Insignia NS-P4112 Portable CD Player with Skip Protection for CD, CD-R, CD-RW - Includes Headphones

I've had this thing for almost 6 months and it still works beautifully. I bought it on a whim after the spindle on my 4th Sony Walkman CD player had flimsily pushed in on itself and was no longer usable, and this overall is a much higher quality product than that. Though, it does have a few downsides. Let's start with the pros: - Excellent sound quality, not too much bass - The volume control wheel is also great, much better than the limiting buttons on the Sony - The battery compartment is on the back of the player instead of in the tray (again, like the Sony) - Very sturdy tray overall - Quite durable And the cons: - Skips like nobody's business, but only if you're moving. If on a flat surface, it's fine. - The battery life is only indicated by a flashing battery sign in the tracklisting window, but most times it doesn't show up and you don't find out that the battery is dead until your CD stops in the middle of a song Other than that, I prefer it over the Sony Walkman brand, although I do keep one of those around for when I wanna take a walk with my music without it skipping like crazy. But if you just wanna chill with your favorite music and not move much, this is the better product.

This is the second of these that I have bought in the last 3 years. They are great while they work but.......... The first one was bought in July 2018 and it decided to start performing erratically in October 2019. Skipped a lot and wouldn't play CDs without issues. I shrugged it off as bad luck and bought another as they were not too expensive. The one that I got in October 2019 has now decided to get erratic too. This time I skips when playing a regular CD i.e. a commercially produced CD rather than a CD-R or CD-RW and won't play a CD-R at all. It also plays a CD to a point where it just stops and then after a period of time which could be a dozen seconds to a minute, it then picks up again from where it left off. I have to add that I only play these while at the beach so am not on the move i.e. the player is flat and stationary. In summary, they are good while they last but its a ticking bomb on when it will pack up. I am not one of these people who believe in the throwaway society and am disappointed that these seem to need replacing every 18 months on average. Buyer beware as the saying goes.

Primarily, I want to thank Insignia for still making portable CD players and Amazon for still selling them. I check out books on CD's from my local library and listen to them while I workout and while I'm falling asleep, so being able to purchase such a CD player is essential to my health and happiness! A younger friend made fun of my outdated technology the other day at gym, but I just held my elderly chin high and forged ahead. Granted, there are things I don't like about this player: it doesn't keep track of where you are when you turn it off, and when worn in a tune belt, buttons sometimes get pushed by normal activities. Still, I've had it a couple of months now and have dropped it twice and it still works. (I've had cheaper ones that lasted about a month.) Also, it doesn't skip even though many library CD's have seen heavy usage. I'm going to buy a couple more as back up, in case this Insignia player, like Sony's Walkman, disappears from the marketplace. Plus, they may soon have antique value!

I have purchased two of these little players, and may be buying a third. I was looking for a cheap ($30 range) player that I could use while doing yard work. Nothing fancy, just a single use player. I received the first one and it was solid. It felt very well made, controls with good touch, easy to use, etc. This particular player comes with a behind-the-neck headphone, which is a great alternative to ear buds. But, I dropped it. First time I dropped it, it was onto concrete at about two feet. It wasn't even damaged in any way. But the next time I dropped it, it was into dirt. Of course it didn't work anymore, having filled the guts up with sandy dirt. My bad. Bought another one. This one wasn't quite as good as the first one, but it was a close second. It tended to make a bit of noise when the disc was turning, but since you have to use a headset, this didn't matter. Controls still felt solid, it played well for what it was, and I had no problem with skipping, or stopping, until recently. It has served its purpose for over a year. The reason I am buying yet a third player, maybe this one, is that this player has started having some issues. First, the port for the headset has some issue where you have to fiddle with the position before you can get anything coming out, and you can't get both stereo sides at once. It wasn't like this when new. Next, while I admit I am super rough with my discs, it seems to me that many of them now can't be played by this player. My most favorite songs, played many times, can't be picked up anymore. Before, this little player could play discs that had actual cracks in them, no problem, and quite amazing. But now, no matter how I clean and change batteries, many songs can't be played. But they will play in other devices. So, I don't know what to think. (Maybe the laser eye is wearing out.) And finally, the unit has started eating batteries like candy. When it was new, it was with a very reasonable time interval for the two AA batteries. But, not now. So, I would say, this is not as bad as some reviews have said, at least not for me. It probably is not going to last you a ton of time. It's cheap, so I wouldn't expect a long life. If you are not a fan of ear buds, with this player you can get those behind the neck fixed buds that are super comfortable and have to be worth at least $5 in and of themselves. I have dropped this last player at least 3 times onto hard surfaces, and yet it plays. No, it isn't the best, but that's not what I am looking for. I don't want to pay $50 for a player I am likely to drop. I dropped both of these and the top lids flew open, but then there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. There was nothing cracked, everything flush, etc. So I don't think they feel cheaply made at all. The problem is with the laser reader, and now something with the connection for the headset. I am going to explore an option of little speakers, and move this unit to use inside, and replace my yard one with something new.

