300-disc changer * plays CDs, audio CD-Rs and CD-RWs * optical digital output * 32-track programming, repeat, & random play * dual front-panel jog dials for disc/track selection * 8 Group Files * Disc Memo for up to 600 CDs * Memo Search * CD Text display * input for a (PS/2-compatible) PC keyboard * 13-character fluorescent display * remote control * Advanced Mega Control with No-Delay and X-Fade play * Control A1-II * 1-bit Hybrid Pulse D/A converter * signal-to-noise ratio 107 dB * 16-15/16"W x 7-3/8"H x 19-7/8"D * warranty: 1 year
The CDPCX355 300-disc CD changer puts hours upon hours of music at your fingertips with features like cross-fade sound, text display, and an organization feature that makes it easy to find your favorite songs and albums. The CDPCX355 plays audio CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs, and you can program it to play CDs or tracks one by one, in random order, or in your own customized track order. You can create up to 8 different groups of CDs to quickly jump to certain styles of music or a favorite collection of songs. A hit list memory feature allows you to return to your 32 most frequently played songs instantly. You can browse through all of your CDs by name, so you'll never lose track of what CDs are in the player or what order they are in. You can also custom-label CDs stored in the CDPCX355 for quicker retrieval. The CDPCX355 includes a jog dial control that gives you quick access to individual CDs or tracks. With the jog dial, you can listen to snippets of music or skip tracks you don't like quickly.
For power users or music lovers with a deep library of CDs, the CDPCX355 can synch up with another CD changer. You'll never have to wait for a disc to change to keep the music playing, thanks to a cross-fade feature that brings the audio of one CD down at the same time that a new disc starts to play. By adding a second changer, you can expand your instant access to up to 600 CDs total, and both changers can be controlled by a single remote.
The hybrid pulse digital-to-audio converter reproduces a warm, natural sound from your CDs, making you feel like you were there when the music was recorded. You can easily connect the CDPCX355 to an audio receiver with both analog RCA-type and digital optical outputs. An analog connection instantly synchs the CDPCX355 to another changer, and a Control A-1II cord links the CDPCX355 to any other Sony components in your audio system or home theater. A headphone jack is also featured.
What's in the Box
CD changer unit, RCA audio cord, ControlA-1II cord, remote control, two AA batteries, owner's manual.
1 Do yourself a favor, don't buy this
I needed a new CD player. I bought this model. Big mistake. At first I had problems with a little bit of skipping from time to time. I could live with that. However my player has been having trouble loading cds. It will try and load the cd, but never reads any tracks. Extremely frusturating. I actually bought mine from Best Buy using cash and have since lost the receipt. I've only had the player for 2 months and called Sony support. They have a limited warranty for 1 year. Although I lost the receipt, the unit has a date of manufacture sticker that says "Novemeber 2004". At this review, it's May 2005. The SOBs at Sony tell me they won't service it w/o my original reciept because they only recognize the release date of the product line (apparently 2002). The date of manufacture sticker means nothing. I spent a couple of hundred dollars on a unit that is crap and doesn't work half the time. The first tier Sony support people were nice and sent me to the second level support who told me "No" on any kind of help. They even went as far to ask me if I bought the extended warranty. I told the guy I thought I was buying a quality product and wouldn't need to buy an extended warranty. He told me they were quality products. Yeah, right. That's why I'm sitting on a cd player that's a piece of crap. They did offer to let me have the non-warranty replacement. I could buy a refurbished unit for a hundred something bucks of the same model. No thanks. I haven't owned a Sony product since the Walkman, and I would never buy another piece of home audio from them again. It is my fault I lost the original reciept, but still.....even if I bought the product on the date of manufacturer it wouldn't be over 6 months old. I would definitely never buy this. In fact, after my experience with their customer service, I can safely say I would never buy anything from them ever again. Sony sucks.
Rod Crossland
2 Changed My Mind
After reading the reviews on the Sony CD CX-355 I guess I'll stick with my 5 disk changer that is working well and has been for the last 10 years.
3 No problems so far + some observations
We bought this about three months ago, despite some bad experiences other people have reported. No problems so far; we really like it. It's helped neaten up the house and let us rediscover our music collection (in ALL DISCS SHUFFLE mode). One thing no one has really mentioned is how huge this machine is -- it's 17" wide, like most stereo equipment, but also at least that distance deep. You need a wide shelf to hold it.
