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Rating: 
Summary: Durability could use some work.
Review: I bought this recorder for my record company. For that it works great. I can take an optical cord, and plub into this recorder directly from my mixing board. NOTE: This recorder has ONLY a LINE-IN jack, so if you want one with a phantom powered mic jack, don't buy this. Meaning, you cannot just plug a microphone directly into this. You need the sound to come from a machine with some form of amplication, unless it is incredibly loud.The main reason for 3 stars is the durability. I dropped my recorder once, and the machine opened, and the Minidisc flew out. The latch to close it also bent, in addition to the door coming partway off, and I had to repair that in order to get the unit to close and functino properly again. This is odd, as I had heard from others that this was a durable unit, and usually Sony products can withstand a beating. Currently, I am residing in Japan, where I just purchased the SONY-MZR909. It has yet to make it to the American market, but keep your eyes out. It's got many new features that the 500 lacked. Mainly, it has a powered mic jack. It also supports MDLP, and has a group mode, so you can split up the tracks if you only want to listen to a few. It has a new system called personal disc memory, where it stores your sound settings on each disc, and retreives them each time you change discs. This is a good first recorder, but if you can afford it, go with a higher line product.
Rating: 
Summary: Great MD player
Review: I have had this player for 2 weeks now and I am very happy with it. When you opoend the box you get - One sony MZR500PC mini disk player. It has a metalic blue aluminum top, and a dark clear blue plastic bottom. The plastic is very tough, and won't break. Also you get a whimpy 3 inch 3.5 mm to 3.5 mm headphone jack cord (Standard size headphone jack), a pair of decent headphones - good bass reflex, but don't "bounce", a Instruction manuel and a PC link, which you just pop in to your USB port and windows wil do the rest, no cd reqiured - (Unless you dont have some drivers that are on the Win9x, Win Me, Win 2000 or XP. it IS compatible with Windows XP, theres a booklet on how to instal it on Windows XP. If you have WinAmp or another Mp3 player that alows you to create a play list, you can start it up and just let you MD player sit there recording. If you have the time you can title a song while its recording, which helps in finding the song you want to listen too. Whats really nice is the 35 to 40 hour playback on a SINGLE double a (AA) sized battery. Sony claims 48 hours, but if you stop the MD (MiniDisk) or any thing else that drains batteries, you get less time of play back. No AC adapter is included, but if you have rechargeable AA batteries you can use those. Battery lifes are as follows - play Back 30 - 40 hrs. Recording - 6 - 10 hours. The display on the unit has a volume meter spanning across the top, 5 point battery meter to the left, then track lenght, record time left or remaing track time is displayed (Changed from option menu), then there is a 6 character disply to the right (shows track names - MD title - Menus) There are not many buttons on this MD player, every thing from Bass Boost to record quality is done through menus. You press a botton and a menu will pop up - Edit, Bass, R-Mode (Record Mode) and so on. There is a Hold button o0n the back of the player (IF its turned on, when you press a button it won't do anything. Youd use this if you put it in your pocket. Its about 3 x 3 inches and less then am inch thick. Sound qualitys can be set for - Stereo (Full CD quality) Mono (Mono but still cd quality - Twice as long record) LP2 (Twice as long record + stereo, cant tell the diffrence) then theres LP4 (Four times as long record) which doesn't sound good. I don't know why they have this, some say its for lectures... but theres no microphone jack on this model. If you want one upgrade to the MZR700PC. Also theres no remote. And theres no space for a remote. Ill just clear up what jacks it HAS. 1 - Headphone 2 - Optical In 3 - Digital in (2 and 3 are in the same jack, its weird, but a optical cord goes through the jack to another jack because its like a half inch long plug. Phew, long sentence.) and finally it has a 3 Volt DC in plug. One thing i thought was funny is I live in Maryland, which is called MD. Get it? (Forced laughs)
All in all this is a great Mini Disk player AND recorder. Very small, well built and conserves power well.
Rating:
Summary: Where's the Jog Dial?
