I purchase this NetMD (N707 and N505) a week ago and I haven’t find a way to give a good review about this unit. I own several mp3 players and as well as MZ-R70 (blue) unit. I must say that this NetMD technology is rather disappointing.

The N707 and N505 equipped with USB port and use OpenMG (CloseMG) to transfer files between your computer and the unit. You can find additional information, specifications and explanation on Sony’s website. I would like to shares with you my overall experience with OpenMG, units and NetMD and I probably won’t have any good to say about this.

Cons:
- Play list do not display total time for your tracks (have to go to properties to find that out)
- All media must be coverts to ATRAC (Sony super format) and it usually take about 2 minutes per 4.0MB mp3 file (no matter what play mode you choose [sp, LP2, LP4])
- Track names are being stamped on TOC by using file name
- Very few non English fonts are supported
- It won’t let you specify which ‘temp’ location you can use to store while converting any-format to ATRAC
- N505 (a ‘budget’ price unit) is about the same size as MZ-R70 but for $14x.xx you get what you paid for (cheap plastic housing and buttons). So be ready to spend more for the N707 or the higher up model
- Still have to press and hold stop (briefly) in order to recharge the rechargeable battery

Pros:
- Everything you need to navigate are all in one screen
- No more adding unnecessary tracks (due to long pause in the song)
- Very fast and true-to-advertised songs transfer (after converting to ATRAC)

In conclusion if you are used to MP3 player (drag and drop files) then I would advise you to save your money and stick with your player. Minidisc has been around for over a decade and no matter what technology or name that they can come up with we can’t compare to the MP3 players (rips and download). I am very surprise to see USB port on these units rather than iLink as Sony like to include iLink on every notebook and desktop. I will definitely change my tone/rant about these units if I can connect and transfer songs via iLink (FireWire).

In conclusion if you are used to MP3 player (drag and drop files) then I would advise you to save your money and stick with your player. Minidisc has been around for over a decade and no matter what technology or name that they can come up with we can’t compare to the MP3 players (rips and download). I am very surprise to see USB port on these units rather than iLink as Sony like to include iLink on every notebook and desktop. I will definitely change my tone/rant about these units if I can connect and transfer songs via iLink (FireWire).




Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 150