Brennan jb7

casflash

Hi im looking for a little advice.
My grandad has been looking at getting a brennan jb7 to store all his music.
He wants to store all his music in 1 place and has around 500 cds that he would like to put together.
Hes not very technical at all and struggles with any technology and this been 4-5 hundred pounds would like to make sure its worth it.
I suggested maybe a ipod and docking station but i dont know too much about these either.
Does anyone know about these or any cheaper alternatives? or any other suggestions
Thank you

googler

The Brennan is the better of the two solutions for the technophobe who has no need for portable music. By all accounts, merely insert CD into Brennan, and a minute or so later, the Brennan has stored it. Might take a few sessions to load them all, but you can just add them as you go. As far as I can gather, no tech knowledge required.

IPods are designed for portability, with docking a secondary consideration. You also need a computer to get the iPod to go; you load CDs into iTunes, on the computer, then transfer them to the IPod. Three boxes, as opposed to the Brennan's one.

Google 'Brennan jb7 review' or similar.....

alanrowell

Richer Sounds now sell them so you can get some idea of what they are like in "real life"

woo

They are a good bit of kit and it's as simple as googler says, insert the cd and it will rip it for you and look up the info from the in built db.

letsbehonest

Try looking at the Cocktail audio X10, much, much better than the Brennan, you get internet radio, built in 60 watt amp, removable HDD, you can buy them without HDD and buy your own bigger, smaller, having said all that it is not aimed at the Novice you will have to work at it.

closed

you could do much the same thing with a laptop/pc. Once it's on the hard disk, the player options are endless.

googler

closed wrote: »

you could do much the same thing with a laptop/pc. Once it's on the hard disk, the player options are endless.

Not a good solution for the technophobe, as described in the OP...

casflash

So is there not any cheaper alternative anyone knows of? As i think things are more of a novelty to him so just not sure its worth spend nearly £500 on.
Its not hard to transfer songs onto a ipod via a computer is it as i could help him with this.
Thanks

JohnG

Hi, I've had a Brennan JB7 for a couple of years now and I am very pleased to have got it.
It is easy to upload CDs, takes a approx 3mins for an average CD and is fairly straightforward to use.
It has a Data base for the vast majority of CDs so when you first upload a CD you can normally choose the album title - if it's not given as an option you have to enter it in yourself along with the tracks (if you want) but this normally is only necessary for new CDs. You can also download the latest CD Data base 'Free' for a more up to date list from time to time if required from the Brennan Website (putting onto a CDRW and then upload on to the Brennan).
I tend to have it on Random setting so it's brilliant to hear tracks that you might not normally listen to. It's easy to delete tracks too if they arent to your liking and set up a few play lists.
I did have an initial problem with the box when trying to connect to my Sony surround system and had to send it back for a replacement but they are very helpful and provide technical assistance efficiently if you need it. The replacement was sent out quickly and I then managed to sort the sound system out for maximim listening pleasure.
Also, being relatively small I've found it easy to unplug and take with you (along with a couple of small speakers) on self catering holidays in the UK for example - never been able to take my entire CD collection on holiday before!

The remote is a bit on the small side so could be considered a bit fiddly to work and find the right buttons to press?

I see the cheapest option is now £439 inc delivery I think I paid about £395 at the time. As I say, I'm very pleased I did - No more searching for CDs each time, a pain when you have a few hundred!

Hope this helps?

John

alpine_git

I purchased one of these as we are moving house (downsizing) and I wanted to put all cds,cassettes and vinyl on one small device. Whilst it is reasonably good for cds (taking about 5 minutes for the average c.d )it is not good for vinyl or cassettes These have to be recorded in real time and listened to whist you are recording.Any reduction in the playback volume reduces the recording volume(You are not told this in the instructions)I recorded approx. 200 records and cassettes many of which never made it to c.d I reduced the volume to minimum after the first 15 seconds never thinking that this would affect the Recording volume (which one adjusts previously)This took about 200 hours . I then took the records and cassettes to Oxfam . I have now lost £2000 of music . When Brennan is emailed there is no reply to the email and no apology for the appalling instructions .BEWARE

googler

alpine_git wrote: »

Any reduction in the playback volume reduces the recording volume(You are not told this in the instructions)I recorded approx. 200 records and cassettes many of which never made it to c.d I reduced the volume to minimum after the first 15 seconds never thinking that this would affect the Recording volume (which one adjusts previously)This took about 200 hours .

I'm sorry, if you spent over 200 hours doing this, and didn't check even a sample of what you were committing to the Brennan before disposing of your source LPs, you have nobody to blame but yourself....

I also don't see how you can complain about 'losing' £2000 worth, when you took them to the charity shop. If they were truly 'worth' £2000, surely anyone with any savvy would sell them on eBay for that?

Does not compute, I'm afraid...