I'm beginning to change my mind.....FIXED, READ MY UPDATE

I gave this CD player a relatively glowing review a couple weeks ago. Well, for the most part the review is accurate, however I learned through several days of use that this player does experience problems playing CD-R discs.

I have a small library of CD-R's, most of them Sony CD-R's. Of the ones I've played on the D-EJ01 I've got 3 discs that have trouble changing tracks (from one song to the next). What happens is that the player gets stuck and skips for several seconds before beginning the next song. In a couple cases, It will never start the next song unless I press the >> button on the player/remote.

I don't think the problem is with these CD-R discs, since they all play perfectly on my home players, my car player and a Panasonic portable my friend uses. I also don't see any physical sratches or damage to the CD-R discs. Anyway, the few TDK and Maxell CD-R's I have seem to work OK, but these 3 Sony's are trouble. Go figure!!

I even checked a second D-EJ01 to make sure my player did not suffer from a misaligned laser. Both player experienced the exact same problems.

So, its still a great CD portable, but if your primary use is CD-R's, there may be better solutions (for a lot less $$$$). Especially considering that many of the newer Aiwa and Philips models also play CD-RW discs. Too bad none of the Aiwa or Philips units are high quality like the D-EJ01. I'm not counting on Sony supporting CD-RW discs anytime soon. I'll be very surprised if they do so in the 2001 models (likely due to arrive between December and March).

So to sum it up, I've got to notch down my rating of this player to adjust for the aggravation associated with playing these certain CD-R discs.

10/21 UPDATE:
CD-R PROBLEMS ARE NO LONGER AN ISSUE WITH THIS PORTABLE (FOR NOW!!). I NARROWED DOWN MY PROBLEM CD-R'S TO AN OLD HP CD RECORDER I USED. ALSO, I READ IN A FEW PLACES THAT AUDIO DISCS SHOULD BE RECORDED IN DISC-AT-ONCE AS OPPOSED TO TRACK-AT-ONCE. DISC-AT-ONCE INSURES THE LASER REMAINS ON DURING THE ENTIRE RECORDING PROCESS. THE NEGATIVE POINT IS THAT YOU CANNOT CREATE A MULTISESSION DISC SINCE IT WILL RECORD AND CLOSE THE DISC IN ONE OPERATION. MULTISESSION SHOULDN'T BE TOO MUCH OF AN ISSUE FOR MOST PEOPLE SINCE MANY AUDIO CD PLAYERS WILL NOT PROPERLY READ MORE THAN THE FIRST SESSION. ALSO DISC-AT-ONCE MODE IS NECESSARY IF YOU WANT TO RECORD CD TEXT INFO. (ACCORDING TO ADAPTEC TRACK-AT-ONCE MODE DOES NOT SUPPORT CD TEXT.) THE D-EJ01 HAS CD TEXT FUNCTIONALITY AND ITS NICE TO SEE THE NAME OF THE SONG SCROLL ACROSS THE LCD DISPLAY.

FOR SOME UNKNOWN REASON TO ME, TRACK-AT-ONCE SEEMS TO BE THE DEFAULT SETTING IN ADAPTEC EZ-CD CREATOR 4, EVEN WHEN I TELL THE SOFTWARE I'M WRITING AN AUDIO CD. NOW I MAKE SURE I MANUALLY CHANGE THE SETTING TO DISC AT ONCE BEFORE RECORDING AUDIO CD-R'S.

BTW, FOR THOSE WHO CARE.....TRACK-AT-ONCE MODE TURNS THE LASER OFF IN BETWEEN TRACKS. tHERE MUST BE SOMETHING MY HP WRITER DOES IN TRACK-AT-ONCE THAT CAUSES THE D-EJ01 TO HAVE TROUBLE CHANGING TRACKS RELIABLY. ACCORDING TO ADAPTEC, TRACK-AT-ONCE SEEMS TO BE BETTER SUITED TO DATA CD-R'S ANYWAY.

I'M CONVINCED THAT THE SKIPPING PROBLEM HAS TO DO WITH THE G-PROTECTION CIRCUITRY AND NOT THE CD READER ITSELF. A FRIEND HAS AN OLDER SONY CD WALKMAN WITH THE OLDER ESP SHOCK PROTECTION. MY BAD SONY CD-R'S WON'T CHANGE TRACKS IN HIS PLAYER WHEN ESP IS ON, BUT WILL CHANGE OK WHEN ESP IS OFF. OTHER PROPERLY RECORDED CD-R'S PLAY FINE IN HIS PLAYER WITH OR WITHOUT ESP.

WELL I'M OFF NOW TO BUY A NEW PLEXTOR BURN PROOF WRITER TO REPLACE 3 YEAR OLD PROBLEMATIC HP.