Panasonic SL-SX420 Personal CD Player

I've had this player now for about a month, and I can't really complain. I bought it to replace my RioVolt SP-250 model. The "hold" button on the RioVolt broke, and now the "hold" feature has to be triggered with a screwdriver from the inside of the unit. The RioVolt broke just three months after the warranty ran out, and I purchased the Panasonic SL-SX420 as a replacement for about $50 from Amazon.com.

I have a very important tip for anyone purchasing the unit: discard the headphones immediately. I suspect that some reviewers who complain that the sound doesn't live up to their expectations have been using the headphones the come with the unit. These headphones make the unit sound muffled and harder to hear (softer) than when I plugged in my cheap-o Sony headphones. I borrowed my boyfriend's Grado headphones for a real test. I would say that sound-wise, the unit is fairly average. This isn't a player for serious audiophiles, but the sound is good for the average listener.

This unit doesn't skip. No matter what. I've given it some significant jolts, and have shaken the unit as hard as I can. The unit can take a fair amount of abuse, but I'm not so confident that the unit would continue to work if it was dropped or banged around too hard. One merchant listed the player as having rubber brushings to absorb shock. That isn't true. The outer shell of the player is all hard plastic. I worry a little about the "hold" button. It's a very small, plastic lego-block type switch on the side of the player. Despite this, I feel that if the player only takes moderate abuse, it will definitely last a few years. Anyhow, for $50, I won't be nearly as devastated to replace the unit as I would to replace a more expensive unit, like an iPod or another $150 RioVolt.

The unit comes with a (1) year warranty for parts and labor. If the unit breaks during that one year (from the date of purchase) due to a "defect in materials or workmanship," Panasonic will either repair the unit with new or refurbished parts or replace it with a new or refurbished product. The warranty seems pretty standard to me, but I don't expect to have to make use of the warranty.

The player comes with a small remote control. I've been using the remote to add a little cord-length so that I can keep the player in my bag or backpack. Also, it gives me the added flexibility of not having to dig through my bag every time I want to advance to the next song or turn the player on and off. I just leave the "hold" switch on the player activated, plug in the remote, use the controls and hold switch on the remote. The remote has a play/stop button (holding the stop button for a few seconds will turn off the unit), volume up/down buttons, a button to allow you to toggle "live/bass boost/regular" play modes, and a hold switch. There is no "pause button" on the remote, but there is one on the unit itself. If you hit the play/stop button to interrupt a track, and then hit the button again to resume, the player starts from the beginning of the track rather than the point at which you left off. The remote has a little clip on it that I usually clip to my jacket or to my pocket to keep the cord out of my way as I walk.

The battery life on this player is excellent. I use this player about an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. I know that's not heavy usage, but the battery indicator still shows I've used less than a fourth of the alkaline battery power. I used rechargables in my RioVolt and it seemed that I was always having to recharge the batteries. Also, you can find the door to load the batteries inside the unit, under where you load the CD rather than at the bottom of the unit. (I mention this only because it is slightly unconventional for most of the products I've used and caused very minor confusion -- not because it caused any defect in the device). The unit uses two AA-sized batteries.

The unit does not come with an AC adapter, like my RioVolt and old Sony CD players did. I don't feel the need to have an adapter, as I usually am using the unit while walking or travelling. When I'm at home, I use other devices to listen to music.

The unit is fairly attractive, easy to carry and astoundingly lightweight. Everyone who has picked up the unit has commented how light it is. My RioVolt was a monster compared to this unit. Having a lightweight unit has been much easier to manage for me, because I carry the player everywhere, even if I don't plan to use it. I used to notice the weight of my RioVolt, but I don't even notice the Panasonic Mp3 player. I also usually just carry the Mp3 CD that I keep inside the player -- no additional CDs. It's so nice to have hours of music on one disc and not have to lug around a CD wallet!

The SL-SX420 has two LCD screens on the top of the unit. While playing, the top LCD lists the album and/or track number while the bottom LCD lists the time elasped, the mode, and the battery life. The player does not have ID3 tagging. I rarely even look at the player while it's running, though, and I usually play my Mp3 CDs straight through, advancing to the next track if I come across a song I'm not in the mood for. The player does not, however, allow you to fast-forward or rewind within MP3 songs. It does let you fast-forward and rewind within audio tracks (and quickly!).

I have a Macintosh and use iTunes to create my Mp3 CD-R discs. I can order the songs in the playlist before I burn an Mp3 CD. The player has played every single disc I have put in, without any problem. The manual says that it will also play CD-RW discs, and multi-session Mp3 discs (although multiple session discs will slow the player down, according to the manual).

The player is capable of creating a 20-song playlist, repeating just one track, repeating all tracks, and random shuffling. You can boost bass or switch to "live" mode, or just use the regular mode (which I prefer). The bass boost mode is just okay, and really doesn't impress me much. I prefer the more balanced "regular" mode.

The unit does not come with a radio. In the past, I often insisted on having an FM radio with any CD or MP3 player that I owned. However, I realized I didn't use this feature at all on my RioVolt because I had hours of music on each Mp3 disc, and didn't get bored.

Overall, I am satisfied with my purchase. I briefly considered getting an iPod, but then I remembered how upset I was when my RioVolt broke. iPods seemed expensive to have repaired (might as well buy a new unit altogether). Secondly, I was somewhat put-off by the price of the replacement batteries for the iPod units (even if you only have to replace them every few years). And third, I felt that in time, there will be affordable all-in-one units, similar to an iPod (but with more features), that will play Mp3s, perform pocket-pc functions, and provide data storage. Put it this way, I'd rather not carry a $200 iPod and a $200-$300 PocketPC with me for day-to-day usage. These were my main considerations in purchasing the type of unit I chose, plus I've seen very good ratings on Panasonic products (Sony just isn't the market leader that it used to be!).

This model doesn't have a lot of bells-and-whistles, but it performs all basic Mp3/CD functions well. I really don't miss the extra features I had with my RioVolt, and I think this player is much more portable and lightweight than any other player I've ever owned.

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Here is a link to a .pdf of the product manual:
http://images.amazon.com/media/i3d/01/MANUAL000002149.pdf