R.I.P. Personal CD - Their demise passed largely unnoticed
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- You can still get a new Personal CD player - but you probably shouldn't.
Here's what happened when I tried.
UPDATE:
Unfortunately I had to snip out the audio demonstration retroactively after the CD I’d used was subsequently added to the content match database.
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I just want to point out that the CD is pretty much the "only" convenient way to buy physical copies of music, even nowadays. I stream plenty, almost all of my library is digital, and I have a "decent" vinyl collection, but CDs remain unbeatable under a fair number of points IMHO
I agree, long live CD 💿🎵🎶🎵
💯 all things considered CD is still the best physical music format out there, and there's nothing like listening to a nicely mastered CD on a good hifi system at home.
That said, the convenience of streaming is very compelling when on the move, and I can see portable CD players like this have gone the same way as the cassette walkman.
I have been an enthusiast of records, especially 78s (all vinyl are records, but not records are vinyl😉) since I was a little boy in the 1970s, but I couldn't agree with you more.
@@TheKnobCalledTone. Well you can still rip CD’s in exact quality (FLAC for one) but yea.
@@darkworlddenizen I’d change it to FLAC & DAP’s.
Please, don't let physical media disappear. Corporations always, always, turn to shitty business practices and a lot have been pushing for the "you will own nothing and be happy" model of screwing people over.
That's why mp3 is still a thing 🏴☠️
You don't necessarily need physical media for that. Downloadable non-DRM media files are perfectly all right in my opinion. I buy music from the iTunes Store and ebooks from any vendor that sells them non-copyprotected. Works quite well for me. I do refuse to buy media bound to a specific device or service. Some ebooks I buy are watermarked as a form of copyprotection; I don't mind that, I don't buy them to share; as long as I know that I can always use them with a device of my choosing, independent from any external service, it's OK in my book.
@@rschroev +1. There are many ways to download DRM-free lossless files. Many legal routes, even.
@@rschroev It's yet *another* reason to be supporting independent artists and independent music "stores". The fact that a lot of independent music doesn't suck like mainstream music does helps too (I tend towards Vocaloid, Touhou, and Japanese trance/techno). The independents sell tracks without DRM, and many times in FLAC format as well.
@Hidden Dude Although I'm finding a lot of Consumer/gaming pre-built computers don't have optical drives anymore (completely useless to me) and even computer *cases* are more often than not lacking in external drive bays (but they'll fill them up with lights, case windows, and all sorts of other useless CRAP). And if you ask about them you get an attitude of "why would you want THAT?"
I know it's a losing battle, but I really hope physical media doesn't go away. I still buy my music on CD whenever possible so I know it can't be taken away from me.
From what I’m seeing and hearing on the street, physical media will never completely go away. I noticed that 💿 CDs are coming back slightly.
The apparent decline of physical media is just a tiny segment of a larger plot to abolish private property by the powers that be. Aside from the pride of ownership, owning physical media has countless advantages over the convenience of streaming but as the WEF said, "you'll own nothing and be happy". I think not.
Aren't downloads just as good as physical media?
@@TerryClarkAccordioncrazyif you think data is the same as a physical product "sure" ...in terms of quality no, unless it's "CD quality" in which case it's from a CD isn't it?
Tidal is one the only sources that's CD quality or better with limited frequency range & selections.
So IMHO CD is still superior.
@@A2theC But youre paying for the data stored on that physical product, right? Why would it be superior to buy the storage medium from the same people who sell the music, instead of buying music of higher quality and store it on whatever product youd like?
I'll never forget the first time I listened to a CD. The clarity was like nothing I ever heard before. I'll never forget that feeling
U must have heard CDs after years of improvement. I purchased my 1st home Compact Disc player end of 1985 when it was a brand new format when CDs were almost non existent & a near impossible format to find for purchase anywhere. If U did find ANY rare record store with CDs it was about 1 foot wide & 2 feet long in a record store that was about 99.9% filled with records & tapes. I was a radio DJ at the time VERY excited about the New digital format touted to be greater than great...& unfortunately compared to vinyl records they absolutely sucked! There was a very small handful of CDs manufactured in Japan or Germany that sounded pretty good...but ALL American made CDs at that point had very poor high frequency response sounding muffled & very poor clarity compared to records. Years later as recordings were remastered for CD they did improve greatly as we moved further into the 1990's & especially after 2000. So...anyone who was listening to CDs since the beginning almost 40yrs ago now knows they were totally inferior compared to records or high bias cassettes of the same time. The remastered SHM CDs from Japan of the last decade are typically spectacular quality with even better low & high frequencies & separation between instruments. Obviously I will always prefer real physical media being a former Radio DJ & Pro musician. Streaming for me will never be a replacement & 1 of these days everything stored on the internet will likely be erased & destroyed...& that's precisely why physical media will be the only thing that survives.
you sound old
It absolutely blew me away in 1991. I literally jumped because I thought someone was talking in my ear. It was mind blowing.
Absolutely!! We got a CD player in the late 80s and I was amazed. No static, no hum. Just crystal clear music!! I’d sit and listen to a CD on repeat just soak it in!!
CDs are great. I'm starting to collect them again. There's nothing like having physical media. Just take care of them and they'll always be there even when the streaming is not.
Still on CDs for a few reasons: I like owning physical music, they’re really cheap, and have had my old, heavily modified, high end CD player for many years now and haven’t come across anything that sounds better!
When I die, I will leave a ton load of metal albums for those who will inherit, after my death. Want money, little pricks? Enjoy my Cannibal Corpse collection, instead. MUAHAHAHAH! I like the idea of leaving a memorable legacy =')
That is true. I have an OPPO CD/DVD/BluRay player that is super high quality D/A conversion. Sounds incredible with CDs and SACDs. Way better than regular streaming.
Yes, same here. I have a NAD CD deck and the discs I play sound fantastic. I pick up CDs at the thrift stores for a dollar each and have run across some great stuff.
try vinyl and casette
@@ihalloway I've got plenty of cassettes and records too ;)
The convenience of streaming is tough to beat, but having physical media is still a viable option for many. Too bad the current options are not so good. As always, great video and wishing you and your family a safe and happy New Year!
a new ipod touch launched last year for 200 USD . Everything but the phone part still , headphone jack . 256 GB storage i believe . space for many songs ,videos podcasts whatever you need . solid state . its still available without streaming . Bluray is an excellent replacement and was only necessary to increase the size of the physical storage. with the added benefit of being able to read cd's as well.
@Wotzinator One issue with CDs is that it's getting harder to rip them, since most new PCs don't come with an optical drive. External drives are an option, but they're kinda clunky and it's a bit of a hassle to hook one up to a laptop and wait for it to rip a CD. What would be interesting is a portable CD player that also had an SD card slot, that could rip the CD you put in to the SD card, automatically.
I did find one potential device, the EZDigiPod DP330-N, from EZPnP Technologies. It's an update to their MP300, which could only rip to MP3; the DP330-N can also rip to FLAC and WAV. It has an SD card slot, and also a USB port for a flash drive, or even ripping directly to a music player if it looks like USB storage when plugged in via USB. It's a bit bulky looking though, like they took an external CD-ROM drive and added a screen and controls. I also can't find anywhere to buy it.
@Tan Jenner I agree Spotify sucks, which is why I use services like YT Music, SoundCloud, and Tune-In, but the OG's point remains true that having a streaming service on your phone long as you have a data connection, and being able to search for nearly any song you can think of, and have it play nearly instantly instead having to lug around CD's, or Cassettes, or even having to source your own Mp3/FLAC/etc.. files is far more convenient these days for the vast majority of people, plus most streaming services have a free option if you can put up with the ads. The majority of us who watch videos like this are not your average Joe, and Jane consumer, so we do need to keep that in mind as well.
The problem with streaming is that music that you love can simply disappear. I have CDs from a long time ago that I can't find online to stream anymore. I'm sure with some effort I could, or I could just pop the CD in a player and all's good. Another problem is not remembering the name of the band or song when searching online. But pretty simple to go through my collection and find a particular selection that I have fond memories of.
@@dougcox835 That's true about content being removed from a streaming service, but you also need to remember not everyone has a large collection of CD's, and/or other physical formats, and can just go thumbing through them to find something, and a good chunk are not willing to invest the time, or money to seek it out on a physical format along with the hardware needed to play it(I'm including movies in this as well), when they can simply find another streaming service that has the content, or if they can't get it legally some will simply just find a Torrent of it, or a dodgy website that is streaming it at no cost to them.
Had a Technics portable back in the day, spent it's entire life hooked up to a transformer and my sound system. I think I took it camping once, otherwise I may as well have just gotten an AC powered player for my sound system. It did have pretty solid anti skip and sound quality was great. One thing I did note between my more premium player and friend's cheaper ones was the fact that mine played more CDs, even badly scratched ones. I think that was a large part of the price difference back in the day, the quality of the laser and how well it handled different disk types/damage. This was in the 90's though so no Bluetooth or MP3 playback etc.
Probably more than the laser, it was the lens. Most lenses are just easily scratchable plastic these days.
I DROVE RENTAL CARS A LOT MY CD PLAYER WAS A LIFESAVER.
