400-disc changer * plays CDs, audio CD-Rs & CD-RWs, and MP3 CDs * optical digital output * 32-track programming, repeat, & random play * dual front-panel jog dials for disc/track selection * Disc Memo for up to 600 CDs * Memo Search and Memo Scan * 8 Artist Files * 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 108 dB * 16-7/8"W x 7-1/2"H x 21-1/4"D * warranty: 1 year
The CDPCX455 400-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. Because the CDPCX455 plays MP3s as well as CDs, you can expand the already-massive capacity of the player, and literally play the CDPCX455 for days on end.
The CDPCX455 can play audio CDs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs, as well as CDs with MP3 files. You can program the CDPCX455 to play CDs or tracks one by one, in random order, or in your own customized order. A history search allows you to return to CDs that you have recently played, and 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 CDPCX455 for quicker retrieval. The CDPCX455 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 CDPCX455 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 access up to 800 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 CDPCX455 to an audio receiver with analog RCA-type and digital optical outputs. An analog connection instantly synchs the CDPCX455 to another changer, and a Control A-1II cord links the CDPCX455 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 Avoid like the plague!!! Should be RECALLED
Like a couple of other reviewers have mentioned, I have owned the older Sony 400 disc changer for many years without a single problem; I absolutely love it. When I purchased the updated CX455, I was excited that this would offer the same performance, while adding the ability to play MP3s.
I realized this was not meant to be as soon as I saw that Sony had done away with the "Group File" function which was by far my favorite feature on the old player. In retrospect, this should have clued me in that this was a "problem product." Why would you replace the Group Files with "Top Artist" files that only let you group discs by a particular artist? Listening to music by genre (eg: hard rock, party, dinner music, holidays) is the best feature on the old CX400. Who sits down and listens extensively to one artist? And if you like the Top Artist feature, you could have done this anyway on the Group File system, by assigning discs by the same artist to one Group. The answer is, Sony most likely could not get the Group Files to work properly on this unit, because the unit is a mess.
First of all, when you locate discs by artist (which is how I find most of my CDs), each time you press the "Artist File" button it goes back to the beginning. The old unit stayed with the last Artist played. Therefore, if you want to take out six Van Halen CDs, you need to start at "Allman Brothers" and scroll through the whole alphabet EVERY TIME.
All this could be bearable, but, as other reviewers have mentioned, the player at random decides to scramble your Artist File. Suddenly, without warning,many of the CDs become linked up to the wrong artist, or no artist at all. A great thing to happen after you spend hours programming the information!! I purchased one CX455 that did this twice, then returned it. The second unit was fine for about six months, then did the same thing. It was under warranty, so I called Sony and was told on the first call that the CX455 is "eligible for replacement."
Unfortunately, the CX455 cannot be replaced, because Sony has ceased to manufacture new units!! I foolishly gave authorization for the unit to be repaired. It has been repaired TWICE over the last three months and still does the same thing!! Obviously Sony knows what the problem is, but they are powerless to fix it. Therefore they have discontinued production of the unit. I have demanded that Sony either refund my purchase price or exchange it for a different unit (the CX355 does not seem to have this problem).
Every company has occasional glitches, but this is an embarrassment. Sony obviously had problems in the development of this unit, which led to them ditching the Group Files. This unit should never have been released; they should have kept the CX400 until they got it right. A RECALL is the only just way to deal with this complete dog of a product.
2 De-Evolution Dooms the Sony CX455
Sony had a good thing going with their CX400 MegaChanger. Unfortunately they tinkered with it and the end result is a nightmare. Gone are the eight music category buttons you could use to quickly categorize each music CD. Gone is the speed of the earlier units: this unit takes almost 30 seconds to change from one CD to another and about that long to initialize after it is powered-up. Gone is the ability to change from continuous to shuffle or one disc play to all disc play modes while the CD unit is playing; you must now first stop the unit before changing modes. Worst of all, this unit scrambles the link between artist names and their associated CD's. Sony is aware of this problem but cannot fix it and "officially" denies it exists. We should know: we've been thru four of these units trying to find one that works as advertised. None of them do.
