kaplanr@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Roger Kaplan) (07/28/88)
Well, I have to yell at somebody, so it might as well be here... Maybe
someone can even offer advice.
I borrowed a friend's portable Sony CD player, a very old model that
is not made any more (no wonder -- as portable players go, this thing is
a behemoth). Before the trip starts, the thing stops working: when the
disk is inserted, it spins for about 1/4 turn, stops, and the player
shuts off (thinking there's no disk in it). Anyway, feeling responsible,
I take it in to one of the two Authorized Sony Repair depots in LA, this
one in Burbank. They tell me that they will send me an estimate *by mail*
(you can't get a human on the phone; the most you can get is a recording
telling when you can schlep your device in). I got the estimate yesterday.
Get this: $320!!! Just for the record: I was making a NY-LA drive, with
about 150 CD's and a broken player, so I stopped in Chicago to buy a
new player. I got a Sony D4 (which broke, incidentally, but is being
fixed under warranty) which is smaller, lighter, and more feature-laden
than the old one, for $200 (and I saw it for $180 in NYC).
This is the breakdown of the estimate:
motor assy $30.84 (reasonable, I guess)
divice, optics (sic -- and this is a computer printout!) $62.91
converter unit, dc-dc $82.12
labor $132
OK, maybe the motor assy is shot; it would explain why the disk isn't
turning. Maybe the optics device is malfunctioning, but how would they know
until they replaced the motor? What kills me, though, is the "dc-dc
converter unit". What are they talking about? The motor does turn a
bit, and the lcd display comes on and works fine.
1) Does anyone have any idea if their evaluation of what is wrong,
is accurate? Or do they have an asylum escapee making the estimates?
2) Is there another way to get the player fixed? I'm afraid I'm going
to bring it into a shop, and they'll send it to this place!
...I guess you could say my CD player was "totalled"!!
--
**Roger Kaplan "The only cultural advantage LA has over NY
kaplanr@devvax.jpl.nasa.gov is that you can make a right turn
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena CA on a red light." --W. Allen
kucharsk@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (William Kucharski) (07/29/88)
I don't know if your estimate was correct, but it may be that the parts
are listed separately but are in fact one assembly which is replaced as
a whole.
When, about 8 months ago I had my Sony CDP-302 repaired for a laser
problem, it cost $235 to repair (it had only cost me $350 new...).
This was because they couldn't just replace the laser, they had to
replace the whole laser assembly. This may be the problem in your case.
--
William Kucharski
ARPA: kucharsk@uts.amdahl.com
UUCP: ...!{ames,decwrl,sun,uunet}!amdahl!kucharsk
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are my own, and may not agree with
those of any other sentient being, not to mention those of my
employer.henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) (07/29/88)
kucharsk@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (William Kucharski) wrote:
->When, about 8 months ago I had my Sony CDP-302 repaired for a laser
->problem, it cost $235 to repair (it had only cost me $350 new...).
->This was because they couldn't just replace the laser, they had to
->replace the whole laser assembly. This may be the problem in your case.
hearing this is scaring me a bit, because i plan on buying a
complicated-disk player sometime soon.
if the bloody things cost so much to fix, why is it unreasonable to
simply toss the old one out and buy a new one?
# Henry Mensch / <henry@garp.mit.edu> / E40-379 MIT, Cambridge, MA
# {decvax,harvard,mit-eddie}!garp!henry / <henry@uk.ac.sussex.cvaxa>jkg@gatech.edu (Jim Greenlee) (07/29/88)
In article <2843@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> henry@garp.mit.edu (Henry Mensch) writes: >hearing this is scaring me a bit, because i plan on buying a >complicated-disk player sometime soon. > >if the bloody things cost so much to fix, why is it unreasonable to >simply toss the old one out and buy a new one? It is *not* unreasonable, and in fact, this is probably what Sony expects you to do. I guess the auto manufacturers are not the only ones who have discovered the selling power of planned obsolescence. It's kind of like buying a battery or a set of tires with an XX,000 mile guarantee. The only thing that is "guaranteed" is that you will continue to buy that brand of battery or tire for the rest of your life (or at least until you sell the car :-). The difference, of course, is that Sony must rely on brand loyalty, whereas the battery and tire guys basically have you on a hook unless you decide to bite the bullet and shop elsewhere. However, most folks in this situation will just get "PO'ed at Sony" and go buy a Technics or something - there is still a lot to be said for "voting with your feet". If you are willing to foot the bill :-), then Sony (or any company that markets "disposable" electronics) will be more than happy to fix your old <whatever> for you. Caveat emptor. Jim Greenlee -- Mr. News (aka Jim "the Screw" Greenlee) jkg@gatech.edu Instructor, School of ICS, Georgia Tech ...!gatech!jkg Tipper Gore Food: "Race with the Devil on Spanish Highway", "Bush in `88"
mahla@infinet.UUCP (Walter Mahla) (07/30/88)
I just mail-ordered a SONY D-4 to take back to school with me instead of
dragging my whole stereo across country for a semester so when I ordered
it they said it had a one year warrenty and would I like the extended
warrenty for an extra $25 - I take very good of my audio equipment and
so I said no - but after thinking about all of the stuff posted on the
net recently and thinking about how easy the laser could become miss-
alagned (sp) I called back and said that I wanted the extended warrenty
- $25 for three years of peace-of-mind is deffinatly worth it.
