Harman Kardon CDR 2 CD Player/Recorder

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Versatile
Review: There's no need to reiterate the praises of this fine machine. Everyone agrees it sounds superb and you can burn music onto a CD just about any way that you could possibly want. Sometimes, to get it just the way you want it, takes a little bit of extra time and effort. I wanted to combine my favorite songs by an artist from several CD's onto one CD. My major difficulty was that the audio levels on the various CD's were different. I especially noticed this if the artist recorded for different labels during his or her career. If I did a straight dub of the tracks, I had to keep adjusting the volume level on the playback equipment, in this case my car stereo, when I played my finalized CD. To get around this, I had to record each track as an analog source from my multi-tray CD player. I had to press the record button which put the recorder in a pause mode, adjust the input level as I watched the input lights (making sure that I had gotten to the loudest sections of the song), go back to the beginning of the song, and then press the select button to start my recording. Naturally, I had to advance the track numbering manually. I tried the automatic numbering and sometimes I ended up with either two songs on one recorded track number or the machine shut off recording because it was taking too long for the next song to begin playing. Anyway, doing everything manually worked, it just took longer to complete recording my CD. When I did manage to complete it, it was marvelous. Finally, I have all my favorite songs by an artist together on one CD and I don't have to keep skipping over songs I don't like while I am driving and listening to music. Thanks Harman Kardon for a wonderful machine. If only CD manufacturers made every CD at some standard audio level, my job would have been easier. I wonder if other people experienced the same difficulties.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Versatile
Review: There's no need to reiterate the praises of this fine machine. Everyone agrees it sounds superb and you can burn music onto a CD just about any way that you could possibly want. Sometimes, to get it just the way you want it, takes a little bit of extra time and effort. I wanted to combine my favorite songs by an artist from several CD's onto one CD. My major difficulty was that the audio levels on the various CD's were different. I especially noticed this if the artist recorded for different labels during his or her career. If I did a straight dub of the tracks, I had to keep adjusting the volume level on the playback equipment, in this case my car stereo, when I played my finalized CD. To get around this, I had to record each track as an analog source from my multi-tray CD player. I had to press the record button which put the recorder in a pause mode, adjust the input level as I watched the input lights (making sure that I had gotten to the loudest sections of the song), go back to the beginning of the song, and then press the select button to start my recording. Naturally, I had to advance the track numbering manually. I tried the automatic numbering and sometimes I ended up with either two songs on one recorded track number or the machine shut off recording because it was taking too long for the next song to begin playing. Anyway, doing everything manually worked, it just took longer to complete recording my CD. When I did manage to complete it, it was marvelous. Finally, I have all my favorite songs by an artist together on one CD and I don't have to keep skipping over songs I don't like while I am driving and listening to music. Thanks Harman Kardon for a wonderful machine. If only CD manufacturers made every CD at some standard audio level, my job would have been easier. I wonder if other people experienced the same difficulties.

Rating:
Summary: beautiful sound, but........
Review: This device plays & records cds BEAUTIFULLY! The sound that this machine makes when a cd is played is incredible However I was disheartened with a couple of features. First, the only way you can record a single track from a cd is through the remote controller. If you should by any chance LOSE the remote, you're outta luck! Second, every time you stop recording, the recorder automatically puts a 3-4 sec. space at the end of your song. For me, that can be really annoying. If you're not as anal as I am about recording specifics, then this is a wonderful cd recorder for you. The cds are recorded superbly & the sound is great!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome sound, ease of use
Review: This is truly a wonderful CD recorder. It is very easy to use, and it produces awesome sound. I have had 2 discs get messed up; I'm not sure if that is the CDR-2's fault, or the disc. Anyway, it was just one song-and the original was old. Beware though, if you want to mix and match songs, it takes as long as all the songs put together. Just because it can record at 4x doesn't mean it will record everything at 4x. Only if you are recording a whole cd (say to give to somebody, or copying theirs) will it dub at 4x. When mixing, it goes at 1x, the speed of the song. This isn't a bad thing, no other recorder lets you go any faster. It's a good recorder and one that will do almost anything you ask it to. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: The only CD machine you'll ever need at home
Review: When I unpacked and intstalled the Harman Kardon CD-R2 CD-R/CD-RW , the first thing I did was, not burn a disk (though I have done plenty since), but to play back on it one of my favorite Natalie MacMaster fiddle CDs. I was amazed at the enhancement in the richness of the music compared to playback over my other brand X CD players. I have gone on to make many CD burns and all have been successful. I have only used the 1x speed because I am recording my own performances or go on to something else and just let the machine run the full hour, +/-. There is one word of advice that I think everyone needs to be more aware of than I was at first, and it has nothing to do with the fine HK CD-R unit, but regards CD blanks. Only those marked for "music" or "audio" are suitable for burning in music. Those that are just for "data" are not marked as such or not clearly marked. Where is the FTC when you need it? I wound up buying 55 data CDs before getting this straight, 50 of them from this site. Fortunately are are returnable. I will be soon replacing my multi-CD players with this unit, it is that impressive.