i8myyoung's Full Review: Sony Walkman MZ-NH600 Personal MiniDisc Player
This review will tell you why a man like me with around 600 CD's loves this Walkman format.
WHY I WENT HI-MD
I am a big-time runner and weight lifter so I need a portable, durable, erasable, shock resistant music machine. I have had the Archos jukebox hard-drive and you could not run with it as it would jam up and it was heavy and large as well. I have went with the joggable CD player and that was just plain a pain in the butt to deal with. I kept tearing all the player holders with them strapped to my waist. I then went with the MP3 Flash memory style Walkman, but hated its lack of features sound quality and storage. I do not want to switch music every day after a workout. Then I tried the Sony Hi-MD. 45 hours of quality music on a $7 dollar 1 GIG Mini-disc. I picked it up refurbished from Sony and for $100 it was the best money I have spent all year. It never skips, never jams, and lasts over 30 hours on one Alkaline AA battery. It is not heavy and straps right to my arm (optional Sony case).
HOW IT WORKS
This is the best part for a CD owner like me. It comes with 2 different types of software MD Simple Burner is the name for the software that you transfer a CD. Just put the CD in the computer CD drive and plug in the Hi-MD unit to the USB drive and it tells you what CD you have entered (if your hooked up to the internet). Then you hit record and it sends it at 100x speed to the MD recorder. Now if you want to transfer data files or MP3 files, you need to use the other software (Sonic Stage) that is a little quirky but with a quick look at your Sony manual, you will get it. It will convert MP3 files will to Atrac3 files before they load into the Hi-MD unit, but it still moves like lightning on the download.
FEATURES
Now I did have to look at the book to see all the features this thing has. Lets start with the menu. When you turn it on you use the little wheel on the front to scroll to the Music you want to hear. Now you can do this by Artist, Album, or special grouping that you put together. It is very easy to get the album you want and play it in a matter of seconds. It displays song tracks and artist as it plays in the window. Now lets talk about the 6 channel equalizer. It has all the standard mix downs like Jazz, Rock, Etc. and what I loved is the 2 open settings that you can make yourself to better accent your headphones. Volume control is in 30 units which is very cool compared to most MP3 players that have like 6. It will also go very loud for weak headphones. Now here is something all you old NetMD owners will like. ITS RETRO! It will play NetMD mini-discs that you have already made; it also will record on standard MD discs. It has to many different recording compressions to list all the times with all the types of MD media so I will give you a site that will calculate how much time you can get with the different compressions. http://www.ravn.net/md/hi-mdcal.htm I can tell you this much, with headphones the 45-hour high compression rate (Hi-MD media) is better than most MP3 player sound in 128 MP3 compression mode.
THINGS I DID NOT LIKE
No backlight for the display. Now this might not seem like a big deal but it is impossible to navigate without seeing the display. The headphones are weak sounding for a unit of this quality. I felt that Sony really screwed up on that. The other thing is that this unit does not come with a case or strap. Could not jog when I got it and that made me mad.
BOTTOM LINE
In my Epinion, this is the way to go for portable music. $7 for a new Gig of storage. Not to mention you can erase parts or whole Hi-MD or MD media whenever you want. I am so glad that was invented. I liked NetMD but 14 hours was just not enough on each MD for me to make the jump. Hey Sony, you finally came up with a new format that will kill the opposition. NOW ADVERTISE THE THING! Oh PS, it is a very solid little unit as is the way of the Sony Corporation. Please contact me if you have any questions. I would love to see this thing hang around longer than Betamax.
Store 45 hours of music on a Hi-MD MiniDisc Record your MP3s or CDs at up to 100x speed Skip-Free G-Protection technology Easy jog dial navigation NOT...More at Amazon Marketplace
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