I have a 1986 Technics amplifier and speakers sounds great.
I had a technics boombox in the 90's, amazing surround sound 😊
I think having good anti-skip really helps with reading lightly damaged cd’s. Not sure if it’s because of the programming or the hardware. But, seems like the anti-skip played into light damage that would also cause skips.
As a former Sony warranty contractor I still have stacks of them. Treasured were the ones that could also play MP3 discs just like yours. Some had buffer ram to overcome the shaking of jogging. My first portable disc player was the small Panasonic, a beautiful unit that cost an absolute fortune. Sony made one model just over 1/4 the size where most of the disc was exposed. Not a big seller.
would you be willing to set up an ebay shop or something and sell them?
I second the other person. I would love to own one of them.
Panasonic had MASH which double read the disk and buffered it I think. So the memory stored was scanned twice for error checking. It was a second or so from lid opening to music stop I think. Some have spdif optical inside the headphone jack to use external DAC on amplifier. I hear raspberry pi is good for this. Been told it has a decent DAC onboard. Runs on 5v 2a. Considering putting a DAC inside my old class a analogue amp.
that sony thing was stupid.
I just bought a Sony D-NE320 that can play MP3 ~and~ ATRAC. And I have to say, ATRAC3 @ 132kbps doesn't sound bad at all, I burned a disc with 7 whole Nine Inch Nails albums crammed into it with the Sonic Stage software.
Best Buy (in the US) still sells a portable CD player. It's from their in-house brand "Insignia," but it's not exactly a no-name brand.
They're still pretty popular, at least for workers who work in places that don't allow streaming on their computers and who also don't allow personal cellphones inside their office spaces.
"In-house brands" are exactly the same as ION or any other sticker-brand of the sort. Best Buy does not have a factory to produce CD Players.
I remember the cheap portable cd players with anti skip sounded worse because of the way they store audio or something. I had a cheaper one with no anti skip that sounded noticeably better than an anti skip one I had.
DOn't know about current (3/2022) Insignia models, but I have had good luck and been impressed with Insignia branded electronics from the past 10 years or so. IMO, it appears Best Buy has more say/control over the Insignia products vs just slapping their name on a generic Chinese maker. This may vary by specific model/category.
But for certain items like HD Radios (DAB AM/FM radio in the USA), for many years Insignia was about the ONLY consumer/budget line alternative to premium priced HD Radios.
I have several Insignia brand portable CD players, some with AM?FM/MP3 and some disc only. The build quality is notably better than random no name/Jensen/memorex stuff, and sounds very good too. Picked up at thrift- yard sales/thrift stores. I like them so much I bought one from ebay.
Been collecting portable CD players for several years now from thrift and ebay- Sony, Panasonic, Philips, etc
Some Sony models run on ONE AA battery for 30+ hrs WITH AM/FM/Weather radios and MP3/WMA playback.
Been gifting spares to family members who want one for car use or just to play their CD collections.
Things to look out for are radio/Weather band included, and separate Lineout vs headphone out only, though some better models have combined line/headphone jack and can switch from fixed volume lineout to headphone amp variable mode, either a physical switch or menu option on their lcd screen
@@helenHTID Agreed re: most current portable CD players as of 2022. I was referring to past models found at thrift, ie dated prior to 2010, maybe 2007 or earlier.
Don't know if Insignia even sells a current model CD portable as of 2021/22
It's also a good first personal tech for a preteen without giving them a smart device or a basic cell phone before the age of 13
I'm 19 and I buy and listen to CD's. It's not very common for people my age to use CD but there are some of us who do. I use it on a stereo boombox in my bedroom which is also my alarm clock. CD is physical media and it is just so special. They are very cheap too. In fact I bought 4 brand new albums on CD in the last year!
I’ve been buying CDs again recently, to me there is something nice about putting an album in the machine and then listening to it all the way through like the artist intended.
You can do that with a streamed album y'know? 😂
@@davidriosg hes obviously referencing the actual process of taking the cd out and putting the cd into a big whirring device and it it sparking into life
@@davidriosg do you think hes an idiot? everyone knows. just take your negativity somewhere else
@@davidriosg: There's no booklet showing you lyrics or anything personal from the artists like the credits page where they actually thanks their family, friends and, most importantly, the fans(you) for supporting them. Have fun not owning your music.
i chuck them in the glovebox without covers and they still work.
you know how awesome it would be if Bluetooth was around in 2006? A Bluetooth CD player actually sounds like an awesome idea. Hell I would've loved to have a CD player hidden in my backpack while I wear wireless headphones. Also a USB rechargable player would have been badass. I'd love to know how long your average 5000mAh phone battery charger would run that player
I'm living out of a PowerBook G4 Hi-Res from 2005, and it has Bluetooth 2.0, even works in Tiger. Looking it up, apparently the initial Bluetooth spec was published in May 1998. However, my laptop cost $2,000 when new, so it may have been out of the price range, or maybe too power-sucking.
I have seen Windows 98 laptops with Bluetooth
Bluetooth has been around for a long time but the bandwidth and distance used to be pretty limited so not great for audio. I remember having a windows mobile phone and slowly transferring photos to my laptop lol.
Actually Bluetooth was released *BEFORE* Windows 98!
@@KerbalHub 10 years ago, bluetooth was acceptable for voice on a phone, but not for music.
As a teen I was always scrounging for battery money for my discman 😂 When I traveled to Ireland in college I brought my discman and a purple CD pouch. Part of the fun was buying CDs on the trip that I wouldn't have access to at home. It's interesting how much music culture changes when the technology changes, in both good and bad ways.
The really early Discmans had a rechargeable battery that latched on the bottom (the whole of the bottom). Not light at all, but rechargeable!
I always used rechargeable AA batteries
I remember 'borrowing' batteries out or the TV remote 😂
The thing I like about streaming is that you can access music from artists that wouldn't have otherwise had the record label clout to be placed on the shelves of the stores. I wrote that terribly and it's late but hopefully it makes sense.
@@xiaoka There were other aftermarket rechargeable battery solutions for other brands as well. I had one for my Panasonic player to save on AA batteries at work. I used it so much I eventually wore it out. I think it attached to the underside of the player with velcro for convenience.
That's a great message; if you want might want one in the future, get one now. I wish someone had said that to me at the end of good cassette players, boom boxes, and minidisc players.
I’d have done the same if I had the opportunity.
I wonder where my Sony is... purple walkman with iridescent logo, so long my trusty ol friend
I dont understand this message. Can you please elaborate? Why would someone need a personal CD player these days? Or Mini Disc? And when, you can buy them on eBay, right?
@@corporatemcmahon2815 you'll always be able to get to them on eBay, but a nice cassette Walkman at a "reasonable" price is getting harder and harder to find, so get em while you can.
"Need" is also a strong word, I don't need a Walkman myself in the strict sense, but I am considering picking one up for plugging into my guitar amplifier's line in, which I consider nicer (and more fun) than my phone.
@Phoenix Downer Brother Phoenix! I am 100% behind you!!! I am a hybrid. I can’t stand these “streaming hipster” bashing OGs with VHS cassettes or CDs!!! I like strolling ion my thrift store and buying a nice 90s CD. I used to listen to them in my car. But I put a Android Set inside and have a music streaming service. But I geht your point. I do also have many CDs! It is a different thing “owning” them versus “renting” them like a tech-victim. Also the music of today is 99% trash!
I just wondered why people would buy a portable CD player? I would buy a CD-Player for my home. I wouldn’t carry a portable with CDs around me. Here I take a premium Sony MP3-Player with my MP3s!
I am a hybrid. I like the new stuff but I rely on things I own! Same with Blu-ray/DVDs! LeftFlix and Hollywood is censoring movies and sitcoms (Gone with the wind/ married with children) because it hurts the fee fees of woke SJW snowflakes. Thats why I own the content versus renting! Thanks
I came across one on Amazon last year, the "Oakcastle CD-100" that has been excellent. Bluetooth, rechargeable lithium ion battery, slim/compact, sounds decent, pairs to all speakers and headphones I've tried it with, and heck of a conversation starter when you start playing a CD on your outdoor BT party speaker during a cookout. "Is that a Discman!?"
I had one of these: seemed very decent as a CD player but couldn't get it to work with Google Nest speakers (via Bluetooth).
why did i read cockout?
@@dirkrieger8783 Because I will never call grilling burgers and hotdogs a "Barbecue!" 🙂
@@dirkrieger8783 okay! I see what ya did there!
I have the Oakcastle and am very happy with it.
I was a high schooler in the early 2000s, and this is exactly the kind of CD player I had back then--except mine didn't have bluetooth, and a 60 second anti-skip would have been amazing. The 20 second that I had just didn't cut it on the bumpy bus rides to school. But cheap plastic, and about the size of 2 1/2 jewel cases were pretty normal. Only the rich kids had Sony's and Panos.
I am hoping you can also make a review for Astronord CD player too.
I had spent around 200 dollars almost on a fancy RCA model portable CD player. Had AM/FM, programmable buttons, all the basic play back features and BASS Boost. Loved it.
I had a silver walmart durabrand lol I loved that thing eventhough it took 4 AA cells and skipped on the buss lol.
