About last April (2000), my old CD player broke and I wasn’t able to listen to my CDs when I go to school or when I’m in the car. Luckily, my birthday was nearby and I decide for my birthday was for a new CD player. Originally, I was going to get Sony’s older Discman with the Radio (not the new ones that are out today, the ones before it), but I read that Sony was releasing a new series of CD players called ’’CD Walkman(s) with G-Protection.’’ When I went to Best Buy, I saw it on the shelves and I looked on the box. It contained a newly designed CD player (circular), Car Adapter Kit [power source (for car & home) and cassette adapter], and a carry case with a hand strap. However, the biggest thing I was happy about was the new battery life ability, 32 hours! I was thrilled. I told my parents I wanted this CD player (D-EJ616CK) for my birthday. So, time passed, and on my birthday, my family and I went out and bought the CD player for my birthday. I was happy and I thanked my parents for it.
How The Old Became the New
Like I said above, a new series means a new design. But before I explain what was changed, let me tell you why it was changed. Well, the Discman was almost 10 years old since it was first released a decade ago. The lads at Sony wanted to do something spectacular for it. They decided to ’’upgrade’’ the current Discman to have more power, and specs with a new design and a name change. Thus, the new function called “G-Protection” was born.
Design/Options
The new CD Player design is now almost a complete circle. Its width is slightly bigger than a normal CD and above an inch high. Talk about a size reduction, this new design smaller and more convenient. The LCD Display been moved to the top-center of the player in a circular display with the buttons/options to the left, bottom and right of it. The usual buttons are there: Skip Track Button “>>”(Fast Forward when held), Backwards Button “<<” [Rewind when held; when press once, current track starts over, and pressed repeatly (twice or more) quickly], Play/Pause Button, the Stop (Turn Off) Button, Play Mode Button, Repeat/Enter button and the Sound button. The modes that this CD player has are: Play a Single Track, Play tracks in a random order, or Play tracks in your own custom order. The Repeat/Enter button is self-explanatory. Repeat means repeat CD when its fully done playing, and Enter used when selecting tracks for programming in the Play mode. Finally the sound button is for so you can emphasize the bass-boosted bass. On the side (starting from left to right counterclockwise), there are the Line Out plug in, the “hold” option, Volume controls, the Open switch (which you slide now), headphones/remote insert, two holes next to each other to add a strap handle, and the DC IN 4.5V plug in. Inside the lid is the G-Protection option, turn off or on.
G-Protection
Before I explain this, I want to thank Sony for making this. OK, we know saw when we go CD Player shopping we see companies advertising their players saying they have 20, 30 or even 40 second shock protection. With the invention of G-Protection, it blows them all away. From the manual of this CD player, “G-Protection has been developed to provide excellent protection against sound skipping during many active users. This function provides a higher level of shock protection than the traditional one (aka Discman).” What they mean by active users is simple. Before, you could rarely jog with a CD player because it would skip now or then. If it does it a lot, then the consumer would get angry, and be mad at it. With the G-Protection, you are skip-free. I have dropped it a couple of times (by accident) and it wasn’t skipping. I have tested shaken a lot and still hasn’t skipped. Now the only time it has skipped (Note: People rarely do this) was when I was mowing the lawn (thanks to the carrying case). I usually lean the CD player against the handle. Now those who mow lawns know that the mower shakes a lot. When I lean against it, it would sometimes skip or stop playing. Now it isn’t the product’s fault. It’s my own stupidity. I just keep on forgetting to keep it off the handlebar. The CD player can’t handle the stronger continuous shock it’s expected to (for now until new technology is available). Why did I tell you this? Because some people do listen to a portable CD player when there is a heavy continuous shaking going on (ex. Mowing the lawn). Overall, G-Protection is the best thing available for the active uses.
Carry Case
What I found quite interesting is that the package included a carrying case to put the CD player in. It was well designed and made. It has a leather coating on the outside and a soft, but rough fabric on the inside. It has a hole in the middle for the LCD display and imprints of the Forward, Backward, Play/pause, and Stops icons so you know where they are located. The case is closed by Velcro up top and has a small opening on the side to put your headphones. Only downside is that there is no opening for the volume and there may time you need to turn the volume up or down without trying to find the volume controls through the padding and without opening the case, taking out the CD to change it.
Battery Life
Finally, a CD player that won’t eat up your batteries. Sony has doubled the battery life from 16 hours to 32 hours with the help of G-Protection! Now instead of weekly battery changes, I changed my batteries now every two weeks or even more! This is when I use my CD player. I use it when I walk to school, walking home, on car trips, and falling asleep. Now falling asleep listening to music is how I kill batteries. But with the new battery life, it has save me with batteries. Sony was smart when they made the battery life longer.
Car Kit
The car kit that was packaged was a cigarette lighter cord adapter, and a car cassette deck adapter. I am so glad this came with the CD player because I just got a car and I wanted to listen to my CDs since I don’t have a CD player in my car. Now with the cassette adapter, I can. I haven’t used the cigarette lighter cord yet, but its plugs into your cigarette lighter in your car and power your CD player so it doesn’t waste batteries. Included are Velcro tapes so you can Velcro the CD player in your car onto the console box (in the middle of the seats).
Sound
The sound quality is excellent. The sound can be very light to very loud. It has 9 levels of sound with 3 sublevels. So if you want to increase the sound bit, you can move it one sublevel for your comfort ability. Same for decreasing. Sony products have good sound quality and I haven’t had one complaint about it yet.
Downside
The only thing I don’t like is that the only time the LCD display lights up is when you use the AC power adapter. Sony didn’t add a switch on the CD player itself so it could use the power from batteries to feed it. I think if Sony did, then I could be able to see what track I’m on and how much battery life I have left when I sit in the dark car in the night on car trips. My only complaint.
Sony’s new series, CD Walkman with G-Protection is a hit. It has everything a consumer could need. Longer battery life, super long skip protection and a car kit. It also produces excellent sound. For those who need a new CD player, then this model is it. You can purchase this model without a car kit also. Don’t settle for the cheap brand, its worth it’s retail price.