Philips AZ9230 Personal CD Player

by Philips

Product Details

• Item Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00004UE5D
• Item model number: AZ923017
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #421,898 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Works wonderfully so far, November 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Philips AZ9230 Personal CD Player (Electronics)

I bought this CD player today and so far it works really great. My main reason for purchasing it was that it says it plays CD-R and CD-RW's, which it does very well. The bass boost is great too, much better than on the player I previously owned. It is extremely easy to use; the instructions are very clear. One of the best features of this CD player is that it includes an alarm clock that can either be set to beep (which is not very loud, but you don't need to have the headphones on to use it), to play a CD, or to turn on the radio when the alarm goes off. The 45-second anti-skip feature makes it good for jogging, as do its small size and light weight. It claims it has a 20-hour battery life, which has not yet been tested but probably works as well as everything else. The player also includes an AM/FM radio and receives signals very well. With other CD players the headphone wires had to be positioned in a certain manner to receive the stations; for this one you do not even need to use the included headphones. The included headphones are actually better than expected, although they are quite big and bulky. For travelling it might be better to buy a smaller pair. Overall, this seems to be a great CD player that was well worth the money. The only reason I gave it four stars is because I have only owned the product for a couple of hours, so I am not sure how it will hold up on a long-term basis.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overall performance with some minor design issues, February 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Philips AZ9230 Personal CD Player (Electronics)

I had a hard time choosing between Philips AZ923017 and the similarly featured and priced Aiwa XP-R210. The Aiwa XP-R210 is very nice looking and also has a digital tuner and plays CD-RW's as well. It has bigger buttons that are easier to press while driving, but it doesn't have a clock and alarm that Philips has, which is something I really wanted. I bought the Aiwa for its looks and ease of use, but after reading the Amazon reviews, I agonizingly decided to exchange the Aiwa for the Philips. I couldn't have been happier with the decision! The Philips CD player is everything the Amazon reviewers said it would be, and more.

First thing, if you're hoping to open the plastic packaging with as little destruction as possible for return purposes, good luck. I found it difficult to do so, and ended up with about five scratches and two band-aids on my hand. But after the battle, I found the player to be a true keeper. The big difference between the two is that the Aiwa uses 5V of power while the Philips uses 4.5V. Neither of them comes with a car kit, but there are plenty of third-party car adapters that can supply 4.5V. It's hard to find one that can handle Aiwa's 5V and I didn't want to rely on batteries.

The Good Stuff: The digital tuner is excellent. The AM antenna is inside and the headphone cord acts as the FM antenna. The alarm clock function is great. It can be set to alarm with a beeping sound, the tuner, or a CD. I use a powered external speaker and a CD to wake me up. The standard sound and two extra DBB levels sound very nice. The DBB levels produce very clear bass boosts. The player has two small rubber footpads that keep the player from sliding around. My CD's haven't skipped yet, even after I pounded the player a few times, which I wouldn't recommend but it was still fun. The player also comes with a power adapter and huge bulky headphones. Also, pressing a button wakes up the player, but it can cause accidental wake up calls. If you had batteries inside and accidentally pressed a button, the player would wake-up and stay on without you being aware of it.

The Minor Stuff: The buttons are a bit small but workable. I would have preferred larger buttons for use while driving where I could feel my way around the player without looking at it. The power off button is the "Stop" button, but a power switch would have been nice to prevent accidental wake-up calls. The volume control wheel is also small and nearly flush with the casing making it a little difficult to control. The battery compartment is inside the CD compartment, which requires you to remove the CD to change batteries, but unless you plan on using cheap batteries with a two-hour life span, this is very minor. The high beeps from pressing the buttons is probably the most annoying of everything else and I don't believe this can be muted, but eventually you get used to it.

Overall, I gave the Philips AZ923017 five stars because it has all the features I wanted in a CD player. The design issues are very minor and don't take away from the overall quality of the player. I recommend this CD player to anyone who likes to burn his or her own CD's. If you are as picky as I am when it comes to burning CD's, using CD-RW's gives you the added flexibility in making your perfect music CD's.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Philips does it again with a great CD player., December 26, 2000

By 

"drevil1999" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Philips AZ9230 Personal CD Player (Electronics)

Back in February or March, I purchased the Philips AZ911117, or something similar to it because I don't know exactly what model I had. I think a reviewer on here wanted to know it's durability...well, here it is for you and everybody. That CD player was practically impervious during the 9 months of torture I put it through: countless falls onto concrete floors, spills *into* the CD player, even the CD cover even broke off a couple of times, but I managed to secure it back on again (but one last note: I would NOT recommend testing it's durability with the "tests" listed above). I went through about 7 or 8 pairs of headphones because they were into all of the falling/spilling action also, but did not survive the torture as well. I decided to give the player away last week to somebody because I kind of already knew that I was getting another for Christmas. As one may expect, it was not in the greatest of looks or working condition, but played CDs nonetheless.

The AZ923017 CD player is 10 times better than the one I had previously. 45 seconds of skip protection instead of 40, CD-R and CD-RW compatibility (the most important feature for me), 2 bass (DBB) levels, and an AM/FM radio which needs no antennae and still does an excellent job picking up radio signals. The only cons to this system is the alarm system, which I would probably never use anyway, and the headphones are huge (but fit my big head nonetheless :P). Also, like on the other player, the annoying beeps for every button you push, and your CD player settings are resetted to the default every time you open the cover. But these are very extraneous and do not make a big difference, and don't even compare to the durability of Philips CD players. I won't have to worry about this one holding up if it is built like the last. Definitely recommended a million times over other CD players I've had.