Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners OT: CD Mega Changers

Ray, I think you will enjoy it. I just hope you don't get one that skips and ruins discs! If you read the reviews at Amazon.com, it seems that these are the most common problems, but I've NEVER come across this (except once a cdr skipped).

Now, if you're like me, you'll need to find a way to store all your sleeves for the cds once you get them in the changer. I refuse to get rid of them...even the back cover. Anyway, I've filed mine in a box with a number corresponding to the slot they're in on the changer.

Ray,

I've heard you can do that as well, but do you really want to copy and re-burn with cd-text every single CD you own? Sounds to be as much, if not more of a pain in the rumpus as manually entering in the information.

I actually prefer having my cd's and dvd's out where I can see them. My wife wants me to get rid of them, but I just can't do it. Sounds as though I'm in the minority.

I think I would have a hard time tossing my jewel cases, but I wouldn't mind having a megachanger. The idea has a little less appeal since the advent of the iPod, but still...

I love my mega-changer. I've got the Sony CX455 and have had no problems with it at all. To get around having to manually enter cd information, and then re-enter it if I move the cds around in the changer. (And avoid the problem of it potentially scratching a disk.) I only put burned cds in the thing. When I burn them, I enable "cd-text" and then the player automatically recognizes the cd title, artist, and track names.

Mary - I did see a few mentions of jamming (not a lot), but also several suggestions that assuring that you have a level surface and several commments (including one here) about loading both sides for balance would eliminate most jamming issues.

Pete - you are correct about the work of burning all of my CDs. However, I only need to do it once, the discs will be pristing (take a look at ringmir's comments above), "cd-text" will be there and I can also protect or use my original CDs in my cars if desired. Again, several comments I saw indicate the Mega is finicky about scratches/smudges, so this might be good preventative medicine.

The burning process also gives me an opportunity to do something I've wanted to do for quite a while AND solve some of the "8 Group" restricition issues. I'll pick off favorite songs as I go and make some mixes that I can put in as one Group.

Andy - what software with "cd-text" are you using to do your burning? Did you try any other software that I should avoid?

My two cents....I have a Sony 400 CD MegaChanger (model?) and I couldn't be happier. Years ago, I had dumped the cases for some of those black binder organizers, but never really like the 'out of sight, out of mind' aspect. So, I ran across an open box deal at BB that was a steal, so I jumped on it. I have since inventoried all of my CDs into a spreadsheet that I keep around for reference. That way, I just scan through the list and see what peeks my interest.

The wife loves the ease of use. I will admit that every once and a while it seems to lock up or get confused, but that's rare and it's resolved by simpe power-cycling. I always chalked that up to the price you pay for an open-box deal.

BTW, I have also ripped all my CDs to my HTPC. However, this changer allows me to go to the source in the main room where my Axioms reside.

The whole cd-text thing is more dependent on the burner than the software I've found. Generally, all newer burners support it. What I do is rip the cd to .wav files using music match, since doing so is lossless. When I rip the .wav files, music match automatically connects to imdb.com and downloads the track names, artist name, etc and saves the tracks with the correct names. Then I use Nero to burn the cd, with the "Use cd-text" box checked. You have to enter the artist and album name when you burn the disk, but the track titles all get written as whatever the file was named. You can configure music match to write the file names using a variety of different styles, I generally go for "track number - song title"

(ie: 1 - Track1.wav)

Provided you've burned the cd like that, when you put it into the changer it will load the info and display it on the screen. If you move cd's around, the old info will remain until you actually load the disk. For instance, if you swap disks 1 and 2, the changer will not realize you've done so until you actually play those disks. So the display will still tell you that disk 1 is the old disk 1, but as soon as you hit play and it reloads that disk's info, it will realize it is now disk 2. This is a slight pain, but significantly easier than re-entering all the information again. All in all I have no complaints about the cd changer except one, which is an unreasonable complaint. You can't move it when it's full. The disks will fall out of their holders if you tilt it significantly and make a big jumbled mess that may interfere with the door opening mechanism. You can move it around on an equipment rack or something, provided you're careful to move it slowly and keep it level, but moving it any significant distance without emptying it first is a risky prospect. The only time mine ever jammed was after I had carelessly moved it into a different room. The jam did scratch up one disk, but not badly enough to make it skip. And I was able to fix it relatively easily (stuck my hand in the player with the door open and felt around for the offending cds.)

I looked into burning all of my discs. I figured that burning 500 or so discs was going to be a real hassle. I wish that I had the time, because I definitely see the long term investment...extra set of discs, just in case yoru player decides to go carnivorous and est your beloved cds, and no future worries re: disc names, etc.

Maybe one day, when I retire and have some time. (circa 40 years)

I had the benefit of purchasing the changer long before my collection reached that size. It's quite reasonable to burn a cd each time you buy one and stick the burn into the changer. I couldn't imagine burning 500 cds at once... Although, I could do two or three a day for a while and eventually fill it up.