Capacity, ease of use, features/different modes of operation

Size, no coax digital out (only optical), 200 artist limit, pseudo-alphabetized artist index

Overall I'm happy with the purchase with just a few little "nice to have" complaints listed in weaknesses.

I purchased this unit purely for the capacity, and it has handled this task well. Keyboard entry was easy, if a little time consuming, and hasn't been a problem since.

The artist mode has been a feature I find myself using frequently. The only problem being the artists are only indexed by the first character in the name. Sometimes it takes a few turns of the jog dial to realize if your going in the intended direction. Inputing the artist in reverse alphabetical order (suggested in another post) minimizes this, until you add another artist.

I use the group mode as suggested by another post: I use it to hand select several CDs I want to listen to, then clear it out after I'm done. Works great.

Sound quality is on par with other Sony products I've used. I run mine through a DAC, so no experience with the onboard D/As.

Well done, but not perfect (what is?). But at $270 how can I complain?

Five for value, 4+ overall.

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Only mega-changer used.

SIZE, sound quality, artist mode

long delay in shuffle mode, each CD can belong to only one group

This player sounds great, and the size is amazing. I actually have room to grow! Like other reviewers, I love artist mode. I can shuffle all my Lyle Lovett CD's to my heart's content. I had no trouble using a new keyboard to enter information. The only two complaints I have are the delay in shuffle mode -- seems about twice as long as it should be -- and the annoying feature that a CD can belong to only one group. I would like to be able to assign the Allman Brothers to both Blues and Rock, for instance.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer PD-F904 (100 disks)

Number of CDs and ease of use

Track programming; Possible problem with reading some CDs

As soon as I saw the 400 capacity, I bought this unit. The first CD I put in had CDText, and my heart danced. The name of the CD, the artist and all of the titles of the tracks raced across the display as I turned the jog dial. Heaven!
Then I put in the new Metallica S&M CD (the B Disc), and my world clouded. The player would not "recognize" the CD. I changed the slot, and it now recognized the CD, but during play, it would get locked into a section of the CD and keep skipping. This happened on more than one track, and it was not a simple skip of a beat. It actually locked into a section, like back in the day when the needle would stick while playing an album. I took the unit back. Brought a new one home. Same problem. Took that one back, got a new one, but this time, insisted that the clerks at Circuit City listen before I took it from the store (I could tell they thought I was nuts), and thank goodness, this unit "skipped" as well. They gave me the floor model...it worked!!! So, this may well be just be a bad batch problem. Nobody can produce a flawless line.
The real problem I had was that I was led to believe that you could program in the names of the tracks. You cannot. The only information you can program in is the name of the cd and artist. This makes no sense since, in theory, if you put in 400 CDs with CDText, the unit would have the ability to save information about every track, but you cannot manually program in that very same information. This was a terminal flaw for me since I do a lot of programming of tracks, and I still would have to reach up for the jewel case to get track information. A 25 CD player is actually just about as efficient in that case. I got my money back....but solely b/c of the track problem.
If you just wish to "shuffle" or "random" or "select artist" as your usual mode of listening, then this is the machine for you. I recommend it highly. If you want it for programming tracks, it can be a real pain in the rear.
Pioneer has just put on the market a 200 cd unit which you can hook to your computer via serial cable. You then go to a Pioneer net site where there is a library of CD information based upon the serial number on the CD. The CD player compares the numbers until there is a match, and then downloads all of the track information as well as artist and CD name so that you need not do it yourself. If you are unlucky enough to have a CD not in the database, you can still program in the track info manually. I would think that Sony will come out with a comparable unit in the near future if the Pioneer is successful, and I will wait for that.
For those who do not value the track titling capability as much as I, this is a terrific machine. I think the skip problem was just a "bad apple" problem. The artist search, 3 program capability, ease of use (most of you who have any experience with audio equipment will probably not even need the manual for the basic operation) and price combine to make this a value over most other 200 or 300 CD players on the market.
The only reason my overall rating was not a 5 was due to the track titling inability. (Note: Since I got the unit as a floor model, the price was a bit lower than you can expect in most places, i.e. $299.99, but there are a few net sites where the unit is selling for around $269.00

400 disc capacity, artist labeling, keyboard input.

Slow to change discs, disc information attatched to slot, not CD, lack of booklets to keep track of CD inserts.

