TDK DA-9000 Jukebox Audio CD Recorder with 20 GB Hard Drive

Rating:
Summary: great product with only minor draw backs
Review: I researched the various component models available for burning cds since I always thought that it was a hassle to sit up in my office and burn cds from my computer when I could do it from the comfort of my living room. After careful consideration I found the TDK da-9000 to be the best model for what I wanted to do. The hard drive is plenty big enough since it is dedicated to music only. The database works just fine and if you have a laptop it is a cinch to hook it up to the unit and download the newest version of the gracenote software or simply download the album info for the titles that the unit does not recognize. I find it very cool to have my whole cd collection in one spot without the pile of scratched cds that I had to deal with before.

The only problem with the player/burner takes a while to compress a full cd to mp3 format. The sound quality is fine with my Yamaha receiver and JBL speakers. Here is the sticking point. Once you download a cd into the hardrive it converts into mp3 format. In order to burn a cd from the hardrive it must decompress each song, burn it to the cd and then recompress it back to the mp3 format. To be honest it takes FOREVER. Fortunately I found a way around the problem. If the cd is in the hardrive, simply delete it and then use the rapid archive function. It will temporarily save the cd uncompressed until you turn the unit off (it will then compress it while the unit is in standby mode.) Because it has not compressed the cd yet it only takes minutes to temporarily save the cd and a few minutes more to burn it. Sounds much more complicated then it is, believe me.

Good luck, I think that overall it is a great product and doubt that you will be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: great product with only minor draw backs
Review: I've had my TDK DA9000 Audio Jukebox for about 2 months now, and I'm enjoying every minute of it. For me, this was the perfect addition to my stereo system. For years I've made cassette compilations of my favorite tunes to play in the car. Now that cassettes have become `old' technology, I've wished for a way to store individual songs on a hard drive, and to then be able to burn a CD copy for my car. That is exactly what this machine allows you to do.

Now even though I'm completely happy with this machine, and would not sell it back, there are several idiosyncrasies that I need to rant about. First, the jukebox is a computer, with all the faults and drawbacks of a computer. It does not come on instantaneously, nor shut off instantaneously; it first has to boot-up. When you turn it off, it has to boot-down.

The display screen is cheesy: a small green background with thin black readouts. You can't read the screen from more than three feet away. If you are sitting across the room with the remote in your hand, you can't read the screen. Not a big deal, but an annoyance.

The jukebox does not burn on normal blank CDs. You need to purchase special blank CDs designed for music. The usual computer CDs don't work, and I had a little trouble finding CDs designated for music. Sales clerks kept telling me that computer CDs will also work for music.

There is no button for random play. So you cannot play the songs on the hard drive in random order. There is a mode button on the remote, that cycles through `normal play,' `continuous play' and `random play' but it's an annoyance to use. When you turn off the machine, it defaults back to `normal play.' I would have preferred a random off/on switch.

TDK advertises that the machine has a 20GB hard drive. It does, but 2GB are used for operating software and a list of 450,000 CD titles and contents. The list is great for copying your CDs into the machine, as you don't need to type-in the name of the album, the name of the artist, or the names of the songs. Unfortunately, the list is only as up-to-date as the date of manufacture. Any pre-recorded CD manufactured after the manufacture of the jukebox, will not be in the database, and you will have to key in the information. It is possible to up-date the list, but you have to have the jukebox connected to your computer and your computer connected to the Internet, all at the same time. In my case, that's not easy to do. I found I had two new CDs and one old CD that were not in the database.

Any CDs you have that were burned on computers can be played on the jukebox, but they will not have any song or artist information available for display.

You can enter song information by using the remote, but it's a real pain. I've found the best way to enter information and create playlists is to hookup my laptop to the jukebox. The DA9000 comes with software that you can load into your PC that makes manipulating the database easy. You are also provided with a USB cable to connect your computer to the jukebox. Your computer needs to be close to the jukebox.

I don't believe the buttons on the jukebox are laid out intuitively, and after 2 months, I still have to hunt around the face of the machine. Many of the jukebox functions do not have buttons on the face, but require the remote control.

I have 500 MP3 songs now in the hard-drive, and I'm only using 1/18th of the available storage space, so 20GB seems a good size.

Bottom line is I'm very happy with the jukebox, and recommend it. It arrived in a short time, and has been trouble free.

Rating:
Summary: I Love my Jukebox, and recommend it.
Review: I've had my TDK DA9000 Audio Jukebox for about 2 months now, and I'm enjoying every minute of it. For me, this was the perfect addition to my stereo system. For years I've made cassette compilations of my favorite tunes to play in the car. Now that cassettes have become 'old' technology, I've wished for a way to store individual songs on a hard drive, and to then be able to burn a CD copy for my car. That is exactly what this machine allows you to do.

