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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 53 responses total. |
orinoco
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response 25 of 53:
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Feb 14 08:00 UTC 2000 |
Really? I found that one pretty much essential when I was travelling with
a discman over the summer. Of course, it helps that the CDs Josh and I were
favoring had an average track length of 20 minutes.
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oddie
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response 26 of 53:
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Feb 16 04:40 UTC 2000 |
I think there are still players for sale that have the resume feature. It
seems to have become a "high end" feature, rather than something included on
all models, though.
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tpryan
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response 27 of 53:
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Feb 17 01:28 UTC 2000 |
I have 'resume' on two Sony portables. Have not seen it elsewhere.
I would like it on the component CD changer.
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dbratman
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response 28 of 53:
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Feb 18 22:11 UTC 2000 |
A couple years ago I bought a Sony plug-in CD player for my car which,
I discovered, will not start playing anywhere but track 1. So every
time I stop the car and get out, when I get back in and want to start
the CD again, I have to hit play, wait for the 10-second memory feature
to load up, listen to the first note of track 1, and _then_ click ahead
N times for track N-1 which I actually want.
It's a nuisance, but compared to the nuisances of Windows and Apple
user interfaces (equally dreadful, in my view) which most people seem
to consider FEATURES that they actually LIKE, it's hardly worth
complaining about. At least with the CD player I can get want I want
with sufficient clicks, which isn't always possible with the mouse.
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dbratman
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response 29 of 53:
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Feb 18 22:12 UTC 2000 |
"what I want", sorry.
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scott
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response 30 of 53:
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Feb 18 23:52 UTC 2000 |
Hey, my Sony MiniDisc recorder does the resume bit. And you can get this
modem (rz-55) for about $250 these days.
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mcnally
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response 31 of 53:
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Feb 19 00:21 UTC 2000 |
My Pioneer CD player remembers where it left off and resumes at that
point. I'd always thought of it as a kind of annoying feature, but I
suppose if you do a lot of start-and-stop driving it makes sense..
re #227: I like the idea of MiniDiscs, but I can't imagine myself
investing in a portable player for another format with my huge investment
in CDs.
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arabella
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response 32 of 53:
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Feb 20 08:21 UTC 2000 |
Minidiscs make the most sense if you do a lot of recording (which
I do of voice lessons and rehearsals to check on my singing
progress) or if you like to make mix tapes in the minidisc format
(which I also do).
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scott
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response 33 of 53:
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Feb 20 15:14 UTC 2000 |
Nice thing about using a digital format like MiniDisc is that pitch between
decks is no longer much of an issue. I bet Leslie likes that feature even
more than I do. :)
I've been dubbing stuff I'm likely to travel with onto MD for travel purposes.
A CD player just seems too huge and clunky, and I recently got a bunch of
blank MDs at Best Buy for about $2.20 each.
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tpryan
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response 34 of 53:
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Feb 20 17:36 UTC 2000 |
Well, that price has improved recently.
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scott
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response 35 of 53:
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Feb 22 01:06 UTC 2000 |
Actually Best Buy has a number of MD things on sale right now. You can get
a portable recorder for under $200, and they've got a home stereo deck for
$180 or so (no digital output, so I passed).
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krj
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response 36 of 53:
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Mar 31 20:10 UTC 2000 |
I've decided that it's time to stop fighting with the Ford factory
stereo and get an aftermarket unit. The AM section got very noisy
two years ago; it was fixed under warranty and is now going again.
The tape section started getting murky from the head drifting out
of alignment last year; I paid to have it fixed, and now it's going
again.
In party, goose was talking up the virtues of the Aiwa stereos.
Aiwa is the only brand which consistently includeds an auxiliary input
jack in its front panel; I would want this to patch in the portable
CD player I use in the car, as described earlier.
Unfortunately Aiwa is not a very popular brand. So far I have checked
leads at both Best Buy and Sears, and they carry one or two Aiwa
stereos but not the entire line, and in particular not the high end.
(You have to go to a high-end unit now to get Dolby B. See comments
above about how decent features are being stripped out.)
I'm also not sure I like Aiwa's control logic, so I may drop back
to someone like Sony or Kenwood, and continue to live with the
cassette adapter, as I have for five years. It's not intolerable.
(As I mentioned before, I still use a lot of cassettes: mix tapes,
radio timeshifting and tapes of old LPs. So I don't want to go
CD-only in the car.)
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mcnally
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response 37 of 53:
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Mar 31 20:29 UTC 2000 |
Still, why not get a head-unit that can play both cassettes and CDs,
assuming that one will fit in your dash? Car CD players are not very
expensive these days (compared to what they were) and an integrated
unit is likely to be a better option than a cassette-only player with
a line in..
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krj
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response 38 of 53:
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Mar 31 22:52 UTC 2000 |
Head units capable of playing both CDs and cassettes seem to be
(1) fairly rare; (2) large, generally requiring a double-DIN opening;
(3) expensive, around $400. At least that's what I'm finding
in my cruising around the web.
If you have any specific model suggestions for me to
look at, let me know.
