Personal Audio Cd Player

[kettledrum]

I want to buy my 7 year granddaughter a CD player that she can take with her on long car journeys, or that she can listen to in the early mornings before the rest of the household is awake.
Is there one available that can be recharged from the mains (like a mobile phone or iPad) and that does NOT require batteries?

[AB Editor]

Would she not be better suited with a cheapish tablet and a pair of headphones?

I'll have a quick look for something that fits your description...

[gingejbee]

I think you'll find that any rechargeable personal CD players still available will contain batteries (of the rechargeable type). I have one that is several years old...it contains three (or four?) batteries that are charged by plugging the unit into the mains WITHOUT having to remove the batteries.

[mazie]

What about something like this kettledrum....
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2141572.htm

[AB Editor]

Or, if you just wanted to try her out with an mp3 player, this one is cheap as chips 4/5 stars?

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[kettledrum]

Thank you everyone. Of course I realise that iPads etc do actually have batteries! I just don't want to be bothered with the sort that can't be recharged.

Granddaughter has a load of physical story CDs which she'd like to listen to. I wonder if Mazie's suggestion will fit the bill. Will pop into Argos & have a look.

[AB Editor]

"I wonder if Mazie's suggestion will fit the bill. Will pop into Argos & have a look."

Mazie's is an MP3 player, not a cd player.

This sort of thing might be good for someone with a CD collection who sometimes wants to watch The Princess Bride on DVD in the car. :)

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

[kettledrum]

Thanks for putting right about that Ed. As I understand from my daughter, it's not for 'watching' but for 'listening". Thanks for your suggestion on Amazon, which may be what I'll go for, but on the whole I'd prefer to look at the physical product first before actually buying it.

[catsrcool]

Why not get an MP3 player and rip the audio of the CD's and convert them to MP3 format. Very easy to do and the software is free.

[kettledrum]

Thanks for your suggestion, catsrcool. Things like this may be 'very easy to do' if you know what you're doing, but unfortunately I don't have a clue!

I have actually bought her a very bulky pink (!) Bush Bluetooth Boombox at a cost of £20. It needs 8 X C batteries to power it - £40 for rechargeable batteries, & a universal energiser charger £25. Not what I had in mind when I agreed with my daughter that I'd get it for the granddaughter's birthday. But she seems to be delighted with, which is what matters.

Many thanks to everyone for their attempts to steer me in the right direction. Having been round Argos, John Lewis, Maplin & several other smaller specialist stores, it appears that there is a demand for the sort of thing I was looking for, but requires too much battery power to fit into something the size of a fat tablet. Hard to understand when Ed's recommendation of a 9" portable DVD player has the requisite technology.

[gingejbee]

The "personal CD player" was very common years ago...I still have a fully working Aiwa (similar to that in the link below) that has rechargeable AA batteries which are recharged in situ with the supplied charger. Major manufacturers stopped making them because they were rather overtaken by "digital music", downloads, iTunes etc.
I still use mine regularly....as you can see, they are available...albeit used!


http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AIWA-XP-V411-Portable-Compact-Disc-CD-CDR-Player-Discman-Free-Fast-Post-/172294785475?hash=item281d91c9c3%3Ag%3Ad7oAAOSwhOVXe-re&_trkparms=pageci%3Db38e58d9-ed19-416c-b7af-2273ed21d0ee%2Cparentrq%3Da7f84ab61560a88a074c272bfffec49f%2Ciid%3D1%2Cobjectid%3D15054

[Scarlett]

I know you probably think it is too complicated, but really an mp3 player is your best bet. Just open iTunes on your computer, sign up for an account, and put each CD into the machine. iTunes will ask if you want to import the disc. You click on yes. From there you can build up all the discs you have onto your computer. Then you plug in your mp3 player (or iPod) and iTunes will automatically synch it. You can then choose which CDs to add to the mp3 player. I had a CD walkman and found it hard to listen to over the sound of a car engine, plus the CDs kept jumping if the machine wasn't level. mp3 players really are the best way of listening to music now- plus you can store thousands at a time!