Top positive review
148 people found this helpful
Sony's Disposible Boombox
By Ken McKinney on Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2017
More imported junk. Cassette player lasted 8 months before it started eating tapes. Now the cassette player is unusable, it drags on the tapes. The other features (CD, AM/FM) seem okay, they haven't been used much. More disposable junk from China with the Sony name on it. Update: 02-24-17 Sony CFDS70BLK CD/Cassette Boombox Home Audio Radio, Black: I bought this as a gift for a blind person. Prior to this he used a Radio Shack Cassette Player/Recorder for over 30 years, ~two hours a day until it died. He takes care of his stuff. This unit was purchased primarily for the Cassette Player/Recorder feature; his library is mostly cassette. Slight initial confusion to play tape on this unit, the cassette play button symbol appears backward to him and me however, this does not detract from the unit. He was thrilled by the great sound quality from all the features of the unit - AM/FM, Cassette Player/Recorder, CD Player. He bragged how much he enjoyed this unit, and is grateful to have something he needs. After eight months of slight use the Cassette Player/Recorder is useless but the radio and CD player continue to work, they both have excellent quality sound. When we were shopping for a Cassette Player I recommended Sony without hesitation; I associate Sony with quality and to large degree I still do. He and I both are very frustrated with Sony’s letdown in quality. This unit is very well designed electronically; it sounds great but suffers from terribly inferior mechanical components associated with disposable products. Without further risk of humility I will refrain from being so quick to recommend Sony and some of their consumer products for any value and longevity. I do not recommend this unit to anyone. Update: 11-11-17 Sony CFDS70BLK CD/Cassette Boombox Home Audio Radio, Black: Sony customer service made good for my friend. During the one year factory warranty period, Sony provided a cost free replacement of the defective cassette player. He is equally impressed with the sound quality of the new unit though he’s now reluctant to use it much. Jeannette was helpful with her timely reply to my post. Sony’s customer service was eager to uphold the company name and professional during the return process. Customer satisfaction? Sony makes some great stuff and proved to stand behind its product. I own several Sony’s, confident they will perform when used. Things wear out from normal use but for sixty bucks plus tax for a dependable music source for 8 months use is certainly not my expectation of value. It was a hassle to him to rely on others to help with tech support to troubleshoot, find the box, all accessories, pack, label, and ship the defective product. Label alone was 4 emails and label delivery. Using inferior components in this product tarnished Sony’s reputation for quality. Update 09-08-22: The replacement unit is still working fine after 5 years. I raised the Star Rating from 1 to 5.
Top critical review
23 people found this helpful
Functional, no-frills, utilitarian.
By totallyfrozen on Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2022
UPDATE 10/20/22: YIKES! I just tried to dub from an iPod to a cassette. Now, I grew up on cassettes and spent years as a radio DJ back in the day using cassettes. I’m not new. I understand this cassette recorder is Type 1, Normal bias (it’s not switchable). I bought brand new Sony Normal bias cassettes. The noise level on this recorder is way above acceptable! The hiss is so loud, the recorder is basically not even useable! I feel like an idiot for trusting the Sony name this time. Why even include a cassette recorder if the quality is so low that the deck is not useable? It tarnishes Sony’s otherwise good name. I’m past the return window already. Too bad. I consider the cassette deck a deal breaker! I’m extremely disappointed. I’d rather they omitted the tape deck and installed a CD burner instead. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I have not put it through it’s paces yet, honestly, but I have used the CD player. I bought this to play the backing track CDs that come with music lesson books (guitar and piano). So far, it functions fine for that for the most part. I would really love to have a remote control for it so I could cue and play a track without having to move my body position to start the track. As it is, I have very little time (4 metronome clicks) to get back into playing position before I have to start playing along. I played a cassette once also, and tested the AM/FM radio functions. Somehow, I missed the fact that you cannot record on a cassette via a microphone on this. There’s no internal mic and you cannot connect an external one. Had I known that, I probably would have kept shopping around. The unit functions just fine. It’s good quality and I expect years of service from it, it’s a Sony after all. It’s certainly not Hi-Fi and the bass boost (Mega Bass, I think it’s called) is laughable. Over all, for a portable, utilitarian cassette deck/CD player, it’s probably as good as you’re going to get. Another disappointment is the cassette door does not have a window. So if you’re a nostalgic audio nerd like me, you won’t get to see the tape reeling. It’s a small bummer, but not a deal breaker. If you absolutely must have something better, you’re probably going to need to prowl the vintage market and vintage electronics are a gamble. This one doesn’t like water, moisture, dirt, or dust. She’s delicate. I’d recommend this unit if you need a, no-frills cassette deck/CD player with AM/FM radio—and if you plan to use it in a clean environment (no work sites for this one). It’s functional and utilitarian.
Sort by:
Filter by:
By -
Verified Amazon Purchase
Vine Customer Review of Free Product
Sorry, no reviews match your current selections.
Try clearing or changing some filters.Show all reviews
Show more reviews