It was the one with the silver football-shaped bezel around the LCD. Bateries never lasted that long for taking 4 of them. This was the early 2000s
You had to have the anti-skip cd player, with the little 30 page cd binder that had a discman compartment in the front with the slit in it so you could jack in your wrap-around headphones. Had to be the wrap-arounds with silver or blue matte metallic earphones.
That was the gold standard setup for music carry at my highschool (99-02).
My family was not rich by any means, my dad saved up for a while to get me a sony sport one for Christmas in 1998. About a year later in high school it got stolen and my dad wouldn't help me buy another one so I was never able to afford a quality one again. I had to go with cheap Walmart models that constantly needed to be replaced.I am still bitter about the theft to this day lol
about a hundred years ago when I was in my twenties I was the dogs danglies 'cos I had a 'Goodmans'portable player, it weighed about three stone and skipped if it was breathed on. To play it in the car you had to buy a shock absorbing platform and a cable with a fake cassette at one end.
Lol. Although I loved the CD when I was in my teens, I never saw the portable CD player as superior to a Walkman because of the size and inconvenience. The fact that a discman could not fit in your pocket made it a non-starter for me. And I agree that like you, anyone who had a CD player in the car had a ton of accessories and it looked like far too much hassle than it was worth compared to a standard cassette deck.
The killer development for me after I got my driving license was Minidisc. I LOVED it! I bought into everything, I bought an in-car unit, a hi-fi unit, and a portable unit. That ecosystem gave me many years of enjoyment, and I did mourn it’s demise! 😭 RIP the old Sony that used to innovate
God I remember the fake cassette to cd cable, I had one for my Technics portable which would skip but only if you really bumped it.
@@kennztube I had my friend hold the CD player tightly while I was driving. That seemed to do the trick for me.
I had that setup too, spongy platform and tape deck adaptor, good times.
@@kennztube man i was still using these in the 2010s, I was still driving beaters with no bluetooth, and just using the fake cassette with your smartphone is better than trying to burn a bunch of mixed cds.
I certainly do miss walking mindfully and Deliberately, as to not have my favorite musician sound as if they're having a seizure.
Yes, I regret not hearing my favorite singer doing a Max Headroom impersonation.
Thankfully, we now have Dubstep.
You don’t have to walk funny or anything to have a seizure along side the producer that made it.
I genuinely don’t ever buy digital music, I always buy it on CD, because I can easily import it to my computer, and put it on my iPod, yes I still use an iPod, and onto my phone, I genuinely prefer offline music as opposed to streaming!
Happy New Year, Matt!
I still use a Sony Walkman MP3 player from 2008 because the sound is fantastic and it is so tiny. I hate the feeling of the bulkiness of a smartphone. I also hate streaming.
At first I didn't understand your comment because a cd is digital music, but then I understood you mean digital from the internet. I also prefer to listen in physical format.
I download all my music as mp3 and store it on my devices, I don't use streaming at all. I want to be able to access my music without the internet.
I remember an album wasn’t on streaming in my country but it was on iTunes. I bought the CD. Better quality and something to stack into my physical collection. I then ripped it and synced it for phone use. Didn’t mind waiting a week for the mail.
Okay, but you didn't give any reasons as to why you prefer it, or think it's better. So how do you want people to engage with your comment, exactly?
I have an Emerson CD player that I bought years ago to listen to books on plane flights back in 2004. I haven't used it in years. Pulled it out, put in 2 AA batteries and it still works. Played a couple of Four Seasons disks with a pair of Koss Pro4AA studio headphones. Still sounds great.
Rich Kurtz I had a portable CD player like I’m the video it only stopped working when it wouldn’t play anymore I hope you will reply to this
i still have my Realistic Pro 25 Titanium from radio shack i think i got them about 1990, i think they were made by koss. they blew everyone away back in the day and they still work, same goes for my sony potable cd player from 1991, still works
I'm 29 and I still love and buy CD's, I use my CD player everyday. I hope CD's never disappear as I like owning physical media and get in quite a grump when an album I want is only digital. I even bought a digital one I wanted and burned it on to a blank disc. I also still have loads of DVD's and regularly buy BluRays even though I have Prime & Netflix, I often watch something digitally and then buy a physial copy.
24, I just used my portable CD player for a train ride. I have a small amount of cd's i shuffle through every know and then, Like The Gorillaz and The Beatles. I also have a massive DVD Blu Ray Collection
The main difference I feel I’d run into with cheap vs more expensive CD players back in the day was the likely hood of it being able to play a CD that isn’t in perfect condition…. The cheaper ones always seemed to skip more often…. Even in car stereos… I’ve had CD’s I couldn’t play in the stereo that came stock in my car but bought an aftermarket pioneer player and it’d play it flawlessly… cleaning cds and all were Tried
Yes i want to know why my technics 90s separates cd player can even play scratched cds yet any other cd players i had there always jumps or failed play.
Plus the later Sony ones have features taken from Minidisc and is basically an MP3 player just using a CD.
My cheap cd player actually has great error correction. The soc in that thing is pretty damn good.
Pioneer were always quite good at that... wonder if it had anything to do with their involvement in LaserDisc where standards had to be higher to play the more finnicky discs. Certainly I know if I'm having a problem with a CD to try it in my LaserDisc player and if it won't read there, it probably won't read anywhere...
That and some of the digital to analog converters were better than others. Granted, if you are playing on low quality headphones you are unlikely to notice much of a difference.
I remember in the early 00s I bought a Sony Discman when I was a teenager, i saved up forever and it was so expensive because I didn’t have a lot of money to begin with but I was so blown away with the quality, the anti skip feature was perfect for when my mom drove us around because we had garbage roads. The only thing I hated was it went through AAA batteries quick.
My first cd player was a sony discman. I was also a teenager and saved for a long time. It was funny, because I bought a CD before buying the player (like 1 month before). My first discman is long gone, but I still have another discman working fine (it is Panasonic SL-MP70, and can read MP3 discs too).
My first CD was also a Sony Discman. Back in 1986!
I still have mine.
I got a walkman that I keep on every walk and basically anything outside. Having a CD player and not relying on internet is just strangely comforting. It's a very underrated system
Your so right. I also feel your really get to the know the artist through the music and marketing within the CD and its Jewel case
And just think...if, for some reason, the internet goes down or a bad snow/thunderstorm interferes with reception, you have a physical medium to play! Plus, I believe, you can't beat the CD format for near perfect sound reproduction!
Treasure it, sadly they don’t last forever
@@JoeHairsprayBand they can be fixed
I wonder if the "low battery" thing is caused because it only takes two batteries which is 3V, while the player claims to need 4.5V which would be three batteries. Kind of a weird oversight if true, but about what I'd expect from budget electronics.
I can imagine a dodgy device would be designed for lithium cells, but is shoved in a case that is designed for 2 1.5V cells. the batteries are still "good" for devices designed around alkaline chemistry, but if they drop to 2.5v its a dead lithium cell voltage and cause instability for chips designed around 3.3v nominal.
A good way to test that theory would be to get a 3 cell battery pack and connect that to the battery terminals inside the device. That way it would think you were running off batteries, and maybe the low battery indicator would work correctly. Not a permanent solution, but at least it would determine where the issue likely is.
I thought the same, but remember he said there were no user reviews complaining about the battery life issue, so it's probably just a faulty unit.
yep try one 14500 & a dummy
Actually that's pretty normal for these things. 4.5 volts is more common than 3 volts when it comes to power adaptors.
I'm 19. Despite how young I am, I still use my portable to this day and recently picked up a new one last year. I grew up with CDs and physical media, so I never left and always stuck with it even through these digital times.
There's something reassuring about physical media and you know it won't randomly disappear or corrupt.
CDs are digital too
I remember having the thinnest portable CD player at that time. If I remember correctly it was a Panasonic SL-CT580. That was one of the top CD players you could get back then. I also one day found a sort of easteregg that if you shaked it long and hard enough until it skipped it would show 'sorry' on the display.
Edit: I just looked it up. The one I had was the SL-CT 780.
Lmao that’s cute
Hah! I had a Panasonic CD player I got second hand as a teenager that did the same thing. It was in my backpack one day and it stopped playing, I pulled it out and it just said sorry as best it could with it's limited character set. I was so confused until I figured out I could make it do it on command. Buddy of mine had a Sony one that just said "STOP", which I thought was even funnier 'cause it was like the CD player was mad at you.
If it said 80085 I’d be more impressed.
@@DeadReckon Ahaha! Had a good chuckle just now! 😂
I still have a Panasonic SL-SX480A that i absolutely love despite being kind of chunky. It feels solid and has never given me any guff with any CD-RWs i've put in it.
I loved the video, although it is a bit sad too, as a CD-lover. It's going to suck when this format fades more and more into obscurity, but hey, I actually did just what you suggested on this vid a few months ago. I bought a couple vintage players sealed in their original packaging. Now, I have a 24 year old Discman that works amazingly and in mint condition.
don't believe that! the cd is not going anywhere. in 2020 on the sales are way up. plus people are understanding that when u buy from a service! they can take the album from you with no warning or care. you never own the music you get from them .
@@dang75790: Exactly. Servers die, society changes and anything digital can be censored or deleted. Can't censor a CD.
