Buy Sony MZ-N1 Net MD Walkman Player/Recorder with USBSony MZ-N1 Net MD Walkman Player/Recorder with USB Product Description:
- Record MP3s or CDs at up to 32x speed on affordable MD media for over 5 hours of music per standard 80-minute disc
- Up to 110 hours of playback using the supplied rechargeable battery and 1 AA battery (not included)
- Plays ATRAC3 and ATRAC files; converts audio from MP3, WMA, and WAV files
- Includes USB docking and recharging cradle
- Music-management software ensures seamless file transfers to and from your hard drive; multi-speed transfers via USB port
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
91 of 96 people found the following review helpful.
MZ-N1 - Best portable minidisc player/recorder!
By Michael Munie
(If you want to read more about minidisc as a format vs mp3, go farther down in this post)
The MZ-N1:I got this about a month ago and I love it so far.
-Sound: 10/10, It's minidisc, it's got MDLP, it records in Type-R, it sounds excellent.-Base unit control: 8/10, the controls on the front could be better, but I use the remote anyways. And the jog dial is an excellent of controlling this unit.-Size: 10/10, so small, so light!-Remote: 10/10, the remote is great, it is very easy to skip to whatever song you want with the easy-to-use job dial. The display is bright and clear.-Battery life: 10/10, it keeps going, and going, and going...-NetMD software: 5/10, It has a long way to go, but if you use the realOne plugin instead to download your music it works much better.-Durability: 6/10, doesn't feel as sturdy as previous models-Headphones: 2/10, the folding design *sounds* cool, but it hurts to wear them but the headphones that come with portable electronics are never good.
Haven't heard of Minidisc yet? A technically superior format to store music on, the minidisc was introduced in 1992, and yet never caught on in the USA. In Asia Minidisc made it big and is there to say. (As was clearly evident when I just visited Japan) But in the USA, minidisc was ignored for one reason or another, and has been compared to the Beta-Max format. Which is an interesting comparison, because just as BETA was techincally superior to VHS, minidisc (I believe) is Superior to the MP3 format. But minidiscs are making a comeback! Now all the new models are able to download mp3's from your computer as well as do all the things they were able to do before! In minidisc you can store your music in 3 different levels of quality called SP (highest, near-cd quality, ~320kbps MP3 quality, 80 minutes per disc), LP2 (medium quality, ~192kbps MP3 quality, 160 minutes per disc), and LP4 (medium-low quality, ~96kbps MP3 quality, ~5 hours per disc, ideal for recording lectures, ect... or if you don't have stringent music quality standards)
The minidisc's themselves (That hold the music, not the players) are small and durable, about the size of a 3 1/2 floppy, but very cool looking. They cost about [$] each (5 hours of music on a [$] disc, beats solid state flash cards anyday) They come in many different styles of all different colors. They also can be recorded on over a million times, and with the tracks already on there, you can divide the tracks, rearrange them, recombine them - it's like be able to mix on the go. The players very light and easily fit in a shirt pocket (About on par with a solid state mp3 player in size).
Now you're probably wondering why someone would choose a minidisc player/recorder over a mp3 player (and in some of the newest models, recorders as well).
I personally have had and used mp3 players from when they first came out with a Rio 300, and then moving on to a Rio 500. I've used some of the mp3 cd-players as well - though their ability to hold tons of music is nice, I don't really like their large size. Plus, as a medium, I find CD's to be fragile - they scratch very easily. Minidiscs however have a CD-like disc on the inside (magneto-optical instead of pure optical like CD's) that is protected by a shell, which makes minidiscs very durable. I can throw them on the floor of my car, or in the glove compartment and they will work flawlessly when I put them in my player.
Solid-state MP3 player have a few disadvantages (and advantages) compared to minidisc players.
Why Minidisk is better than mp3:- You can bring along many minidiscs (which cost ~$2 each and store up to 5 hours) while flash cards are $$$ and it is only practical (for normal people) to own around 1 or 2 flash cards for their player. If you want to travel with music you want something small (Minidisc beats mp3-cd players) and that stores lots of music (Minidisc beats solid-state mp3). I traveled with a Rio, and I got REAL tired of those 25 songs after 2 weeks...- You can record anywhere: when I hear an excellent track on a friend's discman (or home system, or mp3 player, or any audio source!), I can hook up my minidisc player right then and there and record the track onto my Minidisc!- The battery life is massive - 110 hours on the mz-n1!- You don't need to be tied to your computer to use it, though you can take advantage of your computer to use it if you feel like
mp3 advantages:-Easy download to your player. But now with minidisc NetMD you can download your mp3's from your computer at high speeds that are almost as high as mp3 players, but they don't need to be as high because you only need to record a mix of your mp3's once, and then you can keep it and just swap discs. When you want new songs in a mp3 player you have to go to your computer every time, you can't just swap discs (unless you got mega-$$ for flash cards)-I'm out of other reasons.
