Best Portable Cd Players

When CDs first came out, they were a noticeable improvement over vinyl LP records. People described how they were immersed by the sound from the CD. Although CDs don’t have the popularity that they once had--since MP3 players and Smartphones can hold gigabytes of your favorite music, and reproduce it faithfully--you might still have a CD collection, and you’ll want something to listen to them. There are portable CD players in several forms, which also give you options of listening to AM/FM radio, listening to MP3 files on flash memory, or to play music from your Smartphone over the device’s speakers. If you want to listen to music CDs while taking a brisk walk, there are devices that are designed to continue playing music without interruption, even if the CD player gets shaken around a bit.

We’ve composed this buyer’s guide to help you make the right decision when selecting a portable CD player. It'll help you:

• Choose the right type of portable CD player,

• See useful tips about that particular type of portable CD player,

• Read reviews of different portable CD players, and what customers are saying,

• Select the right brand of portable CD player, and

• Compare prices and find the best deals.

• Top-Loading “Boombox”: These have the CD player and speakers in a single unit, along with a handle so that you can conveniently carry it around with you (you just have to make sure to have enough batteries on hand). The Sylvania SRCD243 Portable CD Player Boombox is an example. Some also allow you to play audio cassettes.

Sylvania SRCD243 Portable CD Player Boombox

• Portable Shelf Systems: Besides having a CD player, these will also be able to play AM/FM radio, MP3 files, cassette tapes, and digital files from a USB stick. They will sit on a shelf in a sound system, and will have detachable speakers--but they are still somewhat “portable”, in that you can take it from one room to another (unlike your stereo system, where the speakers remain fixed). The NAXA portable MP3/CD/USB player is an example.

NAXA Portable Shelf System CD Player

• Personal CD Player: These follow the design of the Sony Discman, Sony’s first portable CD player, that they introduced in 1984. They will be small enough to clip onto your belt and use while walking, or even when running or jogging. The Jensen Slim Personal CD Player is an example

Jensen Slim Personal CD Player

• Not great sound quality in the inexpensive models: The inexpensive boom box models, such as the Sylvania Portable Boombox radio and CD player, generally do not have great sound quality. But, customers were pleased with the fact that the device was enough for children, or for the elderly.

• Functions to find songs: Some CD players will have functions such as skip (to skip from one band on the CD to another), search forwards and backwards (to find a particular band), and “Repeat 1/Repeat all” functions (to listen to one song again and again, or to play the whole disc all over again).

• Battery power: Since these CD players are portable, you might want to run them on batteries. The “boom boxes” will use more batteries--so the Axess PB2710 Portable Stereo CD/CDR/CDRW uses 6 9-Volt batteries. The “discman” type portable CD players will require less battery power. The Jensen Slim personal CD player will give you 16 hours of music with just 2 “AA” batteries.

• Types of CDs that the device can play: You’ll see some portable CD players that can play CD-R (CD-Recordable) and CD-RW (CD-ReWritable) discs. “CD-R” indicates that the CD player can read compact discs onto which you can record music or voice. “CD-RW” indicates that you can write to the disc, format it, and write to it again. There are some CD players that can only read audio CDs--they will not succeed in reading discs that you have burned on your computer. This is because music CDs have disc application flag to identify that they are copywritten music CDs, and to prevent counterfeiting. For example, the GPX PC332B Portable CD Player can only work with music CDs. Music CDs that you have made with your computer or a home recording deck will not work, unless your CD player will read CD-R and CD-RW discs.

• Anti-skip protection: Since you will be moving with your portable CD player, it’s important that jostling it around does not interfere with the playback. NAXA Electronics NPC-330 Slim Portable CD and MP3 player has a 120-second anti-shock memory when playing MP3 music, and a 40-second anti-shock memory for CDs. It does this by reading the MP3 or CD content, and storing it in the device's memory. This allows the music to continue playing, even if the machine is moving. Look for models with features like that.

• AUX-In and AUX-Out: You will see CD players with Aux-In and/or Aux-Out jacks. If the CD player advertises having an Aux-Out jack, it will allow you to plug in stereo headphones or earphones. If it has an Aux-In jack, this jack will allow you to input music from a MP3 player or your Smartphone.

• Sylvania--is an electronics company with a long tradition. They were founded by Frank Poor in 1901, in Middleton, Massachusetts. They presently mostly make lighting fixtures (halogen, fluorescent, and incandescent lights), but they also have some basic consumer electronics as well.

• GPX--is a brand of Digital Products International, which was founded in St. Louis, Missouri in 1971 as an importer of factory brand consumer electronics. GPX principally made electronics for the Gran Prix--but they presently make a wide range of appliances: mini-projectors, drones, weather band radios and emergency equipment, and radios, personal CD players, cassette players, and more.

• NAXA--is located in Vernon, California, and are makers of personal electronics. Their products include MP3 players, LCD TVs, digital photo frames, DVD systems, home theater systems, car audio, tablets and smartphones, and more.

• Axess--are makers of Bluetooth speakers and headphones, televisions, microphones, CD players, and speaker systems. They make CD/MP3 "boombox" players in a number of designs.

• Jensen--is a brand under the ASA Electronics umbrella, who make mobile audio/video products in Elkhart, Indiana. Jensen is a consumer electronics company, founded in 1915 by Peter L. Jensen. They have six product lines of audio and video electronics, including CD/MP3 players, amps, speakers, multimedia receivers, and more.