Rating: 
Summary: The best portable CD player I've ever owned!
Review: I was looking for a new CD player. I'd had my old one for about two years and the sound quality was real bad. I went to Best Buy and grabbed an RCA. It was a brand I'd bought before and trusted. Not anymore. The next day, I was back at Best Buy because the *bleeping* CD PLAYER WORKED ONE *bleeping* TIME! I avoided the Sony ones. I've had bad luck with every Sony portable CD player I've ever purchased-I guess I'm just cursed when it comes to them.
Anyway, I saw the Panasonic SL-SX430 in the display rack. My previous two portable CD players had been Panasonics and had served me well. All I can say is when I plugged in my headphones (I never use the ones that come with the units), I said to myself "This is the best sound I've ever gotten from *any* CD player I've ever owned, portable or otherwise!"
I don't mind that it isn't car-ready. All I have to do is plug the cassette deck adapter into the headphone jack, turn the volume down to 2 or 3 and turn the bass booster off (my car already generates awesome bass) and I'm good to go.
The only thing I don't like about this CD player, and it is very minor, is the placement of the battery compartment. Being under the cover right by the hinges makes it kinda hard for me to change the batteries (I have big hands and had to use the plug for my headphones to pop 'em out). I suppose this was done to keep the batteries in the unit after it's been dropped (been there, done that, got the t-shirt).
Rating: 
Summary: Everything's great...except...
Review: My daughter recieved one of these for her birthday in October, 2004 and she's been completely delighted with it. Except for one thing - the headphones have broken twice now. They are a novel shape, designed to loop up, over the ear and come around the back of the head. The loop parts which go over the ears are hard plastic and each side has sustained a break.
A repair with superglue worked the first time but not so on the second.
So, I'd recommend the unit with this caveat - be careful when stowing the headphones. Don't treat them as a 14 year old might. They are not particularly rugged...thekeez
Rating: 
Summary: Just more than average
Review: Pros: it has remote control, decent design
Cons: the maximum volume is not lound enough...try the Sony D-NE300 and you will see the difference.
Rating:
Summary: mp3 lacks fast forward / rewind (search)
Review: Seems fine, but the killer for us is no "search" feature for mp3. We have _books_ on mp3 so it goes back to radio shack tomorrow!
Rating:
Summary: mp3 lacks fast forward / rewind (search)
Review: Seems fine, but the killer for us is no "search" feature for mp3. We have _books_ on mp3 so it goes back to radio shack tomorrow!
Rating:
Summary: No car kit, but otherwise perfect.
Review: The advantage of a portable CD player that handles MP3 and WMA is clear, to me: any car can play MP3s or WMAs with a simple $20 kit, and the sound is still better than any of your old cassettes.In fact, it's really a car-kit product because it lacks an AM/FM tuner, making this less all-purpose and more single-purpose. The remote makes it very easy to bury this thing in a glove compartment, under your seat, or in the armrest and manipulate the player with the remote. Makes for a clean-looking install, and you lose none of its portability. The beauty of this CD-based MP3/WMA player is it will handle CD-Rs, CD-RWs, and normal CDs along with whatever you manage to create on your own. The battery life is incredible, especially with MP3 playback because spinups can cache the data then spindown. So, with the need to make CDs skip-proof you actually achieve a measure of battery life preservation as well since you don't drive the spindle motor as often. Neat engineering. Of course, Panasonic does make a quality personal electronic item, and this seems to be no exception. For me it's always a toss-up between Sony and Panasonic, with Sony winning slightly more than half the battles due to extras (software, one extra feature, whatever). You don't exactly "lose" by picking this. Honestly, this is a 4.95 star product, because a car kit is probably the least concern with something so useful and good, but I have to mention it because Sony sells a direct competitor with a nice car kit included. With a car kit, this is a five-star deal. Fred
Rating:
Summary: Great Value, Great Product
Review: This cd player is great. The sound is great, the skip protection is awesome. For the price, this is one of the best you will find.
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