Good idea to purchase a brand new 15 year old Discman?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sw98 

I am thinking of purchasing a brand new 1998 Sony discman online for under $100 (I used to own the particular model back in the day), but I am wondering if I should be concerned about it operating correctly since it's been unused for 15 years. Would any of the circuitry degrade over the past 15 years?

As long as there was not a battery inside it, I would think it would work. But why would you want a portable CD player? It's 2012....lol.

Yeah, I don't even have a CD player anymore..if I ever get a CD it gets archived into Flac on my computer then I just give it away.

I still own a 1998 Sony Discman (D-E401), it still works fine, don't think anything would degrade with age affecting sound quality only. If it works, then it works. 

I wouldn't pay that kind of money for it though, I only paid like $20 I think for mine a few years ago and it was in basically perfect condition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Achmedisdead 

 

As long as there was not a battery inside it, I would think it would work. But why would you want a portable CD player? It's 2012....lol.

Maybe hes after high quality music in a portable source at a cheaper price. Not too many of the current offerings in MP3 players can really compete with the sound quality of a good CD player. Although I wouldn't be bothered carrying a CD player around (and of course the CD album case lol ;). Memories of yesteryear...

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730 

Maybe hes after high quality music in a portable source at a cheaper price. Not too many of the current offerings in MP3 players can really compete with the sound quality of a good CD player. Although I wouldn't be bothered carrying a CD player around (and of course the CD album case lol ;). Memories of yesteryear...

 Very few people can hear the difference between a CD and 320 kbps mp3 files made from it. I can't even hear the difference between the CD and 256 kbps mp3 files made from it. The 1% or 2% of listeners who can tell the difference can use FLAC. Imo a portable CD player is not worth carrying around as it is way too bulky. I like using a player that fits in my shirt pocket, or a Sandisk Clip+ which can also be clipped to my shirt. The benefits my old portable CD player offered, AA battery use and AM as well as FM radio aren't worth the extra bulk of the portable CD player. Even if one uses an mp3 CD player, they are limited to just over 6  hours of music at 256 kbps, or 12 hours at 128 kbps.One a tiny 8GB clip+ with a 32GB card in it, one can have around 320 hours of 256kbps music. Who wants to carry around a portable CD player and many discs? Years ago I used to carry a portable CD player and up to 10 CDs. That was so bulky!

1998?  I have CD players from ~1990 that work perfectly and look mint.

In a nutshell a modern Sony Xperia S sounds enhanced, detailed, clean and impressive, but a vintage Walkman or Discman sounds more real.

You can always use the CD drive in your laptop and a TeraDak instead though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JK1 

 Very few people can hear the difference between a CD and 320 kbps mp3 files made from it. I can't even hear the difference between the CD and 256 kbps mp3 files made from it. The 1% or 2% of listeners who can tell the difference can use FLAC. Imo a portable CD player is not worth carrying around as it is way too bulky. I like using a player that fits in my shirt pocket, or a Sandisk Clip+ which can also be clipped to my shirt. The benefits my old portable CD player offered, AA battery use and AM as well as FM radio aren't worth the extra bulk of the portable CD player. Even if one uses an mp3 CD player, they are limited to 12 hours of music at 256 kbps per disc. One a tiny 8GB clip+ with a 32GB card in it, one can have around 320 hours of music. Who wants to carry around a portable CD player and many discs? Years ago I used to carry a portable CD player and up to 10 CDs. That was so bulky!

Yeah I guess that's true. I wouldn't use one either mainly on the portability front. It's not practical. But there are options out there that very closely match the quality of a good vintage CD player if not just as good (Sflo2, Studio V,  DX100). The above players warrant the usage of lossless in general. On particular tracks the difference will be more obvious than others (lossy to lossless). Generally songs that are a lot more dynamic and have many things taking place within the song are the ones that show such a difference.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lee730 

Yeah I guess that's true. I wouldn't use one either mainly on the portability front. It's not practical. But there are options out there that very closely match the quality of a good vintage CD player if not just as good (Sflo2, Studio V,  DX100). The above players warrant the usage of lossless in general. On particular tracks the difference will be more obvious than others (lossy to lossless). Generally songs that are a lot more dynamic and have many things taking place within the song are the ones that show such a difference.

I meant to say  around 6 hours and 15 minutes of music at 256kbps or around 12 and a half hours of music at 128kbps on each mp3 CD. At 256kbps, there is roughly 9 hours of music per GB.