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The Best Portable CD Player Reviews and Ratings

The Reviews

Panasonic SLSV570 Pers CD, 45 Second
Enjoy your music with the freedom that comes from MP3 CD playback, extended battery life, a built-in FM/AM radio, and high-powered anti-skip technology. The SL-SV570's onboard digital synthesizer tuner lets you store 30 stations in memory (20 FM and 10 AM) and assures that stations stay put once they're selected.
Panasonic's exclusive No-Skip technology helps prevent interruptions from jostling during active use. No Skip's unique construction uses rubber brushings to absorb shock, while an anti-skip mechanism and an anti-skip digital servo further prevent read errors; a 45-second CD-DA memory reserve (100 seconds with 128 kbps MP3 files) provides added back up.
Panasonic's D-Sound technology enhances digital audio clarity. D-Sound incorporates enhancements such as MP3 Re-Master technology, a digital amplifier, S-XBS bass enhancement, digital auto gain control, and Wrap-It headphones. For clear music from homemade CDs, MP3 Re-Master technology restores music data from MP3 files that may have been lost when compressed from linear PCM tracks. The unit's digital amplifier produces clear, clean sound even at high listening levels, while S-XBS and digital auto gain control (D-AGC) ensure undistorted sound and heightened bass response at high levels. The player's Wrap It headphones feature a digital voice coil and a popular back-band design.

Now, battery changes will be fewer and farther between thanks to Panasonic's PowerLast high-efficiency power system, which combines an efficient motor with low-load circuitry for playback time of up to 75 hours with MP3 playback and 33 hours with standard CDs, using just 2 AA batteries (not included).

Playback abilities include 24-track random-access programming; repeat and resume (which picks up where the unit left off when last stopped); and skip/search. A hold switch prevents accidental starting, stopping, or track skipping during use or transport. The unit boasts an a thin design with operation keys and LCD laid out logically on its top cover.




Sony D-NF400 ATRAC Walkman Portable CD Player with Digital AM / FM / TV / Weather Tuner
Spin your commercial CDs, your homemade music CDs of almost any stripe, or listen to the radio, TV, or weather-band transmissions with Sony's versatile, full-circle D-NF400 Walkman portable CD player. The player includes SonicStage software, which lets you take full advantage of ATRAC3plus (Sony's proprietary music-compression technology) when making custom MP3 CDs on your computer. Playback options include 32-track programming, repeat (track, disc, or program), random play, and--thanks to Sony's great work in DSP efficiency--more than 85 hours of ATRAC3plus CD or up to 50 hours of audio CD playback from 2 AA batteries (not included).
The D-NF400 offers a 2-line dot-matrix display, full ID3 tag recognition, and bookmark playback (which lets you program your favorite songs from multiple CDs and play them back at the touch of a button). CD Text support displays artist and title information with compatible commercial audio CDs.
ATRAC3plus is a high-quality audio-compression technology that reduces the size of digital audio files while preserving much of a track's original sound quality (similar in concept to MP3 or Dolby Digital sound formats). With ATRAC3plus, music can be burned and compressed at 132, 105, 66, 64, or even 48 kbps (kilobits per second), letting you select the right balance between fidelity and storage space (you'll get around 490 songs per disc at 48 kbps). MP3 compatibility extends from 16 to 320 kbps files.

The player comes bundled with Sony's SonicStage CD Simple Burner software. Compatible with ID3 tagging and most CD burners, this application transfers songs from CDs or MP3 music files from your PC's hard drive and burns them to recordable CDs using ATRAC3plus compression.

The D-NF400 offers a whopping 51 station presets, which works out to 30 FM, 10 AM, 4 WB, and 7 TV stations so you're never far from your favorite channels. You can hook the player up with your home system through an optional analog stereo "Y" interconnect.

Skip-Free G-Protection technology boosts the laser pickup's shock protection to minimize read errors that would otherwise interrupt your music, providing quick recovery from both horizontal and vertical shocks. The D-NF400's heat-resistant lid helps protect the player against high-temperature build up, especially when you're using it outdoors or in a vehicle.

Digital Mega Bass Sound boost your music's low end without high clarity and low distortion, and there's also a built-in equalizer with 3 preset curves and 1 customizable setting. Sony's automatic volume limiter system (AVLS) conserves batteries--and guards your hearing--by capping your listening level at either of two settings. The player works with an optional AC/DC 4.5V power adapter (AC-E45HG or -E45A).



iRiver SlimX iMP-550 CD / MP3 Player with Ultraslim Design
In keeping with its reputation for cutting-edge features and design, iRiver's iMP-550 handles nearly every conceivable file format. The player, which is little more than half an inch thick, is built with rugged electronic shock protection to guard your listening against interruptions, offering up to 32 minutes of protection when you're listening to WMA files on your home-made CDs. The player supports MP3, WMA, and ASF formats, and additional formats (like AAC and MP3 Pro) may be supported in the future through simple firmware upgrades, by which iRiver can add and modify player features.
slim, powerful, cool.

The iMP-550 comes loaded with accessories, too, including a car kit, a carrying case, and two stick-type rechargeable batteries. When used in tandem with a pair of standard AA batteries, the device is capable of playing for up to 55 continuous hours--perfect for hassle-free travel.

An easy-to-read, four-line LCD on the included remote control shows every bit of information you need, and an FM tuner comes in handy when you're traveling by tracking the frequencies to maintain reception as you move. The player also recognizes discs in Packet Write format, which enables you to use CD-RW discs like PC hard disks, offering the ease of using discs and of saving and deleting songs.