Sound Quality, Disk Capacity, & ComputLink

Funtionality, querky controls, It just does NOT do random

I purchased this mainly because all the other components are JVC and I like the simplicity of CompuLink. This is the first jukebox style change I've purchased so I went in blind. I was very disappointed with what I consider basic functionality.

To me random should mean random. It should play a random song from a random disk (it should also be smart enough to know which slots are empty). It just doesn't seem to do this. There should also be functions for random without replay and random within a music class, a program group, etc. This just doesn't seem possible with this unit.

Getting it to do anything seems to be a real choir. If you don't do things in the right order fast enough then the outcome is very unpredictable. It is increadibly frustrating to use!!!

I picked this up for under $200 at ubid.com before people
realized they were there and started driving up the price.
Why do people like paying more than it's worth? Anyways, this thing is handy for holding my collection. It'd be nice if there was an easier way to enter in the titles and tracks cause it takes a long time and much patience.
For the price, it does the job.

Yes it is not the best CD changer on the market. But I love it. It is connected to RX-888 and the system is completly automated(using TV you can search,display and change any information). This unit is very quick, has very good sound and on my opinion there are not many 200 disc changers that are better than this one(unless you pay extra couple of hundred dollars). If you have JVC receiver then get this changer.

The XL-MC334Bk is a 200 disc mega CD player very similar to the MC222 which is priced less expensively at about $189 at Circuit City (what a deal!). I am using it with a JVC RX-884BK A/V receiver and am very happy with the results -- it sounds great and for a great price. The difference between this model and the MC222 is that the this model has an optical output and can read CD text from CDs which have it. This is a nice feature where the names of the CD, artists, and songs appear on the diplay when playing. If the CD does not have this information you can enter it manually. The convience of a 200 disc player is great and the ability to name the CDs etc. makes it all manageable, it even comes with a coffee-table album for your CD covers! The ergonomics of this player are well done, it is very easy to use. The carousel works flawlessly and has a cool red lightstrip which shines though the edge of the CD to show it is selected. About the only problem I have is that when a CD is playing and another is selected with the jog dial, you have only about 4 seconds to start playing the new selection or it will revert back to the old one. I got used to this after a while but it was a little frustrating at the beginning. For pure value this is a great deal!

I picked up the XL-MC334-BK CD player about two weeks ago for approximately $250.00. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it; it does play CDs, and it does hold 200 of them. It seems pretty tolerant of borderline (scratched) CDs, and integrates well with the JVC receiver I have (the 774 model). There are, however, a few shortcomings that the potential buyer should know of.
As previously mentioned, the timing on the jog disc mode is pretty unforgiving. I still find browsing for a disc within the player to be frustrating. One reason is that the full name of the disc won't scroll across the display until the dial's been stopped for a couple of seconds...only leaving a couple more to either switch or confirm. This problem doesn't exist in disc search mode...putting it in search mode removes the time limit. However, if most of your discs aren't in a single genre, then this might not be very convenient for you.

Another annoyance is that you can't switch discs while the CD player is playing. Rather, you must stop the player, select the new disc, and restart.

The changer doesn't control well with the JVC multi-remote for the receiver. None of the CD Changer functions work, though you can operate within the context of a single CD just fine. The only way to get it to switch discs is to fake it out with a long track number -- Track 1010 will select disc 10, track 10, for example. The CD-specific remote works with no problems, of course.

The biggest problem I have with this changer is the anemic random function. You can set up 32 user files -- subgroupings -- within your CD collection. However, you can't play randomly within them. Therefore, it's impossible to just randomize your ska or punk or classical CDs. Morever, the random number function is dodgy...it likes to repeatedly pick the same CD and even the same track repeatedly. It's gotten better as I've added more CDs (I'm still under 100 in the player), and I suspect that it will be pretty much OK at full capacity. Still, if you're planning on adding CDs into the player incrementally, this is relevant.

One other minor issue is that the randomizer occasionally picks empty CD slots, forcing a second choice (and associated carousel spin). I'm not sure, but I think these are slots that I managed to land on while inserting discs, and somehow got marked as "occupied".

