellent features, Price sonics, 5 disc slim drawer changer, Super Bit Mapping(analog) Quick Finalize

Weaknesses:
Confusing Owner's Manual !!!

Similar Products Used:
Marantz DR-4050 DR-17 Elite PDR-99