Review: I love minidisc players, and this is the second one that I've gotten. This one does have some pros, the best being the PC Link which is wonderful. The small size is great, and I love the built in AA batter holder so that it isn't necessary to recharge. However, after using this recorder for a while I have two issues with it. My first issue is the lack of a jog dail which makes it easy to change tracks and input titles and is an excellent addition. My old minidisc player had one, and I didn't realize how much I used it until it was gone. The second problem is that it is difficult to record. Pressing the two buttons at exactly the same time can be difficult, and it becomes more complicated when the minidisc is not completely blank. My advice is to wait until the Sony NetMD comes out in March which will allow you to record off of the computer at up to 30X real time recording instead of real time.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for the MiniDisc Beginner
Review: I recently purchased the Sony MZR-500, and it has proven to be one of the best investments I have ever made. I chose this over an MP3 player, and it has satisfied me greatly. The sound, although not as powerful as other portables, is very very refined. The BassBoost is clean, and the sound is sharp, smooth and perfectly balanced. There is a 10 milliwatt amp inside this device, and it is more than enough to power a pair of decent earbuds. One word of advice: treat yourself to a decent pair of earbuds or headphones. They make the listening experience much better. The PCLink option is decent. The battery life is great, too...although recording sucks up a lot of battery power. The unit, might I add, is quite solid, and feels like a quality piece of electronics. I have a few gripes though--first, they don't include a power adaptor, nor a rechargeable battery... they should be included. Second, the included headphones are god-awful--replace them. Third, they dont include an optical cable, or an RCA splitter cable. Fourth, you can't use a remote with this player, and there is no microphone preamp. I say, save your money and go with the MZ-R700, or even the MZ-R900 or 909, since they come with everything you need. If you are strapped for cash though, I whole-heartedly reccomend this MiniDisc player, and you will not be dissapointed with it as long as you don't care about what it lacks. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: This product [stinks]
Review: I thought that the minidisc player [stinks]. I was stupid enough to buy one without knowing that it records in real time. It records at 1x real spead. That is terribe!!! I was trying to save money and not buy a cd-r. So i got ripped off, because right now, with the new model it records at 32x speed. That pisses me off. I am disgusted with this product.
Rating:
Summary: On the go Hi-fidelity
Review: I've been putting off buying a portable listening device since my last '90 Aiwa tape player. But after seeing the Minidisc in action - it's a definite buy and constant use gem. Sound quality? Can you say OPTICAL input. You cannot get any better sound resolution than this; any decent DVD player has an optical out; decent CD players too. RCA IN is a plus (not included) and the PC IN option is mediocre - it is convenient with all the CD-R/PC/MP3 formatted music. It's got a two-stage added-bass feature that works quite well. The standard headphones are excellent - an updated version with position detents for fixed fit. The remote fob device is essential for total playback+record control once your MDplayer is tucked away in the pocket. (look for the RM-MZR55 remote with backlighting if you want to upgrade) The unit has never skipped even with major motion, jostling, or shock. I haven't done a drop-test, but I'll skip it for now. The biggest drawback is the lack of a custom case/holster for the unit; it does come with a bag, but it isn't adequate for protection or carrying with any confidence. Plus, the lack of backlighting on the main unit is a bummer. It comes with it's own AA ni-cad battery and charger, and runs for a prolonged period of time ~ 6 hours playback, 1.5-2x as long on a regular AA. The half-sized ice cream sandwich form kicks the CD portable players to the curb. It isn't as ubiquitous as some MP3 players - but why would you want to drop several dimes on something invisible. Personally, the anodized blue colored one has more impact than the silver, but the form and interface overall is a delight. The battery bulge just slightly cants the display up, the button separation and placement works great for easy access. I find excuses to block the world out and listen to high-fidelity music on the go.
Rating:
Summary: Minidisc is better then most MP3 players
Review: Minidisc is better then most MP3 players, but nobody ever really talks about them. I went into the store to look at MP3 players. I wanted something that was small, could hold all my favorite music, and have all the features of a CD player. I enjoy working out at a gym (music is a must) and the cassette player that I was using was just not what I wanted. The person at the store directed me towards this product. I looked at the reviews for it and decided to buy it. The player is about the size of a deck of cards. One minidisc can hold 1-4X the music of a CD, depending on which recording setting you use. The battery life is really good, better then most CD players. The added hookup allows you to record off of most anything. Plug it in the headphone jack of any device or connect it to your USB port on your computer. The computer connection acts like an audio output device (a.k.a. a speaker), it doesn't matter what format the music is in. The minidiscs run about $[money] a peice. I've used it at the gym for over 2 mths now. I've dropped it twice and it's held up. It's nearly impossible to make it skip. The only drawbacks that I found are that it is real-time recording, to record 80-min of music, you have to play 80-min of music. Battery life is less during recording mode (it only requires 1 AA battery, though). Labeling the songs is time-consuming, but that's not a big priority for me and I don't do it anyways. I wish it had a belt clip, I've been sticking it in my pocket at the gym. One final thing is that most people in my area has never heard of minidisc. I found this player at one store, but they didn't have the mindiscs. I found the minidiscs on clearance at another store. I have to drive 50 miles to get more discs and other accessories or order them from online. Overall, this product is definitely what I was looking for. I can take my music almost anywhere. Everybody knows what an MP3 player is, but if you compare the two, minidisc blows them out of the water!! The storage media is cheaper and holds more music. The battery life is allot better. I can record from different formats. It's small and durable. I am happy with this product.
