Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony DEJ925 Walkman Portable CD Player (Extra Lightweight , Skip Free G-Protection, Long Battery Life)

i've owned a few cd players over the years. one broke down after three years of use and the other was stolen. so on my trip to taiwan i picked up this sony cd walkman (model d-e999) which is similar to the one here in the u.s. (d-ej925) with the exception of headphones to the earphones in asia.

this particular model is the smallest cd walkman i have ever seen. someday they might make one smaller, but for now, this is the smallest on the market. the price is a bit of a disadvantage for this cd player .... the features on this model are beneficial and provide convenience all bundled into such a small package but i'm not sure if it warrants such a high price. but it's made by sony and all their products have never given many problems or second thoughts.

the remote is a nice feature when you like to carry your cd player in a bookbag, large pocket or backpack. the remote clips to a strap or article of clothing. for some, this remote may take some getting use to since it needs to be clipped somewhere or else it will dangle. the remote does weight a noticeable amount so you will feel it when it hangs. if you prefer a different headset, all earphones are plugged in on a jack located on the remote. all the features on the player are accessible on the remote. the remote has a luminated backlight that lights up for a few seconds when running on batteries and stays on permanently when plugged into an ac adapter.

the player runs on two slim rechargeable batteries that can be recharged while still in the player through the ac adapter. normal batteries will allow the player to run longer but do not fit in the player. to fix this, a tube-like add-on is included so you can use 2AA batteries if you chose.

the sound quality is good but i've noticed that it may sometimes act funny with a small percentage of my cds that i made myself. sometimes, the player will not proceed to the next song or the next song will have an unusally large level of bass. fast forwarding to the next song or pausing and then playing again will remedy either of these problems.

when i'm walking, the player never skips due to the skip protection but the player looks very delicate in appearance. i haven't dropped it but i don't think it would survive that many drops.

all in all, this player is one of the best that sony has to offer here in the american market. i recommend it to those who are not shocked by the large price tag. you must take care of it to prevent dropping it but if you do, it will last for quite a long time. i use my cd player every day for many hours and it still works great.

Anyway about this model: This is the only one that is made in japan among this series. The rest are made in malaysia. It's no biggie, the quality seems consistent either way but it just feels different. Functions: It uses G-protection which gives you skip free playback as long as you DONT RUN. Running is going to make any CD player skip. G-protection is a bit different than normal protection. It reads beforehand and stores the music in memory and reads again when depleted. So there is this ongoing on/off spinning that goes on. Basically it goes on/off every 5seconds or so. It also read's at different RPM's when moved toward or against inertia. Confusing? Just take my word for it. It comes with and optical out (for those who need it for MD recording), and CD-TEXT. CD-Text is rarely used in US CD's so unless you burn CD's with text you won't see any letters on your remote control. This biggest drawback with this model is that it won't read CDRW's. It will read CDR's though. Only a few select CD players will read CDRW's. Not this one. It comes with NIMH rechargeable batteries which give enough power for at least 25hrs. Sufficient. As for size, you cant get any thinner than this. This is basically one of the thinnest models you can get these days, light too. The remote control is backlighted. no display on the cd player itself. (size reasons)

If you do plan to get this feature full CDplayer, do take good care of it. It is delicate and I doubt it will appreciate let's say desk high fall. OUCH

Here's what to know about this CD player from Sony:

-It's super compact. The player has almost the exact same diameter as an actual CD, and it's super thin. This is far and away the thinnest player that Sony makes, and the rival Panasonic model is roughly the same. It's very light too.
-Rechargeable batteries last. I was using this for my daily commute to and from work in NYC over the summer (about 45 minutes to an hour a day), but only had to recharge every two or three weeks. It seems like they never wear out.
-The thing just doesn't skip. I've shaken the thing furiously while playing a CD to test it and it keeps going. You really have to jar it hard for it to skip (as in hit it against something).
-Eye candy value. The designers at Sony did it again; this thing is about as svelt as they make CD players. Everytime my friends see it I get lots of oohs and ahhs.

The only things I would warn you about are:

-It's so thin that you can't put too much pressure against the top or the case will actually press against the CD and slow the disc down causing it to skip.
-The motor that moves the laser is actually kind of loud, so when you skip tracks or reach the end of the CD you can hear it from pretty far away (dunno if other people find this to be true). Otherwise it runs very silently.

If you have the money to spend, this is a great product. But it does sell at a premium. I bought mine in Japan.., so it's a bit pricier..[other places], but this model isn't easy to find elsewhere.

I just bought this cd player for jogging, almost knowing that I would end up returning it because its "Skip-free" function wont work. No other cd players that I have used, without G-protection (like this player uses), will play while I jog, and this is the only one that will play while in my pocket, instead of a carrying case. This is probably the best cd player out right now (for home or personal use) and I would reccomend it to anyone thinking about a cd player.

It is a very durable, compact CD player with rechargable batteries so you don't need to keep getting new batteries. With a handy display for changing songs ect.