I debated whether to buy a CD megachanger for a long time, looking at features of several models, but narrowing my search down to Sony, Pioneer and Kenwood. When Sony came out with its 400-CD changers, I decided to take the plunge, being that my collection recently surpassed 300 CDs, I liked the idea of being able to fit my entire collection in the player with room for two or three years of future purchases.
Got the player from 800.com for $299. When I opened the box, I was disappointed to see that the booklets to organize CD inserts I've seen other people mention in reviews of other Sony changers were not included with this model. If anyone has come up with any good, cheap solutions for organizing those jewel box inserts, let me know.
For the huge size of the unit it's fairly light (without any CDs inside). For most people, the 21-inch depth will be the biggest problem, but luckily, it fits comfortably inside my cabinet.
As far as sound goes, maybe my ears are not as discriminating, but the player sounds great to me. As a test, I ran the analog cables and a digital optical cable to my Newcastle R-925 receiver. Switching between the two connections, I heard no appreciable difference, meaning the quality of DACs in the player and receiver must be similar. I decided to return the $25 optical digital cable and go with the analog ones provided with the player.
I feared loading the CDs in a player with this density would be difficult, but it's not too bad. Ejecting a single CD is simple. Hitting the eject key opens the door brings the CD to the front and pushes it out a tad past the others so it can be easily grabbed. Keyboard input is a must for a player this big. One pleasant surprise for me was the ability to input both title and artists. You can go up to 20 characters for each, which is plenty. I believe the display shows only 13 characters, but you can scroll to see the entire title and artist. One great aspect to being able to label the artist is being able to shuffle play within a single artist. I simply love this feature, for me, it makes the player.
There is a major problem as far as the CD info. The information I read, misleadingly makes it seem like the CD information is linked to the actual CD through its individual ID number. The information is not linked to the CD, it's linked to the slot. Which means if you move a CD, you have to input the information all over again. A major pain in the rear.
I must say, though, that with the CDs in the machine, it's so much fun to just put it on shuffle play and let it zip through your collection. Be warned though, you have to wait around 20 seconds between tracks in shuffle play. Maybe someday I'll daisy chain another player to this one and be able to take advantage of the no-delay feature.
Overall, despite a couple of disappointments, the features and capacity of this machine make it a great value for under $300.

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None

Capacity! Jog Dial, Keyboard input

No track naming, depth

The unit was cheap, easy to set up and can hold nearly all our CD's. I've got about 386 in there now. We were always listening to the same 5 CD's with the old player because we were too lazy to change them. Until they have a real computer chip controlling these things that can go online and fetch info for disks by id the keyboard entry system is pretty good. I agree that it is too bad that the name is linked to the slot and not the CD but it is great that you can whiz through all the names without the player having to check the disks. Since the cataloging software on the unit is basic I'm creating a computer database which I can update and print out to keep track of everything. Should also be more convienient than reading the 13 character display. It sounds great to me but I don't have $3000 speakers!

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Technics 5 disc player

Optical output, capacity,ability to work w/ computer interface

Any deficencies in programing capabilitees solved by interface. could be faster.

I love these machines especially now that I have them hooked up to my laptop computer via the Nirvis (www.nirvis.com)slink-e computer interface. I learned about this device from some of the reviews that follow - thanks guys! It downloads all sorts of material from the internet by automatically searching through all the changers. Title, artist, track listings, catagories for sorting, playing times, album covers, notes, even some lyrics). I can project these on my TV monitor. Playlists can be created and saved. It even keeps track of how many times I've listened to each track/cd , marks cds I remove and, of course, I can search in every imaginable way. The machines are daisy-chained together. They work faster when alternate selections (cds or tracks) are on different machines as the computer interface can que up the next selection in advance when you instruct the program to do this. Of course if all your selections are on the same machine there is a slight wait between selections ... this is when one would like the machines to be faster (small gripe). The bigger problem is that optical outputs can not be daisy chained like analog outputs. The slink-e can not switch between optical inputs (Nirvis has a rather pricy add- on that will do this) and the optical output on these machines is noticably better when engaged in serious listening. I have a terrific receiver, the Outlaw 1050 (www.Outlawaudio.com), which I can switch inputs on so I have the 400 hooked up to opt1, the 240 to opt2 and the 210 to analog but I have to push a button every time the program changes changers (all will play, however in analog mode). Don't you feel sorry for me?

I have had good luck with Sony products except for a receiver. Note: Moving or I bet vibrations (I have my machines isolated) could cause cds to come out of their tiny slots which could result in the jamming havoc mentioned in these reviews. In optical mode the sound quality is great.

Similar Products Used:

Sony CDP-CX240, Sony CDP-CX210

Storage for 400 CDs for gosh sake! optical output. Artists mode... ability to shuffle as many CDs as you want... and more.

Grouping. Allowed to list CDs in only one group.

First, a note. Kirk - you don't have this product.. but still you see fit to put in a 1 star review. Well, that simply messes it up for everyone else checking these out. Can you please remove it? Can someone?