Here are some comments about the machine and about problems other people have reported. 1) General reliability: because of the issues people have had, we bought this machine at a major national electronics chain, and for once in our lives, got the "extended warranty" - that will allow us to exchange it in person for 3 years. No mailing/UPS issues. 2) Skipping: no problems so far. We cleaned discs carefully before we put them in. Another reviewer determined skipping could be the effect of accumulated humidity, and that agrees with one comment in the user's manual. 3) Disc chewing: hasn't happened to us yet. 4) The delay between songs when songs are on different discs: yes, this is about 5-10 seconds, which is a drag. Finally, we should say a word about the programming capabilities of the machine. They are rather primitive, compared to what you might be used to on a PC. Each CD gets a label of only 13 characters. Each album can only go in one preset "group," and there are only 3 "programs" available, though it is cool that programs can be of songs, whole discs, or both. But on the whole it's been worth it.
4 Dies After 3 Years
Bought the unit in 2002. Nothing difficult about using it or interfacing it with an amp. I was extremely happy with it and my main bitch has always been the way the player abruptly begins playback on any given CD. It skips 1/2 to 1 second of the first track of any CD but other than that, I was OK with it. It never chewed up any CDs and played burned discs just fine. Recently it began skipping. Upon further investigation I determined the price to exchange it for a refurb would be apx $133.00 plus s&h plus tax. Right. Like I couldn't add thirty bucks to it and buy a *new* model s&h free from this site.
Since I'm in the market for a new juke and since I've read the reviews here regarding chewing up CDs I'll be purchasing another player not manufactured by Sony since the possibility exists the next CDP-CX355 I purchase may ruin my collection.
5 A great machine so far ...
Bought one of these five months ago, in spite of the many negative reviews. Price so low it was worth taking a chance. Happy to say this machine has worked beautifully, with at least two hours per day of use. And life is much easier without all those CD cases to mess with. My only complaint: it should come with a folder to store CD covers in. Otherwise, this has been an extremely useful and reliable player, and a bargain as well.
6 SONY=NO CUSTOMER SERVICE ON WARRANTY REPAIR
AFTER 5 MONTHS OF USE,CD CHANGER JAMS AND BREAKS YOUR CDS. SONY HAS A CONSUMER SCAM AGREEMENT WITH UPS STORES THAT OFFERS"DISCOUNT" SHIPPING AND PACKING OF THE DEFECTIVE PRODUCT.UNFORTUNATELY,THERE IS NO DISCOUNT AND THE PLAYER COSTS CUSTOMER=$60-$37 TO SHIP W/ DISCOUNT???. EVEN WORST AFTER PAYING THE SHIPPING OF WARRANTY COVERED ITEM YOU FIND OUT SONY +UPS STORE SUPPLIES WRONG ADDRESS!!! CD PLAYER LOST, NO ONE AT SONY OR UPS STORE CAN EXPLAIN ERROR OR ASSIST IN GETTING ITEM TO CORRECT LOCATION TO REPLACE DEFECTIVE PRODUCT.LOST TIME,$$$ AND HAVE NO CD PLAYER. BUY PANASONIC PLEASE!!!!!
7 This should do it.
I bought a cx355 three years ago.Bought a second one two years ago.Am in the process of purchasing a third one.My CD library stands at seven hundred and twentysomething so I have about 180 slots to fill. Never had a bit of trouble.I have a hunch some of these people screaming "junk" aren't real bright.Have a grownup read the manual to you. It takes time to load and program but so what.You do it once,big deal.I love cx355's.Great value.
8 Do not buy this item!
After reading the other reviews, I though that things wouldn't go wrong for me, but I was wrong. The CD changer began placing two disks in the same slot the first week that I had it. After that happened, the CD scrapes across the inside of the changer as the carousel turns, scratching the CD. Do yourself a favor and just stay away.
9 Wonderful while it worked
Bought this player and invested a lot of time organizing my CD's, typing titles into the player, etc. It was great and it made listening to CD's much easier as they were already in the player. Then, out of the blue it won't play about half of my CD's, they skip and jump and stick. None of the CD's had come out of the changer since I put them in, and they all played fine at first, so the condition of the CD's have not changed. I tried playing CD's that won't play in the CX355 in my other CD players and don't have any problems. Too bad, it's such a great concept, but not worth the time to set it all up when it doesn't last.
10 It does have a work around
I purchased a Sony CDPCX355 300 disc changer and, like other reviewers, spent time organizing and loading my discs. Right from the get go it started skipping songs, skipping discs, and refusing to play. I was unable to get a refund and figured I would ultimately have a fairly nice boat anchor when I needed a new one. Before I unloaded it I decided to leave the unit powered up with the door open. The heat would keep the unit dry as I thought moisture might be causing the problems. Well, it has played perfectly ever since and has not skipped on a single CD. Now I am not happy about having to leave the unit turned on with the door open but if I wanted to get any use out of it, that's what I had to do. I have had it for 2 years and it is working fine. Worked for me, hope it helps you. Oh yeah, otherwise it is a nice piece of equipment.
