Recommendations for a CD Recorder

I owned a Philips CDR880 for two months before it broke. I managed to record only a few CD-R's before the tray mechanism jammed and when I manually (and gently) pryed it open a flimsy white plastic wheel fell out.

I returned the Philips CDR880 and got a Pioneer Elite PDR-19RW instead. These listed for about $1000 and the construction quality is far superior with its copper chassis. It's heavier and just feels more solid in every respect (knobs, buttons, jacks, tray, etc). Both the Philips and Pioneer are single tray models and both were top-of-the line units from each manufacturer in their day.

I should mention that my only other piece of Philips is also broken. My Pronto remote died after 2 years of light use. All of my dozen or so Japanese remotes still work, many of them are over a decade old.

Marantz CDR-500 Pro

If you intend to use the machine only to record, and not use it as a playback deck, I think the new Sony RCD-W1 dual-tray CD recorder does a good job. I bought one about a month ago mainly to make copies of my LP's, but I have also made some copies of favorite CD's to give as gifts, and it seems to make "perfect" copies. The unit (obviously) has both digital and analog inputs, and will record at 1-to-1 synch, or 4-to-1 high speed (which I don't recommend).

The build quality is satisfactory, not great (I think Sony's build quality in its less expensive models has been declining), but at the discounted price of about $350-370, it's a good buy, and at least as good as the comparably priced Phillips units.