The Best Purchase I've Ever Made
Written: Dec 30 '01
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Pros: Great features, durable, fun and easy to use
Cons: Short battery life, slow recording time
The Bottom Line: The MZ-R37SPC is not only one of the cheapest minidisc player/recorders, but one of the best. It's easy to use, packed with features, and very convenient.
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| mike245's Full Review: Sony Walkman MZ-R37SP Personal MiniDisc Player |
When I decided that I needed a way to take my mp3's with me when I was away from the computer, I began looking into some devices to do this. Immediately, I was attracted to mp3 players because they seemed the best way to get mp3s from the PC to a portable device. However, I quickly found out that a decent mp3 player was going to be quite expensive.
Then I remembered that there were something called "minidiscs". I had heard of them before but really didn't have any idea what they were all about. I began looking into minidisc player/recorders and found that while the recorders themselves were a bit expensive, blank minidiscs were fairly cheap (about $1.50 to $2.00 each). I also learned that it was possible to transfer music from your computer to minidisc player by simply plugging it into your soundcard's 'out' plug.
So, after doing my research, I chose the Sony MZ-R37PC, which came with a PC link so that I wouldn't even need to plug into the soundcard.
The MZ-R37PC is great at copying CDs without any loss of quality. I now have my CD collection transferred to minidisc as they are more compact, portable, and durable than CDs. It also makes it very easy to transfer mp3s to minidisc. With the use of a microphone, the MZ-R37PC also makes a great recorder for conversations, lectures, etc.
The MZ-R37PC is very easy to use. Erasing, moving, labeling, and recording tracks are just a few button pushes away. The headphones that are included are very useful since they fit snugly into your ear and allow you to turn up the volume to a very high level without anyone around you hearing a thing.
As far as durability goes, this is a great product. I've dropped it on cement a couple of times and it still works fine. It has 40 second skip, which obviously works very well since I can't seem to get the thing to skip.
I only have a couple of problems with this minidisc player. For one, it is a bit large since the battery compartment is on the side of the player. In newer models, they have moved the batteries so that the player is barely bigger than a minidisc itself. However, the player is still small and this doesn't bother me at all. A backlit LCD screen would have been nice so that you can see the tracks better. The screen is a bit hard to see in certain light. And last, while I seem to get excellent battery life from just listening to music, the batteries drain VERY quickly when recording. I can only record one, maybe two CDs before the batteries are gone. I believe the battery life is only supposed to be four hours, so I guess this would be acceptable. However, I would much rather have a longer battery life similar to those found in newer models. I bought a universal AC adapter for about ten dollars recently, so now I can just plug it into the wall when I'm recording since I have to be near the computer or CD player anyway, and save the batteries for the road.
Overall, this is a great product and the pros outnumber the cons several times over. Because this is an older model, you can probably find it pretty cheap (check out what I paid for it). If you see one, don't let the chance to own a great product pass you up.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 90
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Epinions.com ID:
mike245
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Reviews written: 1
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