Sony Portable Mini-Disc Player/Recorder (MZ-R500PCNAVY)
A Very Useful Product
I recently purchased this Mini Disc player around Christmas, I'd heard lots of good things about the portability and recording ease of one, and felt it would make a worthy investment. Just a word of warning before I begin reviewing the features, this can be a bit complicated to work, I had to seek some advice from friends and from Sony's customer service, before I started really being able to record.<br />First of all, is the sound quality good? Depending on what you use to record, and how you're recording it, the sound quality can either be poor, to average, to excellent. The trick is to record at full blast, both on the mini-disc player and on the stereo/computer. Then, you can adjust the volume on the player to whatever feels comfortable to your ears. The bass works very well, and doesn't seem to drain as much battery power as the feature seems to do on most portable CD players.<br />How easy is it to record? This depends. I, wasn't really able to pick up with ease how to record, but once you figure it out, it's very easy. The only problem I have with this medium, is that to record a 40 minute CD to Mini Disc, it will take you the entire 40 minutes of the CD, but, with a CD Burner, this time is usually cut in half, so depending on how fast you need to record things, the Mini Disc might not be as great. However, thanks to the LP2 and LP4 recording modes on the Mini Disc player, you can record double, and quadruple the amount of minutes listed on the Mini Disc, so that is a plus, but once again, if you plan on recording 2 and a half hours of music, you're going to have to let it sit for 2 and a half hours. Also, the computer cannot be touched once recording begins, less the sound becomes distorted (the mini-disc records on the same principle as a cassette)<br />What about the portability? This is where the MD shines. A CD player might be able to fit into a deep pocket, but it's going to be very noticeable, plus there's the chance you might hit a button, causing themusic to mess up, or remove the headphone plug. Sure, you have the same chance of doing that with an MD player, but the size of this little thing makes it much easier to carry, to hide, etc. I've found it well worth the time of recording to MD, just for the portability of it.<br />Is it worth buying? As of now, once I got pass some of the problems recording, I've found my MD to be a very helpful item, well worth the expense. For someone who owns a CD burner, and doesn't really listen to music on the go, this would probably be a costly novelty item. Try out a friends, or ask people at a store what they think, I'm sure that will help you decide whether to get one of these or not.<br />Finally, some advice for those having problems with their MD Player. The booklet (from what I remember) does not say that you can record directly from a CD player, just with the equipment that comes with the player, but, this is wrong. To record from a CD player, hook the cord (the one that has two headphone plugs on either end of it) into the line in slot on the MD, and the other into the CD player. Press and hold play and record on the MD, and start the CD. Sit back, and let it record. For best results in the level of volume, you should turn the CD player up to maximum. Remember, unless you're recording a burnt CD with the 2 second space between tracks, you're going to have to go back and manually record the tracks, if you need to. The best way to do this is to load up the CD into Winamp, move the MD near the end of the track, and if you hear silence, press the Track Mark button.<br />Also, the best way to record Mp3's onto your MD player, is not through the PC link. Even with the volume level turned all the way up, I barely was able to hear the music. Hook the cord into the speaker slot, and then into the MD. Make sure that whatever you're recording from is turned all the way up, and the computer's speaker function is turned all the way up as well. Record as usual.<br />I hope my review/advice has been of some help for you.