RIP to the Personal CD

Happy New Year 😁

My car is a Newbeetle from 200, I bought it new (NOS 😁) a few years ago, there is the radio with the cassette player built by Clarion, and it sounds pretty good

Wonderful video, has my pondering about physical format's, I'm afraid of quality losses, streaming services claim cd quality, I don't believe it, first thing, sound level with matching frequencies, sure I can hook a cell up to an aux cord and do the comparison, just not hearing it, the CD on any CD player sounds amazing, tried multiple streaming devices and service's, just rubbish, amplification is off, if the device is preamped it sounds distorted, and I cannot hear certain instruments that can be heard on a CD. Correction: YouTube high quality music is really close, FLAC or high res searching yield great sounding results, maybe there are issues with other music streaming apps.

Our 4 year old Mazda MX-5 does have a CD player but lack of cockpit space means it’s in the centre console behind your shoulder, so almost impossible to use without crashing. Thanks, Mazda!

I still have a Panasonic portable CD Player I have had since at least 1989. Works fine just don't have much use for it. I have the AC adapter and it runs off of 1 or 2 AA batteries for a long time.

You never forget your 1st one. In my case it was one I bought from a guy at college. His work placement was at a place repairing consumer electronics and he sold me this portable CD player. I was enjoying it but then realised it was playing in mono on the headphones (both channels the same). I opened it up and saw a piece of wire soldered across the output jack. I asked him about it and he confessed to the "repair". What a rotter!

Mat...heard of this? (Deleted) It doesn't look like the (deleted) you've featured previously.

That's definitely a genuine ION product. I'm a sysadmin for the parent company of ION and it's listed on the ION website. It's the exact same company behind the pro-audio divisions of Marantz and Denon these days as well as a bunch of others

3:44.. holy cow, yes, it does look like a washing machine!

You say it's progress, and it is for convenience but not for quality sadly as your DAB videos and as we all know most digital file formats show

I'm not so sad about the format disappearing - it had a solid 40 year run - but these miserable devices are a blight. As you say, try to find new-old-stock or used from a reputable brand. These offbrand players are destined to be e-waste.

The late 90s was the peak period for these in my opinion. Every young person had one in their car with a cassette adaptor. Irritating thing was that when they got hot the kid wouldn’t latch anymore. Had this happen on Altec, Panasonic and Sony. A very weird but consistent issue.

I actually have another one from amazon, and it seems to be a bit more decent than your ion one, it has no brand at all, cost €24 when I bought it, and has a model number of YR-Q50 if that helps anyone

Better or worse than the £18 ONN brand personal CD player in Asda, I wonder?

I still have my Mid 1980s Toshiba personal CD player. It had 2 headphone sockets to share the music. I have the optional long life battery pack because it ate Alkaline batteries. I still use it 35 years later.

Ah, the magic of the portable CD player with skip protection. I still clearly remember walking home from work in the late 80s listening to Eric B and Rakim on my Sony version.

I got a portable "Discman" cd player in 1997 and used it a lot. It lived in mums car for a few years when I upgraded to an mp3 Cd player, it was simply the best way of carrying 2GB of music around (3Cd's) I bought a "Coby" 5 years back and it mirrors yours. No bluetooth but has the same odd display and has 2 hour battery life. I ripped the lid off it and soldered shut the lit switch and I use it to this day whe shopping for second hand CD's. On that note, CD's really are at that trough of being "throwaway" so prices are cheap, but are just starting to climb. The 2019 50¢ and $1 op/thrift shop bargains are going $2 -$5 now (AUD)

Thanks for this video. Here's my experience with CDs: My one and only portable CD player was a Philips AX5015 or AX2002 - I think. It may yet be packed away somewhere. I don't even remember listening to CDs after 2005-ish. Boring story, I know, but summarily - CDs don't give me any sort of nostalgic feelings, sound quality was always good and nothing to fault. I have no desire to experience it again, though. Ear Buds: I have never liked them or used them. However, I am beginning to wonder if (after watching this video) my experience is clouded by using cheap crappy ear buds instead of quality ones? 🤔 Or if I just don't like putting things in my ears? Oh, and finally; your new(?) eyeglass frames look very nice. And if I haven't mentioned before - I don't understand the beard-haters out there. Have a wonderful rest of weekend/week ahead! Onward to 2022!