CDs have become for me what vinyl used to be: CDs (and previously, records) were the archival source for the best sound quality, but weren't the best for portability and both were prone to scratches. I recorded vinyl to cassette and lugged my cassettes around, making a new recording off the near-pristine when the cassette finally died, and today I get the CDs ripped to my PC and up to the cloud so I can access my music on my TV, smartphone, smart speaker, etc.
The technology has changed, but the concept really hasn't. I just hope CDs don't go away ENTIRELY as they are my best way to hold on to an archive of beloved recordings. (I really don't want to set up a RAID system at home or pay for multiple cloud storage services because I don't have a stable archival system like manufactured compact discs.)
It's also the only way to get lossless audio for a lot of the more obscure albums/artists.
Vinyls have actually skyrocketed in popularity. I think because most of us can listen to music on our phones with relative easy, having out music be portable is less of a necessity. I personally enjoy buying vinyl just because of how substantial it is. It's more like collecting art than creating a music collection. though, I have to admit that, vinyl is less practical than CDs. You could probably buy a massive 400 disc CD changer and pay directly from the media, and unlike vinyls, CDs dont wear out per use.
Also, you could just rip your CDs, and just play them on your phone, assuming you have a CD drive on your computer. You could technically record vinyls to PC as well, but it's a bit more impractical and it takes a lot more time to do the ripping.
Same here, I still buy both CDs and Vinyl and having a physical experience just beats buying an album online every time. Especially, if you import limited versions from Japan. I still buy digital, if there's no other option, but as long as I can get the CD for a reasonable price (meaning regular retail price or below, I'm not willing to pay scalpers any money) , I always prefer CDs. Using them is another story though, I also just rip them and use the files on my devices. Still, as long as there's physical media, I will always prefer that. Only exception: Games. Since almost every game sold today is not much more than an access key to the finished product you need to download anyway.
@@VGVindaloo Since you mention games and I want a comparison to Spotify, I wonder what gamers would think if they could pay £9.99 a month to play any game they wanted as soon as it was released, but the majority of that money would go to Microsoft, while the writers of the less popular games would be having to drive Ubers to make ends meet.
@@MrDuncl - I just made a comment about "rentable" media.
Going back to the nineties, when I was in college, portable CD players were quite popular amongst we of meager means. They weren't actually great to clip onto your belt and walk around with, but there was no cheaper way of getting CD functionality into your car than sticking one onto your center console with a lighter adapter for power and a cassette adapter for audio out. Unfortunately, even the good ones back then had something like ten seconds of skip protection.
ah yes, the classic adapter bodge.... sadly a disappearing art form.
I think every teenager in the 90's had that set up. Trying to find the player with the best skip protection was always the goal because every little bump would cause the CD to skip lol.
@@ChaseSchleich Exclude me from that group. I had no reason to walk about with my player, I sat it very still and listened in a chair.
My tan 1990 Ford Tempo slowly became the KING of dodgy work arounds like this.
@@Tribute2JohnnyB For a while, I had a full boom box sitting in my passenger seat, plugged into a power inverter for juice and a jupiter-jack sending the signal to the radio, as the CD player and cassette player on my 2002 Corolla had both died.
Then the frame started rusting out and I had to buy a new car. I miss that old kludge.
Maybe this particular device is not malfunctioning at all. What I mean - it can accept 5V from USB, 4,5V from mains adapter and 3V from batteries. If battery level drops to, let's say 2,5V that makes only 50% of USB voltage and device simply cannot accept such big voltage magrin. If it is like that - it is certainly rubbish design, but not connected to particular device. In other words - fully functioning device with rubbish design.
I was thinking the same thing - it's probably just using the most basic power circuitry possible and can't cope with the voltage drop from even lightly discharged alkalines.
I wonder if it would even turn on with some 1.2V NiMH cells.
Its possible the thing is designed for AA lithium cells, these tend to have a flatter discharge curve.
Maybe the internal hardware was designed for 3xAAAs (4.5V) but ION decided that 2xAA was more marketable
@@KarlBaron Either that or a LiIon cell, which runs at 3.6V most of the time.
@@stevenmetcalf4571
I was thinking the same you can see the battery symbol is flashing as if it was charging .
I'll still buy record, CDs, and cassettes. Physical media will not be going away for me any time soon.
I loved the old CD players that could play stuff between tracks. Some old CDs had music segments or even full songs hidden between tracks and later CD player models were unable to play those.
What was a CD album that had hidden songs between tracks? I guess i never had a player that could do this even though I jumped into CDs early in the 80s. Anyway I've been hunting on Google for info about this but can't find anything.
@@film79 Evanescence - Origins had a track before 1 you could only hear by rewinding to it after track one started playing
@@film79 The Dutchess
All cd players play pregaps. It's just some can't load a cd with a pregap in track 1.
For an example of a pregap, imagine starting up a cd and skipping to track 3. It starts at the zero second mark. But if you listen to track 2 on this example cd, when track 2 ends track 3 starts at the negative 15 second mark. There's a 15 second intro skit, then when it reaches zero seconds the song proper starts. The CD's index is designed so that when you skip to a track it skips to the actual song instead of the start of the track.
The original purpose of a pregap was to add 2 seconds of silence between every song.
Other examples of CDs with pregaps on track 1: "Autechre - EP7" and "Queens Of The Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf". Both very very famous bands in their genre.
EDIT: worth mentioning that computer files for audio don't allow negative time. So pregaps are stapled onto the end of the previous track (so that if you talk to a friend about a song and mention "that part at the 2:25 mark" it's the same on cd and a ripped file).
Arcturus album “la masquerade infernal” had a hidden track if you rewinded from the beginning of the first track and go into the negative time up until it stopped around the negative 2 minute mark and would play a hidden track until it reached zero and continues from the beginning. I also liked Tools undertow album hidden 69th track on a 10 song album.
This is why I bought a Personal CD Player a few years ago. I bought a SONY Walkman back in 2014. I have a sizeable CD collection, which I still plan on adding to as and when I see fit, and its going to be in my ownership for as long as possible.
Yes it's mine b*****d.
@@Hitblank What does that have to do with anything?
@@Blubatt jacking
Definitely still a market for old tech. At some point, I began sort of hoarding VCRs (had about a dozen total) and put all but the two I still have hooked up in my yard sale. Well, they sold faster than anything else there, even some Star Wars collectibles! 2 personal CD players and a walkman didn't last long either.
I own one JVC solely for digitising and unfortunately you really have to keep up with maintenance or these things do start to fail. And replacement parts will only get harder to find with time.
The homeless or extremely poor in my area still use portable CD players. CDs second hand are dirt cheap and I've even seen people using ones connected to USB battery banks.
@@philsk8thrill I've seen tape players being used about 10 years ago.
I agree, and it seems like a decently sized market. And I've been looking for a Sony Walkman (cassette) brand new sealed, it's not as easy as it sounds. I bought one but it cost me over $100! And a portable CD player, I couldn't find my Sony Discman and apparently my brother says he broke it years ago, I'd totally get a new one because we still have CD's, like my mum wants to play her CD's but can't because since we moved houses we don't have a CD player set up - And a portable player with a AUX cord would be so handy! There's a market for it but for some reason they think the market isn't big enough to produce them. I guess sales did die down a bit through the 2010s as everyone went digital, but with the digital hype dying down there's more of a demand for these things now for a number of reasons including nostalgia also. Having a physical product is always better than digital. Now we have a tonne of tapes, cd's, etc. and nothing to play them on unless you get cheap Chinese garbage, but you will never be happy with cheap Chinese garbage.
They don't have to mass produce but if they produced it in limited numbers and sold it online, that would be good enough. I don't understand why they don't.
@@Streetw1s3r Is there a DVD or Blu-ray player (also including video game consoles) hooked up? Don't forget they play CDs as well.
2023 was a good year for CD players. Klim is a new brand on the scene, and the reviews on the 2023 Nomad are in: it's great! Got mine a few weeks ago. Seriously premium device with all the bells and whistles one could want.
I also have the nomad & absolutely love it!!
One of the big retailers here in New Zealand has just discontinued CDs. It's disappointing. I just decided to get back into buying CDs because the music tends to be better quality than streaming and I prefer to own my music. I don't mind less being made nor stocked, I get it, but having them taken away completely would be highly disappointing.
I have replaced CDs with a huge collection of MP3 files. I still own them same as I would a CD and to my older ears they sound just as good. I have not played an actual CD for many years, in fact I no longer own a CD player since my previous one died.
By "better quality" I'm not sure if you are talking about the sound quality or the actual music. Having a barrier to entry i.e. getting a record deal, did have the advantage that many artists, or in some cases the producers, would spend years perfecting their act before releasing their first album.
technically, you don't own the music, but you do own a licence for the CD, which is perpetual and transferrable, so can sell or give it away, unlike "purchases" on itunes and other services.
I had a similar problem when I decided to buy a new Hi-Fi here in the UK recently. They only make a handful of models by big brands now -- and they tend to all be 'micro hi-fis'. ie: not much bass in the speakers... (best to get 2nd hand maybe.)
