jps246's Full Review: Sony Net MD Walkman MZ-N505 Personal MiniDisc Play...
Over the last few years I have built up a large MP3 collection and for the last several months I have been seriously looking at different MP3 players so that I could enjoy these MP3s while traveling in a “walkman” type device.
The flash memory MP3 players were alluring, but their small built in memory and their need of flash cards for additional memory never really got me all that excited about that technology.
After one especially annoying trip home on the subway a few weeks ago, I decided that I had to get myself a player of some sort so that I could lose myself in music on the way home. So that night I headed out to Best Buy with the thought in mind that I would come home with something. I tried out different players and compared different features and came across Sony’s Net MD and was intrigued.
The Net MD is based on Sony's mini-disc technology and is both a mini-disc player and recorder. It comes with a USB 2.0 (backwards compatible with older USB) computer connection and software to copy the MP3s from your computer to the Net MD.
Each mini-disk can hold 70 to 80 minutes of high quality CD music (just like a normal CD) and can hold either 2 hours of music in LP2 mode or 4 hours of music in LP4 mode. The differences in quality for MP3s will not be all that noticeable, but when copying CD’s directly to mini-disc, you may be able to discern the different music qualities.
The OpenMG software that Sony bundles with the Net MD to manage MP3 files has something left to be desired. I read the manual and had to play around with it for quite some time before I could even figure out how to create a play list. Then after you have created your play list – you must go through another “check in/check out” section in order to copy those MP3s to the mini-disc.
Other than being confusing and clunky, the OpenMG software is also quite basic and doesn’t appear to allow cross-fading between tracks and doesn’t allow for any editing or manipulation of the MP3s before recording. If you can deal with the software (which I have learned to get around) then the actual Net MD is great. Especially since I was really just looking for a way to dump large amounts of my MP3s onto a player and be able to bring them with me and OpenMG isn't all that confusing for simple MP3 dumps. The copying of CDs to mini-disc is much simpler with the Simple Burn software included.
The documentation included says you can use RealPlayer to record to the Net MD but I have not yet tried, as I don't have RealPlayer on my computer.
The connection with your computer is fairly straightforward – first you connect the power to the Net MD through the included AC power adapter/wire and then you connect the USB wire to the computer and the player. Once that’s done, you’re all set to start transferring MP3s or copying discs.
The Net MD unit is quite small, it can fit in the palm of your hand. There is no clip or attachment option for it though – so you will have to keep it in your pocket or in a bag.
The controls on the Net MD are pretty straightforward – you have a circular control panel with a small LCD screen above it. The four cardinal points on the circle are controls (top = play, right = forward, bottom = stop/off, and left = reverse) and there are two separate buttons to control the volume. The LCD screen shows the track information, the track number in your play list and your other settings. The Net MD offers a bass boost function that gives you richer bass in your songs. The volume output is a bit weak though – I find myself having it turned all the way up sometimes on the train, but I think it depends on a lot on the volume of the MP3 originally copied – I haven’t noticed the problem as much when I’m playing a CD that was copied.
The Net MD comes with a pair of standard headphones. They’re not great and they’re not awful. I went out and got myself a pair of the earbud earphones so that they would be less clunky on the train and that the volume would be better. I haven’t had any problems with the output quality or volume since then.
I can’t complain – I’ve found that the Net MD has been one of the best purchases I have made lately and it’s provided me a great way to enjoy both my CD collection and my MP3 collection. At first OpenMG was a pretty big pain to get around – but now that I’ve worked with it a bit, it’s still clunky, but I can get what I want out of it.
Thus, I think that if you’re looking for an easy and convenient way to convert your MP3 collection to a “walkman” type unit and you don’t want to spend a lot of money – the Net MD is for you.
Record MP3s or CDs at up to 32x speed on affordable MD media for over 5 hours of music per standard 80-minute disc Easy Skip group/folder navigation i...More at Amazon Marketplace
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