ElectroNext.com

Backup your CD's without needing to have a computer, great idea. (2009-05-27)
I bought this radio because I thought the USB option was pretty cool. I needed a CD player that could play MP3's.

The sound is low, so I ended up bypassing the speakers with my own aplified speakers, which make the sound a lot crisper. But, I'm a snob for sound.

Ideally this is a good set up. You can rip CD's even when you don't have a computer available. You won't be able to record any programming from the am/fm radio though.

My opinion, is that this radio is intended for people who aren't your tech savy individuals. It's a superb way for someone to backup their CD's on a USB drive without having to turn on a computer. I know people who have thousand dollar collections of CD's, and have no backups. The backups are at 256, so they are high quality backups; not your typical 128 bits a lot of us rip on our computers.

Conclusion:

Radio reception is good.
Speakers aren't impressive.
Remote control option is only good for the USB and the CD, not useable with the radio.

garbage (2008-04-30)
does not live up to expectations. says it can use a usb mass storage device, but i found out it has to be a flash device. sound is poor from everything i played. will not play ipod or napster. don't know about the rip feature, i didn't buy it for that. by the way, an 8gb flash drive goes for about 30-60 dollars. a 60 gb external hard drive goes for about the same. i am taking this to the construction site because i don't care what happens to it. i feel very lied to after reading the specs. would not reccomend buying off the specs.

No iPods allowed! (2008-03-27)
I bought this model because of its "Direct USB" connection. Don't let that fool you. The USB in this unit only works if you let this machine record the songs from a CD onto a standard flash drive using its own software. iPods and other MP3 players don't work with it, regardless of the manufacturer's claims. Very deceptive advertising.

2nd Philips CD player to die an untimely death (2007-10-19)
My first Philips boombox (AZ2045) had amazing sound. That one died when the CD player stopped recognizing disks. I figured it was a fluke. I was mistaken. This AZ1837 died in a similar fashion but never had the same sound quality. It was, however, significantly more compact and easy to use.

Not too happy (2007-05-29)
I purchased this item as a refurb and I'm so glad I didn't pay full price.
The reason I selected this unit is because it plays MP3's and WMA's, but I mostly liked the shuffle feature.
Unfortunetly, nothing seems to work properly with this unit.
1. Sound cuts out on Audio CD's
2. The shuffle mode is a waste as it cuts the end of the songs off and sometimes half of the song.
3. The volumn is good with Audo CD's, but not so good with MP3's.

I called Philips today and they told me to return it for a new unit. I had to pay the shipping ($12.00) and will not be reimbursed for it.
Although they said they'd send me a new unit, I'm sure it will be another refurb, which is OK if it works. Something tells me, based on the previous review that these problems are a manufacturer defect and not the fact that I purchased a refurbed unit.
I will update you when I recieve my new unit. Sure hope it isn't worse.