mp3-cd players

CD MP3 players are quickly becoming obsolete, why go to the trouble of burning CD's when you can just upload songs 20 times faster. Memory wise CD players are super cheap, 1 CD costs about a 20 cents compared to the big bucks for spare memory cards, that to me is the only advantage of CD MP3 players. CD players are big and bulky and not easy to fit in ones pocket. The no skip feature is touchy at best, sometimes it great sometimes it isn't. Battery wise, its inevitable that CD players will use more batteries then rigid MP3 players.

Overall if your in the market for a CD MP3 player buy this, its top of the market, but if your just wanting a portable MP3 player, go look at MP3 players that don't use CD's.

I bought this mp3 player while in Canada. I have heard much about the slimX line of mp3 players and I am very pleased with their newest one. I have a pair of Sony MDRV700DJ headphones that run really well in addition to the supplied Sennheiser earbuds, the preamp on the player was able to do a moderately good job in powering my Sonys. The sound quality is excellent, with so many EQ options. However, I must warn that the remote is pretty confusing to use and requires a steep learning curve. I also think that it is pretty scary if you should lose the remote since the majority of the options are located on it. The CD player itself only has the basic play/forward/reverse/stop buttons and does not reveal the complexity of the SlimX. It's wonderful to know that when you buy this, you have the added benefit of playing new file formats as it comes along since the SlimX is firmware upgradeable, unlike many of the mp3 players out there. That was one of the main reasons I bought this player. Iriver did a really good job in recognizing the fact that what you listen with is just as important as what plays your music, the Sennheisers that come equipped are excellent and provide good bass response and clear treble. This is one of those mp3 players that you can simply buy and use forever and still get the most bang for the buck even after a year or two.
Definitely buy this!

After much searching online for a good mp3 CD player, I decided that the iMP-400 looked like the right CD player for myself (unfortunately this was just a little before the release of the iMP-550). It had many features that appealed to me, and I have remained happy with it over the last 9 or so months.

On the upside, I have loved all the features about this player, with the ability to play mp3's, audio CD's, AND have the radio function to be the most prominent features. The svelte styling of the player has impressed many people, along with the slim size of it. I also have defiantly put it through its paces by taking it camping/hiking along with my everyday use. The layout of the remote control, although somewhat tough to learn at first, provides instant access to all of the important functions. Also impressive is the inclusion of many minor features such as the inclusion of an audio-out port to connect the player to a sound system (I have also used it to connect a second set of headphones to share music with a friend). Another is the ability to select the next track to be played with out interrupting the current song; this ability is still available during random mode. The fact that the player uses firmware has allowed updates to include new modes and features, and even a snake-style game!

On to the bashing section of my review:
One of the faults previously touched on by other reviewers is the time that this system takes to power up. When I want music, I want it NOW, not 30 seconds from now.
Recently, the remote control's center button stopped responding. By taking apart the control (and probably voiding its warranty) I determined that the cause of the problem was that the pin attached to the backside of the button to depress the capacitor had inadvertently snapped. Although annoying, the problem was easily solved with the use of some gel-like super glue.
The player turns off when it is connected to, or detached from, the AC adaptor, which means that I have to go through the long boot process again.
My final grudge (although not too much the companies fault) is that only non-protected WMA's can be played (something I only found out after I had encoded most of my music library with the protection on)

All in all, if you want a mp3 player that also plays your CDs, the iRiver series is as good as they come. But if you don't plan to use its ability to play standard CD's too often, you may be better off with a hard drive player.