User Rating: 2.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
I'm Canadian - I bought this for $599. And you thought YOU were ripped off?by - July 10, 2003
Pros: 1) Battery life is awesome. Though others complain about the copy-right protection on getting your home recordings back onto your PC, you can get around this. You buy a regular audio cable---hey, I got mine for $2 at the Canadian Dollar Store---put one
Cons: 1) Battery life is awesome EXCEPT for when you use your $150 Sony microphone to record say, two of your four 1hr lectures each Mon-Wed-Fri at university and want to review your lectures to fill in missing spots in your notes before your 20min walk back h
Review:
User Rating: 2.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
avoidby - June 27, 2003
Pros: excellent quality, recording and playback. great features. a beautiful machine.
Cons: stupid that you cant digitally upload your own recordings to your pc. for this reason alone i will never buy another sony product. minidisc has been made an effectively obsolete format. i spit on sony, shame.
Review:
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great for mostby - May 7, 2003
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Review: For all those people that complain about not being able to upload, you should have done more research. It works great for me and OpenMG hasn't been a problem even on a 600 P3. LP2 sounds great to me. The battery life is great plus its small. If you recorded something through the analog plug, then you can record it onto your PC using its line in. I bought 30 MDs at first, and i only use 18 of them so far. Each one holds two or three albums in LP2. And for people that complain that it takes too long to convert to ATRAC, if you have the original CD it takes just as long to rip it to mp3 as Atrac. For people who have problems with OpenMG, burn the cd you want to rip with nero image cd. Then mount it and use Simple Burner to rip it. Works more reliably than OpenMG. At the time i bought mine (Jan 03) the Zens were almost twice the price as i found a great deal on my MZ-N1 ($250)
User Rating: 1.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
I can`t upload my own recordings.by - May 4, 2003
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Review: OK, first i realize that i should have compared a little more before purchasing. With that said, in paying $350 for this item, i thought that i would have control of the music. I don`t, Sony does. This is fine for previewing mp3`s from your computer...but, you cannot put 292kps mp3s on the MD, guess which level....132kps!!! Worse yet, my intention to buy this was to hook up to my keyboard and record at 292 or 320 and then upload the file to my computer. NOT POSSIBLE WITH ANY SOFTWARE. i will have a hell of a hard time trying to get a refund so that i can purchase the Creative Labs NOMAD.
User Rating: 5.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
MD RULZ!by - March 17, 2003
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Review: I own the MZ-N1 and have read a lot of negative comments about it. My assesment is that if you're not happy with it then just return it and stop complaining. I have no problem with it whatsoever. I have a feeling that these people who give it negative comments keep the unit because they know it's the best thing out there for portable music at this time. Its like those cry babies who constantly complain about the French. If you're so upset then return whatever you buy from them and while you're at it, return the Statue of Liberty and Louisiana too. No? Don't want to? Then stop complaining!
User Rating: 0.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Sony netMDs Dont waste your money!by - March 11, 2003
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Review: Sony netMDs are a waste of time and money.Try archos jukebox its alot easier just drag and drop.
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great: But you should know....by - March 10, 2003
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Review: This is really a great product. I personally like my mz-n707 better though because its cheaper and it came with more. This model really doesn't have many more features than my model and it doesn't come with a car kit and a whole bunch of other stuff. No skips on both. Oh yeah.. about the software OpenMG Jukebox. Its bypassible. You can use Real Player and it saves your hard drive
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Excellent portable player/recorder.by - February 17, 2003
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Review: I purchased a new MZ-N1 recently for a really good price of $250 and I have to say I'm not disappointed. I used to own a MZ-R909 and this one is a bit better, even though I like the feel and design of the 909 over the N1. NetMD makes things much nicer. It sucks that you can't send music to the computer via USB, NetMD, but the old way of LINE-IN connection works fine for me. You can still record live audio and transfer it to your computer. All you need is the audio recorder program that comes with Windows or something like Soundforge if you're a serious. I don't understand all the crying (shrug). I use the MZ-N1 to sample sounds and record anything live and it fulfills all expectations.
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Nothing Better for the buckby - February 8, 2003
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Review: I have had this for a year now, no problems with the software, even when i had to compress to move everything to my new laptop, media is cheap and I love it!!
User Rating: 1.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Sony don't seem to know how to develop spftware for their MDSby - February 5, 2003
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Review: There's still no Mac support for the MD which makes it worthless for me
User Rating: 1.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Vvvvvery disapointing; copyright :-((by - January 27, 2003
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Review: Thought I would buy a usefull little gadget to be able to record and upload music and sounds to my PC for a CD production... Sorry, sony does't care if it's your own music or sound, IT JUST DOESN'T LET YOU DO IT. Why should ANYONE want to buy all these otherwise wonder features if it doesn't allow you to upload your music? Sony, please be serious. You're not my mummy...
