Life as Crisis Management: The Portable CD Player Kiada

 

Within the last couple of years the CD players in my Bose Acoustic Wave and Wave systems stopped functioning. After over twenty years of service I guess I really can't complain too much despite the exorbitant cost of these systems. Because I wanted to play CDs on both systems--the sound quality coming out of the speakers isn't bad compared to other small systems--I decided to hook up portable CD players to both using a 3.5 mm RCA cable. It has turned out to be a pain in the arse, or, to put it more poshly, a Sisypean task. 

I have now purchased four portable CD players: the Desobry 5196-CD-B, the Monodeal MD 109, the Monodeal MD-601, and most recently the Gueray 8541720907. And all of them have the same problem,  hence the pain in the arse comment above. All four, far too often--sometimes on two out of three classical discs--stop playing suddenly on the last track, or, in the case of the Gueray, on the second to last track. One of the players, one of the Monodeal's also decided randomly to begin on the last track rather than the first contrary to programming.

I don't know what the problem is with these four portable CD players. Is it an inherent technical problem with the player? Is it because a passing car or a passing car with some communication device passes by causing the players to shut down during the last or second to last track? Is it because none of these players can play discs as long as your typical classical CD? Is it because modern postmodern technology is simply shite? So much for the brave new digital age. Whatever the reason, this is annoying as hell for several reasons and given this I won't be buing a Desobry, Monodeal, or a Gueray in the future for, in my mind, they are all pieces of malfunctioning shite. Caveat emptor.