Are Five CDs Enough For An Evening?

When I moved to my home 10+ years ago, I had a 25-disc CD changer as one of the components of my stereo system. Music heaven, right? Well, not so much. I couldn't remember what all was in there, and I couldn't remember which CD was where. I'm one of those people who wants to hear the songs in the order they were put onto the CD (some of them are in that order for a reason, whether I know what that reason is or not), so I don't want to scramble the songs from 25 CDs and hope they'll hit the ones I like. And it takes much too long to program my favorites from 25 CDs!

So about two years after I got here, I found this Technics 5-disc changer. It had been around $200, but it was the floor model, so I got it for $99.99 (plus tax, of course). It was easy enough to connect to my receiver, and the circular thing inside that holds the CDs pops out easily at the touch of a button. Touch another button, and it swings around so you can add or change a CD, until all of them are filled. I find my life easier with only five at a time to listen to, and I still have the option of shuffling them or setting "favorites," although I rarely use either.

Did I mention that it's durable? I'm not the world's best housekeeper, and it's on the top of the case that holdsmy system (the turntable used to be there, but I find I rarely use that these days). That means it collects its share of dust and dog hair, but I clean it with a cloth designed for that, when I remember to. It's also been pulled to the floor once, when my Akita was a "little" 5 month old puppy (weighing about 55 pounds...). She tried to chew on it, and although she had already managed to chew the stair railing and a corner of the wall, she couldn't damage the CD changer. And it still works fine.

One of my favorite options is the "pause" button. If you hit "stop" it goes back to the beginning of the CD, which means you have to remember where you were (did I mention my memory isn't great?). When my sister calls, she gets annoyed if "my" music is in the background, so now I don't have to turn it off, I can just pause it and hit play after I hang up, and pick up right where I left off.

I think Technics is a great and often underrated brand. This is probably the best CD changer I've ever had, and between mine and those of my exes, I've listened to plenty. I know of course it's not JUST the CD player, but it plays a role in it. I'd recommend this to anyone looking to expand their home audio system.