Now even though I'm completely happy with this machine, and would not sell it back, there are several idiosyncrasies that I need to rant about. First, the jukebox is a computer, with all the faults and drawbacks of a computer. It does not come on instantaneously, nor shut off instantaneously; it first has to boot-up. When you turn it off, it has to boot-down.

The display screen is cheesy: a small green background with thin black readouts. You can't read the screen from more than three feet away. If you are sitting across the room with the remote in your hand, you can't read the screen. Not a big deal, but an annoyance.

The jukebox does not burn on normal blank CDs. You need to purchase special blank CDs designed for music. The usual computer CDs don't work, and I had a little trouble finding CDs designated for music. Sales clerks kept telling me that computer CDs will also work for music.

There is no button for random play. So you cannot play the songs on the hard drive in random order. There is a mode button on the remote, that cycles through 'normal play,' 'continuous play' and 'random play' but it's an annoyance to use. When you turn off the machine, it defaults back to 'normal play.' I would have preferred a random off/on switch.

TDK advertises that the machine has a 20GB hard drive. It does, but 2GB are used for operating software and a list of 450,000 CD titles and contents. The list is great for copying your CDs into the machine, as you don't need to type-in the name of the album, the name of the artist, or the names of the songs. Unfortunately, the list is only as up-to-date as the date of manufacture. Any pre-recorded CD manufactured after the manufacture of the jukebox, will not be in the database, and you will have to key in the information. It is possible to up-date the list, but you have to have the jukebox connected to your computer and your computer connected to the Internet, all at the same time. In my case, that's not easy to do. I found I had two new CDs and one old CD that were not in the database.

Any CDs you have that were burned on computers can be played on the jukebox, but they will not have any song or artist information available for display.

You can enter song information by using the remote, but it's a real pain. I've found the best way to enter information and create playlists is to hookup my laptop to the jukebox. The DA9000 comes with software that you can load into your PC that makes manipulating the database easy. You are also provided with a USB cable to connect your computer to the jukebox. Your computer needs to be close to the jukebox.

I don't believe the buttons on the jukebox are laid out intuitively, and after 2 months, I still have to hunt around the face of the machine. Many of the jukebox functions do not have buttons on the face, but require the remote control.

I have 500 MP3 songs now in the hard-drive, and I'm only using 1/18th of the available storage space, so 20GB seems a good size.

Bottom line is I'm very happy with the jukebox, and recommend it. It arrived in a short time, and has been trouble free.

Rating:
Summary: Sadistic machine
Review: To the president of TDK:

How can you put out a shoddy, frustrating product like the DA-9000? Here is what's wrong with this gizmo.

1 The manual must have been written before the product was completed. The Quick Start guide is contrary to the User Manual, especially in the area of recording from external sources. The former says you need to push REC for each new track; the latter makes no mention of this but says one can use the Automatic Track Detection feature.
2 Automatic Track Detection. This is some kind of sadistic joke. I tried both cassette sources and LPs and in no situation did the machine correctly detect track breaks. Thus one side of an LP is recorded as one song; ditto cassettes. I tried it at various recording levels but that had no impact.
3 Volume normalization. Creation of listenable Playlists off the Hard Drive is dependent on normalization of differing volumes. The machine doesn't allow for this. A bar meter to show volume would have helped enormously, but then again there is no input recording volume control.
4 Your help line is of lttle help. The advice from your phone reps, while courteous, is vague and imprecise. In one instance, I was told I'd be getting a call back, which never happened.
5 Your remote: having the LCD display duplicated on the remote would have been helpful. At the very least the remote keyborad should have been illuminated.
6 No software is included to edit music. You sell such software and include it with your other products. Including even a stripped down version with a machine that costs $250 on the street would not have hurt TDK.
7 Website help is minimal. On the page for this product, one is referred to an FAQ that has nothing to do with the 9000 but deals with your other burners.

There is more, but I'm through wasting my time on this gizmo. It is going onto Ebay, where I suspect many of these failures will be resold.

Shame on you for releasing this piece of junk!

Rating:
Summary: No Easy Access !-REVISED!!!
Review: True,recently I blasted this unit out of sheer frustration. Today Julie Holadird of TDK let me know the servers were back up, and the unit is now working beautifully! I also got help from Jon, Dean, and Victor @ the TDK On-line site. The only thing Regretably, the update service is free, so it doesn't seem to be anyones' priority. I only update info every 6 mo.
I am glad, however to have this unit. I have 85 cd's recorded @ 320k, and have 9gb's left! GREAT JOB!!! Sound quality is GREAT!