User Rating: 3.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Excellent product, could be betterby - January 16, 2003
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Review: The sound is excellent, great info on the screen (not backlit unfortunately), very good battery life. What I don't understand is why Sony, with a little jewel like this, adds awful headphones and one of the worst and slowest softwares (OpenMG Jukebox), that makes it annoying to even use that interface (crucial by the way, for uploading mp3s in the device). Also, no analog uploads! Unbelievable constraint. The CD burner software is quite good instead. Oh well.
User Rating: 5.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Best of both world'sby - January 13, 2003
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Review: I recently bought the MZ-N1 replacing my Apple iPod which after one year of (normal) use left it in very bad shape. I am very impressed with the Sony Net MD, in my opinion a better by than the iPod. You can fit around 150 minutes of audio at LP2 recording on one single disc, or double that only slightly lower quality LP4. I've been using MP3's for years and I encode all my cds at 192kbps. I can tell the difference, and I thought that with LP2 it was going to be rubbish. I was proved wrong, the sound quality is fantastic. I'm yet to try LP4! With the Sony Net MD you get the best of both world's - an mp3 player with all the features of a minidisc player, and lets not forget the other features like sound quality (which is superb) So far, I haven't had any problems with OpenMG, ok fair enough it isn't the best piece of software ever created but it does the job. Alternitivily, if you don't like the sony software or you can't get it to work - you can always download Real One player (www.real.com) and download the Sony Net MD plugin, I use this all the time now, and it's much better than Sony's software. All in all, a great portable music device.
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
It's a pretty cool walkmanby - January 6, 2003
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Review: I think this ends up being a very good buy. most of you who are buying this don't try to edit music tracks!!! all most people want to do is listen to music. And it is great for that. The software is not bad at all. It is actually very easy and usable although sony could let you just transfer through windows explorer but whatever floats their boat cuz its no big deal. so anyways i give this two thumbs up and GO BUY IT
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Works great! Haven't had any of the major problems most people claim to have had.by - January 3, 2003
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Review: For a long time, I was trying to decide between getting an mp3 player or MD (to replace my now defunct Discman). What held me back from mp3 players was lack of features in the units that came close to what I was interested in. What made me skeptical of MD was availability and, in Sony's case, software problems. I read plenty of reviews on Sony MD's and in most cases people only complained about Sony's NetMD software (mainly NetMD software crashes) and it's check-in/check-out security provision. I've had my MZ-N1 for several months now and, to date, have had only one problem with the software: once in a great while, I might not be able check back in a track because of some error. Solution? Delete the track off the minidisc. This is the ONLY problem I've had so far and it's not much of a big deal. Since the software converts tracks to an ATRAC 3 format, it stores the converted files on your hard drive. That's my only complaint. While recording, the MD records tracks while converting others. I was able to convert and record an hour and a half of music in roughly 7min. Does it perform well for what I bought it for? Hell yeah! This thing is about 3 inches square so it can be squeezed in anywhere. Battery life is excellent using the rechargable battery alone. With a completly drained battery, it only takes 3hrs to charge and the result is 30+ hours of music (using LP2 mode). Playback from LP2 recordings isn't at all discernable from CD audio. I haven't tried LP4 yet. This unit has shuffle play (that doesn't repeat a track until all have been played), the usual repeat options, group play, and programmable playback. You can adjust the treble and bass setting as well as microphone sensitivity yourself. It has never skipped or crapped out on me at the gym. I mainly lift weights but have used my MD while doing cardio. I've also used it while doing heavy bag and pad work (I practice muay Thai) and it's been great! If you're just looking for something to take to the gym or carry around campus and/or record stuff, I wouldn't hesitate to get an MD. They're more flexible than flash mp3 players and are a hell of a lot sharper, too.
User Rating: 2.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Think Differently!by - December 26, 2002
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Review: I got my first MZ-R2 back in 95. It was shortly obsolute with ATRAC3, so I got a new home audio unit with a free MZ-E40 portable. Now I'm ready to venture into "NET MD" only to find out Sony doesn't include software for Macintosh. There's a hack for OS X, but I'm tired of hacks for Sony/ Macintosh. My Clie is worthless since I converted to iMac. Yup, there's another hack to get the PIC-100/ hotsync to work, but give me a break. I'm sorry, but Sony has a "preceived" value that fails to meet my needs. I've resisted the temptation to buy an iPod, because I like the removable media of a "Net MD." I guess I'll give in and buy the iPod afterall. Maybe the true in advertising should be "PC MD."
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
all I ever wantedby - December 26, 2002
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Review: try to get a better portable player, I could not! All I have to say is : Buy, Buy, Buy
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
The most versatile solutionby - December 26, 2002
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Review: I have just bought the new MD MZ-N1 and I must say it definitely fullfils my expectations. You can use it as a MP3 player (but with the possibility to bring hundreds of hours of music by taking all the discs you want) but also as a great way to record your own live sessions through the use of the MIC input. The sound you get is just terrific.
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great for CD-Rippingby - December 14, 2002
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Review: The speed at which I can connect the Sony MD to my computer, insert a CD into the PC and then copy music to my MD makes this worth the cost. I have a MD deck for my system. It is a pain to record at normal speed.
