Price Paid:  $300.00 from Sears

Summary:
I have exchanged this product twice for the same model, and I have experienced the same problem with all three of the units that I have owned. The problem is not with reading CDs... it is the fact that they skip during playback. In all three cases, the unit played fine for almost a year, and then the CD player began skipping. It doesn't skip right away... if I try to play an entire CD, it will start skipping after the fifth or sixth song. Seems like an over-heating problem to me. And the only way to make it stop skipping is by turning the volume down. If I want to continue playing the CD at a higher volume without any skipping, then I must wait at least an hour before playing it again. I have no idea why I was stupid enough to exchange this same unit twice... but now it is too late to return the third one that I now own. And Aiwa can't do anything about it because I did not purchase a warranty plan. It is pretty obvious, though, that the problem exists on all units of this particular model, as well as other models, and other Aiwa products. And if it isn't a skipping problem, then it's a problem with reading certain CDs. Something should definitely be done about this. When I contacted Aiwa about the problem, I finally got one of the Product Specialists to admit that he knew about this massive consumer problem, and that he personally (off the record) recommended filing a class-action lawsuit against Aiwa. Maybe a group of ripped-off consumers should seriously consider this idea.

Weaknesses:
The CD Player!!!