Sony D-CJ01 Silver MP3 CD Walkman

Amazon Customer Reviews

(5 out of 5)

Best solution for MP3 on the move - yes, NetMD included.

Summary: This is one of the best products in this category. So buy it if you want an MP3 CD player.

There is one unit which is better on features, sexiness and price - the iRiver Slim-X. However the name SONY is what you pay for in terms of perceived reliability and the thought that goes into the product. And I think you do get exactly what you pay for with the D-CJ01.

The player itself does exactly what it says on the tin. Sound quality is good and the output levels are a far cry from weedy tape walkmans and minidiscs - serious punch is available. The G-Protection is pretty good, I've not had it skip yet - and I do bounce around.

The CJ01 has the same stylish backlit remote as the top of the range Sony Minidiscs, which is nice - but because it is a generic remote, some of the function assignments are slightly cryptic - be prepared to scratch your head initially if you can't be bothered to read the manual.

The battery claims are largely fictional, however you can easily get 10 hours of playback from AA Ni-Mh batteries (tip: buy the Uniross Ni-Mh 1500mah batteries, not higher mah or lower).

What else can I say? It looks pretty good, it's solidly made, controls are well laid out, the ID3 Tag read works without issues, and the folder navigation facility is excellent - you simply burn albums in their own folders, and you can skip from album to album.

The only issue, and this is one that is common to all CD MP3 players, is the gap when moving between tracks. It's there on the CJ01 too.

Um, that's pretty much all the bugbears this machine has. That's the surprising thing - for what you pay, including the premium you pay for the Sony name, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Are you considering getting a NetMD Minidisc to listen to your MP3's instead of this? In addition to owning the D-CJ01 and the SlimX (which I'm selling) I'm a Minidisc buff and have two NetMD minidisc units. I've tried transferring MP3's on the NetMD units (MZ-N1 (Japanese-spec), MZ-N707 (UK-spec)) and it is a NIGHTMARE. If you work solely with MP3's, don't get a NetMD, get this - you won't regret it!

(3 out of 5)

Don't buy before you read this

This player does not allow you to SEARCH (Fast Forward/Reverse)within an MP3 track, so you'll have to listen to a track from the start. (It DOES allow it within Audio CD tracks though)

For me, this was important enough to return the unit and get my money back. I listen to audiobooks, spoken word etc. as well as muzak on MP3, and thus insist on the ability to Reverse/FF.

One more thing, I didn't measure or anything, but it seemed a bit slow loading up an MP3 disk, especially one with a lot of files (I'm subjectively comparing it with a Rio Volt SP100)

I'm a huge Sony fan and otherwise the player really is cool re size, features, looks, the in-line remote with LCD display, build quality, etc. I would have been happy splashing out was it not for this one shortcoming.

IMHO, this piece of kit costs enough to be (one of) the best-of-breed, but does not deliver because of one shortcoming.

(5 out of 5)

Perfect for playing MP3s on the move

Attractive little unit, barely larger than the CD it plays, it is the first MP3/CD player that i have seen whose battery life is acceptable.
You can get 32 hours playback from standard Audio CDs or 24 hours from MP3s on CD using Alkaline batteries.
It comes complete with an AC Adapter/Recharger and 2 AA Ni-Cad batteries.
Shame they didn't include Ni-MH batteries as Ni-Cads only give 8 hours playback of MP3s as opposed to 18 hours with Ni-MH rechargables.
According to the instructions Ni-cads are charged in just 3 hours and Ni-MH batteries in around 5 hours which is excellent.
The supplied earphones have a remote control with a display screen on the lead which is a nice touch.
Sound quality is very good, whether using MP3s or standard CDs.
You can get about 10 albums onto one CD as good quality MP3s if you have a CD writer, if you don't have a CD writer it's a bit pointless buying a MP3/CD player!
Overall it is an excellent unit, if a little expensive.

(2 out of 5)

Should almost be a budget player!

There are a few important failings of this player relating to its mp3 playback:
- I couldn't believe it when I discovered you can't search (fast forward/rewind) within an mp3 track
- The player won't read packet written CDRWs (eg. Adaptec's DirectCD). This means you have to write an entire CD image whenever you want to change the music on a CDRW; you can't add or remove tracks once you've written the CD.
- The mp3 decoding may be a bit dodgy - on one of my tracks the audio keeps cutting out. The same mp3 plays fine on my PC.

Another annoying thing is that you can't seem to get the display to show how much track time is remaining of an mp3.

The player does have some good features however:
- Small size (possibly the smallest of any player available)
- Long battery life (24 hrs) and easily replacable batteries (2 rechargable AAs)
- It looks very nice

For features, I've read that iRiver make some very nice players that do everything the Sony doesn't, eg. the iMP-250.

(5 out of 5)

This is "The DADDY"

Sony are well known for there great products, maybe expensive but so is an Aston Martin. If the Sony D-CJ01 was a car it would be a BMW 7-series with all the extras. The product has been thought through very well indeed, every bit has been made to a specification not a price. When I opened the box i thought to myself yes this is the player for me. It comes with an AC adaptor which is very useful for extended play periods. The headphones are stock sony, might be worth some better ones if you plan to keep listening forever. The actual sound quality delivered is fantastic, the CD is dampened to give superior playback, the G protection works a treat never skipping. The Remote is lovely and simple to use, the best I have seen in a long time. Using the menu was a doddle and can easily be picked up in 10-15 minutes.
The bottom line is if you want to be that little bit different buy this it stands out from the croud and is functional and the four letters S O N Y really make this little package the best buy out-there