User Rating: 1.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Very, very bad softwareby - December 7, 2002
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Review: This software is begging to be cracked. Whoever writes a more usable interface will easily sell it! Quality hardware but petty protection that is more likely to make you NOT respect copyright. Even used proeprly it has awful bugs - rejecting some tracks ( says no codec!?) from my own unblemished CDs.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
The Best Portable Audio Player In the World!by - December 6, 2002
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Review: Putting aside the fact that the MZN1 is a pricey investment, you will recieve what you paid for. I've had mine for approximately 4 weeks and it is a superb unit. The sound quality and bass are absolutely astonishing, feels like your listening to it live! Everything about the unit is great. I'm sick and tired of hearing people complaining about the dodgy software, but if your computer meets the specifications required then you will not experience problems whatsoever! My software has never crashed and the songs don't take up much HDD space anyway. If your looking for portable audio with the best sound quality then go for this unit!
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Good size and featuresby - December 3, 2002
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Review: Ok, this is my first player, either MP3 or Minidisk. But I like the size of the unit, fits into a pocket easily. I still haven't played with the remote as I just record and use the thing. The comments on the software are bogus as I load songs from my CDs while I am doing other things on the computer. Fast enough and even Rachmaninoff sounds great. I am transferring Eagles Live while I write. I guess if you are ripping and want to put something back on the PC, you would have to use the output jack. Big deal!!!
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
The best portable player you can getby - November 18, 2002
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Review: Its been over a year since I bought my MZ-N1 and I decided to celebrate it by putting up my review. To start with, I only recharge my battery once in two weeks. The player, which looks pretty fragile, has survived some harsh falls from my bike and from my stairs. Never heard it skip before. The software is great too, only regret being that you have to convert a track to ATRAC3 before burning it onto an MD. The headphones included (in the US model), are terrible so you might wanna invest in a better pair. Also, there is no carry bag/case available (with the US model again) so it would be a good idea to get one of those. And yeah, I didn't find the copyright protection thing a pain in the butt at all. It just doesn't allow u to upload your recordings which has to be done with an anlog cable then.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Excellent... if sony software was better!by - November 18, 2002
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Review: This MD is really marvellous, don't look for an other one if you can afford this one. Only one major problem Sony openMG jukebox software provided by Sony. It's copyright protection is just stupid the way it is done but still it is easy to use.
User Rating: 3.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
You Can Upload!!!by - November 8, 2002
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Review: Although the MZ-N1 has all the USB kit, it cant upload to a PC this way. However with a little bit of "lateral" thinking which a lot of peeps seem to be lacking! You can use the earphone jack to capture music thru a PC's mic socket. Although some quality is lost its not enough to really worry about...
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Copyright Protection makes it to limitedby - November 6, 2002
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Review: With all the rumors going around about how good the Sony MZ-N1 is I went out and bought one for my girl and while I was there I decided to buy one for my self too. After two day’s of using it found out that you can’t copy from MD to CD or edit a track using a different program because of Sony’s Copyright Protection it’s a big problem I think that it is to limited you basically cant do much with it not just that the software is below standard. If it didn’t have the Copyright Protection scheme I think that it would improve it by 80% I recommend waiting for a program with none of this Copyright Protection Sh** or just buy an mp3 player the unit is really good but like I said before the software is below standard and the Copyright Protection sh** is a really big problem.
User Rating: 2.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Don't be fooled - a lower price model will do the same!!!by - October 26, 2002
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Review: Sony gives us a great digital RECORDER. With one BIG drawback - you CANNOT transfer your recordings to a PC. Forget about recording your professor, your mum's piano concert or the soundtrack for your next movie and upload the stuff to your PC for editing. Even the top of the line MD won't let you do it. So get a cheap one, because al those extra features of the MZ-N1 look nice in the brochure, but are absolutely useless to the user. I took mine back to the store.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
"I learn something new about it everyday"by - October 13, 2002
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Review: I charge it once a week. I can download virtually anything on it, and IT FITS ON MY ARM. I'm happy. Sony's software is somewhat of a dead wieght, but when I'm done recording, life is so much easier.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Minidisc forever!by - October 11, 2002
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Review: This product will last you a lifetime. So does the battery, it seems. Very good quality. A bit costly but worth it.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
GOOD HARWARE...V POOR SOFTWAREby - October 9, 2002
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Review: OpenMG sucks the big one! Check in , check out consumes too much hard drive space, copyright protection, cant delete PC audio files etc. Find and download Simple Burner, much better program with no copyright restriction and checkin/out nonsense. Unfortunately must have OpenMG installed for it to work.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
What's next?by - October 8, 2002
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Review: Have been waiting too long already for this music machine, looking forward to the next features from this series
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Excellent economy and sound quality relative to relative to MP3 playersby - October 8, 2002
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Review: Very durable. I get great sound quality even on the LP4 setting. 5 hours of recording on a $2 disc.
