Pros: USB Connectivity, 32X transfer, rugged, lightweight, excellent storage, LONG battery life
Cons: OpenMG software, Digital Rights Management support
The Bottom Line: Why Sony would continue to market this product is beyond me. So is the logic and reasoning behind my decision to buy. AVOID THIS PRODUCT
dan2k's Full Review: Sony Net MD Walkman MZ-S1 Personal MiniDisc Player
For those that have followed my reviews over the years, you'll recall that I wrote a review of the Aiwa MiniDisc player (model AM-F70)in July of 2001 (http://www.epinions.com/content_28337409668). Well, I did some follow-up research on the MiniDisc format (given my less than pleasant experience trying to follow the ever-changing format of the Rio MP3 player product lines). While there are still some (what I'll call glitches), the MiniDisc format has at least progressed.
This unit is a bit larger but more ergonomic as a result. It fits in the curve of your hand if you carry it while jogging or walking. As a sports model, a removable hand strap provides additional securing. With this new ergonomic design, the main functions (stop, play, skip forward/back, fast forward/back, volume up/down, and pause) are controllable with either the left or right thumb. Replacing the 4 seperate buttons and the volume jog dial on the Aiwa model, the MZ-S1 combines these functions into a single button and thumb-controlled joystick.
The LCD scren is MUCH smaller and a bit harder to focus on- especially if you're moving. However, it does have an amber/orange backlight that makes viewing in darker environments much easier.
The front panel is uncluttered with 4 primary functions that are used in combination with the joystick. It's not as simple to navigate the menu items but a quick review of the manual gives you a clear outline of how to access and employ these advanced functions (grouping, editing, moving, deleting tracks, etc.). Given the smaller LCD screen, there is a bit of decoding required but it's fairly straight-forward. For example, to change the name of a track, press the "menu/enter" button to enable the "edit" mode. When the screen displays "edit", press the joystick forward to access "T:Name". A bit cumbersome but given the new USB-PC support, the tracks you record to disk retain their ID tags (track name, number, artist).
I won't/can't go in to great detail on the OpenMG technology deployed by Sony other than to say it's yet another audio compression format, specific to MiniDisc technology, that's designed to prevent copyright infringement. It's a horribly confusing aspect of the player made worse by the supposed "requirement" to use the OpenMG software supplied by Sony. DO NOT USE THIS SOFTWARE IF YOU BUY THIS PRODUCT. It's unnecessarily complex, poorly designed, and because of inaccurate documentation and a pathetic online tutorial, the program deleted over 100 of my MP3 files! It wasn't until after I uninstalled/reinstallaed the OpenMG software that I discovered a plug-in for the RealOne Player. It works wonderfully and has none of the Digital Rights Management issues plaguing the Sony-supplied software. I'll spare you the technical details behind the issue but advise you to read further at www.sony.com/musiclub. In short, use the RealOne Player, if only to transfer files to/from PC to disk. I'm hoping that in future there will be other plug-ins available for other media players (Windows Media, WinAmp, etc.)
I'm actually amazed that the unit is still playing on the single "AA" battery I originally installed. I've been using it all day, transferring files, and testing things out and battery life still shows full. The rated battery life is an impressive 54 hours. I barely got 2 hours off the rechargeable Aiwa unit. And on my Rio 500 MP3 player, *maybe* 8 hours. The unit does have an AC adapter so you can (and should) use house power while transferring files.
The supplied headphones are a little disappointing but they're sturdy, flexible and not quite as delicate as those "street style" ones provided with the Aiwa (which incidentally broke very easily while I was wearing them while gardening). But for a sports model unit, the headphones are sufficient.
Storage space is impressive. The media has gotten significantly cheaper and, like MemoryStick or CompactFlash, it can be written to hundreds of times. The advantage is, you can easily have themed discs (Rock, Jazz, Classical) readily available for any occasion and they aren't *that* bulky to carry around. The real drawback here is the USB-PC transfer mechanism/rate.
The MiniDisk is NOT a dedicated MP3 player. It's NOT an MP3 player at all. It does however, record from a variety of sources (included microphone, CD, tape, etc.). What's unique is the audio compression format used. What allows the MiniDisc to store as much audio as it does it the Sony-proprietary ATRAC3 compression. So, in transferring your MP3 file, it's first converted to the ATRAC format and then sent to disk. Now, you can either spend the time involved in making ATRAC-formatted copies of your MP3s so they're already converted and thus transfer MUCH faster, or you can convert them on the fly/as needed which takes MUCH longer. It is faster than the real-time recording requirements of the previous MiniDisk players but it's nowhere near up to par with other technologies that utilize USB-Player transfer. However, I don't have the patience to convert all my MP3's to yet another format and even if I did, I don't have the disk storage to copy the 4,000 tracks I already have!
For example, as I started this review, I queued-up 72 tracks to tranfer to disk. I started at 7:44:45 PM. As of 8:07:45 PM only 26 of those 72 have been converted and transferred. That's almost 60 seconds per 128-KBps MP3 track of average size/length. Clearly, not the kind of tranfer you want to set if you're in a hurry to hit the gym or the road.
My tracks still aren't done converting and transferring (it's now 8:29:45) and as I've read through this review, I have to say although the Sony MZ-S1 MiniDisk player is an improvement over previous iterations, it's technology that's no where near that of it's competitors. I'm sorry to say that MiniDisc is still an overwhelming disappointment. And having read quite a few of the user-posts at the sony.com/musiclub website, I realize I'm not the only one.
Best to continue to avoid this technology and instead look towards a true portable MP3 player, portable CD player, or heck...even the tried and true cassette player.
Record MP3s or CDs at up to 32x from multiple sources (PC, CD, radio, and more) Plays back in ATRAC3, supports MP3, WMA, and WAV formats Easy one-hand...More at Amazon Marketplace
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