The Replacement for the cassette tape has arrived!
Written: May 21 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Easy dubbing and labeling
Cons: No digital out
The Bottom Line: The ultimate evolution of recordable/re-recordable media. Throw out those cassette tapes (after you copy them to MD).
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| pulsar1990's Full Review: Sony Walkman MXD-D3 Personal MiniDisc Player |
The MXD-3D has given me renewed optimism about the Mini Disc (MD) format. To start off I have been using MDs for two years. I bought a “Bundle 3” which included a component deck recorder/player and a MZ-E40 portable player. I thought MD had been around long enough and was being supported by other manufacturers to last. I also liked the ability to re-record and add titles. Plus, your cassette tape will eventually wear out and the MD format is even more durable than the CD because it is in a hard case like a 3.5 inch computer disk.
The alternative is to buy a CD-R deck but you can’t re-record. Once you burn a CD-R it is permanent. Also not all CD/DVD players will read a CD-R.
The MD is the ultimate evolution of portable recordable/re-recordable media.
I was in for a bit of a let down when I started recording. I found it to be time consuming and tedious to mix a MD. First you pick the songs you want to record, then you set up the MD to record, cue the song, press record, press play, watch for the end of the song, press stop. It was taking me two hours to master one MD from just a couple of CDs. As a result I only created seven MDs in two years. My wife did another two or three. So much for the two that came with the Bundle and the sixteen I bought. Then a couple of months ago the recorder deck died a horribly loud clicking death. It was time to get a new deck but this time would be different. There were now decks that had a CD and MD in the same unit for seamless dubbing.
This is where the MXD-D3 comes in. It is the low end dubbing deck but it is fantastic. It has one CD tray on the left that slides out to accommodate your music CD and a slot loading MD on the right. Each disc has its own controls on opposite sides of the display. The controls are simple and straightforward. Between the decks are the two dubbing buttons. You have the choice of normal or high-speed (more on that later). There is also a remote that controls all functions for both discs.
Dubbing is a snap now. Just insert a CD and program the songs to be dubbed in the order you want. Next, place a MD with available space in the deck. The display can at this point show how many minutes your program is and how many minutes are available on the MD. This lets you make sure you don’t try to squeeze more than will fit onto the disc. Press the normal or high-speed synch button. Lastly, wait for the disc to spin up and press play on the CD side. The deck will now copy the tracks to the MD exactly. No more dead space or cut off songs. You can then enter the title on the MD while it is recording. This can be done with the high-speed mode but only if you are fast as an average song will take less than one minute.
Entering the text label is easier than before because I did not have a remote before. The remote for the MXD-3D has a number pad like a phone on it. It allows you to enter titles much faster than spinning the jog dial like my old one. This is, however, still an option if you like it. Using this deck I re-recorded an MD that I had mastered on my old deck in less than half the time. I have already re-mastered four MDs and recorded three new ones in just two days. Now I am looking to order new blank MDs to record more.
There is an optical in to record from an external source but no optical out to play through a receiver with an optical in. I don’t know if Sony is doing this for copyright reasons, but I doubt it. Because of the built-in serial copyright protection you cannot make a second-generation digital copy anyway. This prevents you from digitally mastering an MD and then turning out copies of that MD.
I fount this deck to be easy to use and very quick at copying and labeling. Beyond the minor annoyance of the optical out missing this is a great deck. The only improvements I could see would be to add a PS-2 keyboard jack like the Sony CD/DVD changers have and replacing the single CD with a multiple disc changer. But then I just described the MXD-D5C, which is twice the price with a few extra features.
You also get all the editing functions inherent with the MD format. You can split or combine tracks or copy delete a portion in the middle of a track. You can also re-order the tracks. I use this to keep from having to record multiple tracks from a CD separately because I don’t want them side-by-side.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 250
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Epinions.com ID:
pulsar1990
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Member: Bryan Lucas
Location: Parker, CO
Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
A 32 year old gadget freak and general technology junkie.
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