pjk@hou2a.UUCP (P.KEMP) (10/23/85)
First, thank you to those who responded to my
inquiry. I received 16 responses and 13 of those
from people who had a Sony CD player.
Three of the 13 people have had a problem, but the
problems were all discovered quickly and therefore
covered by Sony's 1 year warranty.
Seven people indicated that they have had their
players for a year or more and have not had any
problems at all.
Two of the three people who experienced problems
said the players were "skipping".
It appears that if a Sony CD player works OK for
the first month, it will probably work fine for
years. An extended warranty does not seem necessary.
A collection of the responses now follows:
******************** START OF RESPONSES *********************
From druil!lat:
I have a Sony 520-ES. The first such unit I had would stutter
and skip on a variety of CD's. By "skip", I mean that it would
be playing somewhere in the middle of one track, and skip to the
previous track. Sometimes it would loop doing this. Less frequently
it would recover. This malfunction almost always occured in the
later part of the CD, never on the first few tracks.
My CD collection at the time consisted of 20 titles. It would screw
up on at least 7 of them, including a DG Archiv and a Telarc. The
Telarc, at least, would play on a friend's Toshiba.
I took the unit back. The dealer initially said that the laser servo
probably just needed adjustment. I got the unit back a week later
and it worked ok for about 3 days. After that, it messed up as before.
I brought it back again, and the dealer replaced it, no questions asked.
However, the new unit is now exhibiting the same behavior as the original.
My CD collection is now 38 titles. It still screws up on only 7 or 8
titles (so my percentage is getting better). The new unit plays some
of the CD's that the old one wouldn't, but not all of them. It fails on
some of the new titles acquired after the dealer swapped. 7 bad CD's out
of 38 is not good enough in my opinion (1 CD screw up out of 6). I will
take back the new unit some time this week. It's possible that some of
these are just plain bad CD's, but the numbers indicate otherwise.
The only good news at this point is that I have a reputable dealer who
stands by his customers.
From mhuxt!evans:
I have had a Sony CDP-302 since March with 0 problems. It gets several
hours of use a day.
From hound!rfg:
[]
My advice is * run the other way from the extended warranty. I have
a lot of Sony gear, including the CDP-101 and I bought a D-5 a year
ago for family. My experience is that if they are not dead when
they come out of the box, and if they don't die within a few
days - well within warranty - they will probably work without
trouble for years and years.
The gear I have covers maybe 8-10 cassette decks of various models,
the two cd players, fm tuner,system clock/timer,reel to reel bought
second hand,Beta Hi-Fi,but not amps or preamps. oh yeah, a turntable
with servo arm like the present Denon. The fm tuner power switch
failed out of the box, one of the tape decks (the most expensive)
had intermittent ill health right away until sent for a free fix.
And one of the oldest decks is making bearing noise, but still
records and plays like a champ. No other service I can recall
including preventive maintenance. There were a few troubles I
fixed myself. e.g., after 1.5 years my CD player refused to move
its arm. It worked fine after I picked it up and turned it in all directions,
I did not bang it. Save your money for other things is my advice.
Dick Grantges
From spar!baba:
I've got a CDP-302, which sounds great but did start to mistrack after
several hours of operation directly atop a (rather warm) Carver receiver.
I gave the unit some more air clearance below, and have not experienced
the failure since, even after 7 hours of use. So watch out for excessive
heat.
From Rich Marconi <ihnp4!hplabs!rm>:
I own a Sony CD5, bought it last Nov. and have had no problems with about
200 hours use. Rich Marconi- HP Labs
From ihnp4!grigg!ark:
If they charge $50 just to clean the thing and they charge $39.95
for a three year service contract, that means they think it is
overwhelmingly likely that you are not going to have to bring it
in at all during the period. I doubt they are doing this for
their health.
Electronic components usually fail early in their lives if they
do at all. They then work flawlessly for years and years and
eventually conk out. I think the standard one-year warranty is
more than adequate to account for the first possibility, and
I think that if you make it through the first year, you probably
won't need service until the three-year period has expired.
Thus, I think the store is trying to pull a fast one on you,
and suggest that perhaps you should take your business elsewhere.
From tektronix!orca.TEK!bobw:
CDP101 Purchased 3/30/83 (One of the 1st 200 imported to the US)
D-5 Purchased 11/15/84 (Also one of the 1st, in this area anyway)
CDX-7 Purchased about 4/85
None of my CD players have required any service or maintenance of any kind.
