Rating: 
Summary: great box.
Review: I came to this box late. At first I tried buying the cheaper RCA model and it was a total disaster. Skipped constantly and wouldn't play after an hour. I brought back my RCA and picked this up for the extra cash. I am very happy with it. except for two tracks so far it has played everything I throw at it(and just needed to reformat those 2 to play) A co-worker also has the same box and also plays mp3 shows all the time with it. There is no better "boombox" mp3 player. That is the key so those complaiung it isn't like your Rio or walkman type mp3 player is missing the point here. There aren't many choices in boombox mp3 players and out of the lot this is definatly the best one. Now I use it in the car and no matter the road conditions so far it doesn't skip and works great. Now I listen to old time radio on the car ride to and from work and I am totally happy with it.
Rating: 
Summary: Wayy overpriced
Review: I found a deal on this one at a local store. Compared it against many other Sony products and other brands as well. This had a horribly small tinny sound. For the price, I would expect more, although this plays mp3s. The sony cfd-s20cp sounded somewhat better and is much cheaper. The cfd-s20cp doesn't look as nice, but then again this zs-x3cp looks kindof dumb to me. And it has a cheapy feel to it, which is probably partly because it is lightweight (transformer is in plug and not the actual device). I didn't like the button layout either, but I haven't seen anyone do a very good job on this yet. It's ironic that car stereos have one heck of an intuitive layout in about 10 square inches, and Sony can only make it worse when the real estate on top of the unit grows by 10x over the car stereo. If you are set on paying this much for a boombox, I would suggest JVC RC-BM5 or . If you want the same device for less, I would suggest sony cfd-s20cp.
Rating: 
Summary: Searching for a Marine solution.
Review: I have purchased not one, or two, but three of these units! Each has survived in the harsh marine environment for less than a year. The problem always lies in the same two areas. The jog switch is not only difficult to use. It is the first thing to suffer from water intrusion. Why they would put such a device on a water resistant unit is beyond me. Obviously the seals cannot be made sufficiently water resistant. The second issue is where the power cord plugs into the unit. This is a standard plug arrangement, and not in the least water resistant. The metal portion of the plug remains visable upon installation. Admittedly, the environment I use the unit is very harsh. I leave it on the deck of my sailboat where it receives light rainfall and ocean spray. I have been unable to find any water resistant unit other than Sony products. Sony used to make a Sports boombox that was yellow and extremely well built. It lasted me five years on the sailboat! That unit stayed on deck all the time. Even in heavy rainfall and sailed through a Tropical Storm while playing CDs!! It also came with a DC power adapter which is convenience for plugging in the boat. The new models do not. The answer may be the expensive option of installing a complete audio system. However, that is expensive, requires wiring to be run through the boat, and, worst, requires putting holes in the boat to mount speakers. In the meantime, I will purchase one more Sony Sports boombox because I like the price and the product before if fails to the elements. A hundred bucks a year for having tunes on the boat is worth it. This time, however, I am going to try the cheaper version without the jog switch, and treat the power connection with water resistant electric grease.
Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointment
Review: I have two complaints.
1. I was completely unsatisfied with MP3 playback. Long Load times and a terrible shuffle contributed to this problem. I bought the player for mp3 cds and after the first week I wasnt even using them.
2. After owning the player for six months and never putting it through a high stress environment all regular play stopped working. The player would continue to play on volumes of 1 or 2, but at a volume of 3 or higher shorted out after 15-20 seconds.
I dont know if I should buy a new cd player or have it fixed and risk it breaking again.
Rating:
Summary: Best little boombox
Review: I just bought this boombox (not on amazon)and it works great!! It has a very stylish design and is the perfect weight to carry around. It's easy-to-use buttons are great. The CD player works wonderful and the radio alsoworks very well. The sound is amazing. It works just as good, if not better, than my shelf system. It is also MP3 copatible. I have not figured out all of it's capabilities yet but so far it is just what I wanted. My only complaints are that there is no remote, cassette player (wich isn't that big a deal) and no subwoofer, but you get what you pay for. Highly recomended.
Rating:
Summary: excellent system!
Review: I love electronics technlogy. This is a very cool little system, especially for the price. I was looking for an mp3 boombox and found this one by Sony and I do NOT regret its purchase. Its a simple system and has every function I was looking for! When I looked at it in the store I was wondering where all the features could be. But with these few keys you can: - play mp3 cds,
- shuffle tracks,
- repeat track, directory, cd, album.
- Rewind/Forward Tracks/Directories
- and scan rewind/forward tracks.
- Program your own folders (20) with your own track order up to 20 tracks or files for each folder! There are 20 presets for the radio and they are very easy to set. The boombox is very intuitive. i figured out how to do everything in about 2 minutes of playing with it w/out the instructions, because everything just makes sense the way it's set up. Kudos to Sony for this!!! I really love it. Worthy Extras:
Its also waterproof, very light and easy to carry! PS. One thing that a buyer may expect is a remote, but there isn't one.
Rating: 
Summary: Just missing remote
Review: I love this boombox! Unlike other reviews,I had no problem with mp3 files. The sony displays the song title and album and sounds good doing it! I highly recommend this boombox. My only complaint is no remote, but small price to pay.
Rating:
Summary: Great Dorm Boombox!
Review: I purchased this boombox for my dorm, and I love it! Not only is this the perfect boombox for the ultra-small dorm room, it's not heavy, easy to use, and nice looking. I particularly like the mp3 player because it plays the mp3s with CD quality sound. Playing mp3s on my computer just doesn't compare! Also, the display is really easy to see, especially in the dark since it stays lit (orange). Also, when the boombox is not in use, you can sit it upright on its backside so it takes up less floor/counter space. The radio reception is awesome, even in this building that normally muffles radio reception. The presets are very easy to set and navigate (20 FM & 10 AM)I highly recommend this boombox!
Rating:
Summary: Some MP3s fail to play on this nice looking unit.
Review: I really like the looks of this boombox. I like the integrated handle. Seems so much more sturdy than the flip up handles you find on most other boomboxes. I was able to play an MP3 CD that I created from files I had imported to my computer from my CD collection. That is the good news. The whole reason I bought it though was to record MP3 CDs from radio shows I recorded from the internet using Replay Radio. I can play these on my portable Panasonic MP3 player and my Nomad, but they would not play on this Sony. I had to return it. It looks like other manufactures are making MP3 boomboxes available. None as nice looking as this one, but looks aren't everything.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Believe the skeptics! This boombox rocks!
Review: I researched mp3 boomboxes for a long time before I purchased and decided on this one as it seemed to be the most stable. When it was finally released, I went to the local BestBuy and purchased it. Smart choice!! The unit has worked aboslutely flawlessly on everything I have tried on it. Even my first attempt worked wihout issues. It works great with folders, meta-tag info display, with several different display options. I personally like to make folders for each artist on my CD's, and this has been great for that. I've tried several different brands of CD-R, CD-RW all of them worked just fine. I've read post from a few people who say they had some mp3 cd's that would not play....I seriously believe they created their CD's wrong, as one guy said, his would not work on the store model, yet their mp3 cd worked fine. Granted the power transformer is a bit bulky, and the little navigation joystick...I think I would rather have push buttons, but small drawbacks. Overall, I'm very very very impressed.
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