11 Don't waste time or money - No Stars!
I had the unit replaced three times. Two times it did not work at all. The unit that did work performed as others indicated: skipping, won't play first track, scuffs and scratches on NEW CDs, requires babysitting during play, loading and reloading, on/off, plug/unplug. I am in the process of getting a refund. While they don't SEEM to be communicating with the engineers/designers, the SONY service center is cooperative and helpful. If you try one and it doesn't work, just give up the first time.
12 1st track blues!
Like other reviewers have stated, after a few months the unit refuses to play track #1 on most CD's! Useless for continuous playing unless you want to baby sit and manually skip track #1. See Ya Sony.
13 CD player is ok
Had this CD play for just over a month and it started working out great had no problems. but then after about a month it started skipping on almost every CD and track. even brand new CD's I just put in. Then I had a rough time at getting J & R music to give me a return auth to send it back. not sure if I'll ever buy this player again or anything from J & R Music.
14 Keep It The On The Level!
I just had to write this review for all the reviewers who are complaining about this machine dropping their discs in the back of the unit or getting jammed or destroying their CDs.HELLO,READ THE MANUAL!THIS PLAYER MUST BE ON A LEVEL SURFACE SO IT CAN DROP THE DISC IN THE RIGHT SPOT!I use this machine for hours on end every day for over a year and it's never had any problems so GET YOUR LEVEL OUT!
15 Very Disappointing
I purchased this product from an online retailer and had it for a total of five days before it broke. I had loaded about 200 cd's into it, and one jammed while it was playing on the random feature. The jammed CD was eventually broken in half in order to remove the rest of the good ones. The turntable ceased to work and would make a grinding noise when the power was turned on. I have never owned a Sony product that did not malfunction in some way (walkman, discman, playstation, playstation 2). This exact problem happened to a friend of mine with the same product, but he had his for over a year before it broke. (Just long enough to expire the warranty.) If you're looking for a high capacity changer, I highly recommend you look into a Pioneer or JVC changer first. As long as people keep buying cheap junk, they're going to keep making it.
16 Poor Quality - Poor Service
My CD changer performed flawlessly for about a year and a half. I did not experience any problem with dropping the CD's as it was described by others, and I was delighted with my purchase. I was especially enjoying the shuffle play feature, which allowed me to play all my favorite CD's without having to listen them in the same order. After the initial happy period, the player suddenly started to skip on every CD I had. I cleaned the CD lens, but did not solve the problem. Since it was already out of warranty, I decided to send the unit to Sony, hoping that the good performance will return after the repair. Well, after about a month waiting the unit arrived from Sony with a broken door panel and in a non-operating condition. I had returned the player to Sony and after countless telephone calls and aggravation, I had achieved that they repaired the damages. Another month passed by and the unit finally arrived this time in working condition. After a short time however, it had developed a problem that certain disks just do not play. I have to power off and power on the player and it works again. In my opinion, a CD player should last longer than a year and half and this is not the Sony quality that we were all used to. I will be avoiding Sony products in the future.
17 CD Destroyer
At first we were delighted with this Sony CD player, but it was not long before we determined that it was destroying our CD collection. Fortunately, we read a review on Amazon from another customer that lost many of his CD's to the same Sony unit. Over 20 of our CD's were damaged before we pinpointed the problem to the changer and replaced it with a Pioneer 200 disc changer (which we've had only two weeks but so far it appears OK). I am disappointed that Sony continues to market this defective equipment and as a result, we generally try to shop for other brands. If you value your CD collection, a Sony CD changer is likely to disappoint you.
18 Super!
I've had mine for four years, and never had a problem. I use it every day, often for hours on end. I love that I can store my cds in it, and it's very easy to use. I think it's just great, and would buy another in a heartbeat.
19 Never buy it, if you are not electronic expert
I had cdp-cx 220 since 4 years.No problem at all.But this one can not read the CD's and making best afford to break my CD's.Worst this is not happened all the time and impossible to repair.I don't trust Sony anymore.But finally I remove the cove and remove all related loading mechanism,I found a problem.It was a switch which is not working.After I replace the switch no problem at all.But I believe that This product never been in quality control.
20 older model
We have a 3 1/2 year old model which has never worked well. It consistently drops cd's out of the slots as it is turning. They then get jammed in the rear of the unit. We have found that some cd's just cannot sit in the carriage at all.
We hope to replace this unit with a better brand.
21 Table error
I loved mine, and it worked great. Used it maybe twice a month, Bought mine on Sept 28. 2002, and when I was playing it this Thanksgiving, it broke down, first it starting making a loud noise, then it would not play, Then in the window it wrote Table Error, but now it is all but worthless, unless I decide to have it repaired, which most likely will cost as much as the unit.
