Sony DES51 Sport Discman Portable CD Player (Yellow)

by Sony

Product Details

Product Manual [961kb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.7 x 3.5 inches ; 1.6 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00000DMA4
• Item model number: DES51
• Batteries: 8 AA batteries required.
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #150,439 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com

Want to take your tunes along when you head outside? The Sony Sports Discman, wrapped in a heavy duty yellow shell, is rough and ready, yet delivers the crisp, clean tones of refined digital sound. With its raised, rubber-coated buttons and rigid contours, the player has a solid feel, but is still surprisingly light. Internal gaskets offer water resistance and protection from sand and dust. A rugged silver buckle snaps the case tightly shut. The Sports Discman features the same variety of playback functions as its less outdoorsy cousins: Random Music Sensor (RMS); skip, repeat, volume limiter (AVLS); and two settings for extra bass. Now for the big question, what about CDs that skip when you're on the go? In answer, Sony's come up with Electronic Shock Protection (ESP2). You can't bang this thing like a drum--in fact, you can't run all day with it bouncing on your hip, either--but this model is a lot less likely to hiccup during movement than its predecessors. Note: the sporty stereo headphones that are included sound somewhat distorted when the bass is boosted. Two AA batteries are required for operation. --George Laney

Amazon.com Product Description

The Sony D-ES51 Yellow Sport Discman portable CD player features a rugged, water-resistant design so you can take it just about anywhere. Its Super ESP SteadySound skip protection surpasses Sony's previous 20-second buffer memory system. It uses Digital Signal Processor technology to provide longer continuous playback.

Other features include a Mega Bass sound system with "groove" sound and sport stereo headphones. The 22-track RMS programming allows you to customize the order in which tracks are played, while 10 playback modes let you program a selection of tracks in a desired order or hear tracks in random order. Playing time on two AA batteries is up to 14 hours with skip protection off.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Buyer Beware!!!, January 10, 2002

By 

M. Guy (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony DES51 Sport Discman Portable CD Player (Yellow) (Electronics)

I am ashamed to admit it, but I actually bought two of these. My first one suffered a small drop onto carpet, after which the LCD display, then the entire player quit working. Although I thought that this was supposed to be a very rugged player, I felt that perhaps that was too much of a jolt, even for this player. Assuming that the mistake was mine, I bought another one. The new one was never dropped, never jostled, I even kept it unnecessarily dry. However, after only a few months... same story: LCD display goes first, then the entire player.

This is what happens: One day, you put in a CD, it will not read it for about 15 seconds. Once it finally recognizes the CD, you push play. It begins to play, then pauses. You cannot unpause, so you try to skip a track. This does not work either. You look at the LCD display to see what track you are on, and you see this: |]_/
...... what is THAT? All of a sudden, you see the track number, then, with out you touching anything, the volume turns itsself ALL THE WAY UP AS LOUD AS IT WILL GO!!! You frantically try to turn it down, but the buttons have quit working. Eventually, you are able to turn down the volume (without knowing where it is set to because the LCD is now dead again), but the volume keeps going lower and lower even after your fingers are no longer on the player. Now you can hear nothing. If this all began when you had the button-lock feature on, you are locked out from adjusting anything at all until it is unlocked. If the buttons are not registering any input, that may never happen.

Both of my players followed this same exact pattern: LCD display stops working, buttons become quirky, buttons act of their own free will, CDs are no longer recognized by player, player becomes a bee-colored paperweight.

Sony has made some wonderful products, but this is not one of them. The amount of energy that went into making this a durable player that could withstand anything from the outside was not enough to prevent any glitches would arise from the inside.

I wish that some of the other high-end CD walkmans that Sony makes would feature some of the weather-proofing and locking case features that this model has, but I can do without them if it means owning a CD walkman that does what it should do, that is: play CDs.

PROS: Very weather-resistant, button-lock (so that you can't accidentally skip a track by touching a button), sturdy casing.

CONS: Poor workmanship on inner electronics, poor quality headphones do more to detract from bass features than otherwise. Some gliches are acceptable with any product, as perfection is so hard to attain, but the failures that this player went through could have damaged my hearing, and temporarliy destroyed my sanity.

SYNOPSIS: If this were a car, it would have been recalled. If it were a shipment of Aspirin, there would be a news alert about it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Choice, If You Can Afford It, May 26, 2000

By 

C. Burgess "chico_bkny" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony DES51 Sport Discman Portable CD Player (Yellow) (Electronics)

I have been very satisfied with this product since I bought it a year ago. It is definitely more rugged than most portable CD players, and it does survive encounters with dirt and splashes. The anti-skip mechanism works as advertised, for the most part. It works pretty well for low impact activity, like bike riding and jogging. The CD will still skip during very jarring activity, though. That's probably unavoidable.

The sound quality is very good, the headphones are comfortable and the controls are simple to use. One minor complaint: the LCD display can be difficult to read, and it has started to give out. Also, this is a pretty pricey CD player. I haven't tried the "Sports" versions of Panasonic or Aiwa, so I don't know whether it's worth it to spend the extra money on this model.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't waste your money on Sony, December 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sony DES51 Sport Discman Portable CD Player (Yellow) (Electronics)

I did a lot of research on portable CD players before purchasing my sony sport discman. I was convinced that the sony sport was the most durable and reliable CD player on the market. It did not take me long to realize that this was not the case. The anti-skip protection was worthless after about two months. After three months, the LCD display died and after nine months, the CD player quit playing altogether. This is my third Sony discman to live a very short and unreliable life. I have also found that their customer service is lacking. I have learned my lesson. I will not purchase another Sony discman.