etrmg@levels.sait.edu.au (08/27/90)
Hello folk: I just got a second-hand portable CD player at an auction for A$140. The problem is, it takes +- 6 volts and uses a weird connector for the adapter. (Of course a new adapter is A$108 and just the connector is A$66 !!!!) don't you love this kind of ripoff?! Any way, the manufacturer is Technics and the model is SL-XP5. I've gotten it going on a dual- tracking Power Supply at work here, but it's a kludge, fer sure. Just thought I'd let you all know. It does sound nice, but I'm not a portable specialist. . . I wish DAT were available. Down with corporate tyrrany!! Power to the people. Ronn
tmn@gn.UUCP (08/31/90)
You wish DAT were available? I wonder why? DAT is great for recording studios when it comes to low-cost digital mastering, but for anything else it's a waste of time and effort. It's still rusty plastic scraping against whizzer heads, not a laser in sight. It's the 80's equivalent of an F1 and a Betamax in a little box. As I say, great for studios (we wouldn't be without ours, modded for 44.1k sampling so we don't need fs conversion to go to CD mastering) but not worth it for anyone else. Especially at prices that make your CD player and its fixes sound real cheap. Even a cheap nasty DAT is over 600 pounds here, while an entirely decent CD player is around 140. I would continue to support the more advanced technology if I were you. And watch out for Recordable CDs -- and S-DAT (digital Compact Cassettes, probably with machines that will also play analog ones...). S-Dat is also ancient tech, but it might be fun... -Richard Elen at The Music Network (tmn@gn.UUCP)