One of the best portable md recorders out there
Written: May 25 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small Size, Battery Life, Features
Cons: no dedicated line-out, cannot charge while in use
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| elph's Full Review: Sony Walkman MZ-R90 Personal MiniDisc Player |
Got it to replace my Sharp MD-MT821. I wanted something that was smaller (thinner). That really wasnt a good reason, because the Sharp is pretty small already, but I still wanted to give the R90 a try. I did not like having to stop the Sharp every time I wanted to edit it. For example: to title on the Sharp, you must pause the unit and title in silence. On the Sony, you can title the unit while it is playing or recording.
My experience with my R90 has been a good one for the most part. I do not have an in-dash MD unit for my car so I must use my MD unit there too. This is something I cannot completely recommend using the R90 for. The R90 is outstanding if you want to listen to it with headphones and walk with it or travel with it, but it is not the best unit to have if you plan on frequently using it in the car. The unit has no dedicated line out and, whats worse, beeps whenever you do something with the remote. (switch tracks, etc.) You can take off the remote and change the output to 'line out' but then you have to keep the unit at hand to be able to do anything like change tracks. You lose the convenience of having that remote to do everything. But that's really a minor gripe that probably affects few users. Even with that gripe considered, I love my R90. Right now it's giving me some trouble though.. it sees some of the discs I insert as protected when they are not. That's problems if I want to record something, but thanks to some good advice I got over at http://www.minidiscussion.com , I found that if I shut the unit quickly, it reads the protection state properly. hmm. I wont knock against the R90 for that though because on the whole I havent heard that many complaints about the unit's reliability.
Getting back to the positives, I like the unit's battery life (something like 11-12 hrs for playback) and while the recording time is short (6hrs), its still very acceptable to me. I also like how when you edit on the unit, you do not have to pause it. That's nice. As is the ability to title with the remote. The construction of the unit feels solid enough for me and the size is wonderful. It can accomplish the usual feats of the minidisc.. titling, moving tracks, splitting tracks, combining tracks etc. very nicely. It isn't hard at all to learn how to use it. The only other gripe I have with this unit is with it's power supply: you cannot listen to the unit playing while you charge it. I use my R90 with my D-EJ01 CD Walkman which share batteries, so it works out well for me. On a side note: I highly recommend a portable cd player with digital out to maximize sound quality with minidisc... the E(J)01 works well, as does the D-E805/E705/E775/some others that feature optical digital out. The R90 makes good use of it as you can adjust the digital recording level. A nice feature to have.
If you want a more portable solution than your cd-player, and/or dont like the poor battery life/ high storage costs and storage limitations of portable mp3 solutions, or want to be able to record cd-quality audio on the go , then I would highly recommend this unit for you. The cost may seem high, but on-line you should be able to pick it up for a good price (below $290 if you look hard enough).
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
elph
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Location: Christiansted, USVI
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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