Emerson PD5098 Portable Radio CD Player

If, as I do, you like to do house and yard work to the accompaniment of recorded books, you will find this unit provides good sound and easy portablity. Unlike bulky boom boxes, its sleek and ergonomic shape makes the Emerson PD5098 an attractive and inexpensive buy, fitting easily into tight spaces around the house. A minor related drawback is that its small footprint also makes it easy to accidentally knock over. I liked the unit so well that in case Emerson decides to stop making this model, I bought an extra just to stockpile for the future. Be aware that starting the CD is a two step operation. The player will cue up, counting the number of tracks and so on. After that's done, the CD will stop spinning. Then you push the play button and begin listening. Highly recommended.

I like that this Emerson CD/am fm radio can be listened to both by phones privately and aloud with the option of the chord it comes with that plugs in an electric socket. It can can also be played via batteries. It is sleek, non cumbersome and easy to carry. The radio comes in handy when I cannot get a ball game on tv wishing to find out the score. CD player part allows to go from one track to another, yet does not have numbers to press to get to the exact song. For any player I would recommend caution with the go to the next song button meaning be gentle with and not too fast. No trouble with this product. I had a Hello Kitty boom box where the go to the the next track feature died shortly after getting the product. I have not attempted the memory feature yet. This is the 2nd Emerson Portable Radio CD Player I have gotten. The 1st one is used upstairs and then I got one for the downstairs of my home. I am finding that it plays all my CDs including one put together recently by an orchestra director to listen to for an upcoming playing event.

I'm a little surprised by how awful this CD player is. Granted, it's cheap, but this is ridiculous. From day one, the sound quality on this unit was pretty mediocre. We heard some noise while playing a CD, and the sound was rather tinny. These problems progressed steadily. In the few months that we've owned it, it's become so bad that we now need to purchase another unit. Somehow, the speakers managed to blow out despite the fact that the ONLY thing we have ever played on this unit is a CD of lullabies. We use it every night for about 10 minutes to put our toddler to bed. This nightly 10 minutes of lullaby playing on LOW volume proved to be far too much for this unit to handle. Put your money toward something better. This thing is less than useless--it's now destined to rot in a landfill.

This is a neat CD player/AM-FM receiver. Slim, lightweight, decent sound. You can stand it up on a shelf and it is not awkward like Discmans. Battery/AC operation made it versatile. The hinge that closed in the CD opened sedately --- nice! Unfortunately, the machine is not ruggedly built. The CD player unit in my machine stopped working without warning after about one year of average use. I am still mystified. The radio still works well, though, although it was for the combination that I bought the unit.

I have had a few CD player/Radio type portable rigs in the past 10 years, and Emerson is by far the winner in low priced portable audio equipment. I am using the PD5098 as a learning tool to play guitar track CD's. The digital read out is not as easy to see as the Emerson PD6810, but at 2/3 the price is still OK, and it takes up far less room. This unit is smaller than the PD6810 and PD6548BL. The PD5098 is a great performer and I have not witnessed any CD skipping as reported by other reviewers; if the unit starts having problems after a couple of years I will throw it away and order another. This does not bother me, but what does, is having to do this with audio equipment costing $50.00 to $100.00 or more. It has one speaker instead of two, but actually reaches a higher volume than the 6810 but is not stereo (obviously). The CD door flops down and CD's are installed by pressing onto the rubber nub. I do not use batteries, so cannot comment on this. Both the 5098 and 6810 are acceptable units and everything works on them unlike the Jwin and RCA junk I have purchased which is now sitting in storage, or has been dismantled for parts and thrown away. I would like to make a comment about some of the other reviewers that obviously expect way to much from a $27.00 (which includes shipping) unit. WITH EXPECTATIONS LIKE THIS, YOU WILL BE DISAPPOINTED FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIVES.

POSITIVE: Small, lightweight, well constructed. It feels solid and performs similarly. For a single, mono speaker it sounds pretty good; no where near audiophile quality but good nonetheless. It looks nice, the spinning disk is cool. The radio gets very good reception. It doesn't have trouble reading even very scratched discs. It is efficient with batteries... I've had it for a month and have used it extensively and I haven't had to replace them yet. NEGATIVE: Doesn't play mp3. Too quiet for some situations. Sitting on the beach, for example, the waves drown out the music unless you are within about 5 feet of the unit. This could be a positive thing if you dont want to disturb the people around you. If you do want to be able to entertain a group of people in a larger area however, this is not an ideal product. The player does not remember your place on a CD or in a track if it is turned off... for most people I doubt this is a problem, but for me, it can be. I listen to hour long, single track mixes from DJs and it would be nice if I could turn it off and then resume my place on the track. If you turn it above 80% volume, it distorts the music (especially bass heavy music). OVERALL: For many applications, this is an excellent travel radio. It is inexpensive, very portable, and in many situations, works very well. I am not dissatisfied at all and would purchase another without hesitation. I wouldn't buy this radio if you need: 1. MP3 functionality 2. the ability to produce LOUD music

I received this Emerson CD player as a gift. I really enjoy listening to music, especially in my kitchen and DR, where space is at a premium. Since I've had the player, it's been used every day for at least 2 hours, sometimes 4. I play CD's on it, and also listen to the radio. Pros: - Clear, bright sound - CD's can be programmed for play - CD songs can be set to repeat a single song or the entire CD - Space saving - Did I mention that this little CD really holds up to daily use? Cons: - Radio has a knob so it's difficult to change between stations. For me, this is a non-issue as I primarily listen to one station, or else to CD's - Uh,...I can't really think of anything else. So far, my Emerson CD player has lasted two and a half years. It's only now starting to show signs of wear, and I will certainly be replacing it with another Emerson CD player..

I bought one for the boat because I like to listen to the radio when I am fishing. Worked great for that, got good reception and I was happy. Then I bought one for my desk at work where I like to listen to Cds. That was a mistake. It starts playing the cds and then just quits. It's really aggravating. I guess I should have tested the cds on the first one I bought because it acts up the same way. I would look elsewhere for a compact unit that does it all. The best part is that I did not spend a lot of money on these, but I guess you get what you pay for. But in this day and age, they should have worked better than they do...