Sony RCDW500C Compact Disc Player / Recorder

Sony packs in such additional features as 24-step program play, two-mode repeat play (track/disc), one-touch synchro-start recording (which minimizes the awkward gap between songs on recorded discs), and a full-featured remote control. The unit also delivers a 24-bit analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog converter, plus a headphone jack with a separate volume control for listening in private. The company ensures that its listeners receive the best possible sound by using gold-plated audio terminals for its digital input and output (optical) and analog input and output (RCA type) outlets. The RCD-W500C carries a one-year warranty on parts and labor.

What's in the Box
RCD-W500C CD player and recorder, Remote Commander remote control, two RCA audio cables, two AA batteries, and user's manual.

Sony RCDW500C Compact Disc Player / Recorder Features:

• 5-CD/dual deck with 4x high speed dubbing
• Records CD-Recordable and CD-ReWritable discs
• CD, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3 playback capable
• SBM - Super Bit Mapping® recording
• High speed finalizing

Customer Reviews:

• horrible: i hate mini disc and by the way people this is not from sony's quality days sony hasnt been good since 2002 get an old sony cassette deck for recording thats top notch it will work ten times better then this i guarentee i gave this a try and sent it back it wouldnt work for me at all
  
• pretty good: Machine does what I wanted. Transfers old cassette tapes to CD's. One drawback seems to be with my DELL computer furnished hardware/software. The hardware/software will not recognize the CD's as a CD. My older computer, with NERO software, does recognize the CD as an audio CD and allows me to create another CD that is recognized by the new DELL computer. The CD's created on the machine will play on other players. The other drawback is that one has to purchase "music cd's" in order to record on the machine. 'R' CD's won't work. However, the 'R' CD's work fine with the NERO software.
• DOA: I ordered the Sony RCDW500C disc player recorder based on the extemely positive experiences I continue to have on Amazon, and it was the best price I could find on the internet. Unfortunately the unit arrived pretty much DOA. I wrote to Amazon and they gladly took the unit back and refunded the whole amount. Great job! I subsequently purchased a similar unit from a local electronics dealer. It is a great unit.
• Better Than Expected: I was very hesitant to buy the SONY RCD-WD500C due to the mediocre reviews that I read concerning the product. The biggest concern with other consumers was the confusing owners manual. While it is somewhat detailed, and a bit vague in some areas, I was able to negotiate it fairly easily. If you are a total novice, it may take you longer, but if you are used to dealing with separate stereo components, you'll do fine. It also helped immensely that I went into BEST BUY (Where the unit was priced $128.00 more by the way) and was able to see one up-close and personal. The main detail that is not explained, or pointed out at all, is the fact that this unit has a volume level control. This is an extremely important feature! When recording from different CD's, records, whatever, sound levels can vary greatly. This is not an issue when using this unit due to the volume level control that can be adjusted for each song. This enables you to make your "Homemade" CD's and maintain a consistent volume level from song to song when your CD is played. It will also burn from a CD onto a blank in accelerated time due to the high speed dubbing feature. If you have cassettes, CD's, and a collection of vinyl albums, this unit will do the trick. I'm extremely pleased that I purchased it. If you're into making your own mixes, this unit will not disappoint.
• Worked for a year, then PFFFTZ: I've had this for two years, using it to make live recordings of our church services. It worked reasonably well, although we had 5% - 10% disc recording failures. Two features turned out to be very useful: fade-in/fade-out, and auto-track creation.
  
  Alas, after 24 months I suddenly started getting many bad discs. Cleaning the burn optics didn't improve things. Eventually the recording function quit altogether. Sony was no help, and frankly their technical support in the U.S. is idiotic. They wouldn't help diagnose anything, insisting instead that the discs must be bad. I bought $100 in discs just to prove them wrong. Then their only offer of "repair" was to exchange my unit for a refurb with no warranty for $175! I pointed out that these things are available NEW on Amazon for $200, but they would not offer any other options.
  
  Based on other reports I've read in Amazon and elsewhere, Sony has a serious QC problem with this product's disc recording section. The mechanism is subject to jamming (we frequently encountered this), and the laser seem to be overdriven, resulting in early burnout. Sony won't stand behind the product for repair, and I've since learned that even had I purchased the extended warranty I would have only been offered the same zero-warranty refurb unit.
  
  I'm going to replace this unit with the less feature-rich, but highly rated and apparently sturdy EAC CD-RW880.