Yes, this unit will play MP3 encoded CD's. Big deal. MP3's on a CD player are pretty-much worthless since you've no way to control the music selection within a given disc (no artist or album select options within the disc). Also, you cannot view the track title for the disc on this CD player until the track cues-up.
Save your money. Reject the Sony CX455.
3 Not happy! At All!
I am a professional musician and have an extensive CD collection. In spring 2001 I purchased the older Sony CDP-CX 400 and it has worked beautifully ever since. I love it. NO problem. My CD collection grew and I decided to purchase another 400 CD changer in late fall of 2003. By then, Sony had "upgraded" to the CDP-CX455. I bought it and "piggy-backed" it with my older CDP-CX 400.
I am as unhappy with the newer model as I am happy with the older! The older model allows you to classify your CD's using 3 different criteria: CD name, artist name and by up to 8 different groups. It's very flexible. But the newer model only lets you classify the music by CD title and artist.
But, ok, I guess I can live with that. What is FAR WORSE is that I have had to have the unit either repaired or replaced 3 times for the same recurring problem, which is that the artist file info for individual CD's will change arbitrarily or disappear altogether. As I type this, I am preparing to search for the documentation of the 1st 2 repair/exchange jobs on the unit to fax to Sony. After that, I'll be boxing it up YET AGAIN to send to Sony ONE MORE TIME...all within 13 months from the time I purchased it.
There are other companies making "CD Jukeboxes"...do yourself a favor and check them out.
4 Machine is not intuitive AT ALL
After some deliberation, we decided to purchase this 400 CD player to consolidate about half of our collection. I assumed (perhaps to my fault) that like my computer, when I inserted a CD into it, the player would know the title, artist and song list for most (but not all) of the CD's -- NOT SO -- not even close! Of the 400 entered into the system, only about ten (yes 10!) CD's actually had any information come up at all. For all of the rest, you must enter the title and artist - cannot enter song name (not that you'd want to with that many CD's) - but I had no idea how much time would be needed to enter in all of those titles, even with the keyboard used.
Now I should say that I'm actually pretty good with electronics and can pretty much figure most things out on my own, so this is not the ranting of a ludite who can't get the thing to work. If given the opportunity to do so again, I would look for something else altogether. This was a bad decision for someone with a lot of CD's, especially if you're limited with your free time. I also agree with the other folks who said that 20 characters is too few and I'm really disappointed that you can't enter a title, artist AND genre. But what I'm most upset about is that it took me days (a few to several hours each day) to get this fully programmed and loaded.
Buyer beware! Seriously.
5 Excellent Product
It is difficult to get hold of all those CD's crammed into it, but if you add the SAVR and JukeBox from Panther Studios, it becomes a dream machine! I can see all the CD's I have and make play lists that shuffle between my changers like butter. I love it!
See their product at: http://pantherstudioscorp.com
6 If You Value Your CD Collection, Don't Buy This CD Changer.
I owned a perfectly wonderful Pioneer, 100 Disc CD changer. Since my CD collection had approached the 400 mark, I decided to purchase the Sony CDP-CX455 unit, so that I could randomly listen to my entire collection, without constantly changing CD's. After reading some of the reviews on Amazon, I was reluctant to purchase this unit. Unable to find another unit that would accomodate 400 CD's, I decided to take a chance and went ahead with the purchase. Big mistake! After spending hours loading the CD's into the system and setting it to play on random(shuffle), I soon discovered that several of my CD's were skipping. I am meticulous with the handling of my CD's, so I know that the problem was not caused by my mishandling of them. I removed the CD's that were skipping, hoping that this was an isolated incident. The next day, I turned on the unit and again set it to play songs randomly. Once again, some of the CD's started skipping. When I removed them from the unit, I noticed that there were scratches on both CD's. I then called up Sony to explain to them that this particular CD changer has an engineering defect, and that it scratches CD's. Their response was that they have had no reports of such incidences. I asked to speak with a supervisor, who informed me that this CD changer has been taken off the market and is not being replaced with a similar unit. He said that stores still had them in stock, but once the stock was exhausted there would be no more available. I then asked him why they were not replacing this unit with another 400 CD changer model, and was told that they are getting out of the CD changer business, in favor of DVD/CD combo units. I offered the comment that the reason they are not replacing the CDP-CX455 with a similar unit, is because they know that the CDP-CX455 has an engineering defect, and they are not capable of building a 400 CD unit that is problem free. At any rate, I called the store where I purchased my changer from, and told them that I was returning it because it was scratching my CD's. I then started the long process of removing the CD's from the system and was astounded to find that almost 1 out of every 3 CD's had been scratched by this CD changer. I called back Sony, and their attitude was basically that they couldn't care less. Once you buy a Sony product, you are on your own. Their customer support is non existent. Despite the fact that over 100 of my CD's have been damaged by this unit, their response was that they were sorry, but there is nothing they could do about it. Based on this incident, I will never purchase another Sony product again. If you are planning to purchase this CD player, my advice to you, "Buyer Beware."
