Holds 400 CD's, Has an input to hook up a keyboard.

The analog sound is terrible. Title entry is too short.
No coax digital output.

I was very excited about the idea of having every CD that I owned in one player, but after owning this thing for about 2 months and seeing the player's flaws, while I do not hate it, the excitement is gone.
This may be a good CD player for you but ONLY IF YOU PLAN TO USE THE OPTICAL DIGITAL OUTPUT!!!!!!!!!
I have a multi-zone and multi-room ability on my Denon so I thought that it would be wonderful to have my entire CD collection playing through the house. As it turns out though, the digital input only works for the main listening area. The multi-room ability only works when you have the analog hooked up.
The sound was so bad in my second room that I thought I might have blown a speaker. After a little tinkering, I realized that the distortion was due to the DAC on the Sony being unable to give a clear analog sound.
I have a Kenwood that is 10 years old with a 1 bit DAC that can do a better job than this. Who in Sony's quality control passed this? Was his hearing aid on?
As my second zone reciever only has a digital coax input, I was somewhat stuck until I got a converter. Now I am forced to split the converted digital signal between my two recievers and run a second digital input through the attic.
Overall, I do not hate the player enough to return it (only because I have gotten around my problem ) but I would not buy it again either.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood

You'll never have CDs laying all over the place again.

It's big.

I have 600 CDs. My biggest problem has been organizing them and finding them when I want 'em. I used to have cds and jewel cases strewn all over my living room. Now I don't.

I made a binder full of information about the CDs -- I downloaded album cover photos from amazon, pasted in track/time/composer information from CD now, and detailed the CD Player (I have two chained together) and slot they cds are in. I sort the pages alphabetically by artist. So when I want to hear, say, The Who's "Live at Leads", I just look up Who, see that it's in slot 233, and punch it in. This method also makes it great for programming playlists. It remind me of scrolling through a jukebox's CDs.

As for the sound, I use the digital optical output and my Denon 2801 takes care of the rest. I could probably drop $1000 on a Krell single CD player and get better sound, but then I'd have 600 cds to keep track of again.

For simple CD management, I recommend this unit. Even at full retail, it only costs $.75 to store a CD. That's cheaper than any CD quality rack, man.

And, once again, I must say that I HATE the pushiness the Good Guys has when it comes to that extra warranty crap. Give it a rest -- it makes me want to buy online where I don't have to fight off the friggin' Good Guys shark.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 5 disc.

great looks, many different ways to access
CD collection

cannot name tracks (unless disc is CDText).
Size is a BIG issue

I've been installing high-end audio/video
gear for the past seven years. I'm a member
of CEDIA and one of 5 certified custom
electronics Installers in the state of
Wisconsin (there might be a few more - go to
CEDIA's website if you care...) I've
installed countless megastorage CD players
and for the price & convenience, this one is
just right for me.

let's get the bad things out of the way:

SIZE-- this monster needs a cabinet depth of
22". Most built-in cabinets have a depth of
20" (if that, even). Not a problem for me,
but it's definitely an issue for most
consumers.

DISPLAY-- the display is freekin' AWESOME,
except for the inability to name each track.
the CDText CDs have track names, so why
can't I input my own track names? oh well,
I can still live without that feature.

OUTPUT-- reading other reviews, I noticed
other people complaining that there wasn't a
DIGITAL COAXIAL output. There is the
fiberoptic TOSLink connection (Which some
people feel is inferior to the digital
coaxial-type of connection). I'm using the
analog output AND IT SOUNDS FANTASTIC!!!!!!
Some reviewers complained about poor sound
quality on the analog output, but I don't agree. Unless your A/V set-up is $100,000+, you won't hear ANY DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER. Sony DEFINITELY should put a
digital coaxial output on the next
model-year to keep up with other brandnames.
Okay, now let's talk about the GOOD:

8 different groups - keeps the whole family
happy

HIT LIST - as you're listening to a song(and
you've determined that it's a "keeper"),
simply press the HIT LIST button and it
stores it along with 31 other songs that you
like

you can also group CDs by Artist Name. I
use this feature EVERY DAY!

