This must be alien technology.
Written: Sep 02 '02
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Pros: Super small, light weight, great battery life.
Cons: Player only, can't record.
The Bottom Line: Amazing machine. Unless it breaks there's no reason to replace it ever. It will make all your friends drool.
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| fizbeam's Full Review: Sony Walkman MZ-E900 Personal MiniDisc Player |
I've had several MD players and recorders over the years and finally purchased the E900. It may be the last player I ever buy. It is an absolutely stunning piece of technology.
First, the size of this unit has to be seen to be believed. Basically it's about the size of a MD inside its plastic case and perhaps as thick as two MDs on top of each other. There is no display on the unit which doesn't bother me at all, though some people like the display on the front. It's done in a fabulous brushed magnesium that looks just great, and I think looks much nicer than the next model up, the E909.
The weight of this thing is also pretty hard to believe. It's light enough that when it's in my pocket I forget its there. And thin enough that it doesn't make a bulge. For someone like me, that means that I can walk around with music available all the time.
Battery life is very good, something like 40 hours in regular SP mode and up to 100 or so in LP4 mode, more if you attach the external AA battery. That's not something you would ever want to do though because it nearly doubles the weight of the unit. But it's nice to have the battery around as a backup in case your internal runs out of juice on you. Recharge takes a little over an hour.
Sound quality is good, especially with good headphones. The power output is good enough to drive any reasonable sized cans, though maybe not good enough for very large ones. Unfortunately the sound settings are limited to regular and two bumped up bass settings. The E909 allows full control over both treble and bass which is a definite step up. Also, this unit doesn't have support for song groups which is a bit of a hassle if you have several albums recorded on one disk.
The G-protection is great and the unit appears to be unskippable. I'm sure that a sustained earth quake could make it skip, but anything less than that doesn't seem to bother it.
This unit differs from the E909 also by not having different colored lights to show what play mode its in. The 909 lights up in green, orange, or red, depending on SP, LP2, and LP4 modes. The 909 has a red light that comes on any time it's playing. Unlike the 909, this light can't be turned off, which just seems like a waste of battery power. But, on the plus side, this is a better looking unit (I think), without the weird lump on the top that the 909 has, as well as having easier to use buttons on the unit itself (the remotes are essentially identical).
After getting it I did run in to a minor problem. For some reason it wouldn't play any disks. Just made clicking noises. I shipped it back to Sony who fixed it for free. Apparently just dirt in the mechanism. But since I've always stored it in a protective pouch it does make me a little concerned that it's vulnerable to slight amounts of dirt.
Overall, this is a great machine. The 909 has a couple of nice featuers, but I think they are outweighed by the much nicer look and feel of the 900.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 250
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Epinions.com ID:
fizbeam
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Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 1 member
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