Rating: 
Summary: regret for buying Mini Disc all these years!
Review: Mini Discs are not the best choice when it comes to portable music players. They are actually the worst. They look nice and designy though, but that's it!
I used to buy Minidiscs and I have a minidisc (model Sony MZ-N1 Net MD player/recorder) and I thought it was the best thing,...But I changed my mind after I got a compact CD player that also reads MP3's. When I got to use my CD/MP3 player it was so much faster, more convenient with a great CD quality sound, that I never looked back to my Minidisc ever again. That Minidisc is collecting dust somewhere!
Here are some reasons why Minidisc players are bad compared to CD/Mp3 players:
1. Mini Disc is too slow in recording and transferring your songs. CD/MP3's are faster, you just burn one CD at a fast rate on your PC and you are on your way. Put tons of MP3 songs on that one CD and you are done. Calculated, transferring your songs and MP3's to a CD is 15 to 20 times faster than the Minidisc! Or should I say the Minidisc is just 20 times slower! And keep in mind that my Minidisc is a top of the line model, imagine the lower Minidisc models, how slow those go compared to the average CD/Mp3 players. Simply put Minidisc is a waste of your time.
2. On a Minidisc you can only put 74 minutes worth of music. If you want more you can double or triple the Minidisc capacity and have 5 hours of music on it at the maximum, that's it, you get no more. In order to do that you have to record all your tracks on LP mode (long play) and with my so called top of the line Minidisc I had the option of LP-4 as well, but then in any of the LP modes the music quality lowers dramatically! The sound on the Minidisc is completely tarnished to a low quality pulp! So stay away from any LP mode in order to record more songs on your Minidisc!!!! You record more songs but you loose all the quality. If you want to have decent sound quality stick to the normal SP mode (standard play) and with that you can never record more than 74minutes of music on your Minidisc, that's IT!That is the maximum you get out of the Minidisc. But with a CD/MP3 player you have 1 single CD where you can have up to 11 hours of music on it! You read this right 11 hours, with a crisp CD quality. So, the Minidisc with its 74 minutes capacity on each disc is just too limited next to the CD/MP3 player that can handle 11 HOURS of music!
3. If you need more songs to carry around with your Minidisc, you have to have at least 10 Minidisc cartridges, just in order to equal the same amount of songs on a full CD with MP3's! Imagine the amount of songs and the variety of selection that I have with my CD/MP3 player with carrying only 1 single CD with me. If I wanted to do that with the Minidisc, I would need to record 10 Minidisc cartridges and carry all the 10 minidiscs with me all the time. Exchanging the discs every time you want to hear something new, and putting all those Minidiscs in your pocket,...It's just too much hassle. With the CD/MP3 I have all of that recorded on 1 CD, worth of 11 hours of music! With great CD quality.
4. Just imagine the cost of buying all those blank Minidisc cartridges, compared to the 1 blank CD! Plus keep in mind that one blank Minidisc would cost you 6 to 8 times more than a blank CD. Just do the math on the 10 Minidiscs that you need to equal the same amount of music that goes on just 1 CD for the CD/MP3 player. Do the math on that! Minidiscs are just too expensive.
At the end go with a CD/MP3 player, they also read CD-recordables as well as CD-Rewritables. They are fantastic! Even their average models out do my top of the line Minidisc. I have them both and I went with the CD/MP3. I regret for buying the Minidisc and paying $$$ for it!
I wish I had discovered the CD/MP3 sooner, because not that it gave me better quality, is faster and saved my time and that it is more convenient, but it costs a lot less money. Just go and compare them here at Amazon or any retailer.
There would be only one reason for buying a Minidisc though, if you just don't know any better. Or you just like to throw away money and your time. Or maybe you just like to carry around all those tiny Minidisc cartridges with you! Other than that Minidisc is just a waste of machinery to me, I can't say how much I regret for buying Minidiscs all these years and coughing up all that money for it. As a consumer I hope others won't make the same mistake, go with a compact CD/MP3 player. I know I did, eventually.