Labeling CDs is a tedious task, but what do
you expect? I do it WITHOUT a keyboard and
I find it enjoyable. Someone else said that
they became re-familiarized with their CD
collection as they were labeling, and i have
to agree with them.

There are many ways to shuffle (what a great
feature) and people also complained about
how slow it is between songs, but again I
say, "What do you expect?" it's going
through 400 CDs and picking out ONE TRACK.
If it's an issue for you, then buy another
Sony CD player (they're cheap enough)
capable of "MEGACONTROL" and use the
"X-FADE" feature. As one song is ending,
the next song will fade in WITHOUT ANY BLANK SPACE INBETWEEN.

In conclusion, I'd just like to say that
this is my favorite piece of equipment. It
cleaned up my living room of countless
jewelcases, the whole family can operate AND enjoy it, it sounds good, looks good, and
the price was right. enough said.

Similar Products Used:

too many to mention

400 Discs. Dual displays. 8 Groups. Disc list is viewable on Sony ES receiver remote control. IBM keyboard interface.

QUALITY: FLAKY OUT OF THE BOX - DOESN'T ALWAYS READ DISCS. Discs should be memorized by the player by Disc ID, as opposed to Slot Number. Should have more than one "Hitlist". More groups would be nice. Disc load time is very long, making for long delays when using Shuffle Play. Requires a lot of button pushing to enter discs, even with keyboard.

Bought this player for my parents as a gift, figuring that it'd be easy for them to use (which it is).

After spending an entire day inserting all the discs, labelling them, assigning artists, and categorizing, it turns out that this particular player is defective. It reads discs fine, until the next time the system is turned off. After being turned on again, the player loads a disc, but the laser cannot seem to read the TOC (you can hear it searching and searching on the loaded disc). This happens no matter what disc is trying to be played. After turning the player off & on again, sometimes the player can then magically read all the discs just fine. That is, until the next time the player is turned off, after which it will either not read any discs, or read all of them just fine.

I'd be a lot less peeved if I hadn't spent an entire day programming discs before I realized that, although it read discs fine while I was loading them, it was going to be a flip of a coin after that.

Basically, I expect better reliability from a $300 CD player in this day and age. This was not bottom of the line unit.

So, back to the store for return...

Other than the pitiful reliability (I mean, I can't remember EVER getting a defective unit of any stereo equipment right out of the box over the last 15 years!), my main gripe is that, even with the keyboard interface (which makes life a lot easier), it still takes a lot of knob turning and pushing to enter each disc. The keyboard interface seems to make things simplest when you only want to enter the disc Title. But, if you want to enter the artist for each disc, be prepared for a lot more work. You have to first enter the artist into the list (which can hold 200), then you have to assign that artist to that disc. So, for each disc, you are really performing three operations.

So, it takes a while to enter all the info. I do think it's worth the effort, assuming that you don't end up with a defective unit that made all the entering a waste of time...

Similar Products Used:

Several Sony 5-disc changers.

Allows for playback of 400 cds, what more can you ask for.

1. Size!! I had to search for an entertainment/TV stand large enough for it to fit.

2. Tedious cd data input. Also, you should be able to input track info. However, I found a way around this. I simply burn copies of my cds onto CD-R's and include cd text (CD title, Artist, and Track info). **Make sure your cd burner supports cd-text** However, you still need to manually input artist names for being able to sort that way. So if you have a computer, this is the easiest and cheapest way to go, in my opinion.

In my opinion, this changer is well worth the money. Also, with all your music merely a button away, you can re-experience those cds from a couple of years ago you rarely think about.

400 CD, Low cost, Great sound

big size but not based on all you get

I bought this CD player to hold all my CDs and have random access to them. It is BIG and it does take a while to load in titles/artists but it is worth it. I run it through my Pioneer surround sound system and I think it sounds great. I could not get it to play any CD-RW but it works fine with the CD-R I have recorded as well.

It is very easy to use (after it is all set up). I am not sure why so many reviewers below have had such a hard time with this product. I have used it for a month now and have had no problems at all. I could highly recommend it.

