Sony CFDS50 Portable CD, Cassette & AM/FM Radio Boombox

Boom boxes like this are hard to come by these days. They are either flimsy for kids or to expensive for run of the mill daily use. So far I am very happy with this. I purchased it for my mom who is in a nursing home and has to contend with a night owl roommate. She has macular degeneration so can't see very well at all anymore. So I was looking for a player that had continuous play for CDs. Not a lot of descriptions are clear on this matter so I've done a lot of buying and returning. This one fits the bill. It has a mode button which you press once for a one time repeat of your CD and a second time for continuous repeat. I also a earphone extension cord and some lovely headband speakers which is perfect since she mostly uses this to drown out the noisy neighbor. (all from Amazon) . The extension cord is so she doesn't accidentally pull the radio off her bedside table while moving around during the night. I stuck a command hook on the side of the table, so the headband can be hung up and put out of the way when necessary. And since she can't see the headband works a little like volume control. She twists it around on her head to move the speaker part off her ear when she wants a little softer during the night.Update: I had an issue where it stopped reading disks just two months after purchase, I tried unplugging for a while (overnight) and plugging back in but it didn't help. However I am still keeping this at 5 stars for the following reasons. 1) I reached out to the question area here and Sony themselves responded with a link to their support site very quickly so they keep stars for customer service. 2) As I said, the unit was running nearly 24 hours a day so I didn't expect it to last too long. 3) After I let it sit 3 weeks and finally tried to contact Sony, it started working again, so apparently something needed to reset on its own. Anyway, Now I have 2 so I can switch them out as needed for my mom.

This is a Sony boombox that includes a CD player, a tape deck, and FM/AM radio. It can also take in sound from an external source through a 3.5mm audio-in jack in the back. Sound quality is good for the most part, especially for the price, although expectations shouldn’t be too high. The bass is a little weak for me even with the "Mega Bass" on. I tried headphones and it did a lot better. The unit's about a foot wide and about 3/4 foot deep, which makes it a good fit on a desktop.One thing I like about the CD player is it can play CDs with mp3 files burned onto them, in addition to playing regular audio CDs. It's also got features like repeat and shuffle tracks, and even lets you create your own "playlist". Some of the controls were not obvious so I actually had to read through the manual. Such as, on an mp3 CD, you can change the folders with the Tune +- buttons. You can fast forward and fast reverse songs by holding down the track change buttons (the double arrows). The CD player does not have a recording capability.On the other hand, the tape deck can record sound from the CD player, radio, or the audio-in. The tape deck has one shortcoming in the lack of auto-reverse. This was not a deal breaker for me however, since tapes are becoming obsolete and I'll not be using the tape deck a lot anyway.I was able to play music coming off my phone connected to the boombox’s audio-in jack, but the volume was so low it had to be cranked way up. It’s also got a 3.5mm headphone jack in the back alongside the audio-in jack. The radio offers both AM and FM with 30 presets. The unit can use 6 C batteries if you are planning to take it on the road.Other than that, the boombox doesn't really come with bells and whistles. No remote, no USB port, no equalizer, no clock. One thing I wish this unit had was those flashing LEDs that some of other boomboxes have. They could actually be nuisance for some people, but my 2 year old son used to love the LEDs on our old boombox that kept him entertained. For the price of $49.99 however, I think you can do a lot worse. Compared to other boomboxes in the same price range, you can't go wrong with this one.

This is a nice little Boombox, light when filled with the batteries, and the CD and cassette players work well and are user friendly. The sound is good, not great, but about all you could hope for from an inexpensive and small, light player like this. We plan to take this with us to our family cottage in Canada where we use the battery mode to play music and to listen to audio books. Where digital tuning is essential.

Arrived on first expected day. Even though "used" it looks buffed. And yet the most important thing is that it WORKS -plays cd & cassette tape. It fits on my shelf just like my old one which lasted 10 years. I like that can listen with my porter-pro earphones or not. I like the sound, but my hearing isn't very fussy. Mainly I keep it beside my desk, but it'll be easy to move if needed elsewhere. It's good advice to unplug it if not in use for a long time and during storms. May this one last ten years or more.