will at infinet (mahla@infinet)
hollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath) (08/02/88)
In article <2531@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> kaplanr@devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV (Roger Kaplan) writes: } I borrowed a friend's portable Sony CD player, a very old model that }is not made any more ... }... Before the trip starts, the thing stops working: when the }disk is inserted, it spins for about 1/4 turn, stops, and the player }shuts off ... }... I take it in to one of the two Authorized Sony Repair depots in LA, this }one in Burbank. They tell me that they will send me an estimate *by mail* }(you can't get a human on the phone; the most you can get is a recording }telling when you can schlep your device in). I got the estimate yesterday. }Get this: $320!!! ... I had a similar problem with my Sony D-77 (top of the line portable at the time). I brought it to the same shop and told them to call me if the repair was going to cost more than $100. Final repair cost: $60. Apparently a lot of the Sony CD players had a design flaw that caused a wire harness to drag when the laser assembly moved. This eventually caused a jam. Anyway, it's worked fairly well since (an occasional glitch now and then), but I haven't taken it travelling, either. The last time I took it on an extended trip in a car (7 hours) it started making unpleasant mechanical noises. I don't think they're portable in the sense you can play them on the go. Only in the sense you can take them somewhere and play them there. I've decided to avoid portable CD players in general and Sony in particular. -- The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe, hollombe@ttidca.tti.com) Illegitimati Nil Citicorp(+)TTI Carborundum 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. (213) 452-9191, x2483 Santa Monica, CA 90405 {csun|philabs|psivax}!ttidca!hollombe
obrien@anpiel.aero.org (Michael O'Brien) (08/03/88)
In article <3004@ttidca.TTI.COM> hollombe@ttidcb.tti.com (The Polymath) writes: >The last time I >took it on an extended trip in a car (7 hours) it started making >unpleasant mechanical noises. My old D-5 has always done that. I finally figured it out. In fact it doesn't mind playing on the go. What it really hates is heat. Its performance degrades the hotter it gets. Keep it cool and in the shade and it works just fine. It's still more sensitive to shock than, say, a D-4, but after I upgraded and gave the D-5 to an impoverished musician, she played it on a cross-continent drive and had a wonderful time. Of course anecdotal evidence is worth what you pay for it. :-) -- Mike O'Brien obrien@aerospace.aero.org {sdcrdcf,trwrb}!aero!obrien
mbutts@mntgfx.mentor.com (Mike Butts) (08/19/88)
I've had a lot of trouble with my Sony D-55. After about six
months of sporadic use, it developed this nasty habit of randomly
skipping forwards a minute or two, on any and all CDs. This
got worse and worse until I discovered the rechargable battery
pack wouldn't hold a charge any more. No matter whether the
unit was plugged into external power or not it would skip.
After removing the battery pack, the problem eventually went
away. I bought another pack for $50 (the guy at the distributor
said they were very popular items (?!)), and everything was fine
for a few more months. Now it's skipping again.
Does anyone know how to reset the CPU in the D-55? I tried the
procedure posted for the D-7, but to no effect. I'll probably
break down and get the service manual.
I love Sony stuff in general - my ICF-2010 and ICF-7600A short
wave radios are outstanding, my TV and portable tape units are
similarly fine. Great headphones too. I'm very disappointed
in the 'Discman', and therefore disinclined to try their audio
gear.
--Mike
--
Mike Butts, Research Engineer KC7IT 503-626-1302
Mentor Graphics Corp., 8500 SW Creekside Place, Beaverton OR 97005
...!{sequent,tessi,apollo}!mntgfx!mbutts OR mbutts@pdx.MENTOR.COM
These are my opinions, & not necessarily those of Mentor Graphics.gwu@clyde.ATT.COM (George Wu) (08/23/88)
Well, here's my say about Sony's DT-3 portable CD player while my
compilation finishes (or rather, while it doesn't):
I like it because . . .