7 Makes listening to music easy.
This is the first CD changer that we purchased. What a difference it has made! We don't have to keep changing discs and we can jump to any disc we want quckily without having to search through a stack of CD's. My partner has his favorite CD's under his "artist's" name and I have mine under my name. We can then play our set anytime we want either in continuous mode or shuffle. We have 198 more "artist's" slots that we can program any number of discs to. If you have a combination of CD albums and individual tracks you can program upto 32 of them in one program. There are three program slots. Entering data was a pain but it was easier with a key board but once that is done you can sit back and enjoy the music. We made a list of all our CD's so we could refer to it. Also we put the CD's in different categories and left several slots open in each category so we can add more CD's in the future. I called Sony's customer service number twice on a Saturday afternoon and got through each time with out any problems. You first have to go through this very "real" sounding voice recognizing machine but then you will get to speak to somebody and they were very helpful with some functions that I did not follow.
We have used this great gadget for about two months and we have not had any scratches on our CD's. We are very happy with this product!
8 CD Changer will eat your CD for lunch.
I have bought a lot of very fine Sony products, but I must tell you about the TWO SONY CDP-CX455 Megastorage CD Changer/CD Players that I have bought.
Both CD Changers have put scratches on every CD that was put in them and has destroyed more then a few CD's. I, in all honesty, could not rate this product as one you should look into buying.
To make a very long story short and to keep the comments focused on the product. Stay away from the SONY CDP-CX455 Megastorage CD Changer/CD Player or you too will have a very long story to tell.
Thank you for your time.
9 Great changer, horrible problems though.
I received the changer as a requested gift to replace a Technics SL-MC410, which was great btw, just not enough capacity. The only improvement in the Sony is more discs, but the only initially perceived benefit was it's ability to play mp3 discs. This is where the first major problem is: the lag time between tracks is HUGE. Playing mixes is incredibly frustrating. Even changing from disc to disc is infuriating, it takes longer than any changer I've used. Also, to add discs or even open the door requires stopping the item playing at the time. Overall, the capacity is impressive, but do NOT purchase this item based on its ability to play mp3 albums.
10 5 Stars, but Watch Out!!
They SAY they're fully linkable, but use extreme care when buying more that one unit for your very extensive collection. These things are all very intelligent machines-- too smart for their compatability with each other. They are "Master Drives," according to one Sony Rep, and are therefore not set up to be "Slaves." Sony will tell you that you can access 800 Total CDs, but instead of being able to purchase 2 of these guys at 400 each, you've got to get this one and 2 more 200 CD players. If you DO buy 2 of these, you have access to all 400 in your primary, but only 200 of the 400 possible in your secondary.
Now that I'm done writing to a miniscule portion of the public that might want to access 401-800 discs, I love mine. It's a convenient, wonderful machine. I feel like I'm in control of an entire radio station when I tell it to shuffle. Have fun.