User Rating: 5.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Nice sound and GShockby - October 7, 2002
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Review: Best sound and even better for the sportive - jogging, cycling etc - no skipping. Instead of OpenMG I use RealOne which has not let me down yet. I struggled with crashes and hangs in OpenMG.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Quite an impressive MD playerby - September 30, 2002
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Review: NetMD function is great. Transfer rates from CD to MD is amazing. I don't know what all the idiots are complaining about with the sound quality of LP4!!! They must be those guys which just complains about everything, what a bunch of losers!! Admittedly its not as great as CD quality, but it sounds fine.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
best minidisc out thereby - September 30, 2002
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Review: I bought this through bestbuy.com and have had it for a couple days. SO far so good. I wish I could determine how much capacity selected files will consume on the the minidisc before I start recording. I also need to find a good belt-clip or arm-strap as nothing is provided in the original packaging.
User Rating: 3.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
I have one and recomend it!!!by - September 26, 2002
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Review: I love all the features and so on.. But i do not like the service side of things hard to get some one to fix them!!!
User Rating: 5.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great Replacement!by - September 14, 2002
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Review: I had the MZ-R50 since 1997 and it was fine. But after my friend got the new NetMD, I just had to have one. I've had the MZ-N1 for 24 hours, but I'm pleased. Comparable to my old one,I like the smaller size of the N1, the screen display, the lit remote, and of course the ability to record not only lots more music, but at a much faster pace! 1 gripe: No carrying case?? My friend bought the model under this and got a nice carrying case and cool headphones. This one came without a case and lousy headphones that hurt my ears. Oh well. I guess they put more into the unit than accessories to keep the cost down
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
This Mini Disc Rocksby - September 14, 2002
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Review: I have had mine for about two weeks now and I am very pleased with it great size sounds great and easy to use I heard alot of people in other reviews complain about the software but I have not had any problems and thought it could not have been any easier to use its a little pricey but once you get it you will be glad that you did it is a much better option than a MP3 player
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great toy; software needs UI testingby - September 3, 2002
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Review: The player itself is wonderful. I'm continually amazed at how much it can do for such a small (and very cool) package. Inexpensive, long-lasting, skip-proof discs. Rugged player. Neat remote control (I get the most questions/jokes about it). I don't mind the proprietary format, the copyright protection, the inability to copy music to another computer...I have a problem with the user-interface of the software. Not very intuitive, hard to master, and generally not well designed. If I don't mess around with the UI for a couple days I forget all the idiosyncrasies of the software. I'll get a replacement as soon as possible.
User Rating: 2.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Software kills this otherwise nice playerby - August 30, 2002
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Review: Sony and their constant fight against copyrights have killed their own product. Getting the music to the device is the hardest part...I returned mine after a single day of trying to copy my MP3s to it. You have to: 1. Build a playlist 2. Convert the playlist to Sony proprietary format 3. Copy the playlist to the MD. 300MP3 took 12 hours.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great quality MD playerby - August 29, 2002
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Review: I have owned probably 13 different Minidisc players- The NET MD is a great new addition to the MD world. Whats great about this setup is that is automatically copies the text information off the CD (song titles, disk names) and copies it to the MD, saving you hours of time tediously typing in names with the Jog Dial. As with any new technology though- it has a few drawbacks- you can only copy files in MDLP 2, a lower than normal quality (still, the difference is barely noticeable to the human ear) and you cannot download the files to another computer. Overall, its great, & Im sure theyll get better throughout the next couple years. email me w/ questions taking8@hotmail.com
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
i bought one after having an mp3 player and i love it!by - August 27, 2002
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Review: This is way better than an mp3 player and the disk are way cheaoer and better that the memory sticks. I love it!
User Rating: 5.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
No Problems!!!by - August 26, 2002
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Review: I ve just bought a MZ-N1 in Singapore and it is by far, the most flexible MD i ve ever seen! i ve read through all of the comment here so far and i think i ve some of the solutions that might help! The download speed is slow to some of u because it wasn't USB2.0! The MZ-N1 connection was meant for USB2.0 which was a lot faster than the conventional USB1.1 - I burn the whole of Eminem mp3s of 20 tracks to my Mz-N1 in less than 5 mins using the LP2 mode! No jokes. And the sound quality is good as well! One thing though, the ATRAC is not 24 bits, which is not so cool as compared to some better quality model! but it sound ok! I also must add that the software is very useful for editing your title of the songs, as u can juz type in the title of ur choice using keyboard, click and drag the tracks in the order you want! I mean, maybe there are some minor setback about this Md! but know your pc system before buying, having the highest spects in your pc can make the hell a lot of difference! And btw, try to use your own mp3 software that supports p2p or which you might think can find the most of your songs.. The Software provided is not especially meant for mp3 search! it is meant for Transferring DATA! so perhaps having a better mp3 search engine, and a faster spects PC wif USB2.0!! All of the problems can be solved!!
