[Quadzilla]

Hello everyone,
Just yesterday, my much loved Sony CDP-M555ES stopped working, I think one of the belts is loose or broke. When I turn it on, I can hear a motor turning but the carousel does not turn and eventually the display reads "table error". I noticed I can turn the carousel manually, I wanted to be sure I can still remove all the discs without removing the cover. If it is in fact the belt or belts that are broken, how difficult is that repair job? Roughly how much would it cost if I took it to a shop for the repair? I did find a couple of videos on YouTube, the most informative video was about replacing the belt on a CDP-CX300, I couldn't find any on the M555ES. Any idea if those 2 models work the same? I ask because the video shows how to replace the belts without removing the discs. I'm disabled so while not impossible, removing then putting back 400 CDs is a huge pain in the butt. Where does one buy replacement belts etc. for something like this? I know Sony stopped building these many years ago. I noticed one of these on sale on eBay where the seller wrote it's belts had been replaced two years prior so that gives me hope, unless of course the seller is BS-ing. I suppose I'd have to get another M555ES for use as a spare parts machine? What other Sony CD changers use the same belts? I did notice a couple of M555ES for sale on eBay but I'd really have to hate to replace this unit after all the time I spent loading, programming and entering titles to all the discs, again. I say again because this is my 3rd M555ES. The first one (bought new) lasted about 10 years, the 2nd (bought used) lasted about 6 years and this 3rd one (bought used) is also about 10 years old. Not a bad record considering I used them virtually every day for at least 2 hours a day and 90% of that time in shuffle mode.
Also, if I were to try to convert all these discs to digital format to store on a hard drive, what's the easiest and quickest way to go about that? I'm sure there are plenty of guides online but I figured I'd ask here too.
Thanks in advance for any information you can provide!
Dan G in CT

 

[glangford]

I can't respond to the Sony, but there is not easy way to convert to digital except a one by one rip into a computer. I use iTunes. There are other ripping programs available, it's a personal choice. I found iTunes did the best job of recognizing the disc and importing the play list. I tried dbpoweramp and found it didn't recognize several discs and I stopped using it. I think I'd rip into a laptop and get an airplay capable device. Alternatively some BD players will play music files from attached usb devices (large thumb drives, usb power hard discs) and allow you to navigate via an iPhone app.

There are some cd ripping services on line, but I don't think I'd like to send my entire music collection off for ripping, although ripping is labor intensive service. about 70 cents to a dollar a disc is what I found.

 

[holl_ands]

FREE Service Manual download for CDP-M333/M555....Sony p/n's found in exploded parts diagrams:
https://www.manualslib.com/download/1429770/Sony-Cdp-M333es.html

Once you know the Sony p/n, do a Google Search to find multiple suppliers...esp eBay....

FYI: Fol. "TABLE ERROR" report was in the very similar CDP-CX400 Changer. In comparing Service Manuals [all SAME for CDP-CX235, CDP-CX270, CDP-CX335, CDP-CX400 & CDP-CX450], I see that they ALL use the SAME mechanical mechanisms. He only had to reseat one of the three Drive Belts to fix his problem. Shown on pg 57 of YOUR Service Manual as Reference #162 , BELT (DIA. 42X1.2), Sony p/n 4-219-326-01:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Fix-Table-Error-on-Sony-CD-Changer

Looks like it is very easy to get to the Mechanism...but you'll have to remove the Disc Tray....which may or may NOT require removing ALL of the Discs....oh well....


OTOH: It should take a Tech less than an hour to fix your problem....but he'll likely charge you 1-hr minimum to take a look and order the Drive Belt and another 1-hr minimum to pop it back in.

 

[MTVhike]

Also, if I were to try to convert all these discs to digital format to store on a hard drive, what's the easiest and quickest way to go about that? I'm sure there are plenty of guides online but I figured I'd ask here too.
Dan G in CT

This query made me think about using a Bluesound Vault, a 2TB hard drive and CD reader. From what I understand, it's very easy to rip a large collection of CDs onto it, the only drawback I can think of it is its price: $1200. I do have a question, once your CDs are ripped, can the digital files be copied to somewhere else, i.e. a flash drive?

 

[duffer_mcmulliga]

Quadzilla,

I basically started the process with iTunes and made the mistake of ripping to 320 kbps intially and had to go back and re-rip to lossless. That was for about 1200 CDs.