11 It's perfect.... when you add an Slink-e
I own a Cdp-cx350 for about 3 years and added a cdpcx455 almost a year ago and I am really happy with both of them. The 455 lacks the 2-way remote but I don't care because I have an Slink-e from Nirvis to control both devices. It connects to my laptop next to my chair and controls the CD-changers through the Sony S-link (or control-A1(II) or Control-S) ports on the players. With the CDJ(jukebox) application on the laptop I have a complete overview of the contents of both players and can create and save several playlists for different occasions. One of the nicest options is the possibility to let the players recognize new CD's and send the data to the CDJ program which collects info on the CD's from the CDDB database on the Internet. Part of this info can be sent back to the players for display on the screen of the player.
So if you like the Sony's but dislike the lack of control functions consider buying an Slink-e ..., it really makes the Sony complete.
12 Forget the weaknesses, it's a ll in the sound!
I've read the other reviews (and you should too). Yes, the display isn't big enough. Yes, I am REAL frustrated that I can't change from continous play to shuffle without stopping. But, the bottom line is that EVERY family in the world NEEDS one of these. Think about it- 400 bloomin CD's! Not only YOUR favorite music in an amazingly personal and stirring random aural experieince, you can MUCH more easily tolerant the OCCASIONAL -let's say less than favorite tune, it is the primary appliance for ANY family.
This is my second CD changer. I out grew the first 200 CD changer, and yes the A1 II cable is an antequated technology and a hard to find critical stinking "leettle" cable that is required to make the whole unit function ... - because it enables the second CD changer in your component system queue up the next song as the current one is playing. But COME ON FOLKS. 400 of your favorite CDs all in your own personal mix!! Unless you are a drone, top-pop radio listening, commercialistic fool, this is a must have!
Buy one today! "Heck", buy two of 'em! Best value for ANY money you have!
13 Almost perfect, but lacking...
If you really like to have all your music & cds handy, this is a great tool. In order to have control of what's stored, you must have control & order.
This is what I did. I did a list with all the cds, so I know where each one goes. I separated the cds into category, ex 1-99 rock, 100-249 trance, 250-299 latin, 300-349 jazz, 350-400 rap & hip hop. This is how I have it now, and it works fine.
Let's talk about the features. One of the downsides, is that the screen is not big enough! Also, no ffw or rewind buttons on the player - you must use the remote control for this.
I like the feature of the mp3s, they play nicely, but you can't really ffw or rewind mp3 tracks very well, it's duable, but not as easy as regular cds.
I like the fact that you can arrange cds into groups and artists, that's very cool. I haven't used programming or shuffle very much, so I'm not familiar with those.
It's got a digital output in the back, as well as the regular RCA outputs.
I like it. I wish it had a ffw and rew button on the player itself, I wish the loading time were less but it's not too long.
You must have control & have order before loading the cds, if not you'll have a hard time finding your music. I do recommend labeling the cds with a keyboard - very nice touch, but screen again, not able to display many characters.
It works very good so far.
14 Not for Home Theater
I bought a CDP-CX455 as a way to put all my gear into a cabinet out of the way. Sony, in its infinite wisdom, decided for the first time in 5 years to NOT have discrete codes for power on/off. Thus, this device is not suitable for remote location. Having MP3 is nice, but not having the discrete codes is a product killer. I have returned mine and gotten a CDP-CX450.
15 Not for Audiophiles
This machine plays discs just fine, but if you're really into music, this is not the machine for you. Here's some info they don't tell you:
--It does NOT hold title info on 800 discs ... When you enter a CD title, that title is assigned to the SLOT. So if you remove a CD from slot 99 put a new CD in slot 99, the player still displays the title of the original CD.
--To change play modes (e.g., Continuous to Shuffle or Shuffle 1 to Shuffle All), you must press Stop first. I have owned about 10 CD players in the past (most of them Sonys), and none of them behave like this. You can usually switch without interrupting the current song.
--Plan to spend many hours loading and entering CDs (even with a keyboard). It takes 17 seconds to change discs (!) even if you're going from Disc 1 to Disc 2. It's about 24 seconds if the carousel has to move half way around.
--It stores artist info, but not genre. You can use the Artist space for genre, but you can't do both. In other words, you can play all your Dave Matthews CDs or all your Rock CDs, but you can't categorize the same disc as Dave Matthews and Rock.
