OK Portable Player. Limited Audio Recorder. Sony Loves RIAA
Written: Feb 25 '04 (Updated Feb 25 '04)
Product Rating:
Sound:
Ease of Use:
Durability:
Portability:
Battery Life:
Pros: Good sound, Good price, Good accessories.
Cons: Recording function is almost useless. Files Checking (in/out) is almost a deal breaker.
The Bottom Line: Avoid the MD. For playback you probably are better off with MP3 players. As a recording tool, if you get it, you have to form support groups to get through.
bertbert's Full Review: Sony Net MD Walkman MZ-N510 Personal MiniDisc Play...
I will not post the specs on this unit as many before me has already done so.
I own the MZ-N510CK, the CK meaning car-kit. It comes with a remote control, a car remote control, earphones, a car cassette adapter, A/C power adapter, Car cigarette lighter power adapter, a blank MD and a protective pouch. Wow, it comes with everything. I already own 2 mp3 players, a CD/MP3 player and a solid state mp3 player. I purchased this unit specifically for its recording ability. I play in a band and sometimes I want to record our gigs using a RCA out from our mixer.
Strengths:
Playback Sound -
The NetMD series has very good playback sound. Audio samples and mp3s sounded very good. The sound presets are pretty useful. Coupled with a good headphone set, the sound of this unit can be ranked among the top in portable players. ATRAC3 seems to sound real good. I have no complaints in the sound department.
Recording quality -
Optical in (WOW), Analogue in sounded very clean as well. You get to control the input volume as well. Great control and sound quality in the recording department. The woes is not the sound quality or control, but in file/sound management. Read on to find out the woes.
Accessories -
It came with everything, even a remote control for the car. I have yet to see another company provide so much at this price point. I did not have to worry about buying any accessories at all.
Ease of Use-
What manual? I did not have to read the manual to start using this unit. Controls and menus are very intuitive. Very easy to use.
Weakness:
Mp3 file checking in and out -
Since the MD is capable of moving music at very high quality, Sony has always been concerned about copyright. I think they are trying hard to avoid any lawsuits by RIAA. However, they became TOO CONCERNED and PARANIOD. When loading mp3s, The software will force you "check out" files to the MD using their proprietry software. Once you checked out the mp3s, the software will not allow you to check it out again, say, to another blank disc. You would have to check in the songs from the MD (thereby deleting it from your MD) before you can do a check out again. THIS IS LAME. The mp3s are mine, please provide the technology and let me decide what to do and let me bear the consequences.
Retrieving recorded material -
This is also implemented very poorly. Probably due to the same fear of copyright litigation, the software offers no way to download recorded material to you computer via USB. All the stuff I recorded are songs our band did. We own the copyright. MD allows good recording but did not allow me to download my recorded material. This effectively destroyed any positive points gained by the recording quality. I had to get around this by playing the material on the MD and do a line out to my computer and capture the audio realtime in analogue. This is the one area that caused me the most frustration.
Overall:
If you are buying this as your sole portable playback device it can be a good buy. It offers good recording but recording capabilities are severely restricted to the point of minimal value added. Sony's paranoia of copyright litigation is amazingly overboard. They should let the customer decide and bear the responsibility. After all, they just provide the technology not the motive. The recent events in the P2P legal landscape should give them a clue and some legal precedence. Technology providers are not liable for misuse.
Stores more than five hours of music on an 80-minute minidisc; speedy USB connection minimizes recording time Compatible with MP3, WMA, and WAV music ...More at Amazon Marketplace
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