Buying Equipment

[Erica Bartik <ebartik@cc.ysu.edu>]

Ericableu L. Bartik
Assistant Reference/Multimedia Librarian
Maag Library
ebartik@cc.ysu.edu

Hi everyone,

I was hoping someone could help me out.  I am buying equipment for
my multimedia center (which is actually a music library).  Since my
expertise lies more in music than electronics, I was hoping to
gather some suggestions about the equipment I am thinking about
purchasing, i.e. has anyone had problems with these models, are they
sturdy enough for heavy use by the public, etc.

The CD players I am looking at are the Sony XE 500 and the Technics
SLPS770DCD.  I liked these because they have jog dials and 20 track
programmability for students who only need to hear a few tracks and
want to skip around easily.  The Technics model is about $269.00,
haven't checked on the Sony yet.  Has anyone purchased these models
or can anyone suggest a good CD player in the $200-$300 dollar
range?

The cassette decks I liked were the TEAC W-518 R and the Pioneer CTW
616DR, because these brands have held up well in the past and these
models have 2 speed dubbing, which my clientele seems to like.

We have had terrible luck with turntables.  When I started this job
4 months ago I found a huge pile of Gemini XL DD 50 IVs which I am
told did not even hold up for a year.  I am looking at direct drive
turntables,specifically the Numark Pro TT-1, since the belt driven
ones we have do not last long, but they are very expensive (around
500.00)  Does anyone know of a moderately priced direct drive
turntable, or a good belt driven one?  I also would like them to
have automatic cueing.

I have been looking at catalogs from J and R electronics and
Fullcompass. Are there other good catalogs that I should order?
Sorry the message is so long. If you want to reply to me privately,
my email is in the message's signature.  Thanks in advance for your
help!!

Ericableu L. Bartik
Assistant Reference/Multimedia Librarian
Youngstown State University
Maag Library
ebartik@cc.ysu.edu