Rating: 
Summary: Not bad, if you can get a good price.
Review: everything has been said in other reviews really, but here are my main concerns... when playing an MP3 disc, there is no shuffle feature which is really lame. MP3 discs hold hundreds of songs and you have to hear them in the same exact order every time? yuk. ALSO, i lose discs sometimes because of the 1-drawer, 5-disc setup. it takes a minute or two to find them. OVERALL, it sounds great, just be aware of the features you need and make sure it has them before you buy. Above average stereo, just not what I wanted.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, if you can get a good price.
Review: everything has been said in other reviews really, but here are my main concerns... when playing an MP3 disc, there is no shuffle feature which is really lame. MP3 discs hold hundreds of songs and you have to hear them in the same exact order every time? yuk. ALSO, i lose discs sometimes because of the 1-drawer, 5-disc setup. it takes a minute or two to find them. OVERALL, it sounds great, just be aware of the features you need and make sure it has them before you buy. Above average stereo, just not what I wanted.
Rating:
Summary: Great except for MP3 playback.
Review: For the price an amazing sounding system. Decent sound, plenty of bass. Even the tape dubbing works fairly well. However, the cd changer is cumbersome and has problems playing MP3 cds. Even if you follow the file naming conventions in the manual it still has sporadic problems 40% of the time. All in all, even with the minor flaws it's a surprisingly good unit for the price. Just be forewarned it won't always play any MP3 cd.
Rating: 
Summary: This is great!
Review: For two hundred dollars, this is one of the better book shelf/mini system out there.AESTHETICS: The unit is compact and the controls lay-out is useable, but not the best I've seen. The design doesn't do anything for me; in fact I find it rather tacky; but compared to what other manufacturers are doing (like JVC and their very ugly styling/design) it's not that bad. I prefer traditional styling, but this is OK. SOUND: The sound is great, whether you're playing CD's, listening to the radio, or listening to MP3's. 300 watts is more than enough and more than any comparably priced systems out there. The preset EQ's are adequate and I end up using the "Super Sound EQ" most often. I do not listen or record to tapes, so I have no comments there. MP3 Playback: Let me take a moment here to refute what the other reviewers have said in regards to MP3 performance; they don't know what the heck they're talking about! This unit plays every MP3 compilation I've thrown at it and I didn't follow the manual at all; I just burn my CD's the way I've always done it. It will play MP3 CD's based on the following sequence: ROOT -> FOLDER NAME -> TRACK NAME. My stand alone 5-Disc RCA changer has a lot of trouble with a few of my MP3's compilations, but this unit plays them all fine. MISSING FEATURES: This is where your decision to purchase this unit or not will be determined. The key feature missing for me is the ability to randomize the playback when playing MP3. You'd figure Panasonic would at least figure out how to do this! The other feature that's missing that would have been helpful is a feature called Play-Exchange, which allows you to load and unload discs that are not being played. This is very useful! You don't have to stop the music to change discs. My last gripe: I don't believe there's enough preset EQ's and the unit doesn't give you enough control over them; I would have liked to have at least bass and treble controls. Aside from this, the unit is an admirable performer and I would recommend it if you can live without the features mentioned above.
Rating:
Summary: Good product, but some key features missing
Review: For two hundred dollars, this is one of the better book shelf/mini system out there. AESTHETICS: The unit is compact and the controls lay-out is useable, but not the best I've seen. The design doesn't do anything for me; in fact I find it rather tacky; but compared to what other manufacturers are doing (like JVC and their very ugly styling/design) it's not that bad. I prefer traditional styling, but this is OK. SOUND: The sound is great, whether you're playing CD's, listening to the radio, or listening to MP3's. 300 watts is more than enough and more than any comparably priced systems out there. The preset EQ's are adequate and I end up using the "Super Sound EQ" most often. I do not listen or record to tapes, so I have no comments there. MP3 Playback: Let me take a moment here to refute what the other reviewers have said in regards to MP3 performance; they don't know what the heck they're talking about! This unit plays every MP3 compilation I've thrown at it and I didn't follow the manual at all; I just burn my CD's the way I've always done it. It will play MP3 CD's based on the following sequence: ROOT -> FOLDER NAME -> TRACK NAME. My stand alone 5-Disc RCA changer has a lot of trouble with a few of my MP3's compilations, but this unit plays them all fine. MISSING FEATURES: This is where your decision to purchase this unit or not will be determined. The key feature missing for me is the ability to randomize the playback when playing MP3. You'd figure Panasonic would at least figure out how to do this! The other feature that's missing that would have been helpful is a feature called Play-Exchange, which allows you to load and unload discs that are not being played. This is very useful! You don't have to stop the music to change discs. My last gripe: I don't believe there's enough preset EQ's and the unit doesn't give you enough control over them; I would have liked to have at least bass and treble controls. Aside from this, the unit is an admirable performer and I would recommend it if you can live without the features mentioned above.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't buy for mp3 listening
Review: I have this thing hooked up to my Delphi SkyFi XM Radio unit and I get good sound however I have to give you a warning. This thing plays most mp3's terrible. Any mp3's that are encoded using the LAME Encoder will play terrible there is a loud screeching noise that will keep playing, on my cheap mp3 cd player I get a annoying churp but on this one it is just let you say you can't listen to the mp3's. Any mp3's that are encoded without LAME otherwise play fine. Since I got it for mp3's I am kinda annoyed that I can't listen to most of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Sound is good but plays most mp3's terrible.
Review: I have this thing hooked up to my Delphi SkyFi XM Radio unit and I get good sound however I have to give you a warning. This thing plays most mp3's terrible. Any mp3's that are encoded using the LAME Encoder will play terrible there is a loud screeching noise that will keep playing, on my cheap mp3 cd player I get a annoying churp but on this one it is just let you say you can't listen to the mp3's. Any mp3's that are encoded without LAME otherwise play fine. Since I got it for mp3's I am kinda annoyed that I can't listen to most of them.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Sound
Review: I purchased this system and am quite happy with the sound. It is so much better than my old micro-system. I would like to have had auto reverse for the cassettes and high speed dubbing as well as bass and treble controls, but at $... what did I really expect. I wanted great sound. Got it. I wanted to be able to play more than one cd at a time. It plays five. I wanted to be able to play cassettes. I can. I wanted AM/FM radio. It has that too. The other features I'd like to have would cost another $... or more. I'm completely satisfied with this system. Oh, by the way, I love the small remote control device.
Rating:
Summary: Great sound!
Review: Listened to this system and the Philips FWC550 in a store. The sound on this system was nice and clear-- no distortion; can't say the same for the Philips.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy for mp3 listening
Review: Sound is good. MP3 playing...forget it, it does not work.
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