I used a very similar looking cheap MP3 CD player in college in 2005 while on internship. It was very nice to just dump a lot of MP3s on a CD-RW and let it rip on shuffle all day, and well within my budget to do so as I think it was $30 USD total. I even just ran some 28 AWG wire leads straight out of it so I could run it directly off lab power supplies that were all over the place at work. I don't think my coworkers appreciated it as much as they commented on the insufferable JPOP remixes leaked from entry level Senheiser HPs. Now I would almost certainly just listen to music directly off my work PCs, but back in 2005 that was not really a polite option I guess, at least for an intern.

Funny in a way, I never understood the popularity of these things in my school time, as they were way to big to fit anywhere (apparently you have a very large back pocket in your jeans though, Mat, I would never be able to fit a CD in there 😉). I also remember that almost nobody turned on the shock protection system, as that was usually using too much battery power. BTW: did you try NiMH batteries? They might be more suitable and last longer than alkalines in a device like this. Pretty bad that they include alkalines in that case... And I agree that there is hardly any difference in sound quality between CD players (or at least, in current days, decent DACs are cheap enough to include them in the cheapest piece of junk). The headphones/earbuds used will probably make a much larger difference.

As a result of this video I have just ordered a used Sony D-NE 005 "Buy It Now" on eBay for £13.50 including postage using a 10% off coupon eBay is offering on CD Walkmans. I paid about the same in 1989 £s in Asda for my first CD (Cyndi Lauper - A Night to Remember) after buying the only CD player I could find for under £100 back then.

Merry Christmas! My own car doesn't have a CD player, so I hunted around at thrift stores for used portable ones. I first got a Durabrand one with anti-skip, but it always sounded too hot, even with headphones. I later got a Sony one, and it sounded excellent over both the line-out and the headphone jack. It seems the Durabrand one must have had a really cheap DAC in it, because it definitely had some noticeable dithering or similar.

Monodeal sells a portable CD player that looks rather thin (but is square rather than round), has an inline remote control, anti-skip, Bluetooth output, and a rechargeable 1500mAh lithium ion battery they claim will last for 16 hours of play time. I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas, so I think I'll pick one up just to see how good or bad it is: https://www.amazon.com/Portable-MONODEAL-Rechargeable-Headphones-Anti-Skip/dp/B08V1JB7R2

Just within the last month I've bought a Philips portable CD player with MP3 disc capabilities on eBay, not to cart around with me outside, but purely to have by the bedside due to its relatively small "footprint" compared to the CD/alarm clock Sony Dream Machine I had before. The button arrangement on the Philips seems identical to your Ion one. I've actually found myself buying more (second hand) CDs these days than I ever did new ones in the 90s. Maybe three or a four a week from charity shops. I seem to be of the bizarre old school mindset that I like to actually own the music I'm paying out for!

Hey Mat, great video as always but I just wanted to mention something I thought you might find interesting. You know how James Bond movies are mostly adverts for modern boy toys? Well I think I just experienced a similar experience with a movie. I recently saw the Japanese movie "Drive My Car" which is a drama about forgiveness and loss; based on a short story by the writer Haruki Murakami. He's one of my favourite authors and the first film based on a short story by him (Burning) was utterly incredible so I wanted to see this. However I began to notice on some of the posters in the cinema listings book I got, that the DENON logo was being featured prominently. When I saw the movie, this made sense as the film (a lot like Murakami's books) featured a record player (I mean the movie is named after a Beatles song so it makes sense that music would play a role). The record player was beautifully shot and there was no editing to make it "sound like a record". Clearly, either DENON paid a little to promote their record player or they asked them for permission to show one. Thought that would interest you, since it may now give you a reason to see the movie if it appears on streaming services haha.