Rating: 
Summary: Magically delicious
Review: Sony's top-of-the-line MD recorder for the US market, the MZ-N1 is exactly like the rest of the line, but exceeds its lesser brethren in the following areas:The remote. It feels good, looks great, and has an integral display. You can't imagine what a convenience this is until you've tried it. Line out. If you do field recording, it is great to be able to get your audio into a line-level input without having to fiddle with the volume control. Build quality. It feels a bit sturdier than lesser models. I'm fairly sure the mechanism, DAC, and amp are the same for all models, but the N1 feels extra solid. If you don't need these additional features, might as well buy one of the cheaper ones... but the N1 remote is incredibly cool and useful. The N1 has the same great sound as the other Sony MD players - better than any portable CD player you can buy, and at least as good as the best solid-state memory MP3 players available. MP3 quality varies greatly depending on the encoder and bitrate selected. ATRAC, the minidisc compression technology, is more mature than MP3, and it shows in the sound quality. LP2 is virtually indistinguishable from standard play mode, which sounds better than any portable CD player does, and it lets you put 160 minutes of music on a disc. Last, but not least, like all of the other portable MD units in Sony's North American line-up, it lets you record analog or digital signals, anytime, anywhere. Try that with a portable CD player.
Rating: 
Summary: Serious problems uploading recordings done with external mic
Review: The minidisc can be used for several things. Among those: 1) listening to songs recorded in CDs. I have to say I am very happy with this fonctionality. 2) Recording songs with an audio microphone (not included).Very interesting fonctionality for people who play music and want to record themselves in rehearsing or live concerts (in my case, playing the violin). This is what I bought it for. The quality of the recording is excellent, given the means and compared to previous non-professional portable analog formats. Serious problem: the software included does not permit to upload songs to the computer not downloaded before so you can not transfer it easily to other audio formats. I asked Sony customer service and basically after three tries of their complex web support system I got either no response or authomatically generated useless responses.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best MD players/recorders on the market.
Review: Unlike in the UK, the Minidisc (MD) technology never really caught on here in North America, most likely due to the fact that the media and players are pricier than the relatively inexpensive CDR or MP3 options. As a technology, however, it far surpasses anything on the market, so buying one for me was an easy decision. I decided to go with the Sony MZ-N1 for a variety of reasons, and it has more than lived up to my expectations. Pros: 1. Build Quality. Many of the lower-end MD players/recorders are made of plastic which makes me question the durability. The MZ-N1 is made of solid metal, and can easily withstand the expected bangs and clashes in your bag or pocket. The carrying case that's provided goes further to help protect the player. 2. The USB cradle makes transferring songs fast and incredibly easy. The player comes with the required software that functions exactly like regular CD burning software. It works fast, meaning that burning an entire album takes around 5-7 minutes, rather than other players where you need to record all the songs as they are being played. The burning application is also remarkably easy to use, and automatically looks up the song titles and insets to track breakers for you. 3. The remote control is excellent, and will make you wonder how you ever got along without one. The display is backlit, and displays the song title, along with other vital. There is a small learning curve with the volume control, since one dial is for both skipping and adjusting the volume. You need to "snap" the dial upwards to access the volume control, and snap down again to skip through the tracks. This takes a little bit to get used to, but it is better because there are less buttons to fiddle with. 4. The jog dial on the player itself makes accessing particular tracks quick and easy. In this respect, it is very similar to an MP3 player. 5. Battery Life. The rechargeable battery provided is not the best, but when combined with a dry battery, this player will last for weeks before a change and recharge is needed. As someone who is used to using a CD player that required a change at least once a week, this is especially useful, and cost effective no doubt. Cons: 1. The number of characters you can program into a particular MD is limited, so if you add a lot of tracks, the song titles will stop being recorded after the character limit has been reached. This will only happen is you record on level 4 (the longest, and why wouldn't you?), around song 65. Otherwise, it's not a huge problem. 2. Some MP3s will not record onto a MD. MP3s recorded at a lower level (meaning the lowest quality, which is the most common since it saves HD space) will not be readable on a MD, and the burner will not allow them to be copied. I don't know the reason for this, but it is problematic. 3. While the burning software provided is excellent, the jukebox software is horrible. It is cumbersome and frustrating, and since the instructions are inadequate, I recommend avoiding it. If you have Windows Media or I-Tunes, there is no need for it anyway. The MZ-N1 was a wise purchase for me, if for nothing more than the USB cradle that saves loads of recording time. It is remarkably durable and easy to use, so it is a great purchase for both people buying one for the first time, or upgrading their old one.
