Review on Sony DEJ011 Portable Walkman CD Player: Must-have Classic (Discontinued by Manufacturer) by Micheal Looney

A few days ago I received my Sony D-EJ011 Walkman CD from Revain.com. While I haven't had it long enough to speak about its durability, I'd like to share my first thoughts and impressions. I had a very specific task for this item when I bought it. My wife and I collect CDs. We buy new from Revain here, but we buy 90% used from Revain Marketplace, Merchandise and Flea markets. We currently do not have a home audio system. Now we mainly use iPods. Sometimes we can buy up to 50 CDs over the weekend and sometimes it takes me a while to copy them all onto my laptop. Many times I've wanted to try a CD in questionable condition, or just play it, but haven't copied it yet. Here I will mainly use D-EJ011. I also wanted to have another PCDP just for fun and who knows, by the time they stop most are gone. I had trouble finding a new one that wasn't complete junk at a reasonable price. Which brings me to the price of $29.99. Compared to my iPod touch. Spring. Look, we're talking about a $300 product versus a $30 product here, and I don't think that's a fair comparison. Touch 10 times better for 10 times more expensive? Yes. Probably 100x better, but for me this PCDP had a very specific purpose and shouldn't be my primary portable music player. I read many reviews about this player before buying it and despite all the negative comments I took a chance and I'm glad I did. BATTERY COMPARTMENT - I read many reviews about the battery compartment. I think it was overdone. I have big, fat, diabetic fingers. I also have an ounce of common sense. It was very easy for me to open the door and put the batteries in. I also found it just as easy to open the door and then use the tip of an ink pen to remove the old batteries when it came time to replace them. Don't take it personally, but I have a feeling that someone who can't change the batteries in this player has probably realized that life in general is very tough. Seriously, I don't understand. Anyway, I applaud where the batteries are because it's better than them falling out of the ground. CONTROL BUTTONS - Again, I don't understand all the negativity. The buttons are laid out very logically and their location is very easy to remember if you put enough effort into it. To the left of the display is a slide switch that opens the top flap. This button should not be confused with others. The donkey couldn't. Next in line are the volume up and down buttons. The volume increases with a "tactile point" that even I with diabetic fingers can feel. Next you have a mode button that many people don't even need to use, and finally a bass boost button that's easy to find next to the headphone jack. I found these buttons in a dark closet with no problem after spending 10 minutes with the player. To the right of the display you have "Stop" then "Play/Pause" and finally 2 directional buttons to skip tracks forward or backward or FF and REW. I'll be honest I'm not smart, but I had no problem remembering what those buttons were in a dark room after spending 10 minutes with a player to get to know them. If you can feel the headphone jack and the "glass" of the display, you shouldn't have any trouble operating this thing while blindfolded. I think the mountain was made out of molehills in this button color situation. This is just my opinion. LCD DISPLAY - It's quite small and you have to hold the player like you're eating a hamburger to read it, but make no mistake, even with diabetic eyes I could read it even in a dimly lit room. You need to hold it at the right angle and there should be at least some light as it isn't backlit. For $30 I don't expect that. It works fine for me. HEADPHONES – I've never taken mine out of the box so can't comment on it other than that I wouldn't be optimistic about having many pairs of entry-level Sony headphones that come with other Sony players over the years. . Do yourself a big favor. If music is important to you, you can pick up the new Koss KSC-75 for about $15 here at Revain.com. They're known as the gateway to audiophile sound, and you'll have to spend at least $80 to beat them, if not $100. They match this player very well in sound and rear, even in color. If you don't like lapel phones, I would recommend the Sennheiser PX-100. I use them both with this player. Final word on KSC-75. They won't sound their best until they have over 100 hors on them, or at least 3 pairs, which I don't have and many others have also found this to be true. They are amazing and you will never believe the