I have had a string of disappointments with cheap electronics maker Memorex. Almost everything I have owned that they have created is just a cheap and lesser imitation of a better product. I bought a walkman CD player made my Memorex several years ago. It touted great features, such as an AM/FM radio and MP3 playback. Yet, every one of its features was quite poor. The CD player had the speed and performance of a first generation player from the 1980s. It was incredibly slow at changing tracks and fast forwarding. Eventually, some buttons got stuck and I destroyed the device violently.

Later, still a couple of years ago, I bought a portable Memorex CD, radio, and tape player. This was the kind that sits on your desk, but has a handle, and is small enough to carry. It has turned out to be pretty awful, too. The sound is okay, actually. That is not the problem. The performance of the CD player is not good. This is especially evident when you try to loop around the end of the CD back to the beginning. It takes forever. When you open and close the CD lid, it has the snap and feel of a 10 cent piece of plastic. Plus, the radio gets horrible reception. Absolutely horrible! And the tape player, while rarely used, ate a book-on-tape that I had borrowed from a friend. Overall, it is a really crappy device.

While I am ususally a stickler for buying top brand electronics, I went with the cheaper Memorex brand while trying to get the cheapest buy I could at the time. I have since learned my lesson. You really do get what you pay for. Memorex sucks. The name is worth no more than the bottom of the barrel companies named things like SimpleTech or CyperPower. I have bought plenty of their writable CDs and DVDs over time, and do not recall having any issues with them, but I doubt I’ll be buying any more.