Customer Reviews

Panasonic SL-SX450 Portable CD / MP3 Player

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want a decent quality MP3 player but don't want to spend much, this is an excellent choice. I have used mine for several months and I'm very satisfied with it. It's also a fine CD player though I primarily use MP3 CDs. It's worth noting that CD-R/RWs are probably the cheapest digital media format, so when it comes to MP3s, you will also save money there.

Here are the main pros and cons...


Pros:

-Very inexpensive considering the potential capacity (650-700+MB per disc).

-Good sound quality. I don't think you can do much better for under $50 (or even $100).

-Great battery life. I used it every day for well over a month before I had to replace the batteries. Maybe not the full 85 hours under (my) normal listening conditions, but close enough.

-Startup load time for MP3 CDs is fairly short. After that, switching between songs is virtually as fast as a normal CD. It is worth noting that if you have mp3 tracks that are supposed to transition into each other (like in the Gladiator soundtrack) there will be a slight pause between them.

-Very good at finding and playing all the MP3s even on CDs containing considerable amounts of non-MP3 data.

-Has a very good resume feature with MP3s. Even if it does sometimes need to rescan the disc when it's powered on, it always picks up where I left off.


Cons:

-No track seeking for MP3s. Be aware that this is a con for every MP3 CD player that I know of (except for a computer). Shouldn't be a problem for most content except for audio books. It does have a good resume feature though...

-No ID3 tag support. It would be nice to see the song titles, but it's not really important to me. As long as you keep your MP3s in well organized folders, it's easy to figure out what's playing.

-There are smaller MP3 players out there. It does fit into some of my clothing pockets but since I'm not Guybrush Threepwood, it looks weird and is not comfortable. If size is a major issue, then you probably should consider a non-CD MP3 player. It's worth noting that it doesn't take up unnecessary space. Actually it's probably as small as any CD player with an internal AA battery compartment can get.


Miscellaneous:

-Has 4 Equalizer modes:
-OFF: A nice, crisp neutral sound.
-S-XBS: A rich and warm bass sound.
-S-XBS+: Very heavy bass. Too heavy for some songs, but nice for others.
-Live: This seems to add some treble and reverb. Interesting, but some songs sound strange if they already have reverb.

-Headphones are decent quality but there's not anything special about them. If you need to move around while listening you probably should buy a different style.

Seeing that the Sony D-EJ001 CD Walkman was a couple of bucks cheaper than this one and that Amazon was advertising it at a greatly "reduced" price (misleading), I selected it over this Panasonic competitor. Big mistake. I was almost relieved when it failed to read discs because then I had an excuse to exchange it for the Panasonic SL-SX450. The Sony model had tiny, practically inaccessible, plastic buttons on the underside, an all but unusable "lock" button, and a tiny read-out window that wasn't visible from the top.

This Panasonic model, like the Sony, is also manufactured in China and is a real "lightweight" (both of the previous generations of players were made in Japan). But it's unfailing in reading my disks, does so with reassuring clarity, and accommodates all my needs. The controls are of a generous, finger-friendly size and the read-out window is large and clearly visible when viewed from above the machine. The pause control is more practical than the Sony's, and I love the feature that allows you to resume play of a disc where you left off providing the cover hasn't been opened. Finally, the extra life you'll get from two AA alkalines is a significant technological advance. This machine just keeps going!

The only other consideration might be the headphones. The Sony's ear buds with attached clips are cosmetically "cool" but tinny-sounding compared to the Panasonic's. Regardless, even a non-horticulturalist could tell you that buds are no good without a plant.

[Since writing the above, I see that the item, introduced barely six months ago, has been removed by Amazon and perhaps by the manufacturer. Unfortunate, since I had planned to purchase another as a gift and have found no comparable unit at a comparable price. After two months' use, the only problem I've noticed with the player is the flimsy door to the battery compartment--sometimes requiring use of a screwdriver or similar pointed device to open (though rarely necessary due to the minimal drain on the batteries) and extra care in closing (unless it's completely "snapped" shut, the machine won't read discs). With any luck, Panasonic will address this flaw and reissue the product.]

I don't have a CD player on my car and IPOD is way too expensive for me, so I have been using a coby mp3-cd player for the past 3 years. My old mp3 player keeps on skipping and have difficulty at loading (fails to load 40% of time). It finally gets to the point that I decided to buy a new one. I spent a really long time reading reviews for different models and finally decided to buy Panasonic SL-SX450 Portable CD / MP3 Player. So far I am really happy with it.

Pros:

1) Anit-skipping actually works. So far it only skipped once for the past 2 months. That's really good compare to my old one which skips almost everyday.

2) Loading is fast. It never has any problem reading my multi-session mp3 cd's. However, there is this one time when I added new files to the cd and reorganize my file directory on the CD, there is this weird sound playing at the background for all the old tracks. It has no problem playing the new tracks, but it makes weird noises when it plays the old one. Other than that everything is great. Just don't re-organize your file directory.

3) Auto-reload is great. It actually knows where it stops last time and picks it up. This way you don't have to start from the beginning again. This also works after you put in new files to the CD (just don't re-organize the file directory).

Cons:

1) My old one has mp3 tags which I can use to search for song title and this one doesn't have mp3 tags. But, it doesn't really matter to me since I am really organize. In addition,the display of song title is pretty useless for me since I won't be able to see it when I am driving.

2) Fast Forward button is only one track at the time. So you have to press like 70+ times to get to the 8th album. In addition, if you press too quickly it can't detect it, which is really annoy when you try to get to your song quickly.

3) It's really ugly.

If this had had a back-lit display, it would be perfect for me. But, I have trouble operating it in the dark.

The main thing which prevents this player from qualifying as a 5-star item is the accessibility of the buttons on the front of the player. They are a little TOO accessible...many times while listening to CD's in bed at night, I have accidentally brushed a button & ended up having to turn on a light & try to find my way back to where I was.

Of course, you can slide the button which prevents any changes to settings on the player, but this is inconvenient too if you want to adjust the volume, for instance, or hear a track a second time.

Otherwise, battery use, listening quality, etc. have all been excellent, especially for the price. I did purchase different ear phones, but then I almost never use the phones that come with CD players because they won't stay on my ears.

Even though I did not get this from Amazon, I still think this is a very good deal! I have not been disappointed. The sound quality is good. The anti-skip is very good. It will even remember the exact place where the last song played after turning it off (unless you replace it with another cd of course)

Overall I was very pleased with this CD player. I highly recommend this for those who cannot afford the i-pod and don't mind burning MP3's on a cd.

I have bought this in Walmart when i had to go for a long trip ...thought of giving a try with cassette adapter in my toyota Camry.I am using this with some Philips adapter (from Walamrt for 10$)..
Man.. can't believe..such an excellent quality..amazing choice..

Previously i have tried one Sony with Carkit for $60..But no use..

This one is really good...I could recommend for anyone

Both MP3 and CDs capability reduces the need for separate players. Only negative is battery consumption.

This unit works fab even while excersing. Good product for price. I recommend this buy. Star perfomance.

This player has been bouncing around in our minivan for over a year now. Plays music skip-free. I've had three similar CD players now; they've all worked pretty well. But this one slightly outperforms the others and had a great price.