Sony Walkman D-EJ815 Personal CD Player
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No honeymooner I swear
Pros
BATTERY LIFE! Thin, Lightweight, Loads of accessories, In-Line Remote, It's a SONY
Cons
Sound is not PERFECT but it is still very good
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
I said it and I said it again, is everybody knew about this player, there would be no other players on the market, nobody would want them!!
In December of 2001 I got my newest toy, Sony D-EJ815 Cd player. I was excited it was here, my old Discman was dead.
I have seen reviews before, and not just here, where somebody had just gotten something and so it is, of course, perfect. Therefore I forced myself to wait a few months before logging on typing this review.
Enough about me though, let?s talk about da player!
Opening it
upon unpacking the player I received the following
-The player
Well I should hope, more on that later
-Headphones
although I would hardly call them that. That?s okay I didn't expect much (and neither should you) and I had a better pair here anyway
-Remote
Probably my favorite feature, more on it later, too
-case
It's a soft vinyl leather case, it's really nice but I don't use it all the time, you can't really change CDs in it. Also, while it has the major buttons (Play, stop, etc.) like quilted into it so you know where they are with the case on, it doesn't show you where the secondary buttons are, Play Mode, Sound, etc and...My 2nd largest complaint although I don't consider them "Secondary
it does not show you where the volume buttons are!! Also (and this is REALLY minor) sometimes the Hold switch gets slid to "On" when I use the player in the case.
-Battery tube
Ah, the legendary external battery case. It is a little plastic case about the size of a mini-Mag light with a cord sticking out of it that you can plug into the CD player, it connects where you would put the plug in cord except the wall plug has one hole (Like a Nokia cell phone charger and practically any other electronic device) but the Battery case cord has 2, not really a big deal, it's just so the CD player knows you're using the battery case and not the wall plug and tries to charge the internal batteries with the external ones.
-Wall plug
A standard AC adaptor, 4.5 volts positive tip. I had a universal Radio Shack adaptor for my old Discman and it work on this one too, also my car adapter (Wal-Mart Phillips universal car adapter, $10 just in case you don't want to pay $20 for a Sony one) works with this one too because it is the exact same connection that every other Discman (and CD Walkman) has, it just LOOKS different on the player itself because of the extra pin/space for the battery case.
That's all I got because I got mine used off eBay but you will also get
-Instruction book
and
-Warranty Card
and
-2 AA rechargeable batteries
Okay, lets talk about
The player
The first thing I want to talk about is the batteries, although they look all fancy shmancy on the web, the internal battery case will accept any AA cell batteries and it has a built in charger to charge Ni-Cd batteries, but I don't think you can charge NiMh batteries in it. The charge feature is quite slow, overnight anyway, but I have a 3 hour battery charger for my FRS radios' batteries that I use to charge the Players cells. I am using Radio Shack NiCd high capacity rechargeable so that could be part of the reason that it took so long to charge. You don't have to rig up anything special like you had to on the old players, to charge the batteries just stick them in the player, plug it in and hit the Stop button with the player already stopped.
Also, in case you haven't heard, battery life is AMAZING, even though I use rechargables the thing seems to go forever between charges, if you are using an older portable CD player, you could probably switch to this and in a year regain the cost in battery savings. I rarely actually attach the external case, I just store 2 extra batteries in it and when the player goes dead I just swap batteries and remember to recharge the ones in the case. If you do choose the case, you will be disappointed to find out it doesn't actually ATTACH to the player, bust just dangles, and I suspect that it could easily develop a short.
