Holds 400 CD's, quality

No track info, weak user manual.

I have had my CX450 for 3 months, no problems unitl now.

Prior to purchasing the player I read the reviews and one of them mentioned that the disc just jammed. Well guess what, it has just happened to me!!!

The player is in a TV cabinet on a level shelf and has not been moved whatsoever since the inital setup, 3 months ago.

Does anyone have any advice? Can't take it back since the European warranty does not cover HK.

Apart from this disappointing event I had been happy with it until now.

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None

You will listen to CD's that you don't listen to anymore.
You will appreciate your collection much more.
Great for everyday listening - can't be beat for parties.

Pain in the rear to enter all the data.
Removing CD's for car/travel a hassle.

I bought my CDP-CX450 November last year and dutifully spent about 24 hours plus (spread over a few weeks) entering in all the data for the disks. It got easier after the first 50 or so and when you had all the artists entered. I did it a few hours at at time watching mindless TV shows. After filling it up, I was dismayed to find out I could not shuffle the entire collection without the machine shuffling for several minutes then shutting down. The Sony website nor customer service (both e-mail and live) had no idea what I was talking about. They wanted me to take the unit in to be serviced - HAH! And lose all my data.

After reading several recent posts, I was ecstatic to find out the "work around" by simply pressing the button! Thanks to the poster who tossed that up - I am a happy man.

I am no audiophile - but for the average Joe, who never listened to 95% of his CD's - this is the greatest thing in the world. Don't hesitate to pick this baby up - and you can snag 'em for less than $300 almost everywhere.

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None, other than five disk changers (Sony)

Holds all my cds.

Disc eject could push the disc out more for easier handling.

I find the unit to be most everything I hoped it would be. The keyboard entry system could work better but I entered 379 cd and survived. I strongly recommend this unit. I was very happy to find it for such a great price under $300 for the 450 model. I put the jackets in a cd photo album so I can look at tracks and other info.

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Sony 5 disc changer

Great TV display capability; LCD remote's capabilities; NUMEROUS powerful options to program/playback CD's!

Some (finally acceptable) compromises involved with "linking" a second unit--see my earlier review.

I'm just responding to Carol's previous request: she's entirely correct in her supposition that music CD-Rs that you record WILL play just fine on virtually ANY CD player, including this one.

As for CD-RW's, haven't tried them myself, but, if memory serves, a reviewer of the similar CDP-CX400 at this site reported that CD-RW's DID work for him in that machine. If true, they certainly SHOULD work in the CDP-CX450, though probably not on MOST older/other CD players out there.

Hope this helps, folks. And thanks, Carol, for bringing this to everyone's attention; I, too, have received several emails re this topic. (Thanks, too, for your kind words!)

BTW, folks, re the "value rating," I've changed my mind slightly since my prior review. It's really a "5-star" value! And VIRTUALLY that high overall, so I'll just go ahead and say five stars, period.

plays CD-RWs, easy to program and remembers two programs

can't toggle time display, too many button pushes needed to enter random play mode

I have been using two Pioneer 1007 (300 capacity) units daisy chained for almost two years, and added the Sony about 6 months ago. Rather than repeating comments below, I'll comment on strengths/weaknesses vs. the Pioneeer units. My Sony has, as yet, exhibited none of the glitches or mechanical problems described below. Also, regarding problems that show up when daisy-chaining two units: the Pioneers worked flawlessly this way for about a month, then developed serious "brain" problems in the slave (like no random play of categories), so this type of problem may be endemic to mega-changers no matter the manufacturer.

Since I like to control my units from other rooms (using infra-red repeaters like X-10 makes), the two-way remote on the Sony is great, as is the video display. But I had planned on daisy-chaining a second Sony and was bummed to read here that video does not display from the slave unit.

On the other hand, the Pioneer can be put in random mode with one button push, while the Sony takes three, and, since each one toggles you thru several choices (e.g., repeat one, repeat all, repeat off) it's even more of a pain. The Sony stays in whatever mode it is set to when powered off, however, so if you listen to random all/most of the time, not a problem. BTW, instruction manual clearly says repeat has to be "on" for random play, so one of the "glitches" discussed below really isn't one.

The Sony is easier to program than the Pioneer, a plus for making mix tapes/CDs. But the time display is a minus. On the Pioneer total time of the program displays as you build it. As far as I have been able to tell, there is no way to do this on the Sony. (If I'm wrong, somebody PLEASE email me.) Also, as far as I can tell you can't toggle the time display to see time remaining for a track, entire CD or program.