Now when I get a new CD, which I still buy....I have both iTunes open and XLD. I have separate lossless library and iTunes library. The iTunes library feeds iPhones, iPod and the Apple Music and sharing to family members. The lossless library feeds my Squeezebox Touch and home system. It is around 24,000 songs I think. So took a while to rip.

However, now my system is this:

Insert disk. Both XLD and iTunes recognize disk (usually, XLD can be somewhat hit or miss.)I have iTunes on manual rip.

First, I have XLD set to rip to Apple Lossless (works best with my universe) with some checks and redundancy, but not in Super Paranoia mode. While the disk is ripping, if needed, I’ll search for album artwork, download and save to artwork folder. When done, if needed, I’ll add artwork with XLD. I then click iTunes and have it rip to the iTunes folder in 320 KBPS. ITunes is better at the artwork thing at least with newer disks.

For future, I have a couple of older iPods. I picked up a couple of kits to convert the hard drive to microSD cards, so I can get close to 1TB of storage, which will handle most if not all my lossless library. At that time,I’ll basically convert over to the lossless library for everything, unless I keep the lossy one for my phone. One iPod is going in my car and the other will go into our cabin music system. I just need to get up the courage to take apart two iPods and hope I don’t wreck em.

If you keep your CD’s in a box, and just rip as you are working away on the computer, it is a pretty seamless process. I think it took me a couple months to rip 12-1400 CDs. 400, could do 20/night, might take a few weeks to a month.

I missed the mention of disabled on the first post. Not sure if you could rig up a jig that made it easier to open and replace the CD and case....without knowing the nature of the challenge it is hard to say, but you sound pretty resourceful if you are looking at replacing a belt in a CD player....

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[glangford]

Quadzilla,

I basically started the process with iTunes and made the mistake of ripping to 320 kbps intially and had to go back and re-rip to lossless. That was for about 1200 CDs.

Now when I get a new CD, which I still buy....I have both iTunes open and XLD. I have separate lossless library and iTunes library. The iTunes library feeds iPhones, iPod and the Apple Music and sharing to family members. The lossless library feeds my Squeezebox Touch and home system. It is around 24,000 songs I think. So took a while to rip.

However, now my system is this:

Insert disk. Both XLD and iTunes recognize disk (usually, XLD can be somewhat hit or miss.)I have iTunes on manual rip.

First, I have XLD set to rip to Apple Lossless (works best with my universe) with some checks and redundancy, but not in Super Paranoia mode. While the disk is ripping, if needed, I’ll search for album artwork, download and save to artwork folder. When done, if needed, I’ll add artwork with XLD. I then click iTunes and have it rip to the iTunes folder in 320 KBPS. ITunes is better at the artwork thing at least with newer disks.

For future, I have a couple of older iPods. I picked up a couple of kits to convert the hard drive to microSD cards, so I can get close to 1TB of storage, which will handle most if not all my lossless library. At that time,I’ll basically convert over to the lossless library for everything, unless I keep the lossy one for my phone. One iPod is going in my car and the other will go into our cabin music system. I just need to get up the courage to take apart two iPods and hope I don’t wreck em.

If you keep your CD’s in a box, and just rip as you are working away on the computer, it is a pretty seamless process. I think it took me a couple months to rip 12-1400 CDs. 400, could do 20/night, might take a few weeks to a month.

I missed the mention of disabled on the first post. Not sure if you could rig up a jig that made it easier to open and replace the CD and case....without knowing the nature of the challenge it is hard to say, but you sound pretty resourceful if you are looking at replacing a belt in a CD player....

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Why not just rip to iTunes in lossless. When downloading to an iPod you can specify that songs be loaded at a lower bit rate than lossless. Keep the iTunes library in lossless and download to iPod in 256 or 320. (It transcodes while loading the iPod.)

 

[duffer_mcmulliga]

Why not just rip to iTunes in lossless. When downloading to an iPod you can specify that songs be loaded at a lower bit rate than lossless. Keep the iTunes library in lossless and download to iPod in 256 or 320. (It transcodes while loading the iPod.)

Definitely a possibility, however i have found it takes a ton of time to load songs if you are transferring more than just a few.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[glangford]

Yea, the transcoding takes some time, but I just do it at a convenient time I'm not using my phone and let it go. Several years ago I started reripping my entire collection and I was doing two libraries, a lossless and 256kb until someone pointed that feature out to me. I then deleted the 256kb library.