Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony RCDW500C Compact Disc Player / Recorder

I'm in the process of burning all my vinyl albums to CD's, recording direct to the computer from my very expensive stereo system, wasn't working because CD's were not playing in all types of CD players. So I needed an "analog to analog" recorder, the Sony despite some of the reviews I've read has performed much better than I expected, in fact sound quality is every bit as good as the vinyl being recorded. Obviously not all of the vinyl records have come thru without it's share of clicks and giggles, but I have a KLH TNE/DNF devices that do a great job of reducing them. This is not a start it and forget it machine, fortunately I haven't listened to some of this music for years. The need to insert track markers can be annoying but if you let the machine do it, some albums you're gonna run into problems on. The absolute worsts thing is on CD-R's recording and you screw it up might as well throw it out (which could get expensive if you're not careful!). I've had great success with the Memorex 40X 700 MB 80 Min Music CD-R, once I discovered that they could be had at Walgreens of all places. It definitely gets tricky trying to get it to record on a regular CD-R so I don't even bother with that! The CD Player though good, I've heard better, but I rarely use it since I have a awesome one already. For those that consider buying this, I'd recommend that you disconnect the DBX from your system before recording as the expansion of the instruments and voices can easily put you into the clipping range. For those that have high end stereo's I've got the CD monitoring the source but recording thru the tape monitor/playback jacks of the pre-amp thru the KLH TNE (Transient Noise Eliminator) then thru the KLH DNF (Dynamic Noise Filter). My experience has been reversing this order causes more "noise" on any recording.

I have read many reviews about this item and have experienced the problems finalizing discs and the C13/14 error messages. This unit is very sensitive to vibration. I tried the following remedies and the unit has worked great ever since. Always unplug the unit by turning the power button off and then unplugging for at least one hour after every useage. Since doing this I have had no further problems. Also read the manual carefully, because it is confusing.

This is the most aggravating piece of junk that I've ever bought. Although mine finalizes all right, mine finds new ways to aggravate. What happens with mine is that it will let you record half of a cd of songs from various cds, and then it will give you the "TOC rec err" or the C14 rec err message. What this means is that no player will play past that point when you try to play it. Unless your player has a "Shuffle mode" that will skip the gaping gap in the CD you're up the creek without a paddle. All of your time will have been wasted.

I'll NEVER buy ANY SONY product again. Their customer service is non existant. Don't encourage them!

I think in looking at all the reviews for this piece of equipment, we can come to the conclusion that there is a quality assurance issue with Sony and this item. Whether you swear it works great, or it's a big stinking pile...I'm sure each reviewer is telling it as it is. Which is to say that each unit is like a snowflake...no two are alike. This is alarming in a piece of electronic gear, so buying beware.
My unit worked fine for making mix CDs. I did greatest hits compilations of some of my favorite bands that didn't have proper "best of" CDs out, or in which I disagreed with what was put on them. The system worked great, and after figuring it out by trial and error (yes, the instruction booklet was incomplete and confusing, and be prepared to experiment on a CD-R or two), I enjoyed listening to the music as I mixed my CDs. After a couple weeks, the left CD drawer would not open upon turning my unit on. Much like a previous reviewer to said his CD
"got stuck" in his unit, except I don't leave CDs in my unit after it's turned off, so it didn't happen that way to me. Turning the unit on and off didn't clear the "jam". Unplugging the unit didn't work either. After thinking I would be sending my unit back, I unplugged it for the night. The next day the problem cleared. But it has occurred again. It seems to need to be unplugged for at least 2 hours to clear the problem. Now I'm debating whether to deal with it, or send it back, and hope I don't get one back with even more issues.
I think if Sony has a competing player in the same price range, they'd be forced to look at these problems and fix them, but since they're the only game in town.......they have us.

I purchased this CD recorder primarily for the purpose of converting my old and hard to find recordings to digital format and for that is works exceptionally well. I particularly like the fact that it automatically indexes the disc (installs track breaks) between songs for easier playback later. Of course you can do this manually before finalizing if you choose. Earlier reviews I read said this unit was hard to use but those reviewers must be too lazy to read the manual or lack the intuitive ability to grasp the easy formatting process. Just record your music then press "finalize" and confirm with "yes" what could be hard about that? - The 5 disc playback side of this unit works well but that's not what I bought it for.