Price Paid:  $89.00 from Target

Summary:
I bought this CD player (mine is a D-FJ61, not a 65) in June of 2001 for some major trips I had planned for the summer. I bought it to replace my Sony D-EJ611 that didn''t have a radio, and as I listen to the radio more than CDs, this seemed like a logical choice. I only buy Sony products and come hell or high water, I will NEVER buy anything else! And trust me, this thing has been to hell and back and never failed me once. It fell off a friend''s Honda Accord onto concrete and survived...3 TIMES! I trudged through pouring rain, drenching humidity, airplane rides at 35,000 feet, rattling around school in my backpack and more things than I can mention here and has never failed! The battery life is incredible, the radio reception is top notch, the portability is astounding and volume goes up high enough for those real head-banging songs. My two small complaints are the facts that CD bass is not up to snuff and the headphones that came with it aren''t worth anything! So, I bought some Street-style headphones and am very satisfied. I am very satisfied! SONY RULES!

Strengths:
Excellent radio, phenomenal battery life, incredible durability.

Weaknesses:
Weak CD bass and cruddy supplied headphones.

Similar Products Used:
Sony D-EJ611 Sony D-151

Price Paid:  $100.00 from Wal-Mart

Summary:
I have never bought a portable cd player that has withstood this much abuse! I am very greatful to the designers that have engineered this cd player to be so durable. About skipping: there is none. I have never, and I mean NEVER had this cd player skip, anywhere. And I don't even have the g-protection activated. However, the sound engineers were asleep or smoking some strong pot when they they installed this heap sound processor. I just bought a pair of rather large Koss headphones that up the bass about 10 times (upped...tastefully). Here is the deal. Whenever the bass boost is not on, the treble sounds incredibly muffled, and there is absolutely NO bass, at all. The only reason I put the sound on this setting is to avoid the incredibly atrocious sound that emitts from my headphones when bass is at the highest level. The bass sounds great when there is no mids or highs playing (such as that at the beginning or ending of a song). Although, when any sound above 90 Hz whatsoever is heard, the bass just cuts right through, and in many instances, eliminates voices or instruments being played. This is quite disturbing, but at the full bass mode, the treble seems to go a lil bit higher. Nevertheless, there is nothing I can do. My philips sounded phenomenal. However, it lasted 4 months! My advice is to get this cd player, only if you want to hear music at an incredibly low volume. Otherwise, buyer beware.

Strengths:
Durability! Strong tuner signal. Superb construction. Never skips!

Weaknesses:
SOUND (especially bass: long story)

Similar Products Used:
Philips, Magnavox, RCA

Price Paid:  $120.00

Summary:
it's a good product. i have it for more then one year, and i didn't have any problems with it yet.
past experience with another sony portable cd, showed me that this products does not last more 2.5 years.

Strengths:
good sound! small but thick, am/fm radio and rechargeable batteries. it rarely bounce (only when i am jogging).

Weaknesses:
cheap plastic finish, no lcd pane.

Price Paid:  $150.00 from Brashs

Summary:
good product. i am sick of it now becoz i want a minidisc. top of the range tuner cd walkman from sony currently. if u want to buy thsi unit off me, email andrewharrisharry@hotmail.com
thanx :)

Strengths:
FM/AM digital tuner, ni-cd recharge batteries. only skipped 2 or 3 times ever.

Weaknesses:
not ni mh recharge batteries, basic remote control. no lcd screen, playback/sound options etc. only 5 am presets and 25 fm(unnessicary). thick unit

Price Paid:  $90.00 from local shop

Summary:
I have a D-FJ61, not a 65. But the base unit is the same, except 61 doesn't come with a remote and rechargeable batteries.

Very good sound quality overall. Good anti skip feature. Radio reception is a little weak. Hard to use manual tuning.

My biggest complaint is that at low volumes, close to the base volume, the two channels do not give equal sound volumes, one channel has sound, the other channel can be completely silent. If you crank up the volume just a little bit, the difference in sound volume is still very obvious. This gets annoying after a while. When you crank up the volume more, the higher overall volume masks this discrepancy. I guess something is wrong with the wiring. I tested out several units, and all had the same problem.

And yes, the lid does not close properly, on several units I tested.

Strengths:
good anti skip feature

Weaknesses:
Cheap plastic construction. On some units the lid does not seal properly to the base, you can feel the lid nudge a little when you grad the cd player.
On low volume listening (very low, I have sensitive ears), one channel has stronger volume compared to the other channel, very obvious.

Similar Products Used:
A Panasonic