@@neilsun2521 Richer Sounds still sell HiFi separates. A friend has just ordered a new system from them. It will cost her £1000 though. I'm sure there are ways of saving money though such as buying a Blu-ray player rather than a CD deck (the cheapest of which is over double the price !)
The era of the MP3 CD was brief but still interesting to experience. I remember being blown-away at the fact that a single disc could carry dozens of albums (at low-bitrate, of course, but as a teen you don't care). Surely they were ackward to carry around, but they had style and personality. Of course, then the iPod came about and everything changed, but both the CD and the Minidisc were (or still are?) the last formats where you enjoyed digital music on a physical medium. Streaming is wonderful, but it doesn't beat the charm of listening to an album from beginning to end.
I'm sure to this day my friends still don't understand how i managed to have so many albums on a single CD!
Luckily the 6 disc changer in my 2009 car plays MP3 CDs- the factory stereo is too integrated in the car to replace it without getting something cheap and ugly, or just too $$$
The era of MP3 CDs and the age of me having a cheap used Honda with a sound system that was worth more than the car itself occured at the same time. I was in the awkward age of just getting a driver's license just before smart phones became a thing and well before bluetooth enabled car stereos, so I had many years of blasting MP3s with my subwoofers in the trunk of my 1997 Accord via MP3 CDs full of music I downloaded over Limewire.
Yes, because they're lazy in ignorant, not looking for quality...
Oho, what days... were
Thanks for another year of great content delivered as only you can. Merry Christmas, Mat.
You can't say Merry Christmas anymore. It's Happy Holidays.
@@joeybaseball7352 Is that supposed to be a sarcastic joke? Because otherwise screw that.
CDs are so underappreciated. Hopefully it will make it's resurgence soon. Especially with vinyl production getting rough lately
Imo I hope CDs stay in the realm of "obscure but you can still buy them easily" because rn they are super cheap
CDs are obsolete. Optical Media now can store much more data (BDs).
But mostly HDDs and SSDs are now easier to handle.
@@testname4464 I think they will stay cheap unlike vinyls as producing a CD is pretty inexpensive compared to vinyls
Everything switching to streaming isn’t “progress”
I wonder what comes after streaming. Is there something else to "progress" to? I don't think so.
All of my backpacks through grade school and College had a Pocket just made for the Cd Player. Just compact and cushioned so it never skipped. Loved it, wonderful times
Oh and that hole for the headphones. I still have my first backpack from 1999.
Omg I forgot all about that!! Yes! Lol
@@user-is7xs1mr9y Those headphone holes ruing many a text and note books! Oh my poor copy of Harry Potter and the prisoner of Askaban!
I still remember being in awe back in the day when I was at a place where the guy had a CD player. And you could just select the track and it would play the track nearly instantly, and there wasn't any tape hiss. It took me several years before I was able to get a personal CD player as they were kind of expensive and the CD's were expensive. And this was at the time when you just had to buy a CD blind and hope it was good.
I'm glad there are CD's, because many record labels or whoever decided to remaster older music. And the remaster is all bricked and sound harsh and terrible. Some even remix it to sound terrible for some reason. Yet, I'm able to go buy original print CD's from the 80's and early 90's to get a good master before they started remastering everything to sound terrible.
I do this too. There are people who think the loudness wars were actually caused by CD technology itself sounding bad.
Thus they are ripe for the Hi-rez con as they all jump to paying more for the decent sound they should expect to get on the cd anyway. Then they justify buying it because CD has "stair steps" which is false.
You know, maybe we should just join them, no not the duped consumers, but the ones doing the duping. They must make a ton of money 💰
Boy I miss my discman. It was the best thing ever even after I got an iPod. I could get a new CD and listen to it for awhile until I finally ripped it to put it on my iPod. Used that thing until the early 2010s before it was put into a drawer.
Hey Matt, have you had to change the tightening wheel on your manfrotto light rig? The threads stripped on mine after a few months use, and I’m onto no.2 now... did you replace yours, or is it just a different model from mine? Thanks, and keep up the great content,
Sam :)
On the very charming Steady Crafting RUclips channel, Da Crafsman's Manfrotto did the same thing. He's quite the fixer and plans on drilling out the brass and replacing it. I think it's his studio tour episode he shows it dangling and useless. A very special RUclips channel with big time charm, especially on headphones.
I'm actually surprised that none of the Japanese firms are involved in making personal cd players anymore seeing as cd's are still being sold there
I would assume they have a domestic market, that just wouldn't be worth reselling overseas, or personally importing.
I think i can answer that, portability... CDs are not portable at least easily, and smartphones are much smaller and you carry them anyway, plus better music storage, Cd players are still made and sold just not portable ones anymore, granted this surprises me because with most new cars not having CD players built in anymore youd think they would make portable units just to plug into the AUX jack of car stereos, like how it used to be in the 90s when people used to connect the radio to the discman through a cassette adaptor.
I'm surprised Pioneer don't make anything on this front as they do a lovely little portable cd/dvd/blu ray burner that looks about the size of a personal CD player. They also still make CD read only mechanisms, currently offered in their car stereos, at least here in the UK and doubtless other markets too.
Around 1986, as I recall, I had a very early Sony Discman, via an incentive program as I was selling audio video at the time. I even got the optional external battery pack that used multiple C cell batteries. I loved it - I make a little dock to use it in my car and of course I could use it at home, and it never failed me. I regret tossing it sometime in the early 2000s.
@Fur Q hmm like that fruit brand
@@coffeemakerbottomcracked Phones don't tend to be thrown away, unless their smashed up and unusable.
You pretty much threw away one of the best portable cd players
@Fur Q Some. Most are relegated to junk drawers.
Those are seriously collectable now. Audiophiles actually prefer the older portable CD players because they don't have a buffer (anti-skip) so you are hearing the audio uncompressed.
I will never stop buying CDs. I will never buy a downloadable only or streaming only album. Why buy something you can listen to for free on youtube?
At least with a CD I can have a physical back up, and I can save it to my computer/phone in the quality that I want.
I might buy hi-res files of some of my favorites, if that would be improvement over what CD's I have sound like. Especially 90's and early 2000 was bad time for rock music and many otherwise great albums have garbage soundquality.
However, what they do is to just do same garbage remaster job into hi-res file! That's just... argh!
Okay boomer
@@Eyefornowstfu and grow up💀
Eye lol, I'm no where near being a boomer. I just like quality.
@@rockerseven Quality... cds? Get some flac files and a good headset and you are done. Don't need CDs for quality audio
I have several second hand discmans from the mid 2000's, three panasonics, a sanyo model, a philips model, and several sony models. The panasonics are by far the best, very good bass boost and battery life, the Sony sound good but seem to break more easily.
Another brand that is on par if not superior than Sony in the personal cd player dept. is Aiwa
Proud owner of a Panasonic portable CD player here! The bass boost is sweet! I take it to used media stores and listen to CDs before I buy.
I have a few too... I find Sanyos tend to sound more open, the Panasonics have a compressed sound to them
Found a Panasonic, new in sealed box in a charity shop for £3 in the summer.
Agreed. My Panasonic feels a bit more solid than my Sony.
I believe your review is spot-on, & it parallels my experiences, with current audio equipment on the market. The level of quality we expected in audio electronics; especially that of our youth, is all but gone in current production units. Yes, there is the secondary markets for used & new-old stock, but that has a finite number too.
I still have my original Sony Car CD Walkman Portable CD Player. It was a kit, that I bought from Media Play (in the U.S.), back in the mid to late 1990's. It came with rechargeable batteries, and a home charger/power supply, as well as a car charger/power supply. I believe it also included an external Play/Pause/FF/REV Control, but no remote display, and a cassette audio adapter. Sony was trying to offer an option for folks that did not have a CD Player in their car. I found that the G-Force (buffering) option did a respectable job, and eliminating annoying skips in playback, due to external vibrations. There was even a nice red back-light, for the display & controls, when running the unit on external power. All in all, it was a nice system, and it still functions well to this very day.
CDs (and cassettes before them) held on in luxury and "executive" cars for a longer time than you'd think because the type of people who could afford them were generally older and would appreciate being able to play their existing media in their new >$60k car. Also a possible motive in the executive car space for such a thing is maybe you're a junior executive and your firm still hasn't upgraded their systems from tapes and CDs so to listen to recorded meetings or your boss's dictation you'd need your car to be able to play them in the commute.
If you're looking for a personal CD player, a mid-range late '90s model that takes AA batteries is probably ideal because these are from the peak CD era so should be good quality with a number of desirable features but not outrageously expensive like the top-end models, and using AAs means you don't have to fiddle with goofy special batteries that may or may not be obtainable anymore.
My 2016 Ford still has a CD player in it, which has only ever been used as a slot to put a mobile phone holder into :)
@@AdamJRichardson my 1 year old electric Volkswagen even has a slot in the glovebox for CDs and stuff 😁. But i never put a cd in, exactly like you 😁. What i use it for is DVDs for the kids. You can get many shows on dvd but not legally from a streaming service, i don’t know why this is. But it’s convenient to have a place to play them, and in the glovebox the slot doesn’t disrupt the infotainment screen, so i don’t mind 😉)
yeah my 2016 Mazda3 also has a CD player which I have no idea if it even works
Yeah my Prius 2 still has a cassette player
@@kyliandc9276 ok, you win in the retro category by a long shot. My hat off to you, dear sir/madam 😁👍
The CD is still the highest quality format ever produced (except DVD/BluRay audio). It's a shame that it's disappearing, and lesser formats are hanging in there.
