Memorex - Portable CD Player - Black

A blast from the past! I haven’t used a portable disc player since junior high (early 00’s), so its been awhile. I am fortunate to have a large collection of music on CD’s – thanks Dad, so I figured I’d give this player a spin. The setup comes with the disc player, earbuds with support fins, batteries, and the manual. I’ll be honest, the player itself is not asthetically pleasing. It looks and feels on the cheap side, which it is. Not really a knock against it, but don’t expect a svelte looking/feeling piece of equipment. This is priced on the budget side, and the looks are in line with that. The budget build affects the buttons on the device – they are not soft/easy actuating buttons. It takes a concerted effort to push them, and they make a loud click upon actuation. There are pros/cons to this. The pros are you know the button has been pushed, and you won’t accidentally click buttons when you don’t mean to. The downside is single hand operation is tough with rigid buttons – you can do it, but its just a bit harder than it needs to be. All the buttons are on top, so you don't have to go searching for anything. The headphone/outlet jack are located along the side (AC outlet pack not included). I think it just uses a stand 5V AC wall wart, but I’m fine with just batteries anyways. As far as features goes, it has just about everything you would expect. It has no issues playing burned discs. I didn’t have any .mp3 discs to try out , so I can’t comment on that. It has the anti-skip button – a needed feature for anyone reliving the old portable CD player days. I was able to hold the player upside-down and/or sideways without it skipping. I tossed it onto the couch and dropped it on the floor from a foot or so up while listening and it didn't skip. So that works well. The player has all the normal options of repeat song, repeat all, shuffle. It all has a song preview mode where you get the first 10 seconds of the song before jumping to the next. Then there’s the program feature that lets you select which songs to skip on the disc – kind of nice if there’s that one song you absolutely hate on the disc. The selection isn’t saved after a power cycle, so you have to reset it each time you turn the player on. The sound is nothing special. A lot of it comes down to the quality of the earbuds/headphones you use. It sounded really good with my more expensive headphones, and pretty flat with cheapo earbuds. It has 3 equalizer options (rock, pop, surround). Rock makes the bass prominent, pop makes the vocals prominent, surround didn’t seem to do much until I used my larger over-ear headphones. It simulates a broader soundstage. For me the either the Rock or Pop setting were used depending on the genre I was playing. The player comes with packaged earbuds. I was excited to try them out because I prefer earbuds that either have the support fins (like these) or ear hooks. Compared to some $2 cheapo earbuds I had, these sounded quite a bit better. You could discern the difference in sound in the Surround ESP with these buds, whereas the other buds didn’t bring that out. Unfortunately the earbuds fell apart after the 3rd use. Pretty disappointed there since I thought they were comfortable and didn’t sound too bad. So my advice, don’t rely on these earbuds because they seem to be prone to failure (actually my second pair in this case to fail). Overall, this is a good player that brings back some memories. My SO and her kids are in love with this player, so its kind of cool to see the next generation enjoying something that was revolutionary in my childhood. Be prepared to swap out for different earbuds – I had several pairs laying around so this wasn’t an issue for me.

Throwback? Maybe NOT! This portable CD player provides a versatile way to listen to some of your most favorite CDs. It comes with a super-basic set of ear plugs. But, it is NOT limited when it comes to more enhanced listening pleasure. I have used a more expensive set of over-the-ear, noise-canceling headphones and am overjoyed at the reproduced quality of music by this player. My newer vehicle does NOT have a CD player. My guess is that the Techie-Gurus have determined CDs are NO longer a viable, mainstream participant in this Digital, Streaming World of Music. Things change. Or, do they just evolve into more popular venues? I am a Vinyl-Fan and have an extensive collection of over 800 records. My wife has an accumulation of over 500 CDs and she loves listening to them daily on our high-end amp-receiver. But now, this Memorex Portable CD Player allows her to enjoy her CDs anywhere she ventures around our home. WooHoo! The updated LCD screen allows her to maneuver the various options featured by this Memorex CD Player. An intuitive and simple display shows all the various options provided. Even without the high resolution codecs this CD player does a terrific job when paired with a high-end-over-the-ear headphone. I am impressed by the quality of sound reproduction. I highly recommend the use of more quality listening ear headphones. We have used this Memorex Portable CD Player in various positions. In my pocket in the upright position and at various levels of horizontal. It is sensitive to bumps and jogs, so we use it in the most passive positions possible. The sixty second anti-skip protection ensures interruption-free audio. For its Price-Point, this is a terrific bargain. I highly recommend the purchase of this Memorex Portable CD Player. It does an outstanding job of delivering crisp CD quality music. . . .

The product worked, but they gave me a used/previously opened product - I paid for new. Not everything was included in the box. I am usually happy with everything I buy from Best Buy, but this was disappointing.

Excellent price and sound is nice and clear. Perfect for my walks

Decent quality for a very reasonable price. Sounds pretty good for the price

Not the most ergonomic CD player but I enjoy the anti-skip because I do remember walking funny from class to class with a CD player in my pocket (huge) just so it wont skip my favorite parts. You've got to really appreciate the small things. Also, there's something about the sound a CD has that's different than a digital file. All in all I would recommend simply because it was built right. I like that it has the ability to play MP3's as well. It's a very simple piece of tech and it has very basic functions. This is the perfect vehicle for a trip down memory lane.

The Memorex products aren't exactly known for being examples of cutting edge product design, and I'm not even 100% sure that the Memorex company is producing these products, or if its just a licensee of the brand creating cheap electronics, but that being said, if you're still looking for a way to take your favorite newfangled "Compact Discs" on the road with you. The playback capabilities were solid, and the audio jack was fine when used with higher-end headphones, like my Beats Studio 2's and their AUX cable... There's a very specific reason I mention that -The included headphones are awful and even crackle when plugged into the port - To the point that I thought the audio port itself was defective upon use. Turns out the included headphones just aren't worth it. Rubbish! The unit functions well enough - The anti-skip works well as long as you don't knock the device around too much, and the controls are a bit mushy but this isn't a high-priced product. This isn't a Sony Discman competitor, but Sony stopped making those a few decades ago. If you have a need for a new portable CD player in 2020, this is your only option, so I'd recommend. With your own headphones its a passable and functional replacement for the players of yore.

Blast from the Past - I really like this CD Player, It has a cheap price and nothing has happen to it. It's a Blast from the Past and I'm enjoying my CD's.