Excellent sound quality for a small portable player and an extremely comfortable set of earphones make this a great purchase. I bought a new pair of earphones with the player as my experiences with the ear buds that come with most players have been so.... bad, but have decided to use the earphones that came with this CD player instead. Combine this an easily understood set of controls and easy access to the battery compartment on the underside of the player. The anti skip feature even seems to work! I bought this CD player after my RCA CD player just stopped working for no reason. So far so good as I have only had this player about a week. However, thus far, I am very pleased. I have had this CD player for months now, and have had no problems with skipping even when the player was accicdentally dropped. One of the best players I ever purchased.

UPDATE (082718): I tried burning new CD's, assuming that my CDs were the issue. But unfortunately, the player continued to perform the same. Major disappointment given that I've only had it for less than a week or two. So, I actually bought this product twice and I will tell you why: My workplace has a strict no-electronics policy that only allows us to listen to music through cd players. Pretty prehistoric for a millenial— I mean, I haven’t burned a CD since 06-07’. Anyway, this player doesnt juice out your batteries as quick as other cd players out there. Even so, I bought a wall plug just so I can get over the mild hiccups when the batteries died (and thus the playing functions of the player). It would take about 8-9hr of constant usage maybe a little more before the batteries run dry. I got away with a single pair with the addition of the wall plug for about a month, give or take. Then one night while working I hear a pop. And then I smell a strange burnt smell from the cd player—yup, you guessed right; I fried it. I was certainly surprised. But the CD player lasted me well so I decided to invest in it once more. However the second time I bought it, it was good for a few days until it stopped playing my CDs. What I mean is, it may play about 15 secs of it before I’d overhear a loud whirring or whining sound coming from the device and then the music would stop playing abruptly. Im not sure if this solely had to do with just the condition of my CDs or the CD player itself. Until I determine the source of the problem, I’ll give the product 4 stars. If I manage to remember, I’ll update this review.

Before I bought this, I read a lot of reviews and this Insignia had it's share of bad reviews Burt it also has some good ones. I think it's a good buy. I haven't had any problems with mine. I bought the adapter to you asking with it since batteries in audio devices use a lot of power. That skip delay is not bad. You have you remember this disk is spinning very fast with a beam of light focused on a pinpoint track; so of course if you bump it the angle of light will change direction and focuse on another area. So having a 60 second delay before smiling is a pretty awesome deal. The only thing I wish it had was the capability to rewind sequentially. You can fast forward through the tracks by the second but if you rewind, it goes all the way back to the beginning. But that's minor because you bang always ffw back to where you left off.

Stopped working after about 5 months. Trying to get help from Amazon did not work as they directed me to Insignia support. Insignia told me to go to a Best Buy store for help. The Best Buy store said they did not sell the product and could not help. Called Insignia support again, the fourth time, and they said they could not find my Amazon purchase and could not help. I tried to contacted the seller, Newfront USA, who must not be an authorized Insignia seller, but they have not responded. Do not buy this product. There is a large chance that it will stop working and you cannot get help to replace it.