I don't know. If the vinyl resurgence continues without any production expansions and with huge record companies hogging the factories, indie artists might have to revert back to CDs if they want to put out any physical media. Otherwise they're stuck with cassettes or popular streaming along with Bandcamp. Glad I still have a Onkyo stereo with the CD player on it, but I probably won't buy them if I can avoid it and stick to Bandcamp.
My first CD player in the 1980s was a Sony Walkman personal CD player. It cost me about 3 weeks' wages. Yep, my wages were bloody awful! They had not been out that long, to be honest, I was a kid who had just left school, my first job n all that. I stayed in to pay for it when going out on the weekend was the most important thing a young lad could do. I sold all of my vinyl and tapes to help buy CD's, there were not cheap either. Some of them were £19.99 each for the double ones. No regrets then, it was the future! Man some of that vinyl was first pressed Hendrix on Track records, Nick Drake on Pink Island, a ton of early Beatles on Mono! I now steam all of my music lol
bad idea
Always look on the bright side of life ;) It's only money.
My first cd player was a Sony CDP-102 (the second ever after the 101), it cost me £300 from 'Laskys hi-fi' and it took two years to be payed for with a loan from 'Lombard Tricity Finance' when I opened the box it was obvious that it was a 'return' 'cos the accessories were missing for which I complained and got given some non-Sony replacements.
Back then buying a CD was an occasion and I was introduced to some classic albums via the format but I would never have considered selling my LPs and I now have 3500+ of the things !
"Happy Days" !
I kept my Sony Walkman from the late 90s, and my wife doesn't understand why. I love the nostalgia of the old technology. Love your channel. Thanks for the videos
I had a TEAC portable CD player with 60-second anti-skip, and when you put a CD in it, it would spin-up to a fast speed, and show on the LCD that it was buffering.
Once it had about 60-seconds of music data, it would slow down to a very slow spindle speed, and would NEVER jitter or skip, no matter what. Fond memories of the past. ;)
I got a cheap Goodmans portable CD player for Christmas when I was 11 or 12. This was the mid-2000's, so portable CD players were already on their way out. No surprise then that I got an MP3 player a couple of years later. Got plenty of use out of that portable CD player though. I actually still used it to play a few CD's after I got my MP3 player. It had a strap on the underside, so I used to tie it around one of my belt loops. Those were the days...
I carried one of these everyday to high school. By the time I started working, MP3 players finally got affordable so I moved onto an iPod. It was amazing, since I didn't have to tote my massive binder of CDs or extra batteries.
Now I just have all my music on my phone. I have MP3s that are nearly two decades old, from long dead websites and bands that no longer exist. Audio files that are just begging for a few extra bitrate crumbs. Hell, a few of the oldest songs have AIM notifications in them, because I was recording my PC's audio to rip them from some website. Long forgotten messages left buried in music tracks no one remembers but me.
Stuff like that makes me feel an indescribable emotion.
I remember how making a mix tape for someone was a big deal. You had to listen for the songs you wanted and hit record and cut out all the b.s. you didnt want. A good mix tape in the day was the equivalent of a 4 page letter.
This is why I’ve started to collect old media formats from when I was kid.. nostalgia definitely but also a reminder as how far technology has come. I remember my dad had a sharp hi-if player and the CD I heard was Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits.
Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits that's it first CD I bought and still plays like new as most cd's do. I love physical media buy a down load and you're buying thin air in a cense.
It's strange hearing people talk like CDs aren't made anymore
"Brothers In Arms" was to CD players what "The Matrix" was to DVD players i.e. the first disc that everybody bought when they bought their first player.
@@canaconn2388 Right?! Like literally any artist worth anything still releases on CD, and they still sell in big numbers on Amazon. What world are these weird people living in?
The low voltage issue is probably due to the extreme power range. If you were to put 1 more cell, would probably run for 20hrs.
The batteries he did his test with were legit.
Thinking the same thing. This thing really wants at 4.5 volts. Someone pooched the battery compartment design!
Add one 18650 lithium battery @ 4.2 Volt
The first portable CD player I ever bought back in the late 90s had a similar issue. That was some Philips unit and wouldn't even try to turn on with the 1.2volt rechargeable batteries I used with my portable cassette player. Dollar store batteries where bad to they would only last about 30 minutes before the player would shut off. Best results I ever got out of that thing was with name brand batteries like Duracell and Energizer which would last about a hour. The batteries would all still have plenty of life left in them after the CD player was done with them though so they would end up in my Gameboy eventually.
Try rechargeable batteries, I had this same weird issue with a digital camera and it worked fine with NiMH cells but would fail with low battery on Alkaline. The power gradient was different so whatever software it had must have been designed for rechargeable batteries.
I use Spotify, am an avid vinyl collector, and have kept my CDs and still play them.
The sound from my CD on my hifi is incredible compared to streaming. You really notice a difference.
if you use streaming to find and discover new music etc? that's a great tool. but yes physical media is only way to really enjoy music.
I don’t know if it’s placebo, but CD sound coming out from my Denon mini system somehow sounds better than Apple Music lossless through HDMI/optical input on the same system. I absolutely love my Sony Walkman DAP, listen to my CD’s converted to FLAC/ALAC, but there’s no connection with the physical disc this way, I miss that.
@@jpcfernandes It is a placebo
As an eastern european from the former soviet block (Hungary)
Cd-s were never gotten hold here.
Compact casette was only started to be widespread in the late 80¹s. In early 00's still was more casette than cd. Cd's cost 3-5x as casette, only the wealthier people bought it. Most of us went from casettes directly to mp3 player age.
Also being in the balcan most of the things you bought in the corner shop and market was copied, and casettes were cheaper to reproduce in the backroom.
Cd copiing market had to involve computers, and the people who eas able to do it used it for games softwares and films for bigger profit margins.
Napster left out as too, around 2005 the torrenting craze began, and still holds.
Thats cool. So there was never a big crackdown on file sharing like in the US? I miss the wild west days of early file sharing. There's still file sharing here but there's too many viruses it always messes up your computer.
@@ps5hasnogames55 heard about soviet bloc?
Audio Cd's were not that popular in Romania too. We went from compact cassettes straight to 100 mbps FTTH internet for DC++ and Pirate Bay. We just could not afford original media.
@@ps5hasnogames55 Being in the Soviet block means under the soviet Influence, not in the Soviet Union. Try to understand what you read
Soviet BLOCK
I bought a personal CD player on Amazon recently, it was an Aiwa model, the AIWA PCD-810RD, it's a new model and it's actually pretty decent, still available new on Amazon for £58 (a lot compared to the others but the price hike seems to be worth it). It has a high volume and a X-Bass feature, anti-skip, powered by USB charging/rechargeable batteries, metallic design, quite heavy and thick, comes with earphones and a carrying case. To be honest, I think it's as good as it gets these days for a new model of personal CD player. If anyone wants one, I'd recommend that one.
Amazon says currently unavailable. Looked elsewhere but seems to be very hard to get. I bet they're being snatched up quickly. Do you have any suggestions?
I had many Aiwa products as a kid. Very reliable.
@@OldMan_PJ Sony sold the brand rights and it was relaunched in 2015. There's a few different companies using the Aiwa name though so I'm not sure which one makes the player mentioned
Edit - it looks like it's probably Aiwa Co., the Japanese company, and is imported by Aiwa Europe, so I'm not sure if it's available in the US. If anyone is looking for one they're available on eBay UK right now for £50 and Amazon UK for £58
@@richardmclean5913 Amazon shows 3 listings for me, make sure you click "view all buying options" where the price usually is
Aiwa, great stuff then and still sounds like great stuff now!
I've had Sony Discman players that do have audio differences: they have different DSP features. There was one mode that I enjoyed listening through headphones....Sony's "Surround" filter. One model that's in the highest demand with audiophiles is the D-555....it does look premium (metal case and digital volume control). Used prices are insane for old electronics (around $1500 now). I had one in which its tracking started going. Taking it apart and trying to adjust pots didn't do anything. With it being old, there are capacitors on the circuit board that require replacement now. So instead of trying to hold on to these and carrying CDs around for listening at work...it does seem its more convenient just to rip the CDs to audio files for my DAP (which also easily fits in a pocket). Merry Christmas as well!
"Disman"
Yep - High quality personal portable audio players still live on under the Walkman brand, I'm very happy to say, and I have a couple - one for high-res audio, loaded with HQ flacs, and one that only supports mp3 but is my daily driver. I still rip in album form, and like to have cover art, so it still feels very like the cassette days!
I had reading problems with my portable Aldi player and noticed that the laser lense was tilted. I pushed it in it's suspected normal location/orientation and it worked fine.
But yeah I wouldn't try that with something rare and expensive.