Go buy a Minidisc player/recorder!
62 of 64 people found the following review helpful.
bah, Sony, you could have done better....
By Tim_Bunales
I have had the Japanese import model of this unit since early February, and I must say that overall, this model is model was well worth the four hundred fifty I paid for it. It's light portable and fits easily inside the felt baggie that comes supplied with the unit.
In the six almost seven months that I have owned this unit, a couple of things have happened. Since I had the Japanese model, I got the newer, slimmer, RM-MC12ELK remote supplied with mine. The US models are supplied with the older RM-MC11EL remote. I must say that US buyers surely did get the better remote. My 11EL remotes from my previous R900 and my portable CD player (D-EJ955) have lasted longer and put up with more wear and tear. About one month after, the text started wearing off the remote and button functions began to malfunction. The hold switch was hard to move, and the volume/track changer button was hard to pull in and out. So here's my fair warning: don't import.
Now for the software; the bundled OpenMG Jukebox completely stinks. You really need to have a fast computer with plenty of RAM to have this program work fast and properly. I bought this unit expecting to have the ability to do two things: one being to UPLOAD, and two to end files to my MD in SP Mode. OpenMG Jukebox does support SP files, but are only transfered at the sound quality of LP2. The CDDB function on OMG doesn't work right until you have to manually configure it. Simple, OMG [is not good], bottom line.
Now the other bundled software, SimpleBurner (also known as Quickrip) works fairly better. SB allows you to put a CD in and burn it directly to a MD in LP2 or LP4 mode, but don't count on fast conversion times. All of the software must convert the music files to ATRAC first, which takes about 3 minutes per song, depending on size. This was something I was also not aware of when I bought this unit.
Now, one person has found a very nice way to get around all of these software problems. All you need is Nero, and your good to go. I myself prefer this method more than just regular software. ...
The battery times are once again fudged by Sony. In my tests, I have never cranked out 86 ours of playback using a fully charged gumstick and an external AA battery. The closest I got was around 53 and a half hours. Sony needs to take a lesson from Sharp, create smart chargers. Ni-MH gumsticks suffer from the memory effect, which occurs when the battery is charged when it doesn't need to be. Your battery will last shorter and shorter until finally you get around 4 hours of playback. Sharp, has a function built into almost all of their models which checks to see if your battery is full or not and starts a discharge of the battery, that way fully discharging the battery before it recharges it.
For the unit itself, I really like the design and functions, but there are still some issues that Sony has still not fixed. One is the End Search function. I know they've done a little better by making you disable the function on a menu, but if you forget to press End Search before you record, you still have the dreaded problem of recording over previously recorded songs. Another problem is the battery door. You would thing that after many years of having the same flimsy plastic that they'd learn that it should be magnesium alloy or some sort of aluminum composite. A fourth being the volume buttons. Lousy placement. You drop the unit on the side that has the volume buttons on it, you may have one heck of a problem. Many people on board all over the internet have had units that volume buttons have become hypersensitive (i.e. bringing up various menus when slightly touched) and have since had to repair their units.
Overall this unit reaches a milestone in the ten years of MD existence.
If you are considering buying this unit (or infact ANY NetMD units, I would consider holding off until the second generation units hit the markets in December. These units may have improved battery life, the newly developed Atrac Type S DSP (which improves upon the sound quality in SP, LP2, and LP4 modes), better software, and the possibility of uploading.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Serious problems uploading recordings done with external mic
By A Customer
The minidisc can be used for several things. Among those:
1) listening to songs recorded in CDs. I have to say I am very happy with this fonctionality.
2) Recording songs with an audio microphone (not included).Very interesting fonctionality for people who play music and want to record themselves in rehearsing or live concerts (in my case, playing the violin). This is what I bought it for. The quality of the recording is excellent, given the means and compared to previous non-professional portable analog formats. Serious problem: the software included does not permit to upload songs to the computer not downloaded before so you can not transfer it easily to other audio formats. I asked Sony customer service and basically after three tries of their complex web support system I got either no response or authomatically generated useless responses.
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