Pint-sized Powerhouse ** JULY 3 UPDATE **
Written: May 05 '00 (Updated Jul 03 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small size, big power, full-function remote.
Cons: None.
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| nyuser's Full Review: Sony Walkman MZ-R90 Personal MiniDisc Player |
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JULY 3: TWO NEW HINTS!
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The latest and best MD, if you can afford it and if you can find one for sale, is the MZ-R90. So far, nobody's discounting the hefty $350 MSRP - maybe in a few months. The Wiz, J & R, and others here in New York City get a few in and are sold out the same day. I purchased mine in March and discovered that it was manufactured (in Japan) in January, 2000 - hot off the assembly line!
I had to have the R90 because a friend had been touting portable MD to me since he bought the R50 in early 1999. He's a guy with a huge stereo component system who "burns" his own CDs, so if he was impressed by portable MD, I was interested.
The new R90 is as portable as they come. It's exactly the size of a disc case and thinner than three cases piled one on top of the other. I'm listening to Vivaldi now and the R90 is tucked comfortably in my shirt pocket. At just over 5 ounces, it does nearly everything an MD player/recorder can do. Yes, it even records! If you record in monaural, an MD-74 disc will hold just under two and a half hours of high quality sound (I'm transferring old comedy LPs to MD and three or four whole albums fit on one little gold disc). There's a 500-character memory that makes titling discs and tracks even easier. The jog-lever and other controls are even easier to use and better placed than on my friend's R50 and the screen in the tiny remote lights up whenever you use the remote, making it even more functional.
The sound is CD-quality and you can carry hours of music, comedy, talk, etc. in your pocket. The remote does nearly everything you can do from the console, but you do have to learn it because using the controls on the remote is a whole new ball game. The instructions are very helpful.
The first thing I recorded was a set of four rock CDs. I hooked it up using the included optical cable, set the controls, and left the room. My stereo (also a Sony) loaded the first CD and started playing. As soon as it got the signal, the R90 (which had been patiently waiting in record mode) started recording. Each track on the CD produced one track on the MD. At the end of the CD, the stereo unloaded it, moved the carousel to the next slot, loaded the second CD and started playing it. The R90, which had been waiting since the last notes of the first CD faded, again started recording. And so on until the MD was full.
Deleting the track-and-a-half extra was only a moment's work and, except for titling, the MD was done. It's easy to add or delete tracks and switch them into any order that pleases you. You have normal-play, repeat-all, repeat-one-track, and shuffle-play modes and lots more features.
All this in a package smaller and lighter than a pack of 100 index cards! I've tried to think of something I hate about the R90 and I can't. Yes, when I play it through my stereo, using a $20 Monster cable, I have to be sure to switch the AUDIO OUT function to "Line Out" because it reverts to HeadPhone every time it shuts off (after 10 seconds if it's not plugged in) and the sound quality is much better on "Line Out." Also, I like to see time remaining on a track and the display defaults to elapsed time. But "hate" is too strong a word for these minor inconveniences.
I can dock an AA battery on to the R90 if I need more play time, but so far I haven't had to and now I'm just leaving the AA and its little docking case at home. When it's plugged in with the included AC/DC converter, I push one button and it charges to full and then automatically stops charging. First thing in the morning (just three hours from empty to full) it's ready to go.
I've never purchased a portable CD player and now I probably never will. Why lug something that "massive" around when everything I need is in this tiny package? And for some, the jealous looks you get from friends and strangers will be another bonus - very sexy at night when the remote clipped to your shirt or coat glows blue-green.
By the way, the 74-minute discs can often be had on sale for as little as $2.50 each in packs of five or ten. Practically as cheap as cassette tapes. Also, with its 40-second buffer, I can't make it skip. I even tried shaking it continuously (too gently?) for over a minute - not a skip! I'd be interested to hear the experience of joggers who own one. Also, I've accidentally dropped it twice in the last month and, while I don't recommend dropping any quality piece of audio equipment, it's still in new condition, just as it came out of the box, in every way.
I'd recommend the R90 to anyone who can afford it and has the persistence to find a store that has one in stock.
**** JULY 3, HINT 1: If you own the R90, you doubtless know how to label MDs by now and you know how to change a capital letter to a lowercase letter (just push PAUSE once). But do you know how to change lowercase to upper? Just push PAUSE while the letter is blinking. A "0" (zero) appears. Push PAUSE again. The first item stored in your data bank appears [I always keep an asterisk ("*") as the first, or only, item to let me know when I'm looking at the data bank]. Now push PAUSE once more and your lowercase ("b" for instance) is a capital ("B"). Takes a lot less time to do than to read about! If you haven't been able to do this, NOTE that it won't work unless you have at least one item stored in the data bank! Instead, you'll always get a capital "A," no matter what lowercase letter you started with. Don't know why, but that's the way it is. Just keep at least one item in the data bank (remember that "*") and you're all set.
**** JULY 3, HINT 2: If you're charging your R90, it may be fully charged even if the screen still shows that it's "Charging." This happens especially when it was almost fully charged to start with and you are "topping it off" (like putting a few gallons of gas in your car's tank when it was almost full) and less than three hours have elapsed. To check, just press "CHARGE" (the STOP button). It stops charging and the display goes blank. Now press "CHARGE" again after just a few seconds. If the unit is fully charged, the display will go blank automatically after only a couple of seconds. Taking it out of its charge "loop" by turning it off and on this way allows the unit to sense that it is full.
Hope these hints are useful. "Watch this space" for more.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
nyuser
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Member: Len Levine
Location: New York, NY
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Aibo, Aibo, Aibo ! ! !
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