Rating:
Summary: My preferred music mix device. One of my favorite toys.
Review: The first thing you need to know about this player is that it is not able to do any digital recording. Analog recording only! That's by no means the end of the world, but if you are serious about using a minidisc player a lot, you might want to pony up the extra funds and go digital. On the other hand, analog recording means you don't have to fool around with any dubious computer software, so its not all bad. Minidisc players are great for several reasons. The player is microscopically small (and just plain cute!). Minidiscs are removable (like a cassette or a CD), so you can fill up dozens and dozens of discs with different recordings. (This is why I use minidisc and not MP3. I need to have no less than 12 hours of music on my person at any time. With a portable MP3 player, this is just not practical. With a minidisc player, its a walk in the park.) Minidisc players handle the shuffle feature far better than CD players ever will - there's never any pause or noise between tracks. Recording is ridiculously easy; all that is required is a headphone jack. You can hook your minidisc player into any stereo, walkmen, amp, casio keyboard, television set, or whatever and record music in real-time (i.e., if the song is three minutes long, it takes three minutes to record it). This is great for recording on the go - like say you're at your friend's house and you hear a new song you just love, you can plug your minidisc player in and record it right then and there. Hooking up to computers is also quite easy, but recording from your friend's computer isn't a seamless or quick process (this device is pretty monogamous when it comes to computers). Minidiscs can be recorded over again and again, and you don't have to record or erase everything at once. You can record and delete tracks one-at-a-time. This is not like your CD Burner; it works more like a really advanced cassette deck. On the downside, minidisc players have moving parts, and therefore may skip if bumped or jostled (whereas an MP3 player you can throw in a washing machine without it skipping). My first and foremost complaint about this specific unit is that it doesn't get very loud. I don't know whether this is a side-effect of the recording process, or is a limitation of its output. What I do know is that if you walk through a high-traffic neighborhood, or board a bus, you may have to strain to hear the music even with the volume turned all the way up. Quite a problem, but one I've more or less adapted to. To be fair, a lot of this has to do with the recording quality I select. You can record in Stereo, Mono, LP2, or LP4. At LP4 you can cram nearly FIVE HOURS of music on one little disc. Very cool! I most often record in LP4. But I compromise my sound quality by doing so. If you record in Stereo, or even at LP2 (you still get 74 or 148 minutes of music, respectively), your sound quality improves substantially. Another way to combat the quiet volume is to set the "RecVol" manually, rather than automatically (ALWAYS do this!). HOWEVER, you'll still struggle with the weak volume, though it won't be nearly as bad. As far as other features go, labeling tracks must be done by hand, and is no more difficult than storing numbers in your cell phone. Manual track editing isn't tough at all. Moving tracks (you can change a song's position in the mix) is super-easy. And everything is done on the player itself, so you can tool around with your music on the go. The final issue is whether or not a minidisc player is worth the money. Of course, that all depends on what you want to do with it. Is it good for a work-out? Absolutely not. Is it a good replacement for a CD player? Not if most of your music is on CD. (Remember, a minidisc isn't really an improvement on CD. Although the player and disc is smaller, the sound quality is inferior.) Is it useful for recording your garage band? I think so. Is it useful for home electronic recordings? Absolutely. Is it a good way to store MP3s? Sure! Could you use it to record environmental sounds, or even to record interview conversation? With a good microphone (which is not included), you certainly could. Myself, I find it most useful for recording tracks from my swollen vinyl collection, so that I can listen to my records away from home. And for that purpose, there's no better personal audio device than a minidisc player. I kinda bought this on a whim (basically I wanted a new toy), and I've been really very happy with it. But if I didn't have so many albums on vinyl, I'm not so sure how much I'd use this device.
Rating:
Summary: Great player,very few downsides
Review: What can I say? This is the best portable anything player I have ever owned. I won't go into detail. Get it! You can't go wrong with Sony.
Rating:
Summary: Great player,very few downsides
Review: What can I say? This is the best portable anything player I have ever owned. I won't go into detail. Get it! You can't go wrong with Sony.
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