Even DAP is pretty oldschool now to be honest, i transitioned away from them around 10 years ago, they were good replacement for cd's, but considering its easy to get above 500gb storage on a phone, most coming with near unlimited data, there is just no reason to keep using 20 different devices for each different thing, your phone can do it all, and the biggest sound difference you will hear is between different sets of headphones, your better off just buying a good set of headphones and a bigger memory card, there are also hundreds if not thousands of different apps and programs for playing back media of all formats it all different modes.
I can't imagine an audiophile would want an old Sony portable CD player, probably just collectors
As for Mp3 players I still use them. All my models weigh less than 70 grams. Sadly the mp3 players keep getting discontinued, I keep getting new ones every so often. I'm thinking on getting one of those Energizer phones, they don't weigh that much.
my favourite one was the SanDisk Sansa Clip+. bought one in 2013 but now they arent on stock anywhere unfortunately. very tiny device but buttons etc feels good.
although it has an internal battery and i used it quiete often it still works today.
have not seen any ones of this size anymore
@@Xmaster1990 Man, that was my main one.
@@TuzoAnime nice! unfortunately some of my buttons are not working anymore, so no navigation possible.
i also switched the battery once. Bit tricky to open and replace the it, thats when i broke the buttons
I remember when my backpack for school had a dedicated CD player pocket and wire hole for the headphones jack to pass through. Good times.
I remember those! I can imagine kids thinking now that such a feature would be to allow quick stowing away of their airpods!
I long ago gave up on portable CD players, but still use my full-size player at home. While I mostly listen to either streaming services or rips of my own CDs on my phone, when I find an album I really like, I buy it on CD so I have an offline backup or for a proper listening experience on my stereo. I would hate to see physical media that you can own vanish. At some point you might find yourself retired and unable to afford all the streaming services everyone insists you subscribe to, and then where are you? Streaming services are amazing in their ability to expose you to new music you might never have heard, but they put you completely at the mercy of their availability and pricing.
I just use youtube for free to find new artists. If I like it, I will buy the CD.
I still have my Mid 1980s Toshiba personal CD player. It had 2 headphone sockets to share the music.
18:57 Yes, you and me both! I also preferred MD players over portable CD players. In the late 90s during high school, the CD player I used would skip constantly while playing and end up scratching the disc ever so slightly. Thankfully, my dad had gotten me a Kenwood MD player and I enjoyed it to the fullest - more compact design and better protection against skipping.
The freedom to overwrite the discs were better quality than cassette tapes. I even noticed Neo from The Matrix hand over a mini disc to his friend, warning him not to get caught with that item!
My parents bought one by Philips in the early nineties, our first CD Player. It was useless without standing still and was easily disrupted by external vibrations like from walking by. It did cost like 200 bucks. It read worse and worse over the years and had a tendency to get stuck like a scratched vinyl. After like eight years it didn't turn on anymore.
I got my own from Aldi with mp3 (from CD only) capability and up to 480 seconds anti-shock wich never actually exceeded like 20 even when the storage was allegedly full. It did work while walking, driving in a car or in a backpack. Batteries lasted something between two and four hours. 70 bucks.
When mp3 players became a massive success, portable CD players could be found for less than 30 bucks. My younger brother got one with card reader and said it worked fine, even on the go.
Did you use NiMH batteries by any chance to get the 4 hours? because i bet his low battery problem has to do with him using alkaline ones
@@laharl2k I answered but that comment was deleted for some reason.
The alkalines I sometimes used were usually better than my NiMH cells that I usually had.
re anti shock, these insane numbers like 480 seconds only applied to mp3 disks and the higher the bitrate of the file being played was, the less time it would buffer. IIRC most of those ridiculous durations are based on crappy 128kbps mp3s, something I wouldn't even have wanted to listen to back then. This simply stems from mp3s being way smaller than raw CDDA, so while it might only buffer 30secs for a normal audio CD, that buffer duration could quadruple for an mp3 simply because almost the entire file fits in the same sized buffer
@@Knaeckebrotsaege
Well 60s of CD audio us a bit more than 10MB, so say its "60s" and they actually used a 8MB SRAM chip, most MP3s are less than 8MB so yeah, most likely they cache then entire file and then stop the motor to save power.
I've been lamenting the demise of CDs for the past 7 years. Very few new cars come with CD players and even fewer stores sell albums on CD. I have tried Serious XM and heard as many repeated songs as terrestrial radio.
I just bought a new Pioneer CD receiver for my aging Accord since the factory unit stopped reading discs properly. I hope it lasts, because I will never be happy about owning nothing.
Yeah its like they got rid of all the CD players before a really good, superior form of physical media player came to replace it. I guess the USB input is cool but its not the same.
You think you got it bad, try finding a car with a built in record player.
Just rip the songs to your phone (FLAC) and plug in the aux.
I never liked music radio. I'm a talk radio listener. Most music I hear I don't like, I have limited interests and my small cd collection covers most of that.
@@neondemon5137 phones are the worst. They keep draining the battery, and interrupting media playback with notifications and phone calls!
How does anyone listen to "Music for Airports" on one? I was watching RUclips on my smartphone recently, 3 notifications came in, all of which lowered the volume of the video to play the stupid notification noise! I mean, wtf?
Plus flac wastes too much space, it's more for archival of wav recordings.
Thank you for the update. My experience recently which validates keeping hard copies of music, was that my entire CD (3GB) collection had been copied over time and loaded onto a 5TB hard drive. The unit suddenly died and the information was lost and not retrievable as the company in Holland advised. My last purchased motor vehicle, Toyota RAV4, was the last to have a CD player. Our home sound system is a BOSE touch unit including a CD component. It was traumatic with the demise of the Minidisc and cassette, but I will maintain the CD collection as well as adding to it. Yes I also have two walkman CD players as well. Long live the CD.
About a year ago I added a NAS to my home network with the idea, among others, to rip up my entire CD collection into high quality FLACs, chuck the discs and play my music via streaming only. But even though the NAS has mirroring, redundant backup, I'm still wary of letting go of the CDs. I mean, that's decades of my life into music, it's not the throwaway deal it probably is for younger generations. Anyway...
Put an after market audio head unit in your car...
Pioneer, Alpine, Clarion, Kenwood, JVC etc.. Still make heaps of CD head units..
You have to look for the Alpine and Clarion ones as they are more of a high end brand but the others are easy to get..
My error, I lost 3TB of uploaded music related to my CD collection.
I bought a cheap no-name Walkman-style CD player a few years back from a local chain retailer (it was the only one they carried), and this looks to be a huge step up in quality over what I had been able to find. Which is quite sad.
I'd love to see you put together a video featuring some higher quality CD players from the last 15 years or so that are still readily available, cheap, and functional. Sort of like a buyers guide of sorts for those looking to find something like this.
i recently purchased new-old stock sony walkman cd players with g-shock..just have to see if they still work.
The ION appeared to be about a half a string wide, whereas the Sony seemed to be about 3/4 a banana.
Thank goodness, someone who can understand proper units of measurement 😉
@@jamesduncan6729 I was going to suggest that half a string wide was probably equivalent to 1.2 goldfish or 0.75 tortoises long, but then I thought that would just be silly. After all, it's easier just to use the units already at hand, so three large free-range hen's eggs it is.
The windows calculator gives you examples when doing conversions, for example 3cm is 0.86 paperclips, 30mph is 0.67 horses and 50kG is 0.01 elephants.
My CD player is a 2002 Chevrolet Silverado long
@@MarceldeJong The problem with washing machines is that they operate in four dimensions - width, depth, height, and the time taken for a full wash with extra rinse and spin cycles. That tends to make direct conversion to simple linear measurements problematic, especially of the spin speed is variable.
I always wished Hi-MD's would have taken off more. You got the benefit of MiniDiscs (able to delete, move, and add tracks at any time, plus the discs are protected in shells), and at 1gig a disc, you could record 90 minutes of (Linear PCM) music on each disc. Even more with Atrac compression, but I still preferred lossless. Nowadays, Hi-MD's are crazy expensive, not really affordable to create an album collection with them.
The music player of my youth. Thanks for the nostalgia. Good memories of Era on ear around 04-06 and long mountain hikes and biking around town. Man, I wish those happy times would return.
Was pleased to find my old Sony personal CD player during a recent loft clear out. It was in a soft case along with about 10 discs of music and audio books I'd ripped into MP3 back on the day. It travelled the world with my wife and I during our travels before we settled down to have a family.
Maybe the reason for the low battery popping up so early is due to all the voltage it accepts, from 3v (battery) to 5v (usb). Maybe it doesn't work so well at lower voltages
0:17 A timeless quote from a true wise man indeed 😆 Bravo Mat 👏
I remember my first Personal CD player, It was a Sony Discman Model D-131 brought in the mid 90's, It was an awesome unit it even came in a proper box which was really nicely packed.
Mine was an RCA with 6 second skip...I think it was about 1996 or '97. Wish I could remember the model.
Alanis Morissette's album "Jagged Little Pill" was the first album I bought with my own cash.
JVC Jazz 92 was the first CD I ever had, though. It was a gift from a friend whose dad worked for JVC.
My first portable CD player was the Akai PD-X30. If you jolted it just ever so slightly the disk would skip and I could only ever use it when stationery so not very portable.
