The switch to Sony MD...is it worth it?
Written: Jan 21 '04 (Updated Jan 22 '04)
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Pros: Size,number of songs that can fit on one minidisc..amazing,Sony brand of course,shockproof..really
Cons: SOFTWARE is terrible,takes a long time to convert songs to Sony format
The Bottom Line: Some things need improving while others do not.Sound quality is great,shockproof and very portable.Media can fit a large amount and is fairly cheap.Very nice
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| oneballjaywax's Full Review: Sony Net MD Walkman MZ-N707 Personal MiniDisc Play... |
When first looking at a portable music device (lets say a Walkman for short) to listen to my many Mp3s I was torn between 3 different types: a portable CD player that can play Mp3s on a CD-R/RW, an Mp3 player that can accept memory cards (i.e.,MMC,CF,etc.) and the Sony Minidisc player in particular.
The minidiscs themselves are fairly cheap and durable.They claim to have the advantage of being written/erased/rewritten to up to 1 million times.We will see about that :).Also check out ebay as MDs can be picked up fairly cheap in bulk.They also sell ones with pretty cool designs on them.I haven't seen any really fancy blank disks in the stores as MD players have never seemed to really catch on as much in the US as it has in other countries.Japan has the good stuff in this case.Like stated above compared to other types of media for MP3 players Minidiscs are cheap.And while some MP3 player can fit thousands of songs onto them navigating that many can't be too easy and these units are usually pretty costly.With a MD player just pop in a new disc.
On a side note when I purchased the Sony MZ-N707 MD player about year back this was the 2nd from the top o the line that Sony was making, they have come up with newer models that actually have a tuner built in so you can grab some radio stations with the units..nice little feature as I think only one particular model had this option back then and if memory serves it was pricey, it seems more common place with their newer models.
My first reaction the Sony MD player was..this thing is really small.The unit can fit comfortably in almost any pocket, looks really nice (got the blue color) and is pretty easy to use after getting use to it after a while.
The package came with:
the MZN-N707 player (no kidding... right?:)
1 blank blue 80 minute MD
a charging cradle w/power supply (just a stand that it can rest in while charging)
1 AA Nimh rechargeable battery (this thing doesn't need it..will explain below)
1 optical cable (have not tried it yet but going to try to grab some sounds off my playstation 2 using this cable..PS2 does have an optical out so...)
1 USB cable (for connecting the MD player to the computers USB port)
1 set of earphones (regular old earphones nothing special got a set of earbuds later and threw the pair that the player came with in the drawer)
carrying case/pouch with belt loop
Car kit which included cig.lighter charger/power supply,cassette adapter (allows unit to play through a cassette deck..nice for in the car) and a plastic tube type thing with a cut in it used to keep all the wires together in while in the car
This unit does come with a rechargeable AA battery but in my opinion it is kind of useless.You do not get the same battery life as a regular old battery and this thing sips slowly on the batteries, if memory serves the battery life is about 50 hours of playback (a lot lower when recording to the unit) the rechargeable was a lot less.In so many words if you pick up a 6 pack of AAs you will be good for a long time.
Sound quality is good, by default it is set with some kind of sound limit control (for hearing protection..so its not too loud? who knows) but it can be easily turned off within the player sub menus.As said before put the headphones it cam with in a drawer and use a pair of Sony earbuds that wrap around instead.
My biggest problem with this player is the software.The updates have fixed the reliability so it doesn't crash as often but it takes a long time to convert songs.I have only converted Mp3s to Sonys' ATRAC format so I am not familiar on doing it from a WAV or other formats but the process should be about the same. To convert the song/s find the directory that holds the MP3s and select convert...then wait for a very long time.
Mind ya I am working with a older AMD 500mhz machine but it should not take around 1 hour to convert 10-12 songs.The starting songs (mp3s) were encoded @ 128 bit rate then after running it through the program it can convert them to 132 bit rate ATRAC songs (also has 96 bit rate available if memory serves but never used it),don't think its possible to go from lower quality to better but, the end result is sound quality that is very good.
Also when converting to ATRAC you are allowed to "check out" the songs up to 3 times.All this means is once a file is converted it can be copied to the MD a max of 3 times.Say you copy it to the MD you are now down to 2 songs but, you can also check in the songs...copy from the MD to the computer.This is Sonys way of preventing files from being shared..kind of stupid.If you exceed the number of checkouts just convert the song once again...not that big of a deal.
On one more side note be VERY,VERY careful in deleting songs within the software.I am not going to get into the settings and in which order the songs should be deleted and which folders BUT, DELETING THE SONGS WITHIN THE PROGRAM CAN ALSO DELETE YOUR ORIGINAL SONGS/MP3s FROM YOUR HARD DRIVE.Very sneaky on Sonys' part I must say.I am glad I noticed this early on.
After converting the songs just burn to the MiniDisc via the USB cable and thats it your good to go.The conversion takes a while but the actually burning time is very fast.The amount of songs that can fit on a disc is something.I average around 33-36 songs on each 80 minute MD..not too shabby.
You can also record on the fly with the player.I have used it many a time to record lectures in class with a simple microphone.The sound quality is always perfect.Another nice feature is you can insert track marks when recording something very long such as during a speech (or my use within class).Track marks allows you to "break up" a very long recording so you can jump from one area to another.They can be inserted manually or automatically...nice feature.
The only other problem with the player I can point out is trying to get songs/voice from the player to the computer.Sony has designed this player so the music files/songs can only be copied to the player not vice versa.
In other words you can use the USB cable to copy songs from the computer to the MD player but you can not go out record from say a CD player to the MD player then Upload the songs to the computer via the USB cable.You can do it through a miniplug to miniplug cable (output through earphone jack on MD player and input through computers audio in) but the sound quality isn't that great...a lot of background electrical noise from the computer.
The Sony MZ-N707 does have some limitations but, I love this thing.I bought it so I can use it while snowboarding and listen to it while it the car.When they say this player is shockproof they mean shockproof.I have dropped it (please do not try at home:) from about 4 feet onto a carpet and it did not skip a beat.Also while hitting a few jumps while snowboarding and hitting a few potholes in the car..never a problem with the sound skipping.
If you have a fast computer for the song conversions and don't plan on uploading music from the player to the computer too much then get this thing.I have been very happy with it.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 110
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Epinions.com ID:
oneballjaywax
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Reviews written: 30
Trusted by: 2 members
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