I love this player. When I first got it, I heard about the issue with the Group listing. You've got 8 groups, and CDs can be assigned to only one of them. Well.. I honestly don't use it. I use the artist mode all the time (want to hear some Springsteen? Just tell it to shuffle all your Boss disks and you're golden).

I actually use the group mode to shuffle disks. It take about 5 minutes to go through and "assign" whatever 40, 50, 150, etc.. CDs I feel like listening to to Group 1..then I hit shuffle and boom!. When I'm done, I clear that out and I'm ready to do it again.

Brilliant!

As for the sound.. I think its wonderful. The optical output makes a huge difference to me. Yes there is about a 12 second delay between tracks in shuffle mode, but after about two days you get used to it and don't notice it anymore.

The only reason to buy the 450 is for the two-way remote and OSD. I can't see that justifying the price. Great unit!

size, styling holds more discs than I own

keyboard input is picky - no track input

I've only had this about a week but my first BIG issue was not being able to use my Microsoft ergonomic keyboard! The manual to it's credit says that the keyboard power must be 100ma or less - lots of keyboards are higher than this. Other than that it's too new for me to praise or complain about anything else.

capacity, works with more than one unit for shuffling, etc

I read some of the (ridiculous) reviews posted here and couldn't resist adding some input. I have a CX400 and a 450 and you can read my previous review on the combo under the 450 section. There are certainly some issues, and there was a firmware bug, but Sony has corrected this (though they never admitted to it).

Ok, first: the blue light on these units is hardly too bright. Maybe someone hooked this thing up to 220V instead of 110? And with the unit fully loaded, blocking the light with the disks, there is just a faint blue glow coming through the window. And come on, wouldn't a simply fix for this be a piece of tape on the inside of the door's window? That might be a better plan than smashing the light...

Next, no, the unit does not recognize all keyboards (as it states in the manual) but I was able to attach a REALLY expensive keyboard (about $15) and get it to work just fine. I entered 500 CD's worth of info (disc name and artists) in about 4 hours. See my notes under the 450 review for some hints on speeding this process.

Regarding CDR's - these units play them just fine. And those problems with CD Text? That's not the player causing the problems, it's your burner/software. I know this for fact, since I have burned CD's with different software and have seen it do different things in my Sony Megachangers. And I also determined how to burn a CD CORRECTLY, so that it comes up as a CD Text CD and displays all the info properly - including each track title (a nice feature). So don't blame Sony for your CD burner's inadequacies.

Someone mentioned how it would be nice to some day tie our megachangers together with our PC's. Well guess what - this is available already. Head over to www.nirvis.com and take a look at their Slink-e ($250) and free software. This device hooks into the Sony changers and can read the disk, fetch the info from the internet, and then load the info into your player. The Slink-e and software can also control up to 90+ players together at a time, shuffling, mixing, etc. And the software can apparently also play MP3 files and mix those in with the CD selections. I don't have one of these yet, but I will pretty soon and I'll be sure to post my findings when I do. (Note that I have no affiliation with Nirvis, but I've heard good things about their products.)

Sound quality? I'm using the analog output (since I have two and use the player-to-player mixing) and have no complaints. But then maybe I'm not the most discerning listener in the world.

I suppose that's it for now. If anyone wants any further info about these units, feel free to drop me an email. I've been using my CX400/CX450 pair since about August of 2000 and have come across most of their quirks (I think). All in all, I am very happy with them and look forward to tying it in with my LAN for computer control and automatic CD info loading. With a little effort, I should be able to set up voice recognition software so that I can sit on my couch and say "Computer, Music, play all Mozart, Shuffle mode" and listen to all of my Mozart disks in random order. Gotta love technology.

dont know, never got to use it. FIREWORKS DISPLAY WAS NICE

UH, NO POWER IS A PROBLEM, NO? COULD HAVE BURNED MY DAMN HOUSE DOWN

WELL I GOT IT HOME AND WAS HAPPY. PLUGGED IT IN. SNAP, CRACKLE, POP. A COUPLE SPARKS FLEW OUT OF THE BACK OF THE UNIT, A PUFF OF LIGHT BLUE SMOKE (I KID YOU NOT) AND THE THING WENT TO HEAVEN (HOPEFULLY HELL). SCARED THE HELL OUT OF MY WIFE AND KIDS, EVEN THE DOG TRIED TO HIDE UNDER THE SOFA. SONY, YOU BETTER GET YOUR HEAD AND YOUR ASS WIRED TOGETHER AND STOP MAKING CRAP. I EXCHANGED FOR A PIONEER WHICH IS GREAT AND DOESNT COME WITH A FREE FOURTH OF JULY PARTY. I WOULD NEVER EXPECT THIS FROM SONY. MAYBE GPX OR JENSEN. BEWARE OF THIS FIRESTARTER!

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anything but sony