I don't know why a drawer type CD player would need its optics cleaned unless
you stick your finger in there and smudge up the lens or put layers of
jelly on your CDs before playing them. A top loader like the D-5 might be
more likely to get dirty since the object lens is exposed each time you
open it to change CDs. Even so $50 is rediculous. I think I would look
for another dealer
PS:
I have similar opinions about CD cleaners. I have approx 130 CDs some of them
now 2.5 years old. The only cleaning they ever need is an occasional puff
of air or a wipe on a flannel shirt to remove a spec of lint or dust. Again
if you insist on smudging them up with dirty fingers you might need a cleaner.
However they are soooo easy to handle by the edges why not do it right?
From azure!michaelk:
I've had a Sony CDP-101 (the grandad of CD players) for a couple
years now. With a couple hundred CD disks, and no cleaning or
other service, the player works as perfectly and flawlessly as when
I got it.
From rochester!srs!matt (Matt Goheen):
I own the CDP-102. I have had it for about 4 months. I use it
quite a bit (over last four months, about 2 hours/day = 240 hrs. total).
I have NO problems whatsoever. I didn't know about the laser lens
getting dirty and I am a bit sceptical. For one, keeping your disks
clean (as one should) should keep the player relatively free from
dirt build-up. At any rate, please post/mail the results...
Matt Goheen
...seismo!rochester!srs!matt
From ihnp4!otto!carl (Carl Shapiro):
My D5 has been playing for 10 months now, 12-14 hours/day, with no problems
of any sort. I have never cleaned the lens, or performed any kind of
maintenance on it, but it does live under a plastic box (to suppress the
whirring noise) which keeps most dust out.
Carl Shapiro
{sdcrdcf,ihnp4}!otto!carl
From Minh Duy Tu <hp-lsd!mdt>:
I have a Sony CDP-101 for a little over two years. I use the Sony
an average of 3 to 4 hrs per week. I never had any problem with it
and I don't even know that the laser pickup needs periodic cleaning.
I live in Colorado Springs and it is pretty dusty around here, much
more so than when I was living in Aberdeen, NJ. I don't know how
much of this is relevant to the CDP-102 and 302.
Minh Tu (cbosgd!hp-lsd!mdt) Hewlett-Packard Logic Systems Division
From sesame!stuart:
My CDP-302 seemed to be defective out of the factory; I discovered that it was
'skipping' after using it for about a week. It was in the shop for about a
month after which it worked ok for an afternoon. As the afternoon lapsed into
evening, however, the skipping surfaced again. I have yet to take it back to
Sony again (after all, they told me 2 weeks the last time). We shall see...
Stuart Freedman {genrad|ihnp4|ima}!wjh12!talcott!sesame!stuart
Data General Corp. (Mail Stop E-219) {cbosgd|harvard}!talcott!sesame!stuart
Westboro, MA 01580 +1(617)870-9659 stuart%sesame.uucp@harvard.arpa
From rafaeld@teklabs.UUCP (Rafael De Arce):
In an article that appeared, a person asked about the need to clean CD optics,
frequency of repair (Sonys) and extended warrenties...
I have owned a Sony CDP-100 for a year. It is played about an hour per day (at
least). I have heard no noticeable change in clarity, thusfar.
I do feel that the optics need cleaning from time to time. What the interval
is, is unknown to me. Dust is everywhere and sooner or later will have its
toll. I asked this question on the net several months ago but it seems that
no one knew the answer. Since no one seems to have complained about dirty op-
tics, I would assume that a CD player can go a while before requiring cleaning.
I dont buy extended warrenties. I've never regretted tht decision with ANY pro-
duct. Over the last ten years I figure I have saved over 1000 dollars by not
buying in. Should something break, it won't cost a thousand dollars to fix.
Besides, When you buy an extended warrenty, what the manufactorer is sublim-
inally saying is that the product will fail long before its useful life has
been achieved OR it's a way to take your money based on the fear of excess-
ive repair cost.
From edward@ukecc.UUCP (Edward C. Bennett):
In article <3230@teklabs.UUCP>, rafaeld@teklabs.UUCP (Rafael De Arce) writes:
>
> Besides, When you buy an extended warrenty, what the manufactorer is sublim-
> inally saying is that the product will fail long before its useful life has
> been achieved OR it's a way to take your money based on the fear of excess-
> ive repair cost.
>
If the manufacturer knew thier product would fail in 3 years, they
would lose money by selling a 5 year warrenty. They certainly don't want
to have to fix your unit for free.
The motive for the extended warrenty is pure profit. They know
thier product can last for at least 5 years. So by selling this "extended
warrenty plan", they simply get more of your money.
Sure, some units will fail under warrenty, but those are the
minority. In the long run the company makes a profit.
Remember: If it wasn't profitable, they wouldn't do it.
--
Edward C. Bennett
UUCP: ihnp4!cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!edward
From dave@onfcanim.UUCP (Dave Martindale):
Someone who offers an extended warranty expects to make money on it.
