Sony D-NE326CK MP3/ATRAC CD Walkman Car Kit Review

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(More customer reviews)This is brilliant. When CDs were a pretty new thing twenty years ago I remember buying a Sony Walkman that cost me well over $200 and played two CDs on 4 AA batteries. Now look what you are getting--a machine that costs a fraction of the price, plays for something like 40 hours on one battery (and rechargeables are now cheap too) and, here is the killer, using the software that comes with this kit, you can save as much as thirty hours of sound on a single CD with Sony's proprietary ATRAC3 Plus compression technology. Alternatively you can convert sound files to MP3, which this player will also play and get about 12 hours of reasonably quality sound.
If this sound useful to you, then I don't think you can go wrong with this kit at this price.
What I have been using it for is recording talking books and 10-part dramatizations of lengthy novels from BBC webcasts using a software recording program.
So I now have the whole of Hardy's Far From The Madding Crowd, Dickens's Our Mutual Friend, and Agatha Christie's Nemesis all on one CD which I listen to on long journeys in my car. This saves messing around with several CDs sliding all over the care and falling behind the seats.
Seems to me that there is loads of potential for all kinds of other things. For example you could save 100 music CDs to 4 CDs to use in your car. Very neat and convenient.
Of course the question will arise as to whether the quality of the sound is good enough in this compressed format. For me it is, and the jazz tracks I have also recorded sound fine for use in the car. Obviously if you are a professional sound engineer, or perhaps a professional musician, you may have gripes about it, but for the rest of us, it is probably fine.
The remote control is not much good and the control buttons are a bit small for full size fingers, but you can get used to it. Getting the battery out to replace and/or recharge it is a bit fiddly, especially if you have big fingers.
With the connection to the car's tape player, the corded remote, and the corded power supply, you will have a bit of a tangle of wires in the car, but with this kind of battery life, you can dispense with the power supply easily enough, and the remote too, so then you only have one cable and the player can sit on the passenger seat. With a bit of practice you can turn it on and off and skip tracks without looking.
So if you have an older car with a CD player that doesn't play MP3 CDs, and you want to get rid of a clutter of CDs in your car, or if you want to put a bunch of audio books, or maybe a language learning course, on a single CD, this could be an excellent purchase. I don't regret it.
The question will obviously arise: Why not use an iPod type device instead? You can certainly do that, but not for anything like the same price. And for me, loading up a CD and then setting it aside when I have finished using it, is very simple and requires little time or effort.

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The D-NE326CK CD Walkman(R) lets you enjoy your own mix CDs whether you're on foot or in the car. Skip-Free G-Protection(TM) Technology adds shock protection for skip-free listening. ATRAC CD-R/RW Playback and bookmark playback lets you enjoy your own mixes and programs your favorite songs with the touch of a button. Digital Mega Bass(R) Sound uses digital processing technology to produce rich, deep, bass tones. 18 playback modes give you multiple choices, from hearing one track over and over, to random and shuffle play. The Automatic Volume Limiter System (AVLS) maintains volume below distortion thresholds, for cleaner sound.Skip-Free G-Protection(TM) Technology Digital Mega Bass(R) Sound SystemATRAC3plus, ATRAC3, ATRAC support MP3 and CD-R/RW format playbook Comes with Walkman(R) Earbud headphones Includes full car kitOperates on 1 AA battery (not incl.)

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