User Rating: 2.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Badly Coded Softwareby - August 24, 2002
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Review: After waiting months for my Sony MZ-N1 i found i couldnt record Mds because the software crashed after coverting 9% of a track. According to Sony this is quite a common problem and now i just want my money back.
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
want to enjoy MD now, the first should be SONY MZ_N1!by - August 23, 2002
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Review: i always trust the quality of SONY's products. Now i want to use MD to enjoy music and i think the first one must be MZ_N1 although i must use one month's salary to pay for it
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great product but some downsideby - August 23, 2002
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Review: The good.. (1) Excellent quality and features. (2) Amazing playback time..with a AA and the included..over 100 hours! (3) MD media holds an amazing amount of songs in lp4 format. I held over 70 songs in that format. Very good sound quality. (4) Low-cost media Now for the bad... (1) Booo! Sony Software. OpenMG blows! Bad move Sony
Copyprotection will just backfire on Sony. Funny Sony hardly mentions this in their specs. It burried in the specs. If not for user and magazine reviews you would never know about it. (2) $300 machine and NO CARRYING CASE!!!
What's up with that?? (3) Price (Get what you pay for though - So its a minor consideration imo)
User Rating: 5.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Best MD player!by - August 20, 2002
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Review: I bought this MD player and it is by far the best portable music player I've ever seen. Because it's a SONY product, you really can't argue the price, but it's definitly worth it...
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great product held back only by software.by - August 20, 2002
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Review: The MZ-N1 is the best portable MD in the world and if it was not for the limiting software it would out-rate the new hdd mp3 players like the iPod for example.
User Rating: 2.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
can anyone answer this??by - August 19, 2002
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Review: im just enquiring, im getting one soon and i'd like to know if the transfer of the songs from usb supports text?(like the name of the song + artist etc.. Anyone help? thanks a lot
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Usless for Me: Can't upload to PCby - August 17, 2002
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Review: I bought this to do field recordings. I was told at Circuit City that I could upload tracks to my computer. This was a BIG FAT LIE! Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Sharp models allow you to upload, either. There is a petition going around to get Sony to change this, but I'm not hopeful. I'm planning on returning this item. If you want it for other reasons, it actually seems to be a nifty device. But I agree with C-Net that the non upload-ability makes this a sow's ear.
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
best port md yet have owned 8 md rec. in the pastby - August 16, 2002
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Review: great light weight , jog dial fab, amazing battery life, etc , etc
User Rating: 3.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
I have the right to do as i pleas with my own musicby - August 15, 2002
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Review: I can not even download my own flies to my BRAND NEW MD707
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
It's a great product but not being to upload music brings it down.by - August 15, 2002
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Review: Sony's Net MDs are very good. As you would expect from Sony, Net MDs are full of features and are made with quality in mind. However not being able to upload you music really defeates the being able to connect it to a computer. If Sony adds uploading to Net MD software, then Net MD will be perfect.
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
A couple inaccuracies...by - August 15, 2002
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Review: A couple inaccuracies in Mr. Van Buskirk's review: 1.) You can get 80 minute discs that allow up to 320 minutes of recording in LP4 mode. 2.) Transfer time in LP4 (poorest quality, longest playback), for a file that has already been imported into the Sony software, is about 32x. LP2 (medium quality) transfers are about 16x, and SP (maximum quality) transfers are about 2x. 3.) You can charge the N1 by plugging the AC adapter directly into the unit. Just plug it in and press the "Stop" button. This is the same on all Sony minidisc portables since the MZ-R55 that came out four years ago. Admittedly, the software needs some work, although it's not as bad as some claim.
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Drag, Drop, Goby - August 14, 2002
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Review: It's so easy to change music around on the minidisc via PC. Drag n drop the music you want, it transfers over and then you take off. If you dragged over like 10 songs, and want to re-arrange them on the disc, just drag them in the order you want. The disc's are re-writable, and it almost seems shock proof. If you "pack" your MD player on your palm like a pack of cigarettes, the music will play on flawlessly. I hope this product is the beginning of the rise of MD, though the unit is still a large investment.
User Rating: 1.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
software disaster, hardware incompleteby - August 14, 2002
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Review: The software is terrible, even if you discount the protection element which shouldn't be there in the first place. As long as any of these MDs (and other portable recorders) lack digital OUTPUTS, I will not buy them - well, I take them back after playing with them for a couple of days. The manufacturers, not only Sony, just don't get it!
