I purchased this for my mom who was looking for a boom box to use in church for her kids. She uses CDs which are split track. There aren't that many cd players still out there and for those that are, they don't have the balance control so that the split track CDs can play the music only (without the words). My mom was able to disconnect one of the speakers to mimic turning the balance control off and now she uses this in church so her children's choir can sing to the music only. Great som old school products still exist!!