I love Sony and never had a problem with one of their products, now all Sony cares about is that I did not buy the extended Warranty. Which we all know is not worth the money.
22 Sony blows.
This CD player holds all your Cd. Generally is does't play the first track. Over time it just gets worst. Try another manufacture.
23 If you love your cds, you might be advised to stay away
Generally,it's a good multiple player will tons of features.
The sound is good,etc.
BUT, on two occasions it has malfunctioned - it does not replace the cd back in the tray correctly and you have cds
bumping and banging against each other. Very stressful indeed! I cannot trust it anymore. I'm sending it off for service after 8 months of use.
24 The good and the bad
I bought this to replace my Sony 200 cd changer. I sold the other one to offset the cost of this. I had no problems loading the discs. It was easy entering the titles of my CDs with the use of my computer keyboard. I use the optical output to hook into my receiver and the sound is excellent but I noticed a problem. Some of my discs that have minor scratches sometimes skip. I never had that problem with my 200 Sony cd changer which didn't have an optical output. So I then hooked it up with the analog outputs and it didn't skip at all. So the problem is with the optical output. I guess it's harder to read the disc when using the optical output. It sounds great in either the analog or optical hookups but the sound is a little better with the optical hookup. If you have a lot of discs with scratches and want to use the optical output this may not be the CD player for you. Most of my CDs are in mint condition so I keep it hooked up through the optical output. I am very satisfied with this player. I do wish it came with a booklet for my cd booklets. My last cd player did. I would have given this player a 5 rating if it wasn't for the occasional skip.
25 Avoid if you value your CD's
I bought this CD player about a year ago.
What a mistake!
The trouble started when the CD player started putting CD's back into the wrong slots. It would place a CD into the slot next to where it had taken it from - even if that slot already contained a CD. As a result a CD jutted up from it's slot and was broken as the carousel turned.
After this the player would not play at all.
I had owned the player for about 2 months at this point, and was required to take it in for warranty repair. A month later I received my 'fixed' unit back.
Not trusting it I began putting CD's only in every other slot. Effectively turning my 300 disc player into an overpriced 150 disc player.
It was fine for a while. Then it started dropping CD's into the body of the machine.
It is no longer useable as I do not trust this machine to not destroy my valuable CD's.
As this is not my first problem with a Sony product, I will be avoiding the brand from now on.
Do not buy this machine.
26 Same problem(s) as the 200 Sony disc changer I gave up on.
Having owned 150 and 200 disc changers over the past few years, I figured the engineering problems must have been worked out by now... why else would Sony keep making them? Unfortunately, I guess that the service centers don't ever communicate to engineering.
Here's my experience with this unit... Day 1 - I dutifully loaded ~230 Cds into the carousel, careful to match the slots with my reference book I use to find my titles fast. Day 3 - The unit dropped the first CD somewhere in the back of the unit, whirr - click - chomp - carousel will not move (been here, done that), unscrew the screws, unjam the Retail purchased CD, check for damage and reload it into the unit, put all the screws back in. Deja Vu. This looks like the beginning of a terrible relationship. Day 7 - Occasional skips, sometimes the song will start to play and then just quit altogether, moving on to a different disc entirely.I respectfully utilize the CD Lens Cleaner CD although I secretly doubt that it has any real effect whatsoever. Day 10 - Same problems as Day 7 except more frequent... This is not a good sign at all. Day 12 - Troubleshooting begins, I move a disk from one slot to another to see if maybe the slot has something effect on the behavior, funny enough, the same cd will play fine if requested from a different slot!? Confusion ensues. Day 13 - Some discs just refuse to play. I tried the Power Off, rest and Power Up routine. I have made sure the player is fully leveled. A decision is made... I'll be calling for an RMA in the morning. I am sure glad that I tested the unit enough in the first 30 days, to really get to know how it will operate over time. I could have lived with the single dropped CD, but coupled with disc access problems, this will not do. Not even at this price.
The last unit I bought from a local nationwide retailer was taken in for service 3 times and returned each time with a note saying they could fine nothing wrong with it... My old 200 CD Sony unit still sits around virtually unused, I'm ashamed to sell it even though it could pass for new. I only hope I get better customer service from our trustworthy on-line merchants.
27 Fabulous
This is an outstanding CD changer...it keeps my music organized very well. I believe the best feature to be the CD/R and CD/RW playback because I can burn my cd's and then keep them in the player forever. This is a great buy, don't miss out.
28 Music Heaven!
This Jukebox not only solved all of my CD storage problems, but also allowed me to organize my music for much better listening!
Definitely recommended!
