Home > Consumer Reviews > Crosley CR248 Songwriter CD Recorder - Paprika

I bought this because I wanted something with which to listen to my vinyl and which could be put in a home office. And while I was at it, record that vinyl to CD. However, it has all the fidelity of a AM transistor radio from the 70's, and while the resulting CDs sound good on a different system than when the vinyl is played, the CD recording process requires you to sit by the machine in order to manually enter the track breaks and to stop the recording process manually. So I find myself recording sides of an LP or cassette onto a CD/RW disc, ripping those onto my PC and using some MP3/WMA editing software that allows me to split the tracks manually and drop the silent space at the end where the record ended, but I was in the bathroom. So now I'm scratching my head thinking I should just put all the money this costs into a USB turntable and some software that automatically does track splits and noise removal. I definitely do not recommend.

The Crosley Radio CR248 Songwriter CD recorder is great when it works. However, after 2 weeks, I had to return it for repairs. The tape cassette did not work and I couldn't record anything onto the CD. It is now at the shop. I had to call twice to get them to give me a return authorization and there was no indication in the packaging telling me to contact Best in Home, the place that shipped it to me. Best in Home contacted me and told me they would have replaced the whole unit free of charge, but that was after I had already sent it to Crosley.

The Crosley product I purchased has great features physically and
is definitely versatile, but is lacking in good sound reproduction and unwaving playback. I'm not expecting this system to band-aid old worn recordings, but with today's technology I was expecting more bass boost
and steady intonation. The unit does look attractive, however.

This item works well right out of the box. I bought it to move my album & cassette collections to cd. Very easy to use. The one problem is that if you want each song to be a seperate track, you have to sit and manually close each track. It is very time consuming! I could do that by ripping the entire side to my computer and manually splitting it there...but that adds additional time too. The sound is OK but not exceptional. For those who aren't fussy and can move a complete side of an album or cassette without worrying about splitting tracks...this will work very well.

THIS MACHINE SEEMS TO WORK O.K. , BUT THE SUPPORT FROM THE MFG. STINKS. THEY CHARGE 9.95 FOR 12 PLASTIC 45 INSERTS THAT YOU CAN PURCHASE 60 FOR $7.00 ON E-BAY. THEY OFFER A BRUSH AND REPLACEMENT NEEDLES FOR OTHER MACHINES, BUT NOT FOR THIS MODEL. THE SUPPORT IS VERY IMPORTANT WHEN YOU ARE PAYING SUCH A PRICE. SOMEONE NEEDS TO NOTIFY THEM OF THIS FACT.

LEN SCHIFF