Thus, the expected cost of covered repairs is less than the amount of
money taken in from people buying the warranty. So, either
1) the warranty doesn't actually cover what is most likely to break
(this seems to be true of car warranties), or
2) the device isn't too likely to break.
Thus, unless you can't really afford to repair it if it does break,
you're better off not buying the warranty. However, it should be considered
a point in the favour of a particular unit if a low-cost extended warranty
is *available*, since it means it is expected to be reliable.
From apple!north:
I've had a Sony CDP-101 for about two years now, and never done any type of
preventive maintenance on it (specifically cleaning the optics) and haven't
had any problems. An occasional skipping is usually do to a smudged disc -
cleaning it has solved all the problems I've come across. I've come across
two discs out of 80+ that actually had bad spots that caused clicks/mistrack-
ing (verified on another player also). Usage is on average 2-3 hours per
day, most days. I had an initial problem (due to 'cold solder joints') that
were fixed under warranty service after about 1 month of use; no problems
since then.
Donald N. North
Apple Computer, Inc.
UUCP: {nsc,dual,idi,voder,ucbvax!mtxinu}!apple!north
CSNET: north@apple.CSNET, north%apple@CSNET-RELAY
******************** END OF RESPONSES ***********************
Paul Kemp
ihnp4!hou2a!pjk
The above statements are those of the author only,
and are not those of AT&T Bell Laboratories.lat@druil.UUCP (TepperL) (10/23/85)
As the respondees with a "skipping" 520-ES player I have some more
information. I took the unit back to the dealer with the 6 suspect
CD's in hand.
After talking with one of their people for a few minutes, we looked
at the CD's. Every single one of them had holes (visible when held
up to a bright light) in a place that approximately correlated with
where they were skipping. If you don't remember (or haven't yet
received the original article) all the skipping occured in the later
tracks on the CD, i. e. the outer portion of the disc. One in particular,
a disc of Elton John's Good Bye Yellow Brick Road, was riddled!
(-: Gosh, do you suppose the laser is burning holes in them? :-)
We replaced 4 of the CD's. I kept the other two to return later because
they are both halves of double disc sets. Unfortunately, they had only
one of the original titles (Dark Side of the Moon). I swapped the other
3 for new selections. All 4 of the new CD's (most importantly DSOTM)
have played correctly.
HOWEVER, I must also point out that at least three of the bad discs played
correctly on a friend's Toshiba unit, including GoodBye Yellow Brick Road.
This makes me suspect deficiencies with Sony's error correction, although
this is merely speculation.
--
Larry Tepper {ihnp4 | allegra}!drutx!druil!lat +1-303-538-1759
Back to you, Walter.ben@moncol.UUCP (Bennett Broder) (10/24/85)
>As the respondees with a "skipping" 520-ES player I have some more >information. I took the unit back to the dealer with the 6 suspect >CD's in hand. > >After talking with one of their people for a few minutes, we looked >at the CD's. Every single one of them had holes (visible when held >up to a bright light) in a place that approximately correlated with >where they were skipping. If you don't remember (or haven't yet >received the original article) all the skipping occured in the later >tracks on the CD, i. e. the outer portion of the disc. One in particular, >a disc of Elton John's Good Bye Yellow Brick Road, was riddled! I don't think this should make much difference. I have examined my CDs and noticed that many have these holes and that many (particularly those made in Germany) are riddled with holes. Every one of these plays flawlessly on my Revox player. In fact, I have experimented with applying a thin strip of tape (1/8") radially across the CD, the player had no difficulty correcting for this. Since Sony players have an excellent reputation for their error correction, I suspect something might be amiss in your machine. I would suggest that you try the defective disks in another 520-ES. If the new machine is able to play the CDs without incident, send your unit back to Sony or insist on a replacement. Ben Broder ..vax135!petsd!moncol!ben ..ihnp4!princeton!moncol!ben
kissell@spar.UUCP (Kevin Kissell) (10/29/85)
I too have had some skipping problems with my CDP-302. It takes
four or five hours of continuous operation, but at some point
something overheats and the tracking logic goes bonkers. A
friend of mine who recently bought a CDP-70 has observed the
same phenomenon with his unit. Like one of the respondents in
the summary, I had at first blamed the heat output from the
Carver Reciever below (stay tuned for my upcoming Carver flame),
but even after putting some more air space between units and ducting
the hot air away from the Sony's vents, I find it still flakes out after
a while. Cycling power quickly has no effect, and the problem seems not
to be motor heat - I experimentally left the CD player idle under power
for an hour or so after I caught it skipping, and it still started
skipping almost at once. Sigh.
Kevin D. Kissell
Fairchild Advanced Processor Division
uucp: {ihnp4 decvax}!decwrl!\
>spar!kissell
{ucbvax sdcrdcf}!hplabs!/