The single play slot is easier to use on the Pioneer. Also, it's easier to read what slot# you're loading on the Pioneer. The Sony, however, has an eject button that makes it easier to unload CDs from any slot than the Pioneer.

All in all, I think I slightly prefer the Sony.

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See my earlier review below.

I've received several emails w/questions (which, BTW, I welcome) about this unit -- and since many of the inquiries have been the same, I thought I'd post the question here, since I don't know the answer. Perhaps another reader here will.

The question I've been asked: will this unit play burned CDs?

I don't have any burned CDS and I don't know enough about them (i.e., I have no idea why not all CD players would play burned CDs?).

Also, thanks to David for the Slink-e info, as well as to Michael for the info on adding a second CDP-450 (compared to the CDP-400)-- very useful info.

I just ordered my Slink-e and was speaking to their rep. about using the S-Link port on my receiver.

He said I can feed my receiver and the daisy-chained changers into separate S-Link INs on the Slink-e. Then, I can feed the individual optical INs of each changer to my receiver --

-- and when all works right, the receiver will automatically change optical IN ports for the respective changer playing. My receiver is a Sony ES.

Sounds pretty cool, and bypasses the analog mess of the changers -- I'll post again when I get the unit up and running.

Eric

Maybe still others will have the same question regarding "track-title entry" as the other "Michael" of the preceding post. So here's the gist:

Unfortunately, YOU CAN'T "load" (type and enter) any TRACK titles (unlike disc and artist names). Sony simply didn't build that capability into their machine (EXCEPT, come to think of it, for the CX450's 32-track "hit list" memory bank). That extra capability obviously would've cost Sony something extra, and, I assume, they figured relatively few consumers would bother entering track titles anyway.

Of course, as you may have heard, there are a relative FEW specially formatted "CD Text" CDs out there whose track titles will be displayed AUTOMATICALLY on your unit.

If having track titles is a big deal to you, and if you have plenty of money, visit the site nirvis.com to learn about their ($249) "slink-e" hardware adapter and free (downloadable) compatible software. Your computer could then become the control center of your CD changer, and, so I'm told, track titles--along with disc titles and artist names and cover art--are automatically downloadable from the internet (no tedious typing!).

For me personally, "track titles" would be very, very NICE, but it's not yet worth buying the "slink-e" hardware. Instead, I keep my cheap 13-inch TV permanently connected and am satisfied with merely disc names and artist names. (See my very first review for details on the TV connection if you ever end up with TWO "linked" cx450S.)

Hope this helps somebody else!

Organization. . .

Memory loss problem can delete HOURS of hard work with no warning!

Great CD player if you are willing to spend $200 in the Nirvis Slink-E remote and use their software to control the CD player. The reality is, you shouldn't even consider ANY jukebox without this great hardware/software package (I found out about it on this page!), and especially this player.

The CD player routinely erases my disk information, with no warning, and no provision for backing up the VERY tediouslly entered data. Using Slink-E I can restore the information instantly, so this is not a big issue. If you unplug the unit with the power on, bump it too hard, or suffer a power This is a serious design flaw, and I would have demanded a refund if not for the Nirvis Slink-E.

Otherwise, the player sounds good, is reliable, and is a compact way to store 400 CD's.

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Programming, Sound Quality

Lost memory, would not play sometimes

I really wanted to like the CDP-CX450. The sound quality is great, much better than my Pioneer 6 CD changer. Much better clarity in the high and low frequencies. The fact that it holds my entire collection is great. Essentially, I agree with all the positive comments listed by previous reviewers. BUT...
1) When I switched off the main circuit breaker in my house to do some electrical work, and then powered up again, the memory was erased. Six hours of entering titles, artists and delete bank information was wasted. I tried it again, and the memory held, so I do not know what happened. But this was a major inconvenience.
2) About half the time, it would not play any CD's. It could read the total length of CD, but could not start any track. I had cleaned every CD as I loaded them, so dirt was not the problem. Sometimes, but not consistently, if you just left it powered up for awhile, say 15-20 minutes, it would come around and play. But who wants to do that?
One point I should make: I am fairly certain that this player had been used and returned before I bought it. There were two shipping labels on the box, one dated September 2000, the other June 2001. So I may have bought a lemon. I will not be recommending this store to anyone.
I returned this player for refund. What a waste. I may try out the CDP-CX555ES if I can find one.

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