Oh, boy - reams of comments that I'm not inclined to go through ... so apologies if this is a duplicate. Given the "4.5V dc in" and the USB "adapter" (which as you noted would give 5 V dc) my guess is that this was originally designed for *3* AA cells and not two. I suspect if you had a holder for three and ran the wire via the connections in the battery compartment that the battery life would be more as you'd expect and *maybe* even the BT would work correctly. But, as a wise man once said, "why would I want to listen to CDs outside of the house?"

Thanks for the warning Matt. Time to stock up on a few more Sonys. I have about four from the EJ220 family you showed and have found them to have good battery life and skip proof. I have never used a portable player outside but do find them handy for late night listening when the missus is in bed. Very surprisingly Argos stopped selling Sony Tape Walkmans after they stopped selling their Portable CD players. Supporting the CD pressing industry I asked my sister for and got ABBA Voyage on CD for Christmas. I even got to rip off the cellophane. Thinking back to the days when music had value and records or a record token were something you hoped to get at Christmas I can't get into the mindset of streaming, especially when you know the artists are getting something like $0.0033 per stream.

That ION is so similar to my low range Sony, that I suspect they're using the same manufacturing tools as the old Sony!! Hence the old Sony really did come with a 4.5v PSU... And it's still stamped in the plastic 20 years later. But yeah... off to look on eBay! Merry Xmas!

The last true name brand CD player you can find is from Toshiba, the TY-P1, which can be found on Amazon US, Amazon Japan, eBay, and couple other online Japanese retail shops. No idea if it’s just rebranded but it doesn’t look like any of the other cheap players, it even has an in-line remote! This may be the true last of the last portable name brand CD players. https://www.toshiba.com.hk/hk/product/audio-products/682-ty-p1 There also appears to be a model called Ty-p2 which seems to be the same thing except it appears to be a bit chunkier because it has speakers built on the top of the unit. Also a Ty-p3 which is the p1 with Bluetooth (so this may be the more desirable one to get?)

Had a basic Sony back in the day, never really used it much though. Now with all the permanent working at home I'm using one almost daily, as I don't have space on my small desk for much else - got a nice midrange old Sony hooked up to a small headphone amp (and big studio headphones), sometimes being switched out with a more recent Philips model (which looks nicer but has no line out), one of two portable minidisc players, an old Android phone now converted to mp3 use, and a very nice Panasonic cassette player bought some time ago as new-old-stock.. and yes, I also sometimes still walk around in the house with just the cd player in the back pocket and a decent headphone, just because most of the time physical media gives me more joy than mp3's (or streaming, for that matter). Anyway, as always, thanks for the video and Merry Christmas all!

I used to own an early Kenwood unit, that had no antiskip feature, so was useless unless placed on a flat surface. Thanks for the interesting video and when do we get to see the video of the 100 used cd players you impulse purchased from Japan.

This video made me dig out my own portable units for a look and listen. Here in Canada or at least in my spot of the country, the minidisc never caught on - it was a mythical object to me I only read about. So it was all about CDs, and I loved portable players. The Sony D-F11 is my favorite - chunky, but high quality. It has an FM tuner and a separate line out. Back in the day, I took advantage of that functionality and plugged the F11 into my PC soundcard to record radio broadcasts of our symphony orchestra (because I'm a classical weirdo). The FM reception on the F11 was quite decent. Today, I still buy CDs but I rip them to my hard drive and either listen to them on my PC or on my Fiio M11 digital audio player, which I love. But I still have a soft spot for the Sony D-F11. It served me very well, and its sound quality was superior to other Sony models I had before getting the F11. Indeed, sound wise the F11 holds its own even against the Fiio M11. The Fiio surpasses the Sony for analytical detail in music, but the Sony has a natural, wide stereo sound stage that is still pleasing to my ears. That suggests to me the Sony F11 must have been blessed with a very good DAC to be competitive after all these years. (Though unlike Mat, I shy away from opening up the innards of my electronics, so I don't know what chips the Sony used.)