Next lets talk thin, this thing is extremely thin, if you stand a penny on end, that is about the height of the player in the tallest parts, that may seem thick but see one in person and you will be amazed at the thinness, I promise
The player itself is like this, on the top are 7 buttons and the display, the 2 skip buttons, "Play Mode" to choose random etc. Repeat/Enter mostly used for programming the player. Sound, used for the Bass boost, Play/Pause and Stop. The screen is shaped like and is about the size of a jumbo paper clip, the numbers aren?t terribly big, but I am NOT implying that they are illegible, the screen is a high contrast bluish text against a very light violet background. The whole thing is backlit for easy viewing; it operates much like a cell phone, when you press a button the backlight comes on for about 5 seconds. On the left side is the hold switch and on the right is the power input, remote input, and line output and headphone jack. On the front edge is the open latch and between the open latch and the remote jack are the Volume buttons, they are narrow but long and easy to find and use as long as you aren?t using the case, I like them.
On the bottom is the AVLS switch and the battery door.
The remote
Like I said I think this is my favorite feature, if you have a Sony portable cd player of any kind chances are that it has a "Headphone/Remote" jack on it, with the headphone jack and then, immediately to the right, a slot. (Not ALL players have it though) well this player comes with a remote that plugs into that, it is a combination headphone plug and a little 4 lead connectors. Then on the remote itself there is an other connector for the headphones. I like this because it means you can use whatever headphones you like with the remote, something I can't say about my friends Aiwa player, what I DON'T like is that it means that the connector doesn't swivel, not a major issue though.
The remote has replicates on all the buttons on the player. They are all thoughtfully laid out. The remote is so unique I want to take a moment more to explain it. It has on the bottom left edge a Stop button and on the bottom right a neato slider switch, you slide it towards the right to turn the volume up and to the left to turn it down, unlike headphone volume controls it isn't really an extra control, it is the same is pushing the buttons on the CD player, so you don't have to worry about 2 separate volume controls, they're the same. On the bottom center it has the Play/Skip controls, they are like half of a Sony JogWheel, it is best explained like the bender control on an electric piano. There is a little square grip, push to the right to skip forward, to the left to rewind, and when it is in the center push in to play/pause
on the top/back are sound, play mode, and repeat enter. There is a copy of the display on the player on the remote, only shrunk about 50% and 2 extra buttons "Light" (Self explanatory) and "Display" which lets you change the way the time is displayed, the only button I wish was also on the player.
Sound Quality
I know some people complain but I think that as long as you use this with decent headphones there is nothing wrong with the sound. Allot of people use Grato headphones, I use Radio Shack headphones, they are "Pro 35" headphones and are $40 but often found on sale for $20, best headphones I ever had, think they might actually be made my KOSS.
I like to use the BASS boost on level 1, but that is really a personal preference thing, I think it depends on which headphones you are using
Cost
This thing is great. I would gladly pay the $120+ it goes for on the net/ in retail but there are almost always 3 or 4 on eBay that usually go for $80 or less, money well spend
Rating
I give it 5 out of 5 stars because there isn't really anything I don't like about it, it has a few oddities true but what doesn't? I think that if it were more widely available (Nobody around here sells it, when I got mine from UPS was the first time I'd seen one in person) and perhaps a little cheaper it could easily be the most popular player around, I honestly think that it is the BEST around, even better than the more expensive Sony?s, and that it is the only Cd Player that honestly deserves a full 5 stars!
I ALSMOT FORGOT!!!
I almost forgot to mention the skip protection, that is because it ROCKS, I have never had the think skip---ever!!! The skip protection is just always on and there isn't a display for it or anything, very unobtrusive, nice!
Misc. Notes
-The batteries can be changes without taking out the CD, some players have the battery access inside the player
-The lid doesn't open terribly wide and it only opens a crack when you slide the latch, doesn't bug me because my old player was exactly the same
-No built in radio, that?s true, and this is a major problem because you will run out of CDs before your batteries die
-The resume (Where it starts where you stopped) can not be switched off, it could on my old player but I always left it on, if you DO want to start a CD form the beginning it is as simple as opening the lid and closing it
-When the player is plugged in the backlight stays on all the time
-The remote has a hold switch as well as the player
-Sometimes it gets stuck between tracks with a CD-R, you just have to it the skip button
-Some people don't realize how to repeat 1 track on a Sony player, you press "Play Mode" until the display has a little 1 on it and then you press "Repeat Enter" so the repeat arrow comes up
-I miss the "Intro Prog." mode but with the remote who cares, just skip ahead
I think that?s it!
