Great alternative for mobile personal audio, but....
Written: Feb 21 '05
Product Rating:
Sound:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Portability:
Battery Life:
Pros: High quality sound, ease of use, size and wieght.
Cons: No backlight, no AC option, transferring can be time consuming
The Bottom Line: Ipods rules the market and rightfully so. Minidisk provides for unlimited storage capacity and high quality sounds, great buy for the serious music lover.
shockwavela's Full Review: Sony Walkman MZ-NH600 Personal MiniDisc Player
I was in the market for a hi-cap personal music player during the summer of '04. Of course the IPods were high on my short list, along with Dells, Creatives, etc... All fine systems but didn't want to spend over $200 buxs. I never gave MiniDisk players a thought at the time because I never heard of it. While shopping at a local Best Buy, I came across a deal for this particular model but before buying it, I rushed home and researched the whole Sony MiniDisk deal.
Here is the short of what I have found out: The MiniDisk concept bombed on Sony and never caught on with the masses. MP3 format is not directly supported, all audio files have to be converted in to a special Sony audio file called ATRAC. MiniDisks are avaiable in 2 sizes only, 80MB and 1GB...and 1GB are called Hi-MD disks and supported by certain MiniDisk player models. Sony quality of the ATRAC system was reviewed as great if not better then MP3. MiniDisks are favored by hardcore music lovers, musicians and music professionals.
Well, since the price was right and the excellent return policy of BB, I took the plunge and bought one. Well, it's been over half and year and still have it. I personally love it. It's super light and small, I basically have unlimited storage capacity by purchasing more MD's, sound quality is great (especially when "ripping" in the highest quality format), it's been reliable and durable for me(mountain biking, running, hiking, over a dozen flights), takes standard AA batteries(only 1 and lasts a good while), easy to use...and I personally think it looks great.
There are some negatives.... Hi-MD (1GB) disks are hard to come by locally, at least in my area (ebay has been great), no AC power options (stuck with running on battery power full time), does not come with a carrying case which is highly recommended, FM tuner feature would have been nice (available on higher end models), no backlight so the LCD screen is difficult to read in low light conditions, transferring from CD to MiniDisk is not a fast process (while Sonic Stage is easy to use, the transfer process does take some time), not many accessories available for MiniDisks (it's all about the IPod).
My personal recommendation is: If you really don't want a Ipod for whatever reason, and like the idea of potentially having unlimited storage capacity along with transferring music at high quality levels...MiniDisks are worth a look. I'm not sure of sony is on the verge of cutting the whole MiniDisk concept but they can be had for decent prices now...even the high end models. I personally would not spend over $200 for any MiniDisk player (because Ipods Mini's can be had for $250), but regardless of price...serious music lovers will like MiniDisk players for the quality of music it can provide. I certainly do not regreat my decision, even with the shortfalls.
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
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2010 Shopping.com, Inc.