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
good all around unitby - August 14, 2002
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Review: the N707 can pretty much do what the N1 can, and at a cheaper price. but i had to get the N1 because it looks cooler. plus, the magnesium shell has a better feel to it, than the plastic shell of the N707. anyway, i think most people will agree that the software is nothing great. the check-in/out feature is lame. i don't see why we are limited to 3 check-outs. no big deal. the Simple Burner app is a great workaround. i just burn my MP3's on CDRW as a closed session audio cd. then i use Simple Burner to rip the songs onto MD. then i erase the CDRW and repeat the process for my next batch of MP3's. easy cheezy. some people should actually take the time to think about solutions and workarounds, rather than b itch and complain. as for the ability to upload music to your PC... well that's a technical limitation in the current generation of MD units. it's not a software/firmware feature that Sony intentionally crippled. i'm guessing that Sony will implement the upload feature in the next generation of MD hardware. i know there are a lot of musicians and DJ's that would really appreciate this feature.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Quality Product thats Easy to Useby - August 13, 2002
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Review: I bought the S2 waterproof MD player to use for jogging. It never skips, the battery life is amazing, and its ergonomics are great. It was $179 at Best Buy and the media is very inexpensive. You can just make each seperate MiniDisc its own playlist. The only pain in the @$$ is the Sony proprietary software, that you must use to transfer music, is slow and has a very annoying check in/check out feature. Hopefully someone will find an easier way to transfer the music right from WM Player, winamp, or Musicmatch. But still has more positives that outweight that slight negative. As for peopel talking iPod, i am sure its great but do you really want to take your $400 non waterproof MP3 player jogging where it will get wet and possibly dropped?
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
copywrite restrictions is nothingby - August 13, 2002
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Review: hahah... This player works great and best of all the copywrite restrictions is a joke. I love it. Buy one if u have the money
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Works great, I love it!by - July 1, 2002
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Review: I really like the jog dial feature that lets me find songs quickly. Wish the software would automatically add the artist name too when naming the MD tracks.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Awesome player!by - June 24, 2002
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Review: Well i just got my MZ-N1 Player today. It it just simply awesome. No problems with installation of the jukebox software. The only problem i had was the earphones. I had to go out and get the MDR-E888LP. Other then dat i think it is an awesome md player.
User Rating: 5.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
best md for the next generationby - June 22, 2002
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Review: Net MD is the way to go. You can create md's with same amt of 3 cd's in minutes. This player rocks.
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
No software problems for me!by - June 16, 2002
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Review: Don’t be fooled by the complaints about the software, I have had no real problems. Installation was easy, and without reading the manual at all I managed to create a playlist of MP3’s and get them downloaded. In LP4 mode, 4.5 hours of music to the player in under 30 minutes. This is TOO easy, and the software has not crashed on me. Maybe my lack of trouble is because I don’t install buggy MP3 download software on my machine. No, the DRM is not great but it doesn’t really bother me (and there are ways around it anyway). The software is designed to download music at high speed and it does this job just fine. But the fact is, this is an MD recorder, you don’t really need any software. And it is a great little recorder. All metal case, 3 line display on the unit, light weight, and it just sips at its batteries. LP mode for MD is the real blessing here. Yes, you can hear the difference between Standard and LP4 mode if you sit and compare them, but that isn’t fair for real life use. Sitting in a car or plane or jogging, you will find that LP4 provides all the fidelity you need and gives 5 hours per disc. But discs are dirt cheap, so the choice is yours. If all you want is to play MP3’s, go somewhere else. For those looking for a small and advanced MD recorder, this is about as good as it gets right now.
User Rating: 2.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Attention: Software extremely defectiveby - June 16, 2002
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Review: For an expensive item such as this, consumers could expect better quality software. While I do not like copy protection schemes, these would not be a major difficulty if the software worked. It does not. The device must be connected to the computer USB port. A hub will not do: a direct quote from Sony's unfriendly support site: "If the USB port currently connected to a bub - The USB cable should be directly connected to your computer as portable players do not support the use of hubs." The grammar and spelling translate the absence of attention to detail. The aesthetics of the screens are bad enough to make it sometimes impossible to read (or find) menu items. In summary: nice machine but if you wish to manage music from computer for replication in mini ddisk wait fro an improved software or an alternative program!
User Rating: 4.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
An Excellent Portable CD Replacementby - June 9, 2002
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Review: I was initially turned off to the MiniDisc format. It seemed like just one more proprietary format destined for obsolesence like Betamax. However, as I prepared for an extended trip I took a second look at the format. I read reviews and eventually bought the MZ-N1 for $269.00 on Ebay. I must say I am more than happy with this unit as it has surpassed all of my expectations. It is so small as to be all but unnoticiable. It holds over 2 1/2 hours of music on each disc in the "LP2"(Long Play) mode and, to me, the audio quality is excellent. You can erase and reuse the discs or change the order of the songs. Contrary to some of the other reviews here, I have had absolutely no problem with the software. It allowed me to create my first MD in about 15 minutes from songs downloaded off the internet. It is so easy to use you don't eve need a manual. I have no problem with its copy-generation limits as I just use it for personal audio. Also, contrary to some other reviewers, I have no problem with Sony support. Sony's websites are excellent, email customer questions are promptly answered and, when I have had to send other products in for repair they have been promptly returned. This unit has opened up a whole new world of audio options for me and I highly recommend it to others as an alternative to bigger, heavier and more software-intensive CD's
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Very Good Unitby - May 26, 2002
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Review: I bought the MZN1 to replace my MZG750 because I have a *lot* of MP3s and i thought this would be the answer to my problems. Surprisingly enough it was! i would saythatthe value was fairly good as it cost me UK£220 (about USD$320) and most places were selling it for UK£260 (USD$380) support not so good, i have dealt with UK sony customer support before, and they were really unhelpful the quality of the unit is lovely, it's so small and classy looking with it's "full metal jacket"(the primary reason i bought this over the MZN707) the features are good, this was what i was looking for in a minidisc palyer. i have heard people moaning about the upload capability a lot, ok so you can only do it in real time, this is not a major problem for me as i don't upload much, and if i do (i make MP3 copies of my friends bands gigs for them) i can leave it on overnight and let it do it's thing then. and i have heard people have problems with this copy protection checking in/out thing, there *is* a way around it, and it's not that hard.....just think about it
i also haven't had the problem of the software crashing, it has crashed once or twice, but that's because i've been doing several other things at once overall i would say that this unit is very good, but if apearance doesn't bother you much and you are only looking for the NETMD capability, i would reccomend the MZN505 instead....oh and whatever unit you buy, you'll need new headphones, the supplied one's may not sound *too* bad, but wait until you replace em, you'll notice the difference then!!