. . . It sounds great compared to a portable cassette player.
. . . I can plug it into my car's stereo and crank away in
traffic.
. . . I can crank away when I type inane Usenet articles while
waiting for compiles to not finish.
. . . Comes with a Sony Rechargeable battery which eliminates
the need to by batteries. It'll eventually die like all
rechargeables, but by then, they'll be making solar
powered ones the size of a dime. Well, maybe a nickel.
I don't like it because . . .
. . . Like all Sony products, the only thing holding the jacks
in place is solder. In fact, today, I dropped the bloody
thing about three feet to a hard floor. (First time
since I bought it a three months ago.) A connection in
the jack for the left channel broke loose. Took me a
bloomin' hour an' a half to find which solder was bad.
And now, another connection's broken loose not six hours
later.
. . . Skips like a six year-old. Placing it flat on a desk,
the slightest vertical tap and off it goes. Horizontally,
it takes a sledge to make it skip. Incidentally, in the
store, I lined up all the Sony models plus a couple of
other brands, and skip-tested. No, the salesman didn't
mind, and the DT-3 and DT-10 seemed about identical. The
lower priced Sony's and other makes seemed a bit more
skip prone, but not by leaps and bounds.
. . . AM/FM reception is better with the tin box Pop gave me
back in the Stone Age.
. . . It's late, and the blasted compilation still isn't done.
Just some background, I bought it about three months ago at Crazy Eddie's.
(Yeah, the guys making some of the world's most obnoxious commercials.) I
also own a Pioneer PD5030, which I bought a couple of years ago. The Sony
Portable cost me $230. Afterwards, the salesman admitted that the econo-Sony
(DT-1?), which they were listing at $199, could be sold for as little as $170
and still break even. So haggle with the guy, even if you do want to just go
home and have some dinner.
--
George J Wu
UUCP: {ihnp4,ulysses,cbosgd,allegra}!clyde!gwu
ARPA: gwu@clyde.att.com or gwu@faraday.ece.cmu.eduspace@c3pe.UUCP (Brent Archer) (08/24/88)
In article <1988Aug19.092615.149@mntgfx.mentor.com> mbutts@mntgfx.mentor.com (Mike Butts) writes: >[description of trouble with Sony DC player deleted] >I love Sony stuff in general - my ICF-2010 and ICF-7600A short >wave radios are outstanding, my TV and portable tape units are >similarly fine. Great headphones too. I'm very disappointed >in the 'Discman', and therefore disinclined to try their audio >gear. I have heard an awful lot of bad things about Sony CD players. On the other hand, I have a Sony tape deck, and it's the best deck I've ever had -- it's the only dual deck I've ever heard that did good quality high speed dubs. I humbly submit that not all companies can be good at everything, and perhaps you should simply buy a CD player from a different manufacturer. -- Space ..!decuac.dec.com!c3pe!space "Demolition woman can I be your man?"
casey@well.UUCP (Kathleen Creighton) (08/25/88)
A friend of mine bought a Sony D-5 which Sony ended up replacing--after he paid for the UPS back and forth, etc., etc. The second one never worked right, either. I owned a D-5. I accidentally dropped it on a carpeted floor last year. That repair cost almost $100. In the Bay Area, the Sony service center is in San Bruno (not convenient to most of us) and is open Mon-Friday, 9 to 5 p.m. The other option to actually going there is to send it to them UPS with a check then wait for weeks for the unit's return. The D-5 died. Took it to Sony service center. It supposedly needed a new power supply (internal). Cost? $179. Of course, it cost $14 for them to tell me that. I opted to not have the repairs done. There is either something inherently wrong with the Sony units (especially the D-5s) *or* there is something inherently wrong with the small-scale technology. In any event, I would not buy another portable CD player from *any* manufacturer. --Kathleen
agn@unh.cs.cmu.edu (Andreas Nowatzyk) (08/25/88)
I find this Sony-bashing rather inconclusive because most of the happy Sony-owners don't speek up. To change this a little: I got my D-5 right when it came out (waiting list and $300...). It never failed, despite heavy abuse and being droped from a desk at least twice (the plasitic parts of the lid were broken on the first occation so there is a hole were the window used to be - covered with masking tape to keep the dust out: no problem). I also poked at the intestines to get the digital signal out without any ill effect. -- -- Andreas Nowatzyk (DC5ZV) Carnegie-Mellon University Arpa-net: agn@unh.cs.cmu.edu Computer Science Department Usenet: ...!seismo!unh.cs.cmu.edu!agn