I have over 2,000 CDs, and I still use my discman every few months when I have to travel. I've got the D-CJ506CK so it does MP3s, burned discs, all that. Very handy when I don't want to run my phone down.

Merry Christmas Mat!

You're right. People shouldn't waste their holidays with YouTube. Netflix is way better for that.

Merry Christmas!!

Thank you so much! Merry month your time off! Hopefully in Scarborough )my home town) .

Back in the day I owned 2 portable CD players...I had more cassettes than CDs...and I don't think there were in dash CD players available yet...So I got the second portable cd player...(Walkman was first) A Technics SL XP7 that had way more features than the walkman...ran it through a cassette adapter, and had CD in the car through that adapter from 1985 till around 1996. (then I put a cd changer in one car, and other used car came with Nakamichi in dash CD player.)

Merry Christmas, Mat! Audio seems a bit off/dull/mono and slightly to the left on this one.

This might be better as a community post. I'd like to get all my 'favourite' tracks on CD or CD quality MP3. I'm sick of YouTube music making tracks unavailable (I assume for licencing reasons). I'd like to *own* them so no one can take them away. Is there a service that I can use to find the minimum number of CDs to buy based on a long list of tracks I like? Or an MP3 download service with good prices for lots of tracks that has no DRM or owner-tagging nonsense?

Happy Discmas ! Have a good one :)

I still buy CDs now and again and have over 1k at this time, however like you I never owned a portable CD player, I went from cassette to MD. I remember people saying the personal CDs were bad for skipping and tearing through batteries, but they could just have been lower quality models.

Have you seen what's on Telly? YouTube is a godsend today!

Ah let’s a moments quiet reflection as to the passing … I’ve got 3 boxed up spares for my autistic son who only listens to CDs

I've been telling people similar stuff to this for a while now. If you want CDs or CD players - get 'em now while they're still cheap and plentiful. My daily driver CD player is a Denon CD Receiver that cost around £300 back in 2002 when it was new. I got it from a charity auction for £26. CDs? There's millions on eBay for £2-3. CDs as format are regarded as passe and unfashionable at the moment, so there's bargains to be had. I say get them now before the hipsters find them in a few years.

I am probably one of the few people who still buy CDs I am even having a custom made cabinet with soft close draws to house them all. I still have quite a few Technics and Panasonic portable CD players as well. And I still have my old electronics engineer friend to fix stuff should I need. Have a good Christmas Mat and I wish you a happy new year as well.

Merry Christmas Mat. I suspect that player really requires 3 AA batteries which is a nominal 4.5 volt with a battery low warning triggered at around 3 volts, so very soon comes on using just two batteries that will be a bit above 3 volt fresh, but very quickly they will start hovering around 3 volts and so trigger the battery low warning then get too low to work the unit. That also might be why Bluetooth is flaky as it needs a bit more voltage, so perhaps it would work better on an adapter with 5 volts. I suspect the internals are based upon a standard CD mechanism used in laptops and portable USB drives, which would typically be designed for around 3.3 to 5 volts, rather than some specially designed circuitry for low voltage and long battery life applications as per players of old. I bet they’ve gone with 2 AA batteries to keep the size reasonable and it is sold more as gimmick like a lot of these things these days.

YouTube can be useful on Christmas - fireplaces playing Christmas music etc Merry Christmas Matt & a happy New Year

Merry Christmas Mat.

Merry Christmas Mat!

“Christmas probably shouldn’t be spent on YouTube. “ Unless your Christmas Time rendition is singing “misery and whine” which possibly most Poles are doing it