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Good Hardware, Bad Software.by - May 19, 2002
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Review: +VE: Very Fast file transfer from PC. Does not skip -VE: This unit comes with very buggy software and cheap headphones. I hope Sony will come up with a better software. Other than that I love this unit. Its Sound quality, size and battery life is excellent.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great - just one problem so farby - May 12, 2002
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Review: The only drawback I've found is that the battery compartment cover comes open very easily without warning. Has anyone else had that?
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Thumbs way upby - May 9, 2002
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Review: this is like the coolest thing out there. It got recordable mic (separate order), LP2, LP4 and the battery life is super (over 100 hour with 1 aa and 1 recharable battery). Light weight and stylish. You got to get this!!!
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
finally a breakthrough in real time recording !!by - May 8, 2002
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Review: i'm happy that i can record 80 songs 32x faster than it took me before with my mz-r900.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great Options for Hard Core Minidisc usersby - May 4, 2002
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Review: Many useful options such as folders and track titles, plus PC organizing.
User Rating: 3.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
nice machine. hate sony.by - April 28, 2002
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Review: i got the sports model of thsi mp3-ready minidisk player. here's the basic run-down: well built player, except for awkward joystick-based control. try it out before you buy. you may like it. i don't. the big drawback: terrible software. there's the annoying checking in/out songs thing. it's absolutely useless, but tolerable. what's not is the program crashes all the time. don't buy this thinking "oh, it's not that bad. i'll find a way to deal with bad software." sack up and get an mp3 jukebox. you'll have all the capacity you need, and you'll be able to organize it nicely in half the time it takes to run this dud.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Expensive but definately worth itby - April 14, 2002
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Review: I bought this player for a ripoff price from my local sonystyle store- £260. I could have bought it for 200 on the internet but wanted it to take on holiday (it was the day before leaving). Basically this recorder rules, on first impression the case is very sturdy and reasonable on looks(not really sumthing i worry about), the player is basically the size of a minidisc, give or take a couple of mms, except 2-3x the width. The software is annoying but not fatal, under win2k it hasn't crashed yet, and keeps up its promise of 32x recording (people should note this slows down to 16x for LP2 and 4x for Stereo). Because i don't have much music in mp3, wma or whatever it supports, and to avoid the openmg thing with only 3 records i rip the music to wav using winamp, then use openmg to convert to atrac and transfer to md on the fly. In a few hours i had created my playlists, installed and worked out how the software works and recorded 6 mds to take on holiday. The first thing that hits you, or fails to hit you is the battery life. After numerous long plane and railway trips, as well as plenty of waiting on the platform- dam italians, the player was still...well playing. Infact I was still listening to music halfway through the train ride home, when it ran out and the aa adapter was quickly and easily attached and i continued listening 2 music. It goes without saying that the sound quality is good, and i'm doing a test with the 3 forms of compression at the moment, the difference seems to be very little. The G-protection skip thingy seems to work as it hasn't skipped yet, although i have only used it for walking, not jogging or nething. The leather case that comes with it isn't much good- hunting for a decent 1 atm. Finally the interface and remote is fine, with lots of new options and stuff, but there should be a few more dedicated buttons on the main player. I admit that i'm not likely to use it for many of the things that other people find annoying, such as no digital upload etc, but it is a completely different league to mp3 players for similar prices. It is about the size of an average flash mp3 player and holds roughly double or triple the amount of songs...on one md. That can then be taken out and a completely new one placed in for less than £1, providing hours more music; the battery life assuring that you can listen to that music and finally rivalling that of cd players.
User Rating: 0.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Phelhleh....by - April 11, 2002
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Review: Don't like it. I'm not kiding. No mac Suport. Slow, Buggy, Crashs, Won't play a song if it crashs. And OpenMG won't even reconize a cd when it's iin the drive. I shall take back to store soon.
