Sony CMTBX5BT CMT Micro Component System with Bluetooth Technology

I wanted to play music from my laptop onto this stereo so I bought the Iogear GBU221 adapter that was showing up in the "Customers Who Bought..."section. I got the bluetooth to play, but it cut off after about 30 seconds. I called Iogear 4 times trying to get this adapter to work by uninstalling the cd loaded driver and reloading the online one several times without success. I decided to review the comments on this product and one person said this Sony system requires Bluetooth 2.0. So I guess this adapter won't work and I wish Amazon had included this info on their technical details. Now the Iogear 2.0 adapter is showing up in the "Customers..." box. I ordered a 2.0 adapter and hopefully it will work.

I had a bluetooth probelm with my Macbook Tiger connecting to CMTBX5BT. But after I upgrade to Leopard, Apple somehow just fix the bluetooth problem. Its a excellent product. Nice Sound and very fancy look.

It's been about a month since I got a CMT-BX5BT and there are several things I would like to point out.

-It's very important to have a remote with today's music systems. When I received the box, I wanted to make sure there is a remote included but couldn't find any description on the box mentioning about it. I read in someone else's review here that it is included so I decided to open it anyway, and there WAS in fact a remote included in the box, ta-da!

-Another very important quality is sound, and this system does have a good sound quality. It is pretty loud too, compared to other similar products.

-Bluetooth was a neat feature, but I personally didn't find it too useful. If you are like me, CMT-BX1 is another option which is almost the same minus the bluetooth function. I compared it with this product at a store one day. Its speakers were slightly smaller, and the main unit's surface material had a different feel than this.

-Being able to play mp3 files on a CD is a great feature. However we are not able to browse through the folders while we are still listening to a song though. Maybe that's understandable for a music CD system like this.

-One complaint though is the button layout is a little confusing, and buttons are tiny. Then again, this product is equipped with many functions after all, so that was probably necessary in a way.

We could nitpick about other little things if we wanted to, but at the end of the day, this really is a great system, especially for the price we're paying. I would've given it 4.5 stars if I could but since it's not possible...okay, 5 stars!!!!!

This stereo is great for a desktop office or a small room. The sound is excellent for the price. I enjoy a lot of classical music so I like speakers that are clear and accurate. I don't need booming bass, even when I play Led Zeppelin. I got my computer hooked up to it via bluetooth, but I do have a minor complaint. Every time I change from my bluetooth connection to my computer to my audio in connection for my dvd player I have to reconnect when I switch back to bluetooth. It's merely the click of an icon on the computer, so maybe I shouldn't complain. There is no bluetooth button on the remote. Not a big deal, since you can use the function button to switch to bluetooth in three pushes. I was skeptical about the sound quality I would get through the bluetooth but I can't tell the difference between it and the wire connection, but my unit is right next to my computer. It would be nice if I could play it a little louder (only when I get drunk) but then the neighbors might have issues. The sound quality improved significantly when I moved the speakers further apart from my original placement.

Sorry Amazon, but I got a refurbished unit directly from sony for only $90, plus tax and shipping ($108). I have also bought an excellent Olympus camera refurbished. It was a great deal and I couldn't tell the difference between the refurbished Sony or the Olympus from a new unit at a much heftier price.

The basic functions (Bluetooth, CD/MP3 playback and tuner) work fine. Looks neat. I don't feel my money wasted on this.

Only a little bit of control issues:

1. Cannot change playback mode while playing: you have to stop playing CD to change between shuffle/repeat 1/repeat all modes. Most of time once I select shuffle, I use it for a long time so it's okay. But sometimes you want to listen to the music in order, or you want to skip to the right song quickly. In shuffle mode, you have to cross your fingers and try until it hits the right spot. All the other players I had can change the playback mode instantly. I don't know why this one cannot do that.

2. Reading CD slow: you should wait a bit of time (5~10 sec?) Not too bad but definitely slower than other CD players. My small portable palm-sized panasonic starts faster. It also takes longer time to change tracks on CD, compared to other players.

3. Cannot select Bluetooth as the "wake-up": I use this to wake myself up in the morning with the kind of music I like. You can select either CD or tuner for this, but cannot use the Bluetooth channel. There might be connection issues preventing this though...