Great Unit if You're Lucky--and I was!
Written: Jul 22 '01 (Updated Jul 01 '04)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Sound: |
 |
|
| Ease of Use: |
 |
|
| Durability: |
|
|
| Portability: |
 |
|
| Battery Life: |
|
|
|
Pros: Great sound, slot-in loading, pretty easy to use
Cons: Rather large and heavy, risk of UTOC error if you're unlucky with it
The Bottom Line: UPDATE: Still going strong as of July 2004!
Be careful--some 702s last a couple months, others last for years.
|
|
|
| Alatar's Full Review: Sharp MD-MS702 Personal MiniDisc Player |
The Sharp MD-MS702MK portable minidisc recorder provokes strong reaction from the MD user community. For some, it symbolizes the worst in Sharp MD recorder design, due to the unforgiveably high number of UTOC errors that have prematurely ended the lives of many 702s. For others, and I'm lucky to be among this number, the 702 is a pinnacle of portable MD achievement. My unit is two years, four months old and still functioning flawlessly as of this writing.
GOOD STUFF ON THE 702
The slot-in loading is fantastic. It makes for a taller unit, but the convenience is worth it. One-handed operation is easy with slot-in designs, and I like not having to expose the unit's innards to the light and dirt of day whenever I want to insert or remove a disc.
The usability of the interface can be impressive, such as the large stop and play buttons inset with yellow symbols, and the red LED (unpowered) for record. The LCD is large and easy to read in all but dim light conditions. Many of the buttons on the 702 control several modes of operation, but I rarely find them confusing. In general, the 702 interface works more or less like I expect it should, and I never look at the manual except for checking how to do infrequently performed tasks.
I love the random access of the MD format. Making compilations for friends is so easy because you can delete tracks and record new ones in their place while you build the ultimate compilation. And you can re-arrange the order of songs on a disc, trying out different running orders until you get one you like. If you're going to record the compilation to cassette for a friend who has not bought an MD player yet, the real time feature of MD is very handy to have for judging what will fit onto a cassette.
You can adjust the recording level while recording on the 702. I cannot believe what I read about how some non-Sharp MD units don't allow this. It's just common sense. Life's events are dynamic; so should the gain levels be on an MD recorder!
I like the bass settings for playback emphasis. The sound of the 702 is impressive and, to my ears, does not sound different from CD unless I do a direct comparison. By recording a CD of non-noisy music with lots of delicate sounds and reverb using the included optical cable, and then doing my best to compare the MD's playback with the CD itself at the same volume (crucial for doing an honest comparison) on a good stereo system, I can indeed hear a difference in quality. The MD sound lacked a certain definition, especially in the trail-off of reverb. But this was subtle and, when you don't have the CD to compare directly, you likely won't notice it--especially in a car or on mass transit.
Remember, the MD is meant to replace cassette tape as a consumer home recording solution, not replace CD as a pre-recorded music solution. Don't listen to those who grouse about MD's sonic inferiority to CD; these people may be deliberately ignoring the fact that, aside from analog cassette tape, there is no other *portable* consumer recorder/player system available now that is as cheap or easy to use. And, anyone who would not prefer MD, with its no-noise digital recording and its random access playback and editing capabilities, to the lowly cassette, with its larger size and linear, hissy playback, is not worth listening to in the first place. I think CDs definitely have a place in audio collections, but I fear these people who hate everything else but CD are planning on filling up every possible landfill with non-biodegradeable 7-inch discs as a secret plot against the world :-) Honestly, CDs are such an inherently fragile medium compared to MD. MD has a tough protective outer shell around the disc, and CDs are just naked to the world, awaiting disaster. They may be fine for data backups but not as a durable *portable* audio format. And have you seen those people with so-called "portable" CD players strapped to their sides like dinner plates? Please.
BAD STUFF ON THE 702
The four small buttons on the top of the 702 are not easy to manipulate because they are not separated. Bad move on Sharp's part. Even worse, Sharp did not fill them in with yellow symbols to make them look distinct from each other like they did with the play and stop buttons.
The large size of the 702 is not welcome. But the only thing worse than a large MD unit is one that is too small to use comfortably. So I'll take the 702.
The LCD on the unit is not backlit, as opposed to the remote. This is unfortunate in dim lighting and night recording situations. I never use the remote, so cannot review it.
Titling discs and songs is difficult and time consuming (no jog dial).
Battery life is not great with the 702. After 3.5 or so hours of recording, I need to recharge it. Playback is not a whole lot better.
I don't like how, for mono recordings of either mono music or business meetings, you can't leave the unit locked into Mono record mode. It always defaults to stereo mode and can lead to accidentally using up a disc far too quickly (in MD, recording in mono doubles the amount of time you can record on a blank MD).
SUMMARY
I think the 702 is terrific IF it does not suffer the dreaded UTOC error, whereby the unit stops reading discs. Sharp has really screwed over a lot of people by selling recorders and players that suffer from this terrible problem. For this reason, I'm wary in recommending the 702 to anyone--I will rate it positively according to my own experience, but your mileage may vary, as they say. Look at my other reviews of MD players for my own woes with disc-reading trouble. One reason my 702 has lasted so well so long may be that I keep it at home on my stereo cabinet and do not use it as a portable player.
MD is better than MP3 in my opinion because I don't have to boot up a computer to change music on it. I just pop in different MDs, which cost between $1.25 and $2.00US apiece, depending on where you buy them. Computers are great for email and surfing, but I don't want to have to control my stereo components with one. On long road trips with my cassette adapter for the car, a small box of MDs can last days of travel time. Try that with an MP3 player.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 150.00
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
Alatar
|
|
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.