Category: Compact Discs

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Thrills and Chills

Enigma: Screen Before The Mirror (2000)

I've been a fan of Enigma since they arrived on the scene thirty four (!) years ago. As I've written before, one of my most profound memories of Engima was their debut disc playing in my headphones as I took the 24 Divisadero Bus to The Lion's Pub on rainy San Francisco night a little over a month after the passing of my first partner in 1991.

Screen Before the Mirror, probably my favorite Enigma release, gives the astronomer geek in me chills from the very first track with the emotionless, disembodied female voice quietly reading off the astrometric statistics of Mars and those chills continue through the remainder of the album.

When I set out to rebuild my CD collection two years ago I really didn't have a roadmap set out of what to replace. My inventory of what I'd owned was catastrophically out of date, and while it had all been ripped to iTunes, discerning which of those 2200 albums in there had come from my original CD collection, were ripped from vinyl, or had been aquired from "other sources" was impossible to sort out.

My original inventory was a good jumping off point, but as I've learned over the past twenty four months or so, there are a lot of discs that I didn't realize were missing until I saw them on Amazon, eBay, or Discogs…or just out in the wild. So that's where this latest haul comes from. With the exception of Sympathique and Bare, none of these were in my records, but I knew I'd owned them all at some point.

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He's Dead, Jim

Sony D-ES52CK

I knew what I was getting into when I bought it. Seller noted it as non-functional with a "no disc" error, but it was cheap and I thought why not give repairing it a shot? I've seen enough YouTube videos to know that the fix for the "no disc" error was simple – just some basic cleaning and a bit of tweaking of the laser's potentiometer. Hell, one video I watched even had this exact model and the numbers on the multimeter I needed to match to get it working.

Unfortunately, even after attaching a meter and mirroring what was shown in the video (and afterward a whole lot of playing around with other values), it still stubbornly refuses to read discs. The laser and the transport mechanism is verified as working (it moves normally and attempts to focus), but so far I've had no luck resuscitating it.

I did note that someone else had already been into it. The screws that hold the top plate of the bottom half of the unit in place all but fell out when I went to remove them, so who knows what's been fucked around with? (Says the guy who's fucking around with it.)

I'm half-tempted to seek out a working unit and just throw this one in the donate pile. I do rather like the styling of this lil' nugget.

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As My Friend John Says…

…someone has a out-of-control coke habit if they think they're gonna get anywhere near that much money for that.

(Okay, it is on the "rare" side, but mint, still-in-the-original-packaging players of this model typically sell for only $100-300.

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I Don't Know What to Think of This One…

THIS RETRO OPEN-FRONT CD PLAYER ALSO HAS AN AMBIENT LAMP, FM RADIO, AND BLUETOOTH SPEAKER

They say history always repeats itself. Vinyls are making a comeback right now, which means in a few years cassettes and CDs will make a resurgence all over again, and when compact discs do enter the mainstream, you're going to be glad you had this cute CD player from Semetor. Spotted on the floor at IFA 2024, the K8 is a playfully retro CD player that embraces the design aesthetic of European appliances in the 50s. Designed with an open top that allows the CD to sit on its platter like a vinyl on a gramophone, the K8 comes with a few translucent typewriter-inspired buttons that let you control music playback. But wait, it's 2024, and just being a CD player obviously won't cut it… which is why the K8 also has an FM radio, a Bluetooth-enabled wireless speaker, and even an ambient lamp built into its adorable design.

Designer: Semetor

The K8 isn't a cutting-edge CD player… but it's cute. It has the adorable demeanor of one of lofree's older products, with its retro aesthetic that's brought about by its rounded form and use of pastel shades. What instantly grabs your eye first is the open-top CD player. While most players usually conceal the CD within a casing, this one does not. You see the CD spin as you play music, and the disc's radial spectral finish looks absolutely gorgeous.

Playback is easy. For running a CD, just hit the CD button on the panel, and use the controls below to play/pause, or skip tracks. A BT/FM button lets you toggle the Bluetooth player or FM radio. Backlights in the button glow to let you know which mode you're in, and a seven-segment LCD screen on the bottom allows you to see things like track number (for CDs) or radio station (for FM). A gold-plated 'gear' on the right side lets you switch on or off the K8.

If all that wasn't enough, the K8 also packs a warm glow-light for ambient lighting. Hit the button on the top right and a halo around the CD player lights up. It isn't enough to light a room, but it does bestow a warm wash of golden light in the immediate vicinity, perfect for late-night listening. Pair it with a nice soft jazz CD and you're absolutely set!

[Source]

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Nugget

Sony D-EJ011

I will readily admit I prefer the sound of Sony's early, all-metal portable CD players, but there's an elegant simplicity of the later, plastic models that can't be denied.

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Well, That's…Interesting

From the original post on Reddit:

Popped the top case off and taped the "open lid" switch down with some electrical tape. I used a paper clip through the screw holes for the lid to mount the button interface above the disc. Mounted the base to a CD case to prop it up at an angle or lay it flat. Got the Durabrand CD-895 from the goodwill for 2.99 last night and now I have this thing.

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Fixed It For Ya

I've always hated the blue cover art for the Warm Leatherette CD, much preferring the stark, black & white art of the original LP.

I seem to remember that the very first time I bought Warm Leatherette on CD, the cover art did match the vinyl version, but subsequent releases featured the newer cover. It turns out, however all you have to do is turn the front case liner inside out—on at least this particular release—to get something resembling the original vinyl version.

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Such a Cute Lil' Nugget!

Sony D-ES301

Another one added to the collection. (Ben has his own collections, so we're good here.)

I ordered this from shopgoodwill.com, as "untested." What attracted me to it was the fact that the case hadn't yellowed in relation to the clasp unlike so many of these units that show up on eBay. And that S2 styling! For a couple dollars more than the price of a fast-food lunch I figured it was worth the risk, and if it didn't work I could put the hours I've spent watching YouTube videos on how to service these things to use. Turns out I didn't need to. It works perfectly.

So of course I had to pop the top panel off the base and peek inside!

Yes, I am a geek.

This is rapidly becoming my favorite of the collection.

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SMDH…

It's easier if I present this in reverse order…

The CD itself…
Wrapped in plain brown paper and sealed with the seller's seal…
The CD, wrapped in brown paper and sealed, wrapped in bubble wrap…
The CD, wrapped in brown paper and sealed, wrapped in bubble wrap and wedged between two pieces of cardboard (not shown) and two pieces of 3/4" thick styrofoam, bundled together with rubber bands…
And the entire thing, sealed with a kiss and shipped in a recycled padded Amazon mailing bag.

Having bought and sold enough CDs online, I know that occastionally the shipping company/USPS handles them a bit roughly and they arrive with the splines in the jewel cases broken off. That certainly did not happen in this case, but still…

P.S. You couldn't have bent this thing if you tried!

Considering the amount of waste this one CD generated, I can't help but wonder if the seller works at Amazon.

And in case you're curious…