Minidisc Players

The MZ-N1:
I got this about a month ago and I love it so far.

-Sound: 10/10, It's minidisc, it's got MDLP, it records in Type-R, it sounds excellent.
-Base unit control: 8/10, the controls on the front could be better, but I use the remote anyways. And the jog dial is an excellent of controlling this unit.
-Size: 10/10, so small, so light!
-Remote: 10/10, the remote is great, it is very easy to skip to whatever song you want with the easy-to-use job dial. The display is bright and clear.
-Battery life: 10/10, it keeps going, and going, and going...
-NetMD software: 5/10, It has a long way to go, but if you use the realOne plugin instead to download your music it works much better.
-Durability: 6/10, doesn't feel as sturdy as previous models
-Headphones: 2/10, the folding design *sounds* cool, but it hurts to wear them but the headphones that come with portable electronics are never good.

Haven't heard of Minidisc yet? A technically superior format to store music on, the minidisc was introduced in 1992, and yet never caught on in the USA. In Asia Minidisc made it big and is there to say. (As was clearly evident when I just visited Japan) But in the USA, minidisc was ignored for one reason or another, and has been compared to the Beta-Max format. Which is an interesting comparison, because just as BETA was techincally superior to VHS, minidisc (I believe) is Superior to the MP3 format. But minidiscs are making a comeback! Now all the new models are able to download mp3's from your computer as well as do all the things they were able to do before! In minidisc you can store your music in 3 different levels of quality called SP (highest, near-cd quality, ~320kbps MP3 quality, 80 minutes per disc), LP2 (medium quality, ~192kbps MP3 quality, 160 minutes per disc), and LP4 (medium-low quality, ~96kbps MP3 quality, ~5 hours per disc, ideal for recording lectures, ect... or if you don't have stringent music quality standards)

The minidisc's themselves (That hold the music, not the players) are small and durable, about the size of a 3 1/2 floppy, but very cool looking. They cost about [$] each (5 hours of music on a [$] disc, beats solid state flash cards anyday) They come in many different styles of all different colors. They also can be recorded on over a million times, and with the tracks already on there, you can divide the tracks, rearrange them, recombine them - it's like be able to mix on the go. The players very light and easily fit in a shirt pocket (About on par with a solid state mp3 player in size).

Now you're probably wondering why someone would choose a minidisc player/recorder over a mp3 player (and in some of the newest models, recorders as well).

I personally have had and used mp3 players from when they first came out with a Rio 300, and then moving on to a Rio 500. I've used some of the mp3 cd-players as well - though their ability to hold tons of music is nice, I don't really like their large size. Plus, as a medium, I find CD's to be fragile - they scratch very easily. Minidiscs however have a CD-like disc on the inside (magneto-optical instead of pure optical like CD's) that is protected by a shell, which makes minidiscs very durable. I can throw them on the floor of my car, or in the glove compartment and they will work flawlessly when I put them in my player.

Solid-state MP3 player have a few disadvantages (and advantages) compared to minidisc players.

Why Minidisk is better than mp3:
- You can bring along many minidiscs (which cost ~$2 each and store up to 5 hours) while flash cards are $$$ and it is only practical (for normal people) to own around 1 or 2 flash cards for their player. If you want to travel with music you want something small (Minidisc beats mp3-cd players) and that stores lots of music (Minidisc beats solid-state mp3). I traveled with a Rio, and I got REAL tired of those 25 songs after 2 weeks...
- You can record anywhere: when I hear an excellent track on a friend's discman (or home system, or mp3 player, or any audio source!), I can hook up my minidisc player right then and there and record the track onto my Minidisc!
- The battery life is massive - 110 hours on the mz-n1!
- You don't need to be tied to your computer to use it, though you can take advantage of your computer to use it if you feel like

mp3 advantages:
-Easy download to your player. But now with minidisc NetMD you can download your mp3's from your computer at high speeds that are almost as high as mp3 players, but they don't need to be as high because you only need to record a mix of your mp3's once, and then you can keep it and just swap discs. When you want new songs in a mp3 player you have to go to your computer every time, you can't just swap discs (unless you got mega-$$ for flash cards)
-I'm out of other reasons.

Go buy a Minidisc player/recorder!

Strengths:
The obvious strength of the Minidisc is the sound quality and the compactness of the unit. The unit is a snap to operate, sounds terrific and battery life is certainly well above average.
I particularly love the quickrip software that permits a quick burn from a CD to a minidisc. At the LP2 setting, you can normall fit up to three complete CDs on one minidisc with no audible decrease in sound quality.

Weakenesses:
As has been stated elsewhere the weakness of the minidisc/NetMD world is the openMG software. Despite a simple design and its ease of use, it can get a bit gummy and file-transfers can slow every so often. I certainly wouldn't *not* buy the MZ-N1 because of the software; the overall quality of the unit and the sound quality easily trump the occasional software hiccup.

Another frequently cited complaint about openMG is the check-in/check-out process. The software only permits a user to have three separate copies of each mp3 to be burned to separate minidiscs at a time. Similar to a library with three copies of each book, one cannot check out a book until one of the three copies has been returned.

While this feature has caused a firestorm of complaints about Sony, in truth it is a tempest in a teapot. The likelihood of you having four minidiscs with the same song on it that you are regularly listening to is highly unlikely. While we all have our own opinions on the mp3/RIAA battles, the openMG technology truly straddles the fence in a way that has little or no impact on the normal consumer. I have a ton of mp3s; I've never had a problem listening to them on my terms on my MZ-N1.

I highly recommend it.

Comparing to mp3: Bigger space to record. (on an mp3, with a 128 mb memory, you record about 16 songs, estimating 5mb per song. Also size is absolutelly small and only weights 77 oz.(according to information at www.sonystyle.com)

Comparing to CD player: Size and weight also are very different. Recording space is less, but wins over quality in LP 2 listening mode.

if you're searching for a music gadget, this is the one!