D-E440 (Sony in general)

Member Name: shadowhawk

Product:	Sony in general
Date:	17/06/04 (334 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Reliable, Durable

Disadvantages: Simple, Out of date

Sony Discman ESP2 ? CD Compact Player D-E440

In this review I would like to talk about my faithful little compact-disc player, brought in the good old US of A not sure if Sony make them anymore but you can pick them up second hand very cheap.

Brand: Sony.
Sony themselves have a great reputation for successful marketing due to their unique approach to their products always trying to give us something new. Sony rarely gives you the same as other companies like Grundig or Matsui whom give you repetitive products at cheap prices this is due to them copying technology that is already available. Sony on the other hand try and put on new products and new tweaks all the time this may just be a new design or a new piece of technology but they hit the market first with top quality products that it why you normally have to pay a bit more for a Sony. As for the increased price of Sony I think if you have the funds is worth the quality upgrade, and it looks good always a plus for a teenager.

Technology: ESP.
ESP or Electronic Shock Proof, the D-E440 offers a 3 second delay.
ESP works by recording so long a head and instead of playing straight of the disc it will play off the recording and because it can record quicker then it plays when a jog occurs and a bit is skipped it is fixed before the playing catches up to the recording, does that make sense if not leave a comment and ill try to re-word it.
The 3 second delay means that it records 3 seconds of track before it plays it, so if it is jogged for more then 3 seconds of it takes 3 seconds for the laser to re-position then a jog will occur. 3 seconds in normal sense does not really sound like much but you have to remember it is done at computer pace and technology is very fast at repetitive tasks. In m
y mind the 3 seconds proves very adequate but I don?t go jogging anymore so I don?t know how it would handle them kind of shocks, so if you are just leading a normal life and not going to be doing work out then it will be fine for you, if you are a fit person then maybe you wish to consider I more recent modern model maybe with 5 seconds delay or more.

Play Modes:
- Normal (no display symbol) this just plays track through from start to finish in normal order like 1 then 2 then 3 and so on.
- Intro Programme (Intro Pgm) Plays the first 30 seconds of each track before putting on the next track for 30 seconds and so on, I have actually never used this as I use the CD sleeve to find tracks and if I don?t have that then I uses the search buttons.
- One (1) This will just play the one song, mix it with repeat and it is good for those singles if you do not want to listen to those B-Sides.
- Shuffle (Shuf) plays the tracks in random order and it really is random order, a lot of shuffle facilities follow the same pattern every time but this is always a surprise.
- Organised (RMS) you can programme in a play list but selecting the numbers in the order you want them to be played, of course you can pick the number you want more then once if you want to. Very fussy as you can not go back and delete the last entry so if you make a mistake you have to start from scratch but I like the fact that is on there proves very useful.

Facilities:
Hold Button: This is a little slide switch on the front that when you slide it on none of the buttons work, it has one problem it does not control the sound dial so even though you can not stop the cd by mistake or skip back and forth it can go really quiet or loud by rubbing on the sound dial.
Resume: Another slide switch when this is on it will store whe
re the disc was at and the settings when you stopped the player, very useful if you lead a lifestyle like mine when you have to keep stopping and starting you listening pleasure as people talk to you.
AVLS (Auto Volume Limiter System): This is basically a system to save batteries it only players the music at a certain level as far as I can tell don?t know how it works or why it saves batteries but it does. Its also very useful it you are travelling and your wondering about how loud your music is in public places because no-one likes those people who blast out their music everywhere, easy to switch it on and off.

Line Out and DC In: This offers you the facility to plug it to speakers and run it off the mains but you need spare parts to take advantage of this and I don?t know where to get them from so I?ve never used it so I wont comment but they are for you to use.

Batteries: It takes 2 AA Batteries, so it?s the cheapest kind of battery it takes and it will lasts about 30 hours with ESP always on at my best guess. So as far as I know that is a good life for batteries to last, without ESP on life probably is doubled and with AVLS add a bit more, so with them on id put it at about 70 hours of continually playing, stopping and starting wears down the batteries as well quicker. A nice tip here if you want to turn on ESP switch of the player first and press play and put it on before the music starts up, because if ESP has to kick in part way through a play it uses up battery, not a lot but it all adds up.

Layout: I really like the layout of this one all the buttons are on the outside the play and stop are very big giving easy access, and the back and forth search facilities are on top of each other rather then side by side because when I cant see its ha
rd to tell which is what way, so putting them on different levels really helps me out. Play mode and Repeat/Enter buttons are small but stick out so easy to feel where they are. The ESP button is given slightly more space but it would be hard to put this on by accident, because you wouldn?t really notice and if your saving batteries could prove a very bad mistake. Works with an open button as well rather then a slide or a push or manual pull ejection, on the inside is no button because in some of the more older ones they place the ESP button here and you have to stop it playing and open it to switch it on.

Upgrades: A remote, you can attach a remote sensor on the side and use a remote but I?ve never used this facility either as I have a hi-fi in my every room of my house, but it?s available to you.

Sound: Plays as good as any other player, plays at the top quality a compact disc can play at, so no let down here.

Could do with: A bass and treble editor would be nice, when listening to some trance I would like to notch up the bass to get maximum effect. You also cant change the sound levels either to give you different effects you have to play everything at the norm. It also does not play MP3?s so if you are a burning person then you need software to convert from .mp3 to .cda otherwise it will not play.

Durability: We all have mistakes and I have a lot more then most I have dropped this time after time and all that has happened is a very white marks on the exterior, no cracks all is still in one piece and it works very well, a great show of engineering in my mind. In the 2 years I have had it I?ve never needed to clean the laser which I think is an achievement as I?ve had to do all my other music playing devices.

Overall.
If you want a plain music player that gives you the fac
ilities to get by with day-to-day life then this is your player, plus its cheap now. If you want something specialised like something with more sound editing features and sporting equipment then maybe look at later models but I highly recommend Sony, plus if you want to play MP3?s you shouldn?t get this.

~ Disclaimer. ~
If your expectations are based on this review and you buy the product and you decide you do not like it you cannot hold me responsible.

**Thank You**
Take Care
© David James Clark
DavidJamesClark@hotmail.com
(any question e-mail or add me to msn messenger or 44(0)7733107699)

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