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great Player but..by - March 30, 2002
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Review: Excellent player, classiest design (the silver magnesium cover rox) of any portable audio player i have seen yet highly durable.I splurged out nearly s$600 on it but i still find that a bargain since that is only us$330. Nice remote and good interface. lightweight 2. BUT openmg SUX> Crashes unlimited number of times and poor range of customizable options. ALSO, the copyright things SUX. It barely "protects" anything and only creates a great hinderance about. Luckily, I do not trade mds to much wif friends or do anything much wif live recording. I knew bout dis before i got it and later on but still figured it was worth it. However, there is a analog to digital output despite inability to upload it digitally. for odinary pop music, there is VERY LITTLe diff. between stereo and lp2. there is a SLIGHT more diff. for classical and instrumental music. as usual ,the sound is great and the transfer speed is VERY MUCH FASTER than normal record.THIS is much BETTER than tose flash memory players wif $50 worth memory tat contain only 16. Quality and battety life(longer than ur turtle) is MUCH better 2. 2.Evaluation (in us dollars), Md $300, "netmd" USB transfer function $150, openmg software -$120. still worth it.
User Rating: 4.0 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Player is great!by - March 30, 2002
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Review: The software is a little sketchy at first, but when you get used to it, it is really helpful. The 32X recording is great for when you need to record something fast!
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great unit, fatally stupid softwareby - March 25, 2002
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Review: I bought the MZ-N707, the next generation MZ-N1. The unit is high quality, but comes with a cumbersome amount of really stupid software. You almost need to be a programmer to set up the software, and the Copyright Protection is a deal breaker. After installing everything and trying to burn an MD of MP3s, I finally gave up and returned the unit. If Sony thinks that DRM software is going to stop the proliferation of internet derived digital music for free, they're going to be left in the dust. I've gone back to my 4 year old Aiwa AM-F70, and I'm going to pick up a Sony MZR-700DPC soon - all of the digital, but no stupid software or clumsy copyright protections. Consumers of the world, Unite!! Tell Sony to give up the retarded, poorly thought out attempts at copyright protection.
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
finally found you!by - March 24, 2002
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Review: actually from a long term perspective, the battery life of minidisc is one very good factor to consider using it. I have over the years used flash-based MP3 players, CD-MP3 players and MD players and ultimately I settled for the MZ-N1. A little expensive (since the other cheaper models are not out over here in Asia) but frankly it met ALL my requirements which wasn't very picky. I have no use for live recordings, realtime recordings. All I want is relatively fast transfer to the player and i'm not a sucker for ultra-quality so Lp2 mode is good enuff for my ears..... it can record up to 3 album of songs which typically means 30-35 songs on an MD..... a lot actually...........more than enuff for my commuting time..... even the flaws mentioned in OpenMG Jukebox didnt really affect me cos Lp2 mode is seriously quite ok unless ur ears are as good as my dog's. Next, the battery life is amazing when the rechargeable and the AA is used. Though Sony exaggerates a bit of its long battery life, I find them so lasting that I hardly buy batteries any more. Besides the MD player is quite light and small size usually, even the cheap models...... Blank MDs are oso quite cheap and they are protected by a sturdy plastic outering. enuff said.............i like my net md
User Rating: 3.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
DRM is uselessby - March 15, 2002
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Review: This is a great unit, but Sony is far too concerned with DRM (digital rights management). if i record a minidisc of my band playing a song, i cant upload it digitally because the unit, and sony's crappy software, assume that i do not own the rights to my own recordings. for just listening to music, its a great unit, but sony needs to get software that can at least recognize the fact that if i make a song, then i can do whatever i want with it.
User Rating: 2.5 stars
out of 80 user reviews
Great hardware...CRAPPY SOFTWARE!!!by - March 11, 2002
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Review: It's too bad that the Entertainment division at Sony runs the whole frickin' company. This player is a great machine which relies on some of the worst software I've ever seen. The software is called OpenMG Jukebox. Its sole function is to babysit you and make sure that you don't make too many digital copies of anything. Its interface is a clumsy emulation of Windows Media Player or some of the other crappy jukebox software out there, which normally would mean that I would never, ever use it. It has crashed several times in the 4 hours that I've had it installed. Also, you'd better have a big hard drive, because it makes an "optimized" copy of any MP3's that you encode to MD. These so-called "optimized" copies are encrypted so that you aren't naughty and try to give your friends MD's which they would digitally upload to their computer...not that they could do that, anyway, because Sony has conveniently neglected to include a digital output on this device. Thanks, Entertainment division. You continue to try to ruin a perfectly awesome technology. I'll still use (and love) my player, but I've rarely seen software so desperately in need of a good hacking. Bottom line: machine=awesome....software=godawful monstrosity which should have been strangled in the crib.
The good: Tiny; excellent design; connects to PC via USB; excellent battery life; great sound quality (both recording and playback); uses cheap, removable media.