Finally, I ran into a problem as soon as I got home. I didn't realize how BIG this monster is! It absolutely does not fit in my entertainment center. To get an idea of the size, between half again and twice as tall as your average receiever, as wide as the receiver, and as deep as it is wide. Make sure you have a *deep* space to put it into. On the plus side, it is a front-loader, unlike the older Sony changers, so you don't have to worry so much about free space above the unit.

Lest you think I'm not satisfied, let me add that I'm not particularly upset at these issues. On the other hand, I don't use user files, and I got the CD player primarily for integration into an all-JVC system. The ability to read CD text onscreen through the receiver is a big plus for me. Moreover, the price was very reasonable for the technology. However, if you aren't planning on taking advantage of the JVC integration, and if you have a little more money to spend, you may want to keep looking.

I also tried the JVC 334. The sound was good. I also found the "random play" was not so random at all. It not only played the same tracks frequently, but also play the same track immediately after playing it before. After putting it on random play and allowing the tracks to play for a few seconds, I advanced to the next track. Out of 50 plays, approximately 17 tracks were replayed.
I sent the unit back. The sound again was good, but the problem with the random play certainly defeted the purpose of that machine. I also found the machine very loud when rotating to another selection.

I have had the 334 for about one month now and am fairly satisfied with the product. i'll have to agree that the receiver remote(662) sucks with this cd player and the random often plays the same disc and track. I'm going to find out if there is chip that can be replaced to correct this or not. Unlike the other post my changer is full and sometimes the same song plays 2 out of 4 songs.
Sound is good and its fairly easy to use,except the long time it takes to enter information on 200 cd's. overall i give it a three

I purchased the changer because it integrated weel with JVC reciever.
Thanks to an earlier post I can now change CD's with reciever remote by using track numbers in DDDTT format(ddd- disk number, tt - track number). The CD DISC button on the receiver remote probably works with 5CD changers.

Disk naming is great. The unit does not have track delete (it never plays a track you don't like) - a feature available in similar Sony unit.

Over all I am happy with the purchase.

I agree totally with the review by George Mealer further down the list. Instead of re-writing all that he listed I'll add my own two cents. As a group, CD Mega-changers are not yet where they need to be. The technology is available, but the companies choose not to use it, maybe they are waiting for marketing data. I first bought the a Sony for about $200 more than the JVC. Each unit has some serious short-comings, but you need to determine which feature are important to you. I chose the JVC primarily for price considerations over the Sony. User files are a waste of time if you cannot random play within them. I do recommend the Sony for the keyboard port though. (It will save you hours and hours of entry) Try entering 200 discs worth of info through the remote on the JVC and you'll know what I mean. For a mega-changer to be great, the customability of the unit need to go way up. User definable genres and categories, more characters for disc titles and song titles, KEYBOARD PORTS or internet downloadable disc info (I think some of the high-end products have this feature), a random play feature that works for all, genre, group, or a set of discs. All they need to do is put a small hard-drive in the systems. The industry is no where close to a perfect mega-changer, but I still would not go back to a five or six disc changer!! For about $250 you have access to all of your discs without touching a jewel case. I will update when the industry gets it right though. I give the JVC 4 stars realative to what is currently out there for mega-changers, but 2 stars for what I think the category will become.
Michael Shilko
Albuqueruqe, NM

After reading all the reviews I decided to buy this unit anyways. I'm very happy with the results so far, I've never owned a 200 disc changer before, but it's nice not to have to handle the discs all the time.
I don't use the random function but came to the conclusion that if I needed to I could leave 4 slots at the end empty and just program them randomly. If I need to listen to random play I can just put 4 discs in there and then they will play pseudo-randomly. I haven't needed this yet. Over all, I really enjoy this system.

The on screen is fun and I have this intergrated with the 884. I also heavily reccomend looking into B&W 601 speakers, I've not had alot of oppurtunity to reall push the system due to neighbors soon to move but the few times I have and at low volumes I'm more than satisfied. Speakers get a 5, 884 a 4 and cd player