Sony CDPCX450 Mega CD Changer

Rating:
Summary: indespensable
Review: i do not yet own the cdp-cx450, 400 or 455. nor have i ever had occasion to use one. but i am a long-time owner of 2 cdp-cx300s (i will be upgrading to the 400 disk versions soon), and felt compelled to review sony's line of 'mega-storage' units as a whole.

there have been some very valid complaints about some of the features (or lack thereof) that come with these units. and there have been a lot of positive comments made. i dont really feel the need to reiterate what several people have already said. whether or not you'll like this product, simply put, is going to hinge on how it is used.

this might not be the unit for you if:
-you want to change or rearrange the cds in it every few weeks
-you have limited space in your stereo cabinet
-you hate having to wait more than a few seconds when listeing on shuffle (the mega-storage features might make getting 2 200-250 disk changers better for some folks than getting 1 400 disk changer)

i havent run into problems with any of these things. i generally leave the same 550-600 disks in mine for 6 months to a year, and listen to them on shuffle, taking advantage of the mega-storage features.

would it be preferable if you didnt have to type in all of the disk information whenever you change anything? yes

are these units more valuable and useful when used in concert with another? absolutely

might it be better if you could fast-forward or rewind through a song (>> or <<) via the unit itself (not using the remote)? certainly (though im not wholly certain my >>| or |<< buttons cant do that, which shows how small a problem it has been over the past several years)

all in all, i'd say that anyone who has A LOT of CDs they like to listen to (and not just 1-2 songs on each... the whole CD) will love these units. but if you cant use the features, or need features that it doesnt come with, obviously it would be a mistake to invest in a Sony Mega CD Changer.

Rating:
Summary: indespensable
Review: i do not yet own the cdp-cx450, 400 or 455. nor have i ever had occasion to use one. but i am a long-time owner of 2 cdp-cx300s (i will be upgrading to the 400 disk versions soon), and felt compelled to review sony's line of 'mega-storage' units as a whole.

there have been some very valid complaints about some of the features (or lack thereof) that come with these units. and there have been a lot of positive comments made. i dont really feel the need to reiterate what several people have already said. whether or not you'll like this product, simply put, is going to hinge on how it is used.

this might not be the unit for you if:
-you want to change or rearrange the cds in it every few weeks
-you have limited space in your stereo cabinet
-you hate having to wait more than a few seconds when listeing on shuffle (the mega-storage features might make getting 2 200-250 disk changers better for some folks than getting 1 400 disk changer)

i havent run into problems with any of these things. i generally leave the same 550-600 disks in mine for 6 months to a year, and listen to them on shuffle, taking advantage of the mega-storage features.

would it be preferable if you didnt have to type in all of the disk information whenever you change anything? yes

are these units more valuable and useful when used in concert with another? absolutely

might it be better if you could fast-forward or rewind through a song (>> or <<) via the unit itself (not using the remote)? certainly (though im not wholly certain my >>| or |<< buttons cant do that, which shows how small a problem it has been over the past several years)

all in all, i'd say that anyone who has A LOT of CDs they like to listen to (and not just 1-2 songs on each... the whole CD) will love these units. but if you cant use the features, or need features that it doesnt come with, obviously it would be a mistake to invest in a Sony Mega CD Changer.

Rating:
Summary: It is almost all it claims to be
Review: I love this changer. It holds 400 CDs and can be linked to all of Sony's CDX line to gang multiple changers. A great selection of group and artist features.
In shuffle mode, the change over between tracks seems to take a bit longer than seems right, but if you gang two units Sony claims the crossover can be cut to zero. I'm looking forward to testing that out. :) The remote is great once everything is programed into the main unit and that's the only real problem. This baby comes with a keyboard interface and that certainly makes data entry easier than loading 400 cd titles in using the jog wheel. Unfortunately, the keyboard does not entirely replace the front panel controls. In order to enter artist information, group information and change modes, the front panel is still needed. The keyboard is limited to text input only.
A small gripe, but I think Sony could have come up with a way to use the keyboard for all the functions, not just text entry. I hope that by the time I need a second unit they will have addressed this nit-picky item and I'll have to call this unit perfect.

Rating:
Summary: Quite good but...
Review: It would be nice to have track listing as well. There is also a pretty severe limitation on the amount of text you can put into the disc name. Many discs, the name of the artist and the title of the CD will not fit. Otherwise, it's an excellent unit.

Rating:
Summary: Toss those jewel cases!
Review: This is a great piece of equipment--rid yourself of those annoying jewel cases forever! The ability to organize discs by title and artist is excellent. The ability to connect multiple players in series means that you'll always have space for more CDs. Initial set-up is easy--getting all of your disc information input is difficult is hard, but worth it. I agree with the other reviewer that wishes for a track listing feature--but who would spend the days required to type that all in anyway? Incidentally, on discs encoded with CDText (mostly recent titles from the Sony music label), the title and track text listings are read automatically.

My strong recommendation is to go for this more expensive model CDPCX450--as opposed to the CDPCX400. The 400 and 450 are identical except that the 450 comes with a remote control that features an LCD screen on which you can see all of the information about the discs in your player. The 400 comes with a plain vanilla remote control--the added user-friendliness of the 450's remote control is definitely worth the extra money! In my opinion, the only reason to buy the 400 is if you connect it in series with the 450, or if it is used purely for background music--where the user is not worried specifically about what is playing, rather is interested in playing a wide variety of discs at random.

Rating:
Summary: Love it but...
Review: You can only put in 99 artist names - on a 400 disk changer, this is a BIG limitation. Don't know whether daisy-changing another unit gives you 99 more names or not (hope so). Also, wish it let you input longer file names, and had space for track listings. Otherwise a great unit! But don't toss those jewel boxes, otherwise you'll have a hard time knowing what's playing sometimes.