Customer Reviews:
 the sony mini disc player January 2, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
i recieved a sony mini disc player for christmas and really enjoyed it. it had great sound qualities, good battery life and,durible.the think that i disliked is sonic stage the program you use to add music. i sent at least an hour at the computer makeing one mini disc and trynig to figure out why it said there was no disc when there was.overall i like everythin about the player just not the program.
the sony mini disc player January 2, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
i recieved a sony mini disc player for christmas and really enjoyed it. it had great sound qualities, good battery life and,durible.the think that i disliked is sonic stage the program you use to add music. i sent at least an hour at the computer makeing one mini disc and trynig to figure out why it said there was no disc when there was.overall i like everythin about the player just not the program.
 Excellent Product, Works Great; But save up an Extra hundred dollars and get an ipod December 18, 2005
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
This minidisc has great quality, works perfectly. I have no problems with it. But in all honesty, i would save up an extra hundred and get an ipod. Not having to deal with discs and such, plus having a back lit display, and not having to mess with the file conversions needed to put songs on a minidisc makes the ipod worth it; however overpriced it may be.
Absolutely best product if you value battery life December 16, 2005
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
The best thing about these players? The battery life! You'll get 45-55 hours on a single Alkaline battery-and this is TRUE battery life folks. Because this little guy operates on alkaline batteries, it will truly last up to 50 hours of usage, unlike Li-ion or regular rechargeable players (like the ipod, Zen, etc). Those devices advertise 12 to 20 hours, HOWEVER, if you don't use it for a week, the battery will be dead. Rechargeables have a horrible discharge rate, and regular flash or hd based mp3 players use those stupid "instant-on" features that make the problem worse, after "power off" they go into a power-trickling sleep mode. How stupid. I can't tell you how often I tried to listen to my fully charged ipod only to find that the battery drained itself because it sat for a week after I charged it, GRRR! That problem does not exist with these players, which makes a HUGE difference. If you listen to it for an hour one night, and pick it up 3 months later, you'll have 44 hours to go! Just excellent.
Also, be sure to download the new SonicStage software from Sony (v3.3). It no longer imposes transfer restrictions. That's right, you can transfer your MP3s, waves, wma's, etc until the cows come home. And when you want to delete the tracks from the player, just delete. No more of that "check-in, check-out" crap from the early days of SonicStage. Plus the interface has been much cleaned up and is actually a joy to use (wow, I can't believe I just said that about SonicStage).
MiniDiscs are cheap folks, You can get them for about a buck-fifty a piece.
Be aware that this thing only plays ATRAC3 encoded files, which means that when you transfer songs to it, it will automatically transcode everything to ATRAC3 (regardless of your source: CD, WAV, MP3, WMA, etc-but luckily it DOES support just about every popular music format). You will get to choose the quality of the transcode/transfer (132kbps LP2 or 64kbps LP4). On average, I fit about 3 albums using LP2 mode. Sometimes I'll have to prioritize which albums I want LP2, then make the 3rd album LP4. LP2 sounds as good or better as a 128kpbs MP3.
Any bummers? Sure, there is one: The player's only power source is the alkaline battery. It does not get power from the USB port (if it did, this thing would be flawless IMHO). Unlike normal playback, recording uses mucho amperage from the battery. I recommend that for recording you stick a NiMH rechargeable in it. This will negate the problem. If you don't do that, expect to toss out your Duracell after 2 or 3 discs worth of recordings (I'm serious). Save your precious disposable Alkalines for the sweet 50 hours or so of playback.
I wrote a review more than a year ago and gave it 4 stars then, however today, a year later, I'm giving it 5. That's gotta mean something...
As little as you're likely to spend on one of these original MD (not Hi-MD), I doubt you'll be disappointed, just don't forget to download the latest sonic stage (don't even bother with the disc that comes with it, the v3.3 download will be all you need).
Later dudes-
RMaldonado
Wow, what a great deal! November 4, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
First off, let me say how excited I was to get this product. Many people have said things like how bad the software is, but I thought it went quick! The place where I bought it from (J & R) shipped it really fast. It came earlier than expected! The sound on the player is great, and the music won't ever skip. Battery life is amazing, and the ammount of songs per minidisc is about 70. Combining all of this together, I think that it is a great player!
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