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Panasonic offers an attractive package at well under a hundred dollars, a worthy alternative to the Boston Acoustics and C. Crane clock radios that cost twice as much. With the Panasonic, like those higher priced radios, you're getting digial synthesized tuning, presets, and you're even getting a CD player. All of the features are put in a compact package that is easy to operate. So why only four stars? Because like those higher priced radios, the Panasonic comes with only a little "pig tail" antenna in the back. These antennas are almost worthless and are the bane of clock radios. To get a telescopic antenna in an attractive digital radio with presets, you have to look at the The Tivoli Songbook, which costs 159 dollars. But with its excellent FM reception and a sleek modern design, I think it's worth the price. If you don't have any special, hard-to-get FM stations, then the Panasonic will probably suit your needs at a very reasonable price.

Update 10-12-06: A new clock radio, the Sonido (made by Sangean)is now available with a telescopic antenna and costs $99. The Sonido has no CD but features a high-quality monoaural speaker and has AM/FM/Weather/TV bands. This could be the best clock radio for the money.

I just received the RC-CD350 as a gift today, and finished setting it up a few minutes ago. As some of the other reviewers pointed out, the blue display is bright. However you do have the option to dim it by holding the dimmer button for 5 seconds. Even with the display dimmed it is still a little on the bright side if you are looking directly at it. I suppose if you slept with your eyes open this would not be a good clock radio to own.

Now on to the alarms. The user manual states that you need to play a cd track or radio station and set the unit to the volume you want to wake up to when you are setting alarm 1. Please remember to do so or else you will not be able to activate alarm 1 when you hold the button down for 5 seconds. The alarm buzzer is annoying enough to wake you up, but it would be nice if it was a rising tone or even one that was adjustable.

Another nice feature is the sound EQ and Virtualizer. They add some nice effects, especially if you listen to nature sounds cd's. In fact the overall sound is quite impressive considering the fact this is a $50 clock radio. The fit and finish is excellent and I am very pleased with the unit thus far.

Panasonic offers an attractive package at well under a hundred dollars, a worthy alternative to the Boston Acoustics and C. Crane clock radios that cost twice as much. With the Panasonic, like those higher priced radios, you're getting digial synthesized tuning, presets, and you're even getting a CD player. All of the features are put in a compact package that is easy to operate. So why only four stars? Because like those higher priced radios, the Panasonic comes with only a little "pig tail" antenna in the back. These antennas are almost worthless and are the bane of clock radios. To get a telescopic antenna in an attractive digital radio with presets, you have to look at the The Tivoli Songbook, which costs 159 dollars. But with its excellent FM reception and a sleek modern design, I think it's worth the price. If you don't have any special, hard-to-get FM stations, then the Panasonic will probably suit your needs at a very reasonable price.

This is a good CD clock radio from Panasonic. Just good. As I am a pessimist, we'll start with the bad. The comment that another reviewer made about the unit being bright was very true. Even with the dimmer on, the display lights up the whole room. This is not a product for light sensitive people such as myself. I found it necessary to put a piece of black construction paper over the display. Of course, then you wont be able to read the time, but your light problem is taken care of. I know this all sounds trivial, but it spoils a rather good product. Also, when the alarm is on, a red light lights up on the top of the clock. Also annoying. Another negative is that this does not have a gradual wake up feature. If you want your songs to fade in and wake you up without jolting you out of bed in the morning, you might want to consider another radio. I made a special CD where I edited wake up songs with a WAV editor to fade in. But not everyone is as clever as me :) Also, some websites say that this model has a headphones jack, but it does not. Now some positives; the player does what it's supposed to do. You can wake up to whatever track on a CD you want and the sound quality is very good, especially when you take into account that you are listening to a clock radio. I wanted to wake up to my favorite music in the morning, and I can do that now, so I am pleased with this product. I just wish some of the little annoyances were taken care of.

Positives:
Great radio/tuner, great reception, nice external antenna wire too. Three wake alarms, battery backup, nice sound from the CD player.

Negatives:
- You could light an airport runway with this thing. FAR too bright, you can read with the light it puts out.

- Unintuitive controls. The only control that makes sense is the snooze button, which is large and has some bumps so you can find it in the dark when the alarm rings. All the rest of the buttons are flat and hard to distinguish from each other unless you're going to turn a light on (and wake your spouse).

I'm still looking for a replacement. In the meantime I have a black cloth overtop this thing at night, which makes no sense at all.