I have seen reviews before, and not just here, where somebody had just gotten something and so it is, of course, perfect. Therefore I forced myself to wait a few months before logging on typing this review.
Enough about me though, let?s talk about da player!
Opening it
upon unpacking the player I received the following
-The player
Well I should hope, more on that later
-Headphones
although I would hardly call them that. That?s okay I didn't expect much (and neither should you) and I had a better pair here anyway
-Remote
Probably my favorite feature, more on it later, too
-case
It's a soft vinyl leather case, it's really nice but I don't use it all the time, you can't really change CDs in it. Also, while it has the major buttons (Play, stop, etc.) like quilted into it so you know where they are with the case on, it doesn't show you where the secondary buttons are, Play Mode, Sound, etc and...My 2nd largest complaint although I don't consider them "Secondary
it does not show you where the volume buttons are!! Also (and this is REALLY minor) sometimes the Hold switch gets slid to "On" when I use the player in the case.
-Battery tube
Ah, the legendary external battery case. It is a little plastic case about the size of a mini-Mag light with a cord sticking out of it that you can plug into the CD player, it connects where you would put the plug in cord except the wall plug has one hole (Like a Nokia cell phone charger and practically any other electronic device) but the Battery case cord has 2, not really a big deal, it's just so the CD player knows you're using the battery case and not the wall plug and tries to charge the internal batteries with the external ones.
-Wall plug
A standard AC adaptor, 4.5 volts positive tip. I had a universal Radio Shack adaptor for my old Discman and it work on this one too, also my car adapter (Wal-Mart Phillips universal car adapter, $10 just in case you don't want to pay $20 for a Sony one) works with this one too because it is the exact same connection that every other Discman (and CD Walkman) has, it just LOOKS different on the player itself because of the extra pin/space for the battery case.
That's all I got because I got mine used off eBay but you will also get
-Instruction book
and
-Warranty Card
and
-2 AA rechargeable batteries
Okay, lets talk about
The player
The first thing I want to talk about is the batteries, although they look all fancy shmancy on the web, the internal battery case will accept any AA cell batteries and it has a built in charger to charge Ni-Cd batteries, but I don't think you can charge NiMh batteries in it. The charge feature is quite slow, overnight anyway, but I have a 3 hour battery charger for my FRS radios' batteries that I use to charge the Players cells. I am using Radio Shack NiCd high capacity rechargeable so that could be part of the reason that it took so long to charge. You don't have to rig up anything special like you had to on the old players, to charge the batteries just stick them in the player, plug it in and hit the Stop button with the player already stopped.
Also, in case you haven't heard, battery life is AMAZING, even though I use rechargables the thing seems to go forever between charges, if you are using an older portable CD player, you could probably switch to this and in a year regain the cost in battery savings. I rarely actually attach the external case, I just store 2 extra batteries in it and when the player goes dead I just swap batteries and remember to recharge the ones in the case. If you do choose the case, you will be disappointed to find out it doesn't actually ATTACH to the player, bust just dangles, and I suspect that it could easily develop a short.
Next lets talk thin, this thing is extremely thin, if you stand a penny on end, that is about the height of the player in the tallest parts, that may seem thick but see one in person and you will be amazed at the thinness, I promise
The player itself is like this, on the top are 7 buttons and the display, the 2 skip buttons, "Play Mode" to choose random etc. Repeat/Enter mostly used for programming the player. Sound, used for the Bass boost, Play/Pause and Stop. The screen is shaped like and is about the size of a jumbo paper clip, the numbers aren?t terribly big, but I am NOT implying that they are illegible, the screen is a high contrast bluish text against a very light violet background. The whole thing is backlit for easy viewing; it operates much like a cell phone, when you press a button the backlight comes on for about 5 seconds. On the left side is the hold switch and on the right is the power input, remote input, and line output and headphone jack. On the front edge is the open latch and between the open latch and the remote jack are the Volume buttons, they are narrow but long and easy to find and use as long as you aren?t using the case, I like them.