--Programming play is a little strange. It has three programs, and they remain when power is turned off. That's good, but three is not nearly enough, and you don't have the ability to program on the fly. To create a new program, you have to erase one first (assuming all three are full). Plus, if you're moving up from the 10-disc player, you're going to miss the Bank play feature (stores a program for each disc and remembers it when you take the disc out).
--The disc in slot 17 almost always comes up as the first disc played when I change modes from Continuous to Shuffle or back.
--20 characters is not enough, especially if you're using genres because then you have to cram the artist and title in 20 spaces (and then use the Artist entry for the genre).
--The tiny screen only shows 13 characters unless you press the Display button; then it scrolls the CD title, a slash, a keyhole-shaped separator, and the Artist. A player with this many discs really needs a bigger screen with separate displays for artist and title.
--There's no fast forward (>>) or rewind (<<). It only has skip forward (>>|) and skip back (|<<).
--It's DEEP! Check the measurements before you buy. This machine is about six inches deeper than my cabinet, so it sticks out the back.
--It's time consuming to move CDs from home to car to work or wherever. You have to find the CD by scrolling through all the names, and when you put it back, it has to go in the same slot. No problem for one or two CDs, but I generally pull out 10 at a time.
Does it do anything well? Sure. MP3 play is pretty cool. And having all your discs loaded allows you to hear your collection differently. I use Shuffle a lot, so I hear songs I wouldn't normally choose. The jog wheels (one for disc, one for song) are useful. It hasn't skipped yet.
Sony certainly didn't design this for people who have 400 discs. It was really disappointing.
16 Sony should be embarassed
Word to the wise. Wait if you can and hope for a better product. Technology will leave this one by the wayside shortly.
This could be a much better product. Take your standard CD player from any modern computer add a 400 cd carousel and ship it. Basically that is what Sony did.
With all the technology available they should have some way to download play list directly to the machine. Who wants to type in the Artist Label for 400 CD's? If you don't play the machine in 30 days all of your information is gone.
I only wish I had gone to Electrical Engineering School. This product would be so much better.
17 Love it! but. . .
I've had my 400 CD changer for two years and I love it!! It's quite convienient having all of the CD's loaded in the changer, and I really like all of the various functions, esp. the groupings. Lately tho, one of the channels has not been playing, or else there's so much static I can't use it, and here-in lies the big problem: in order to take it to be repaired, I'll have to UNLOAD all 400CD's!... And will they all still be programed in when I get it back?! The way I see it, a really big hassle but for a far-out piece of equipment. At this point, I'm debating whether or not to return to a 5 CD changer because of that. Otherwise, I think it's wonderful. So I'll give it 4 stars!
18 Enormous amounts of storage
The fact that this changer holds 400 CDs is great. The amazing thing is that those CDs and be CD-Rs or CD-RWs filled with MP3s. For those of you playing along at home that's a little over a quarter of a terabyte of music at your finger tips. And you can daisy chain two devices together if that's not enough space. I've been impressed at how well it handles MP3s. It's smart enough to treat each folder as a album and has controls to skip between them as if they were individual discs. I was looking for a good way to both backup and integrate my MP3 collection with my other entertainment components. By burning my collection to a bunch of CD-Rs I solve both problems with the CDP-CX455. The cost per GB of storage is slightly more than buying a bunch of hard drives, but way more convenient (for me)and you don't have to worry about a drive breaking on you.
19 Almost great
The Sony CDPCX450 will handle a huge amount (400) of cd's. Certainly my entire collection. The two-way remote is cool and very functional allowing the remote to store the names and artists of each CD after you input this information into the changer.
The unit has all the features that you'd expect including an optical output.
My only gripe: The unit only allows 20 characters for song or artist names. This is not nearly enough characters for many CD's in my collection. So you end up having to abbreviate the titles and artists, which gets kind of funky. Also, the unit only allows ten characters for group names. Once again, not quite enough.
Otherwise this is a great changer and works well. Keep in mind that this unit does not play MP3's. Sony's CDPCX455 does.
