Sony's G-protection is the best

Author's Rating:

Pros: flawless skip protection, high fidelity, rich bass sound reproduction

Cons: navigation through songs best when able to see screen, average radio reception

The Bottom Line: 
I love this player, it sounds great and only skips in extreme conditions.

Author's Review
I used to have a standard sony cd player which worked great, but when I started collecting lots of mp3's, I felt it was time to upgrade to an mp3 cd player. I bought an sp-50 model Rio Volt (a low end model) a few years ago and I loved it and used it all the time. But then when I became a truck driver (the big 18 wheelers), I put it inside the truck to listen to while driving and realized how low end it was. True, I'd had it a while when it went in the truck, but it died after about 6 months of being inside. It skipped about 30% of the time before it moved on, which I figured was normal for a player inside a moving truck that constantly vibrates and randomly shakes at all times that the truck's moving. When it died I went for an mp3cd player that I felt had the best skip protection from my own experience which was the old sony. I found this player on the net for $50, which was less than I paid for the Rio Volt, and decided to buy it with little hesitation. I actually bought it out of a catalog though for $100 so I could pay it monthly. Having used it for about a couple of months now, I'm realizing that it was a great decision to buy it. The G-Protection works amazingly well, its skipped a few times, but I use it while driving for approximately 4-6 hours a day, and believe me, a few times is as perfect as a supposed skip free player can operate in the harsh conditions the truck creates for the player. And when it does skip, it picks itself back up immediately and continues on. My old player would stop and wouldn't play again unless I paused it and allowed it to load its buffer back up again. And sony always delivers with its sound, it sounds great. I hear parts of songs that I didn't hear with the other player, and the max volume is more than enough. And the bass production is unmatched. It does resume from where it left off if I leave a AA battery (it only needs one) in it. And since I use a cigarette lighter adapter to run it, I don't know how many hours of battery life it has. It claims to have 41 hours, but it probably only has around 30-35 with an mp3cd. The 41 hours, it said on the packaging, is only if you play ATRAC cds, which it plays also, but I have no desire to try them out. I'm used to mp3's and they're more recognized in the music world. I believe ATRAC's are only played by sony's and maybe a few other brands. It also has an fm/am/tv/weather band radio receiver, which I've tried out but don't use since I have xm radio also in the truck. The reception is ok, but not great on all 4 of the bands. The navigation is more difficult to use than my old player, but I'll get more used to it as I continue to use it. But that can be annoying for me, since I have it facing up on the dashboard, which means I can't see the buttons or the screen, so I have to basically just let each cd I have play from beginning to end but its not that big a deal to me. Overall, I'm extremely happy and content with this player, and would recommend just about any sony portable player to anyone looking for one.