sound only cost you $15. You'll need to adjust the clips to your ears to keep the entire pad centered and snug against your ear for the best sound. Keep in mind that by design they will "overlook" a sound that may annoy others. DURABILITY - As I've only had the player for 3 days, it's hard to say. He seems quite fragile and I'm overprotective of him. I only use mine while sitting so if I never drop it hopefully it will last a long time. I will most likely buy a second one just as a backup in case PCDP is completely out of date and they are right around the corner now. Battery Life - I was more bored than usual the other day, so I figured I'd get some work done. a test that might be useful. I put in a new pair of Rayovak Alkalis (black/blue/silver/white logo) that I found at Wal-Mart and other stores. They're on par with Energizers and Duracells for less money. I have "G-Protection" set to "G-Off" all along as that gives you the best sound according to the instructions and the fact that I've just sat with it. I mention this because it also reportedly cuts battery life from 16 hours to 11 hours. I wanted to play some CDs and see when the batteries died. I did it within 2 days. Here are my results: RUSH - 2112.38:50PINK FLOYD - WISH YOU WERE HERE.44:24QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - ERA VULGARIS.47:24THE BEATLES - REVOLVER.34:39THE WHO - LIFE IN LEEDS.77:00BLIND MELON - SELF TITLE .49:14GRATEFUL DEAD - AMERICAN BEAUTY.42:21NIRVANA - NOTHING. .42:32ZZ TOP – TRES HOMBRES.44:57KISS – LOVE GUN.32:52THE CLASH – LONDON CALLING.64:59AUDIOSLAVE – SELF TITLED.65:28RADIOHEAD – THE BENDS.48:44AC/DC – HIGH VOLTAGE.44:22LED Zeppelin III. 43:04 Exactly 12 hours have passed. Led Zeppelin III has stalled a bit so the 11 hour estimate was pretty damn accurate considering AA brands vary! I bought 60 of these batteries at a Home Depot sale for only $9 so it was cheap fun. You can use rechargeable batteries and also go the lithium AA route. You can also buy an optional power adapter, but who wants to be tied to that thing? I was happy with the battery life as I don't intend to change batteries often for my needs. Playing 15 full CDs in high quality isn't bad, I think. Big batteries are your friend. Most of the time I set the Megabass to "SND 1". I assume this might affect battery life? SOUND QUALITY. It's really hard for me to judge SQ and put it into words, because everyone hears and processes sound differently and can judge this player depending on the equipment used. sound anywhere from crappy to amazing! The SQ didn't blow my mind, but it was on par or just above what I expected for $30. It didn't even come close to the sound my iPod touch produced with the same headphones, and ripped to -V0 (extremely high quality) with the dbPowerAMP LAME mp3 encoder. I mean not even close. At the same time, it wasn't unbearable to hear, and I don't mean it was. I found it very picky about the CD. Some of the CDs didn't sound fabulous, and a few sounded almost unbearable. This was mainly due to the compression of modern CDs, but also because you can't really fine-tune the sound with this player. Mostly I found that the Megabass control was not audible with the "Off" setting, close to what I was able to get with the "SND 1" setting, and many CDs had with the "SND 2" too much bass. Although a few CDs sounded great on the SND 2. I just tried playing the CD with G-Protection on for a few minutes. I didn't find it to be the difference in audio quality from day to night that I've read about, but for placebo reasons I wanted to turn it off despite the shorter battery life. I will say that on all 15 full-length CDs played with skip protection disabled, my player never jumped or choked. If I was moving more, I certainly would. Overall - I'm very happy with it. Depending on your needs, you can be too. The low price is great. Revain.com is just as good as online shopping. I would like the display to be on top and a bit larger. I wish the SQ was a bit better if it was my primary player, but it was fine for my needs. The fact that it knows where you left off, when you last paused or turned it off is a great feature. It has more features than I'll ever need, including shuffling, bookmarking, and a few other things. My complaints here are minor and I think the product is much better than the reputation it has received from previous reviews. Depending on the CD, this is a very convenient player and fun to work with. I haven't tested it with CD-R yet. If this turns out to be an issue I will update my review. I hope I can also report on the durability. Hope this helps someone!