Anyone have experience with the Sony MD portables that play mp3s? (1 Viewer)

[Aaron_Morris]

I have been seeing them on eBay and they have begun to tweak my interest. Wondering if anyone has used them and has any opinions on them. I don't think they actually play mp3s but rather convert them to ATRAC or what ever it is minidisc reads. I'd really like to get a portable MD payer and figured that these might be a good way to go.

 

[JeremyFr]

I have one of the more recent "netMD" player/recorders I really like it and no it does not play MP3 but rather uses sony's propietery atrac format. They claim that you can fit 5 hours of music on 1 MD which is true but the quality isnt the greatest. They feature 3 recording modes, SP, LP2, and LP4. SP being the best and LP4 being the worst. Really I can stand either of the extended play/record modes and always stick with SP. Its nice having a portable that plays for 50 hours on 1 AA battery and the sound quality in SP mode rivals most CD players for the most part of course depending on the source recorded. Overall I find it quite handy and reliable as well as well built its already been dropped a few times with absolutely no damage. I'd recommend it if you're interested in one.

 

[Aaron_Morris]

Which model do you have?

 

[Craig_Kg]

I pretty much agree with JeremyF except that I often use mine as a source for my car stereo and for this application LP2 mode, which doubles the storage, is fine as the loss of detailis only just noticable. LP4, which quadruples the storage from SP, is noticably poorer and only suitable for background listening IMO.

Also, while the player uses ATRAC, the PC software will convert MP3 into ATRAC so you can listen to net downloads that way.

Oh, and I love my MZ-707 but the 505 is almost identical. These are the lowest spec and earliest netMD players by Sony.

 

[Angelo.M]

Also, while the player uses ATRAC, the PC software will convert MP3 into ATRAC so you can listen to net downloads that way.

The Sony NetMD players aren't for everyone. I had one for about a week, and couldn't tolerate the very cumbersome, and very non-intuitive 'OpenMG' software. Having to convert MP3 to yet another format was time consuming and tedious, and the software's scheme of 'checking in' and 'checking out' songs was absurd, and a thinly-veiled method of copy-limitation.

Sorry for the rant; you can tell I didn't like it, right?

I will say that the sound quality of the unit I used was excellent. MiniDisc players have their supporters, but until Sony re-thinks their software, I won't be one of them.

 

[Ben LG]

My sister just picked up the Sony MZ-N1 for about $300 over the Apple Ipod. I agree with Angelo about the annoyance of the whole checking in and out of songs, it would be better if it was like Creative's drag and drop interface with their mp3 players. Helped my sis record some mp3s onto a minidisc and I guess its bareable but could be better. I am however very impressed with the looks, size and most importantly the audio quality of the player.

 

[Jeremy Little]

Here's loads of information for you guys.
http://minidisco.com/netmd-info.html

And here's how to get around the check-in check-out process using Nero.
http://www.minidisct.com/forum/showt...&threadid=4825

I hope it helps.