Eton Ego 4000 Plus Portable CD / MP3 Player with Built-In Removable Speakers

ok. here's my situation:i live off the grid in alaska. off the road system, in a goofy little town by the sea. we have only one radio station that we pick up from sitka, some 200 miles away.i though this little Gundig gadget would do the trick! play my CDs, listen to the radio -- all from my little houseboat and 4 AA batteries. right on! my new home entertainment center!get the thing in the mail. YEAH! paddle over to the floathouse. unpack the box. shove in the batteries. turn on the radio.nothing. nada. zippo. no radio station. just fuzzy static where the radio should be.strange. everyone else's radio picks up Raven Radio. what's up with the Grundig? cheapo!and yeah. cheap little plastic speakers like mickey mouse ears. little cheap plastic buttons. bizarre cable attachment thingies and just, well, odd. like it seemed like a good idea in some board meeting somewhere, but horribly, and cheaply, implemented.so i rationalize this. radio doesn't work. OK. i'll play my CD's on the thing. might as well get something out of it -- besides i figured i could get used to the cheap little speakers that have no ability to sound bass. yeah! like a transister radio!ok! 5 hours goes by. batteries die. WHAT? FIVE HOURS AND THE BATTERIES DIE? are you kiddin' me? this is a Grundig, man --billed as a travelor's paradice: radio / cd / clock / alarm gizmo! $$$$ bucks. Woo hoo -- but: FIVE HOURS CD PLAYING LIFE? most places i travel take more than 5 hours plane time alone -- should i pack a block of batteries with me, too? c'mon Grundig: you guys stink if you think you can charge $$$$ for this pile of cheap plastic poo!this thing stinks. i'm sending it back.dissastisfied in alaska.ianps.happy ending: returned the cheapo grundig. amazon gave me a full refund without any stress. good for them! i bought a durable sony cd player for about half the price of the grundig!the sony baby works wonders: plays cds, picks up the radio station, the weather station (big deal here) and even a TV channel (dang -- i came to alaska to get AWAY from TV!).and get this: 2 AA batteries last FOREVER (well, a really, REALLY long time).i bought two little speakers for a nominal price, and WA LA! I made out like a happy consumer for not half the price the cheap plastic poo GRundig.Grundig: if you are reading this, you should be ashamed of yourself.

I purchased this to wake up to a CD. It takes 40+ seconds to fill the buffer for the anti-shock system. During this time, the CD stutters. Extrememly annoying. You can shut the anti-shock system off, but only after it begins playing. By that time I'm awake and irritated.Other than that, I like it.

When it works, it works very well. My first unit would not play cd's on a consistant basis. It was replaced by merchant. The 2nd unit worked very well for 5 months after which it no longer read a cd or mp3cd. It is interesting than the owner's manual does NOT note that mp3cd's are playable; only standard cd's. The speakers are a joke, but the included headphone produce a great sound. They become uncomfortable after 1-2 hours and the cord is very short. This unit was used by an age 50+ consumer with no misuse and was cleaned regularly. The radio's tuner is weak as FM stations 20 miles+ away were audible only on mono.

Very light, extremely portable. Just what we wanted. Wish the price little lower.

Believe it or not, it still works.

Right off the bat, let me say that this Grundig CD player isn't worth [money], let alone [money]. The reviewer that said he got 5 hours of listening on a set of batteries is lucky. With the first set, I got 1 hour, with the second set I got 14 minutes!! I'm not exaggerating -- I timed it.Granted, you can skip the batteries and use the AC adapter, but even then, the sound quality is terrible. Cheap and tinny. The speakers are worthless. I am astonished that Grundig is charging so much money for this. Do yourself a favor and avoid.

I used this product for a year and a half and was very happy with it. Batteries lasted 6-8 hours. The speakers aren't boom box quality but for the size the sound are plenty big for a hotel room and much better than a standard hotel clock radio.However, last week it just stopped playing the CDs. Looks like a motor problem as it looks like the disc is trying to spin but can't quite make it. I should say that it has taken a lot of use the past few months on several camping trips so it has been exposed to direct sun, humidity etc. But I had hoped it would have lasted longer.I'm going to switch to a hard drive MP3 player since the mechanics of CDs can be delicate.