Portable CD Players
Welcome to the Portable CD Players page, this is our guide to buying personal CD players that feature MP3 playback, CD-R and CD-RW playback, anti shock technology, rechargeable batteries, radio playback and more from brands such as Sony, Philips, Panasonic, JVC, Pioneer, Technics and many others.
Portable CD players are small audio devices (also known as personal CD players) which hold a single CD, they have headphones and can be used on the move as they are battery operated. As well as playing a standard CD many personal CD players have many other features, some can play MP3 tracks that are on the CD and some also have separate memory to store MP3's, MP3 tracks are much smaller than standard CD tracks so you can fit many more MP3 songs onto a CD. Some portable CD players also have a built in radio, this is great if you are bored of your CD and want to listen to some different music. Personal CD players are also quite cheap these days, there are lots of shops selling them for cheap prices and they also often have cheap special offers and deals. There are many brands that make personal CD players and they include Sony, Pioneer, Panasonic, Philips, JVC, Technics and lots of others.
Personal CD players are portable because they are battery powered, this means that you will have to buy new batteries when they run out or if the CD player comes with rechargeable batteries then you would have to recharge them. The rechargeable batteries are great because they can save allot of money, batteries can be quite expensive especially if the portable CD player is used allot. Some models have rechargeable batteries that you can charge while they are still in the portable CD player, all you have to do is plug the portable CD player into the mains and the batteries will charge. Most personal CD players come with a mains adaptor so that if you are at home or near a source of electrical power then you can plug your portable CD player into the mains and power the portable CD player from the mains, models that are rechargeable will often recharge when this is done too. Another important aspect of the power of a portable CD player is the playback time, this is the amount of time a personal CD player can play on a standard set of batteries, the higher this is the longer it will lost so getting models with longer playback times is always a good idea. The playback times do vary allot so it is worth looking into, some models have playback times of under 10 hours where there are models that can play for over 80 hours.
Anti shock technology is an important aspect of personal CD player technology, when CD's play they are spun very fast so are easily disrupted by any movement and as portable CD players are moved around allot then you need something to stop this, this is where anti shock technology comes in. Anti shock technology stores a certain amount of the music into the memory of the portable CD player and as the memory is not prone to the movements of the CD player it will keep playing no matter how much you move the CD player. The anti shock feature of a portable CD player is measured in seconds, the higher the number of seconds that the personal CD player can store the better. This is because when the CD is disturbed it will take a small amount of time to start playing again at the point it stopped, if you are in a sustained period of movement then this period of time can be quite long so the anti shock feature needs plenty of time to compensate for this, basically the longer the anti shock time you can find the better. Some portable CD players have much steadier playback and can play even when the CD player is being moved, this is often referred to as jog proof playback so if you intend to move constantly while using a personal CD player then a jog proof model would be the best idea. Most brands offer personal CD players with anti shock or jog proof features, they include JVC, Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Technics and many others.
The format of music that the personal CD player can hold is also very important, all portable CD players can play standard CD's that you would buy in a shop but there are many other formats to consider. CD's that have been copied are copied onto CD discs called CD-R or CD-RW, if you have CD's on CD-R or CD-RW discs then you have to make sure that the portable CD player is compatible with these discs. Then there is MP3, MP3's have become very popular due to their small size and wide spread availability on the Internet, you can download MP3 tracks for very cheap prices or even download whole albums, the prices of albums from most MP3 suppliers are much cheaper than if you were to buy the album on CD. If you have music in MP3 format then you will have to make sure that the portable CD player is compatible with MP3 technology, the MP3's will have to be copied onto CD discs such as the CD-R or CD-RW discs unless the portable CD player has separate memory for MP3 files. The great thing about MP3's if their size, they are much smaller than the tracks on standard CD's so you can fit many albums onto a single CD-R disc and the quality is just as good. There are many portable CD players that can play CD-R and MP3 music and they come from brands such as Philips, JVC, Panasonic, Sony, Pioneer, Technics and others.
There are also other features to look out for, many come with an inbuilt radio so that you can listen to any radio stations as well as your favourite CD's. There are a few features to look out for with these radios, the first is the radio bands that it can tune into, some only offer FM whereas others offer FM and MW and there are lots of radio stations that use the MW radio band. Then there are the radio presets, these presets allow you to store information on a radio station so that you can easily return to it, so instead of having to tune into the radio station every time you wish to listen you simply choose a preset and the radio will automatically tune to that radio station.
There are also other items that are important to a portable CD player, the headphones that come with the portable CD player will dictate the quality of sound that you get from your music. Some headphones also have useful in-line remote controls, these are remote controls that are located on the wire of the headphones so that they are always easy to access, even if your personal CD player is in your pocket or bag. The features on these in-line remote controls vary but they all offer volume adjustment and most offer the ability to change tracks. In car kits are also a useful accessory but not as common these days due to the fact most cars now already have a CD player, these in car kits allow you to connect your portable CD player to your car stereo so that you can play CD's and the music will be played through the car stereo. These in car kits usually have a base that you can place on the dashboard of the car to sit the portable CD player on, they will then have a simple wire that will connect to the car stereo and they also often have a power wire that can connect to the cigarette lighter so that you do not need to use batteries.
So when buying a portable CD player there are a few things to look out for, the playback time and whether it has rechargeable batteries are important aspects. Then there is the anti shock technology, if you intend to move allot while listening to your portable CD player then anti shock is worth looking for, if you intend to move constantly then jog proof is a must. Then you have to look at the formats that the personal CD player can play, if you have copied CD's such as CD-R and CD-RW then you have to make sure the portable CD player is compatible and if you wish to listen to MP3 music then it also has to be compatible with MP3's. Then there are the brands that make portable CD players, there are many to choose from and they include Sony, JVC, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Technics and others. If you are looking for a cheap personal CD player then you are in luck as the prices have come down quite allot, many of the shops sell cheap portable CD players and many also have cheap special offers and deals, as always it's also best to have a good shop around to find the cheapest deals.
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