Sony Walkman D-193 Personal CD Player

I have to tell you. I am a BIGTIME penny-pinching-low-down-cupon-clipping-sale-hunting-won't-pay-a-nickle-over-retail-FOOL! You come to my house and I have everything. I have more than any human should have on the face of this earth! My kids have more toys than Toys-R-Us during Christmas! We are not packrats; it is just that I cannot resist a bargain.

I have 4 computers in my home office. I paid retail for one and the rest I built by buying parts at garage sales or online. I have 3 beautiful Ford Vehicles. I buy Ford (as some of you know) because my Father worked for Ford and I get them brand new for less than wholesale price!

What does this all have to do with the DISCMAN? Well, I will tell you. I love my DISCMAN! What I love most is not the great sound (of which I do get from it). Not the fact that I can take it with me anywhere and listen to CDs I have created for myself. It is not even the fact that when I use the car adapter kit it still does not skip a beat. (By the way the kit was included). It is the fact that I got it for 25 bucks refurbished!
I am telling you that I love refurbished products. They usually are better and longer lasting than new products because the factory has fixed everything that is already been broken on it.

I bought my DISCMAN at my favorite auction out in California. It is called the Warehouse (or something like that). It was packaged up and in shrink-wrap with the car adapter kit and all. It came with a 30-day factory warranty. (Some come with as much as 90 day warranties). I got it home and could not wait to listen to my new Keith Green CDs I had purchased online before my trip. The reason I bought it was the old (yes Ford) truck I was driving only had a cassette player in it and I wanted to hear my CDs real bad. The clarity was beautiful. I really did not expect anything less from Sony. I remember my first WALKMAN from Sony and that was exciting. This however, was like being at a concert and I could picture the late, great Keith Green with his curly locks and 70s-ish mustache sitting at his piano playing for me and pulling me in.

Would it have all meant this much had I paid retail? NO WAY! I am way to cheap to appreciate anything if it costs full-price! If you are going to pay retail do a lot more shopping around then I did. However if you would like to buy things refurbished, here are some places to look:

http://www.wholesaleproducts.com/refurbished.html
(Sells many refurbished items)

http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/outlets/locations.html
(Sony factory outlet store locator)

http://commerce-03.www.ibm.com/
(Get an Adobe PDF file of the latest refurbished items for sale from the IBM factory)

Good luck and good listening!