As long as I've got you here, Mike: who made the portable stereo
you had in the dining room in your old home?
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mcnally
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response 39 of 53:
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Apr 3 18:07 UTC 2000 |
The wacky 5 CD changer? That was a Sharp..
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krj
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response 40 of 53:
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Apr 3 21:29 UTC 2000 |
Oh dear, what was wacky about it?
www.sony.com tells me I was underestimating the cost of a car stereo
head unit capable of playing both CDs and cassettes. Sony says their
unit has a list price of $650.
Does anyone have any experience with Custom Sound in Ann Arbor?
In party, scg was telling me that's where he got a Sony unit installed.
But I peeked in their briefly Saturday, and it didn't look like they
had any mid-range equipment at all, just high end stuff, with
prices on head units ranging from $400-$850. Unfortunately I was
on a tight schedule and could not stick around to chat with the sales
people.
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mcnally
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response 41 of 53:
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Apr 4 18:09 UTC 2000 |
Oh, the only really wacky thing about it was the disk changer mechanism.
Instead of working on a carousel system like most of the systems I've seen,
it had a set of five sliding trays which were positioned sort of like this:
\_______/
\_______/ ^ \_______/
\_______/ | \_______/
laser
where the appropriate tray would shift up and into position and the others
to the right or left of it would be displaced down and to the side.. It was
just a sort of odd changer mechanism, and not as reliable in the long run as
a carousel (or so I think.. anyway mine started having to re-seek frequently
when switching trays after only 1 1/2 - 2 years of use..)
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krj
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response 42 of 53:
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Apr 5 01:59 UTC 2000 |
Thanks for the info.
Back in car-stereo-land, I did some shopping around the Lansing area
today and was mostly very discouraged. Skory Auto Sound says they should
get some mid-price Sony units in eventually, but right now there is a
nationwide shortage of Sony units because the manufacturer encouraged everyone
to clear out the 1999 models and then delayed the 2000 models.
Electronic Outlet says that the only cassette units which are selling
are the cheap $100 ones; they are willing to special order me a mid-price
Pioneer unit, but they don't keep such items in stock.
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lumen
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response 43 of 53:
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Apr 5 23:50 UTC 2000 |
Hrm.. ever checked with the Crutchfield catalog (I think they have an
on-line site)?
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goose
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response 44 of 53:
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Apr 6 00:22 UTC 2000 |
Or J&R...
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cmcgee
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response 45 of 53:
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Dec 5 21:47 UTC 2000 |
Ok, back to stereos and such.
I'm trying to put together a mid- to low- end system for playing music in my
apartment. I have a Bose radio, without the CD player, and an old Hitachi
turntable with a Bang and Olafson needle-thing.
The radio doesn't have much of an antenna, so I don't get much choice of
music. I'd like to fix that.
I have very few audio tapes, and a fair number of CDs. I can't hear either
of these at this point. I'd like to fix that too.
Suggestions? What about Kiwanis? Other re-use options? I really don't have
very well trained ears, so high quality is a future variable when I can afford
to think about my friends ears. Or, if I can get old but high quality now,
I'll do it.
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krj
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response 46 of 53:
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Dec 5 22:16 UTC 2000 |
Do you like the sound of the Bose radio?
I'm guessing that it has input jacks for a cd player or tape player.
My suggestion would be to get one of the portable CD players from
Sony -- they start around $50-$60 at Best Buy -- and play it through
the Bose radio speakers, assuming that the interconnection is
possible.
Does the Bose radio have one or two screw mount points marked ANT for
Antenna? If so, attaching any old scrap of wire there should help
with radio reception. A proper FM dipole antenna from Radio Shack
can't cost more than $5-$7.
I'm not sure what the best way to go is regarding tape playing capability.
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n8nxf
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response 47 of 53:
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Dec 5 22:50 UTC 2000 |
I put a standard CD changer on my Model 88 (competes with the Bose radio)
You can attach a tape player to the same input and switch between the CD and
tape with a little selector switch. Even a record player could be added
provided you can find the little audio filter circuit that takes the emphasis
out of the audio recorded on the vinyl. Phono inputs on receivers and amps
of days gone by included this little filter. Some still may???
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cmcgee
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response 48 of 53:
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Dec 6 02:03 UTC 2000 |
Yes, it has a left and right Aux In set of holes. And it has a teeny-tiny
diameter hole that is labeled FM 75 Omega External. (The holes are really
jacks (or is it plugs?)).
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keesan
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response 49 of 53:
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Dec 6 04:52 UTC 2000 |
Kiwanis usually has those dipole antennas for about $1. Tape decks for $10
and up. We have some you can buy if they are out. Occasionally there are
CD decks for $40 or so. Omega is probably ohm - FM antenna of a different
type than the dipole one. You should also check if there is a way to plug
in an internal antenna. Stop by with the creature if you want Jim to look
at it, there might be some switch you have to set for the internal antenna,
or a wire to put on that sticks out of the receiver (with two ends). The
other type of FM antenna is 300 ohm (omega stands for Ohm) and is the type
you spread out on the wall.
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