That model number rang a bell so I went looking.. I had a D-141, though I'm not exactly sure what the difference between the two was, if there was any. Still works but looks like it went through a war, complete with a cracked lid and missing window. That's also why it got replaced with a D-E305
@@Knaeckebrotsaege Looks like the only difference was the D-141 had a window on the lid so you could see the CD spinning.
Here in Brazil, everyone, literally all CD players, apparently, were programmed to stop working in three or four years. Regardless of the model, those that were expensive or cheap all stopped working and there was never the possibility of replacing damaged optical readers, as the devices became obsolete in less than a year after their launch. Today there are still some DVD players working and they are my only option for listening to my small CD collection. Unfortunately, it seems to me that this option also has its days numbered. Health and peace of mind to everyone. Mauricio Avanzi.
How can this even be possible?
Always measure the batteries under load. Voltage will drop when they are supplying voltage to something. When not under load, the voltage will bring itself up to sometime a level that makes it look new
Seeing a retrospective on CDs is so strange. I'm not that old (not quite to 35 thank you!) but it's the first thing I was really invested in that is died out now. Also the idea that the old super thin models are hard to find now is just as weird. I remember buying my aunt a replacement one that size from the dollar store! (it wasn't a great model but it made her happy.)
Im love playing my cd's in my pioneer deck! They are always going to be my first choice for digital music!
I still rock my old Sony from sometime around 2005 when I travel. I've been pulled aside by security two or three times at airports because they had no idea what it was. First time it happened was probably the first time I really felt "old."
I'm pretty young and I have never really experienced music on CDs. As a kid, I had a portable cassette player where I'll keep the music I hear on the radio. It was early years for me and I did not have a personal computer at the time but even back then (2004 ish) CDs were a data disc for me, they were too bulky in comparison to the tapes. And soon after I switched to using mp3s.
ooooh, kinda kweer tho 🤪🏳️🌈 hehe
With almost every format demise, there is a perfect spec'd version loaded with features that you can't get anymore. Was there ever a portable Disk player that could play Massively layered CD's (or even do an audio DVD), were there ones that play a lot of File types and have good Bluetooth (or other Wireless)?
Best of both worlds to be able to play MP3s from your phone via Bluetooth but also physical discs.
_"Was there ever a portable Disk player that could play Massively layered CD's (or even do an audio DVD)"_ I have a 2003 Ford Windstar with the entertainment package. It has a VCR and a 4.3 inch LCD screen mounted to the top of it behind the first row of seats. The VCR is in between the driver and passenger seats. The van does also come with a CD player in the dash and is auto selected if you insert a CD.
My son thinking that since there is a VCR in the van that it should also play DVD's. He inserted a DVD into the CD player and to my amazement, the CD player started playing the audio of the movie that was on the DVD even though the selector on the infotainment center displayed CD. I removed the infotainment center thinking that there might be a video out and I could get rid of the VCR in the center console, but there was no video out. It would have been nice. I do believe the next versions of the Windstar, the Freestar does have playable DVD's in the dash as the Freestar no longer had a VCR in it. I believe Ford just decided to use DVD players for CD players as it knew the next version of the minivan was going to use DVD's anyway. So there were probably portable CD players that could play DVD's, they were just not labeled and nobody thought to try playing a DVD in it.
I ended up dismantling the VCR and cutting out the harness connector as you can remove the VCR from the van and use it as a portable VCR, and then using that harness connecter to wire in the outputs of a cheap media player and using that in the van instead of the VCR. I have more than 800 CD's in FLAC format on a 512Gb sd card and about 200 movies on a 1Tb flash drive. The sad thing is we have only used it twice as we have only taken 2 long trips since I replaced the VCR more than 6 years ago.
@@nathanwoodruff9422 Thank you for making this comment! It was really interesting!
@@nathanwoodruff9422 so what did you record with the VCR?
@@nanchanger _"so what did you record with the VCR?"_ The VCR that came in the van was only a player and not a recorder.
I had a personal cd player in my childhood. I was listening to music hours and hours long. Shubert, Haydn, Vivaldi... Still have it.
I was one of the early adopters of them. I was SO overjoyed when I finally replaced my old walkman with my fancy new portable CD player.
And then I went jogging with it.
ESP fixed that! God I loved my old CD walkman with electronic shock protection, and I remember the old model from the late 80's that we just had hooked up to our stereo couldn't even be barely nudged without skipping.
lol. And there was no problem with "surface noise" like with LPs. Largely because if you scratch a CD, you have to throw it away.
yeah i tried mowing the yard and it could keep up with bumping around on the lawn mower.
I remember thinking Discmans and the like were the coolest things, and I desperately wanted one... then I finally got one and realized the inherent downside of jiggling CD players. (the models I had definitely didn't have good antiskip) Still used that thing constantly until it had to be held shut with tape when the latching mechanism gave out, though. As much as I love physical media, streaming is just notably better when it comes to carrying music around. (I still miss it, though. Not having all the music in the world at your fingertips makes what you do have more special)
You can't even get a good quality hi-fi CD player anymore. The best CD players were the first and the second generation units, built like tanks and still very reliable even today. In the 90s, quality went downhill but was still mostly OK. Today even high end CD players use the same junk-level transports as Chinese DVD players.
Didn't most of those use 14-bit DACs hence the invention of the devil's own pre-emphasis?
@@ChrisStoneinator most 2nd generation CD players were fully 16-bit
CD’s would’ve been an even bigger boon for the world if they were never priced over $10 to begin with. I won’t pay more than $5 for one myself.
I still like to listen to my cds. There is nothing like holding a physical copy of your favorite albums.
I just sold a CD for $55 (US) and dropped it off at the post office four hours ago. I wouldn't say the format is dead yet. CD's are fun and there's so much great music that's on a disc but isn't on streaming services like Spotify.
I did the same, on a crappy 80s kiss album for 120.
@@lobsterwhisperer7932 That's crazy. I'll have to figure out which album that was and keep my eyes peeled for it. I've been selling a lot of CD's on Discord but am still holding onto a bunch in my small collection.
I am becoming a grumpy old woman age 69. I love my CDs, I have a CD player in my lounge, a personal CD player I use in my bedroom and my five year old VW Up came with a CD player. Just hope they all out live me! Things are moving way, way too quickly for me. I'm gaining great understanding of my parents attitudes as they got older. I don't want to do internet banking, I don't want a smart meter so I can see electric and gas usage. I don't use a modern phone! I just want to be left alone and not be dragged anywhere I don't want to go!
As a Gen Z-er, I understand your sentiments. I feel the same sometimes. I often get annoyed at the idea of everything being digital. Not everything needs to be. Some things are best done the "traditional" way.
I am a 57 year old man in Cambridge.
I totally understand your view!
@@krayozmines I feel sorry for you guys. There was something magical about going to the store and picking out an album or two from a new artist or an old standby. Taking it home, unwrapping it and smelling the fresh plastic, popping it in your best stereo setup then playing the music while you flopped down on the sofa and flipped through the art book which had pics of the band, lyrics and related art. The very concept of an album no longer exists anymore - people just pick out the one popular song and ignore the rest. Sad really.
Amen!
My first CD player was a portable Panasonic back in 1991 for my 21st bday. I was blown away by the comparison with cassettes. I even bought one of those cradles to enable having it in the car. That was a bit flakey though, despite the dampening on it, it still had the tendency to jump. So back then the Anti-Skip facility this CD player has would have been great
I collect them. They are getting easy to find and cheap! Thank you, crazy people.
lol I say same thing. I find great bands on cd. just thrown away . I laugh when I find them. thanks you all!! please keep dumping them off at thrift stores for me! lol
I've started making it my mission to buy up any good CD I can find at Charity Shops. Sometimes I walk out with 20 or 30 at a time. They are so cheap now and are still a great format. I still prefer vinyl, but that ship has said as far as quality second hand LPs go (out here anyway). So now I look for CDs and cassettes mainly when I am shopping there. And 20 for $10 is a bargain in anyone's books.
Sometimes second hand shops are the only way you're going to get the same sound as the one you listened to back in the day. Those old releases are often being re-released in a remastered version that sound different from what you're used to. There are some exceptions: the re-release of Pearl Jam's "Ten" contains both the original and remastered version, for example. Another downside of buying the re-release version, even if it isn't remastered, is that it usually comes in a cardboard package rather than a proper jewel case.
Vinyl is just as bad about re-releases though. They lost a lot of manufacturing experience when vinyl imploded, and there's not a lot of quality control. I've heard of people having bad pressings right out of the shrink wrap. CD re-release problems are mostly when they mess with the audio data to re-EQ it.
A TechMoan video is a fabulous Christmas Present! Thanks Mat!
Tomorrow in a Sony board meeting: "Anyone knows why the demand for Discman suddenly skyrockets?"
I still have my Sony Discman that i bought sometime in the early 90s. I used it as a cd player in college. It's approximately 30 years old, and to my surprise it still works.
I still have my Sony D-5A second generation portable CD player with the Power Dock and the Portable carrying case which held 6 "C" batteries (I'm not even sure you could get through a whole cd with one set of batteries!). No buffering so when you carried it around in the portable carrying case you had best not bump it!!!!