Rating: 
Summary: The best sony personal audio ever
Review: when i first looked into getting an md player, this was the first one i saw. i saw the price was a bit steep, but when i got it, i realized it was well worth the money!!
it has everything from a backlit remote, to a clock display.
you can also record from any other audio device with the right cable. some of the other people in the reviews said it wasn't good, but i don't know what they're talking about. it is great. the supplied accessories are good too. the software is a little complicating, but you get used to it. definetly buy the Sony MZ-N1 Net MD Player/Recorder!
Rating:
Summary: Zen vs Archos vs Net MD vs IPod. Zen Wins!
Review: Zen vs Archos vs Net MD vs IPod. Zen Wins! I have tried out almost every conceivable large capicity MP3 player out. Hands down, for price, value, look, and durability, the Nomad Zen has it. Here's my breakdown. Nomdad Zen Looks nice and from an American company, Creative Labs. Its easy to use interface, great sound, slightly smaller than the archos and a bit bigger than the Ipod. Built in battery but dies after 2 years or so. No problem, according to the Creative Labs website. They'll replace it at no charge when it dies. And yes it has shuffle and such an easy to use playlist, including a LCD screen remote -- how cool! Battery life is pretty good too. I found the Zen to be a superb overall value. IPod A great looking player built by an American company, Apple. The Windows interface is *okay*. The ipod is the smallest, and it has a built in battery, which when it dies, the Ipod is useless. Too expensive for a disposable MP3 player. Decent sound. Archos Jukebox A lot of features, looks strange, and a bit heavy from the French Company, Archos. Who needs a 1.5 screen to view multimedia -- a useless feature IMO. To change the volume, you have to go through a series of buttons. Why? Ridiculous. However the Windows interface is the best out of them all; just drag and drop in Windows Explorer. Sound is okay, it sounds flat. Net MD This is the Sony MiniDisc player from the Japanese giant, Sony. I tried out the N707 and N1. They're small, great battery life, and they look great. Minidiscs are cheap and they hold 80 minutes of music plus data. Minidiscs are about a dollar a piece, but can only hold 169 MB of data -- its major drawback. You have to use Real Player with the Sony MD plugin to bypass the stupid anti-piracy software Sony included. I own over 750 CDs, and it made it impossible to make discs of my favorite songs if one song was on more than one minidisc. To get around it, I used the RealOne player from RealNetworks. Price, a bit expensive for low capacity. But they are by far the smallest and look the coolest.
Rating:
Summary: Zen vs Archos vs Net MD vs IPod. Zen Wins!
Review: Zen vs Archos vs Net MD vs IPod. Zen Wins! I have tried out almost every conceivable large capicity MP3 player out. Hands down, for price, value, look, and durability, the Nomad Zen has it. Here's my breakdown. Nomdad Zen Looks nice and from an American company, Creative Labs. Its easy to use interface, great sound, slightly smaller than the archos and a bit bigger than the Ipod. Built in battery but dies after 2 years or so. No problem, according to the Creative Labs website. They'll replace it at no charge when it dies. And yes it has shuffle and such an easy to use playlist, including a LCD screen remote -- how cool! Battery life is pretty good too. I found the Zen to be a superb overall value. IPod A great looking player built by an American company, Apple. The Windows interface is *okay*. The ipod is the smallest, and it has a built in battery, which when it dies, the Ipod is useless. Too expensive for a disposable MP3 player. Decent sound. Archos Jukebox A lot of features, looks strange, and a bit heavy from the French Company, Archos. Who needs a 1.5 screen to view multimedia -- a useless feature IMO. To change the volume, you have to go through a series of buttons. Why? Ridiculous. However the Windows interface is the best out of them all; just drag and drop in Windows Explorer. Sound is okay, it sounds flat. Net MD This is the Sony MiniDisc player from the Japanese giant, Sony. I tried out the N707 and N1. They're small, great battery life, and they look great. Minidiscs are cheap and they hold 80 minutes of music plus data. Minidiscs are about a dollar a piece, but can only hold 169 MB of data -- its major drawback. You have to use Real Player with the Sony MD plugin to bypass the stupid anti-piracy software Sony included. I own over 750 CDs, and it made it impossible to make discs of my favorite songs if one song was on more than one minidisc. To get around it, I used the RealOne player from RealNetworks. Price, a bit expensive for low capacity. But they are by far the smallest and look the coolest.
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