Good features [ search, grouping, interconnectability, computer keyboard connection ]. Good price . Acceptable sound quality

LOUSY users manual [only for fairly technical people] . Glitches [ having to press repeat before using any shuffle modes , Corruption of artist files on main unit if data linc wire is left connected while entering data into slave unit ]

Am basically pleased with the performance of both units purchased , however I shouldn't have to go to internet chat rooms to get info to deal with glitches in programing. Neither Sony or Circuit City expressed knowing anything about the linc wire problem during data entry and therefore offered no solutions. This is not that new a product , and I refuse to believe no-one has brought this issue to Sony B-4 now. A reputable manufacturer would at least send an adendum to its manual [they have my waranty info] to its customers. The aggravation of dealing with a brand new product that was malfunctioning brought me very close to returning it. Once sorting out the problems, I am satisfied [so far]that I am getting my monies worth and having read read the reviews of some other products [in the same price range] I feel confortable recomending it to anyone looking for an affordable jukebox function player. Be forewarned about the glitches and user manual deficiencies.

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none

storage,music on hand with far less effort,"changing discs"

toslink out

well let me start by informing ive had a cdpcx 200 for about four or five years now and the convienience of these is well worth admission.recently purchased this and also elevated my system in other key areas as well.without going into great lengths about the sound i really like the fade option as this keeps the sound flowing from disc to disc "no lapses". also daisy chain feature is priceless as that will allow your library to grow-and once theyre in the unit and the door closes "voiola"no cleaning of discs. now what ive done is take my sonys with monster toslink and connected them to a monarchy 24bit 96ktz. dip this reduces jitter and allows connection through a streightwire megalink interconnect cable to my kora hermes dac this has two coaxiel and one ballanced inputs for added players[dvd sacd ex...]then this goes out to my pre-amp and out to a [recently aqquired] plinius sa 100 mk 111 amplifier from theyre through mit terminator 2 cables to mirage om6 speakers in the front two channels of a seven channel setup.now while it might seem crazy putting these with other high cost equipment ive found this sony equits its self very nicely, any consessions in sound can be offset by this products convienience and flexibility incorporating this into my hometheatre/2 channel integrated setup has proved invaluable. also the sound of this is not bad but adding my kora hermes allows me to have tubed cd sound of infinite proportions.sony has created a fine product and ive created a way to optimise my sound at a reasonable cost. thanks sony-enjoy!!!!

Similar Products Used:

sony

capacity, availability of cd's

depends on one's point of view

putting my classical cd-collection into one player - with the option of hooking annother up for the growing collection - and having them ready at the turn of a dial seemed like a prospect awsome enough to purchase this product. and i must say, i haven't regretted it for a minute so far. indeed, i am thinkinga about buying a second, possibly a third one, just so i can put all my cd's in these monsters. sure, i had nightmares when i left the country for 7 months, having unplugged the machine - and thinking of typing in every cd-name again (set aside a long day for that chore) - but oh wonder: i came back, plugged it back in, turned it on: e voila, all the cd-titles were still there. of course, nevermind me moving a few weeks later, taking every cd back into it's jewel case, then back in again, in the process having to delete the titles, because the cd's just wouldn't fit anymore... but still! a nice product - and i have experienced none of the glitches that have been reported with the cdp cx400 and cx450. i was merely concerned about the sound quality of the player, but it does allright, at least as much as you could expect for the price and the fact that it is a changer. i have, however, not yet hooked it up to my good stereo system back home - which could well expose a weakness here or there. i also had no problems with it reading slightly damaged disks - is is so common with changers. a very solid investement with which i am happy. and yes, keep those jewel cases! because when you move, buying soft binders for all those cd's would run the cost of annother cx-400 -- or in other words: you could pay yourself 50$ an hour to pack the cd's into jewel boxes, if you don't purchase soft binders. well worth it, i thought.

I love the auto-play switch

Can't just enter artist name, have to enter artist name, and THEN scroll through all previously entered artists until you find the one you want, and then select it.

What I want to know is how do you enter the track name. The prestored data discs have the album, artist, and track name already programmed into them and display when played. But for non-data discs, how do you input the track name.