On the bottom is the AVLS switch and the battery door.
The remote
Like I said I think this is my favorite feature, if you have a Sony portable cd player of any kind chances are that it has a "Headphone/Remote" jack on it, with the headphone jack and then, immediately to the right, a slot. (Not ALL players have it though) well this player comes with a remote that plugs into that, it is a combination headphone plug and a little 4 lead connectors. Then on the remote itself there is an other connector for the headphones. I like this because it means you can use whatever headphones you like with the remote, something I can't say about my friends Aiwa player, what I DON'T like is that it means that the connector doesn't swivel, not a major issue though.
The remote has replicates on all the buttons on the player. They are all thoughtfully laid out. The remote is so unique I want to take a moment more to explain it. It has on the bottom left edge a Stop button and on the bottom right a neato slider switch, you slide it towards the right to turn the volume up and to the left to turn it down, unlike headphone volume controls it isn't really an extra control, it is the same is pushing the buttons on the CD player, so you don't have to worry about 2 separate volume controls, they're the same. On the bottom center it has the Play/Skip controls, they are like half of a Sony JogWheel, it is best explained like the bender control on an electric piano. There is a little square grip, push to the right to skip forward, to the left to rewind, and when it is in the center push in to play/pause
on the top/back are sound, play mode, and repeat enter. There is a copy of the display on the player on the remote, only shrunk about 50% and 2 extra buttons "Light" (Self explanatory) and "Display" which lets you change the way the time is displayed, the only button I wish was also on the player.
Sound Quality
I know some people complain but I think that as long as you use this with decent headphones there is nothing wrong with the sound. Allot of people use Grato headphones, I use Radio Shack headphones, they are "Pro 35" headphones and are $40 but often found on sale for $20, best headphones I ever had, think they might actually be made my KOSS.
I like to use the BASS boost on level 1, but that is really a personal preference thing, I think it depends on which headphones you are using
Cost
This thing is great. I would gladly pay the $120+ it goes for on the net/ in retail but there are almost always 3 or 4 on eBay that usually go for $80 or less, money well spend
Rating
I give it 5 out of 5 stars because there isn't really anything I don't like about it, it has a few oddities true but what doesn't? I think that if it were more widely available (Nobody around here sells it, when I got mine from UPS was the first time I'd seen one in person) and perhaps a little cheaper it could easily be the most popular player around, I honestly think that it is the BEST around, even better than the more expensive Sony?s, and that it is the only Cd Player that honestly deserves a full 5 stars!
I ALSMOT FORGOT!!!
I almost forgot to mention the skip protection, that is because it ROCKS, I have never had the think skip---ever!!! The skip protection is just always on and there isn't a display for it or anything, very unobtrusive, nice!
Misc. Notes
-The batteries can be changes without taking out the CD, some players have the battery access inside the player
-The lid doesn't open terribly wide and it only opens a crack when you slide the latch, doesn't bug me because my old player was exactly the same
-No built in radio, that?s true, and this is a major problem because you will run out of CDs before your batteries die
-The resume (Where it starts where you stopped) can not be switched off, it could on my old player but I always left it on, if you DO want to start a CD form the beginning it is as simple as opening the lid and closing it
-When the player is plugged in the backlight stays on all the time
-The remote has a hold switch as well as the player
-Sometimes it gets stuck between tracks with a CD-R, you just have to it the skip button
-Some people don't realize how to repeat 1 track on a Sony player, you press "Play Mode" until the display has a little 1 on it and then you press "Repeat Enter" so the repeat arrow comes up
-I miss the "Intro Prog." mode but with the remote who cares, just skip ahead
I think that?s it!
