Home > Consumer Reviews > Aiwa FR-CD3000 Digital Alarm Clock Radio with Am/FM Tnr, CD-R/RW, Vert CD, Slp Tmr, Dl Alrm, Stereo Spkrs, Backlit LCD and Weekend Alarm Skip

I did a lot of research to find the best CD clock radio for my purposes. I needed one with good sound and a small footprint and this one has those. It has other very good qualities, including a quiet CD mechanism, dual alarms with weekend skip, and fairly good FM reception. However, it has a couple of issues which keep me from recommending it wholeheartedly. Most annoying is that the alarms don't work unless the CD is turned off, and it doesn't turn off when finished playing--you have to manually shut off the power. So unless you use the sleep function, you can't go to sleep to the CD and wake up with the alarm. The display is too bright, not adjustable, and hard to read on an angle. The clock/radio/alarm set sequence is not exactly intuitive. There aren't buttons for direct access to the FM presets, just forward and back. Also, the first one I got from Amazon was defective--the CD player didn't work correctly--and it took almost two months to get a replacement, although it does work. Overall, this may well be the best product of its kind for the price, but it's far from perfect.

Good sound, simpler to use than any other high-end clock radio, good control layout with decent sized buttons, amazingly quiet mechanism, good balance of features, and a small footprint. We loved it until we went to bed.
The time display is just awful in the dark. It's a green background with black letters that don't stand out well in the dark. One of us needs glasses and the display is unreadable without them at more than 6 inches. I myself don't need glasses and can read it ok from a distance. However, I hate the fact that the green background lights up the room enough to see shadows on the walls. Not what I want when going to sleep. There's no adjustment on the display.

It was apparently designed by an otherwise excellent engineer who didn't understand that people might want to use a clock radio in a dark bedroom.

You might think in this day and age, consumer electronic products of a given type are pretty much alike in terms of quality. Not so! I bought a similar, stylish CD clock radio from a long-established manufacturer (woof!) and was disappointed when the sound started crackling after just one hour. I could barely hear the music from the noise of the CD player motor! Then came Aiwa's little gem. It cost a fraction more, but now I don't have to worry about a noisy mechanism keeping me up at night! And did I mention it sounds great? Thank you, Aiwa!

I recommend this radio for any place where you are short on space -- but want maximum style. It's super for the office -- the radio reception is far superior to a much larger "boom box" radio that I just replaced with this radio.

You'll be sorry if you purchase this clock. I searched the net, & looked at Aiwa's site. They said it had adjustable snooze feature. [Not true!] You're stuck with this thing going off five minutes after you hit the snooze bar. It's very annoying when you're really tired and need that extra rest. Otherwise it has many features... 30 radio station presets; program the order of songs on cd; choice of radio, cd, or buzzer for both (2) alarms. Most important, the alarm volume comes on low and slowly builds so that you aren't shocked out of bed. Aesthetically, it's very attractive machine. The speakers are substandard... definately not Bose quality, but ok for an alarm. The clock display is large & easy to read, and the display isn't so bright that it keeps you up at night.
AIWA... take notice: add programable snooze time and use better speakers... then you can get 5 Stars.