Customer Reviews:
 Nice, but Limited November 26, 2005
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
Bottom Line:
This is a great unit for the price, but for people with an expansive library of music or for those who use multiple computers, I would not recommend it.
I've had this player for almost two years and would describe it as durable with great music playback, but that darn ATRAC format puts a real damper on things. It always converts my mp3s to this format which is a waste time (Granted it's only a few minutes, but I like to get things done as quick as possible). And though I haven't checked for recent updates of the software(SonicStage), the version I have is not very user-friendly and took me a while to get used to.
But my biggest gripe is that in Sony's attempt to reduce music piracy, they've put protection on this thing that prevents you from uploading music on computers other than the one your unit is registered on. Granted, this is not a big deal for most consumers, but I travel a lot and find it very frustrating when I can't remix my music while at a different computer.
Lastly, the capacity is limited (Room for about 35 songs in standard quality) and no one likes carrying around extra minidiscs, regardless of how small they are.
Bottom, bottom line:
This is a great little machine...Though I wouldn't recommend it for those of us in 2005. Go for the ipod, I know everyone has it and you'll be part of the "trendy" crowd, but it's popular for a reason- it's superior to everything else out there (I have a nano and feel just like those dancing silhouette people in the commercials).
 Nice for the Price July 5, 2005
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I've had mine for about a year now, and it is wonderful. I didn't want to spend the money on an iPod, and I had several friends who had MD players.
I can put 2 or 3 cd's on one disc, and that's a plus. The only problem is you have to carry the discs with you if you want to change. At least they're about 1/4 the size of a cd.
I got mine from Best Buy for $150. My mom originally bought me a Rio mp3 player, but it wasn't able to hold the amount of music that I wanted, so we returned it and upgraded.
Sonic Stage (the music software) is not that easy to use, and I hope they make it easier to organize and find music in future releases. I wish that the MD player was compatable with Windows Meadia player, but unfortunately it's not. The Quick Burner, however, is very easy to use and gets the job done without a fuss.
THE BOTTOM LINE: MD players can play as much music as you can give them. They're sleek and compact. They're very nice for the price.
 Very Good Product June 1, 2005
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I bought the other version of this product, without the radio at Target (98 dollars, cool deal). Wonderful product and it works really well. Sony i think makes the best electronic products and are the most reasonable when it comes to prices. Minidisc is quite impressive, they look like nothing more then those little floppy disk but store more then CD's which is impressive. One flaw however, they say 80 minutes which is a lie, they store 161. The product is nice, it's not too big and it's not too small. Some MP3 players are too small, this is perfect, you don't have the fear of dropping it and the buttons are the perfect size. And if you don't want to carry it, stick it in your pocket. It is a good deal.
Sony MZ-NF520D Net MD Walkman May 9, 2005
0 out of 11 found this review helpful
Just bought one from Amazon yesterday; hope to get it by Thursday (they are sending it via FedEx!!); am excited, very excited.
 This MD Parade Needs Some Rain May 2, 2005
27 out of 40 found this review helpful
NOTE: THIS IS NOT SO MUCH A REVIEW AS IT IS A WARNING!
Five years ago, I discovered the MiniDisc format. I think that preciously naive time happened before the mp3 format came stomping into the music world and slew tapes, CDs and MiniDiscs with its mighty clawed feet, and then did a dance on their corpses. At that time five years ago I had no computer, so I was thrilled by MDs. The MD was the perfect replacement for the analog cassette; it was versatile, could be erased and reused, and just looked damn cool.
But Amercia missed the MiniDisc greyhound bus to Acceptance, and the poor unsupported format withered and almost died. But, possibly due to the stubbornness of Sony Corporation, MiniDisc was kept alive for Reasons Unknown, even though it was eclipsed by CD-Rs, mp3 players, and even possibly those little individual song player tapes manufactured by Tiger Electronics for pre-teens.
Though I can't say when, exactly, someone in Sony said, "let's try to re-vitalize the MiniDisc by making them able to talk to personal computers!" Perhaps he'd been on an all-day sake binge. It would make sense, because the idea was at least five years past its prime and smelled like rice-wine. So, the magnificent idea to bring MD into the 21st century spread and took hold in Sony, and has trickled down to us, the Playstation and Walkman-buying American public. NetMD was born.
By the time I stopped using MiniDisc format, I had amassed over 50 of the colorful little buggers, full of songs for CDs that I had since parted ways with, and tapes which I wanted to preserve. At least a fourth of my collection was made of songs that I had written and produced myself, from live shows to sound room practices. And here, dear readers, is the reason this product, or any other NetMD product deserves 1 star:
IF YOU OWN MINIDISCS WITH TRACKS RECORDED ON MEDIUMS OTHER THAN A PC, SUCH AS MD PLAYER TO MD PLAYER OR CD TO MD OR ANALOG TO MD, THE SONY SOFTWARE RECOGNIZES IT BUT WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO TRANSFER THE FILES TO THE COMPUTER. EVEN SONGS YOU WROTE AND LEGALLY OWN YOURSELF ARE NOT CONSIDERED 'TRANSFERABLE' BY NETMD UNLESS THEY WERE FIRST RECORDED USING A PC. YOUR OWN VOICE IS NOT TRANSFERABLE.
I was so mad that the NetMD I purchased for the sole purpse of transferring the music on my MDs to my computer was unable to transfer a single song, I returned it the next day to Best Buy and got my money back.
So, my advice in terms of MiniDisc and especially NetMD - it's over. The ship has sailed. Remember them fondly, or use them as coasters, but don't get into MiniDisc. It's a dead format and a product whose prime was in the previous decade.
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