Yamaha CDR HD1500 - CD recorder / HDD recorder

7 out of 10 - Very good
Better than alternatives
More Pros:
Will store 391 hours and 33 minutes of audio
Coaxial and Optical I/O
Serial port for title


...
More Pros:
Will store 391 hours and 33 minutes of audio
Coaxial and Optical I/O
Serial port for title entry using a PC
TV output for onscreen display
User replaceable hard drive (400GB max)

More Cons:
Cannot be turned on/off using the remote
Expensive audio CDRs must be used to record
Stores only CD album name and song titles (32 character max)
On screen display is very basic (character based)
No keyboard input

Review:
The Yamaha CDR-HD1500 hard disk audio player out performs DVD/CD changers. It will store all of your CD collection and give you instant access to any song. The 250GB Seagate hard drive that came with my model is quick and very quite. Menu navigation is easy using the on screen display or the HD player's display. Copying the entire CD to the hard drive is easy but not very quick. It will also copy the disc name and song names if present on the CD.

I would not recommend using this HD audio player for making a lot of audio CDs. Due to the copy protection and cost of audio CDRs, it's easier and cheaper to do on a computer.

If you are thinking about getting a DVD changer for audio playback, think again. DVD changers have trouble playing some pressed CDs with copy protection, are prone to mechanical failure, have long CD load times, do not display CDtext, lose entered title information easily and have to be unloaded if moved. Another alternative would be to purchase a hard drive MP3 player. Compressed music is great for portable audio players but will never produce subtle nuances that can be heard on a high quality stereo system. Read more
by myrevu (see profile) - December 26, 2006

1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 comment posted to this opinion

2 out of 10 - Terrible
Software needs improvement!!!!
This unit seems like a great idea, and has potential. Unfortunately, the software puts limits on it that make a ...
This unit seems like a great idea, and has potential. Unfortunately, the software puts limits on it that make a lot of its features useless or cumbersome.
Firstly, when I put a CD in my computer, it's able to read and display artist, tracks, titles, etc. Why can't this thing do that??? Everything has to be entered manually one letter at a time: extremely cumbersome and time consuming.
The really bad thing is the copy protection features mean you really CAN'T burn CD's or albums as advertised. It will not make digital copies of copy protected CD's (and they're ALL copy protected). The analog copies it makes will not play on the Sony stereo in my office or on the Bose stereo in my car. What good is the thing then? I'm better of just burning copied CD's on my computer. It's even legal, since I bought them in the first place.
This thing will only be worthwile if Yamaha (or someone else) fixes the terrible firmware it comes with. Read more
by thedonster (see profile) - June 20, 2006

1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
1 comment posted to this opinion