Rating: 
Summary: Philips FWM55 Shelf System
Review: With the versatility of this machine I have been extremely impressed thus far with its performance. It's hard to find a reliable shelf system that is MP3 compatible out there; having searched 10 different stores, I finally found this at Circuit City for (dollar amount). Packed with features, it delivers outstanding sound quality with plenty of volume if your goal isn't to shatter the windows in your front room. Simulated surround sound with multiple levels of simulation, dynamic bass boost also with numerous options gives you all the versatility in configuring sound to your liking.However, there are a couple of drawbacks. Slow time in reading MP3 CDs mean between 20 and 40 seconds from the time you load the CD until you can listen to it. It doesn't support CD-RW discs, and incredibly, there's no shuffle function meaning you have to listen to your discs in the alphabetical order they were recorded in. Programming up to 99 tracks is possible and relatively easy, but time consuming when a shuffle button could make things so much easier. It also occasionally "misses" a track, skipping over a file you know to be there. Reversing backwards in track numbers and allowing it to re-scan forwards again often remedies this problem. Overall, I have to say the machine beats anything else out there in terms of shelf systems, though that's not saying much since there are few shelf systems that are MP3 compatible on the market to date. But even if there were more competitors, I'd still reccommend this as a worthwhile and inexpensive method of playing CD and MP3 CD discs. If MP3 compatibility is your goal in a shelf system, you could do FAR WORSE than with this one.
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