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Average Reviewer Rating:
 
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Number of Reviews:
7
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( Displaying Reviews:
1 - 7 )
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MZ-N1 Worth It's Weight In Gold
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Reviewer: Anonymous
from Australia
November 05, 2002
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Recently on a trip overseas I purchased my MZ-N1 NetMD for a fair amount. I've read countless reviews about this unit but decided to buy one and test it out for myself. Upon arriving home I opened the neat little package to reveal and surprisingly light and compact MD unit.
Overall the unit is GREAT. It packs great features and the software does not crash, I have OpenMG Ver. 2.2. I reckon it could beat any MP3 player. As for the sound quality SP does sound the best with LP2 a good option for those long trips on the road. Sound quality is superb with good, natural bass and nice highs. The earbuds that came with the unit are not the best but are acceptable. The only annoying thing is converting the MP3, WMA or CD audio files etc. into OpenMG format which can take a while if using a slower speed computer than recommended. But that is probably the only gripe I have about it.
Overall a great unit. I truly recommend this product you will not be disappointed.
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4
out of 6
people found this review helpful
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Pondering the depths of bitrate?
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Reviewer: Daniel
from usa
August 09, 2002
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Aight, so you've read the great "this is the best thing to hit the face of the planet" bits on here. I conciet i haven't dug through the entire review database, but I notice some thing smissing(now that I have a mz-n1 of my own, that is). True, for compacting the information as much as it has been, it does sound quite remarkable. But the LP modes degrade sound quality more than you want to think. I'm a musician, and spend a lot of time recording stuff/learning things from recordings, and the lp's don't cut it sometimes. First off, their claim that "SP mode is better than CD quality." Ok, so CD quality is 128Kb/s, and SP mode boasts 132Kb/s. That's all great and dandy, but i have yet to see a way to get my hands on the masters of any music I like, so that extra 4Kb/s really is just for show. And ontop of that, the way MD's crunch data into a smaller format is by putting a threshold on the volume it digitally stores on the disc. Peachy, but keep in mind that while the human ear(on average) can hear 2KHz-20KHz(abouts) most people can tell when a 30KHz frenquency is missing from a tune they know fairly well. Secondly, every time you increase the length you can put on that quite FINITE space, you decrease quality. LP2 knocks the quality down to 105Kb/s. that's about 1/6th of the frenquency range that you're not going to be hearing anymore. and LP4 knocks it down to 66Kb/s. that's half CD quality on a good day. I'm not bashing this little machine, I enjoy it very much, but Sony seems to have left this information out of most advertisings that they put out. I have yet to find it in the owners manual, I had to dig through the openGL jukebox to find this info, after i noticed the degraded quality that is. And openGL is, in itself another review all together. It will only let you put songs back on your harddrive if they were "checked out" from the same computer. No sharing this stuff with your friends through the MD medium there. This means that if you'r erecording a show, or something less illegal, like a professor in class, or a conversation about a contract, you're stuck with it on MD only(well not entirely true, but as far as OpenGL is concerned...). Another problem with this program, or at least a bit i didn't like about it, is when you're copying from a CD it only gives you the option of putting the file in Sony's own custom format on your computer. No mp3, wma, ram, or anything else. Honestly, if sony doesn't stop getting stingy about their music industry finances, MD's might not make it without the aid of 3rd party software and or soundcards with optical outputs/inputs(which is what breathed life back into MD a couple years back anyway). My theory is that Sony is just trying to make sure we are buying the CD's from their record label instead of going crazy with ripping them from friends CD's or the internet. If they don't get with the times, I can't honestly say i invision MD's being around for much longer. Unfortunently MP3 players are more popular, sad but true... Long live the MD.. just let Sony/sharp/kenwod/etc... know where we(the people paying for them) stand and they'll be around for a while.
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musician/professional student |
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12
out of 19
people found this review helpful
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Shrinking Technology...2
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Reviewer: Anonymous
from New York, NY
May 07, 2002
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Again, I am not an authority figure here in the MD Universe; I am a regular guy who loves the damn format so much, that I'm willing to share my personal thoughts about it and the units that allow you to play the MD format.
To begin, I baught my unit back in March2002, so I've had some time with it, and the OpenMg Software that is packaged with it.
Unit-
Well, as an earlier reviewer said, the transfer rate between PC TO MD is very fast. Copying CD's to your HD will not take up the length of an entire CD. Also, coping to your MD is even faster depending on your PC/Workstation and the recording format that you're using. Physically, the first thing you notice about the unit is how damn light it is. It takes you aback and what I mean is that no other MD I've had so far is/was light as the MZn1 [previous models, MS722, MT821]. Even when you put a disk and the battery in, it's just as light as it could be. This is a plus. Another plus is the clean face that the unit has. No cluttery buttons all over the place. Alas, that comes with a price if you are blessed with huge fingures/hands. The volume buttons are a bit small and will take some serious time getting use to. The pause/play button also has some issues where you are forced to do a combination exercise of 'pushing down and up or down' to get a pause/stop/charging mode' out of the unit. Please note though, that these things all function well, this comment was based on usage. Moving on; - The unit comes with the new longer life lithium ion batteries and yes, they do last longer based on your recording preference. Elaborate you say? Record in SP and it takes up more power; this is a given for MD, never forget it. The unit is very tiny at first and I'm still not accustomed to it's size at all but I love it none the less. My fellow subway riders will love the remote and while this is my first Sony Model, I admire the difference in design approach that Sony took for its remote. You have an option of not even using it which I believe might save some power on your battery. On the unit, the option button is also very mutltifunctional, much like the pause/play button. There are variety of actions you can perform with the scroll button, from selecting and playing tracks and setting up your personal preference to grouping and other wonderful extras. In all, it's a great design, minus the small vol. buttons and it would be rewarding if you read the manual thoroughly. You should visit Sony's NetMD page to see the layout of the unit and it's functions before purchase. It's worth the trip.
OpenMg - Okay I love this program. It's very reminiscent of the whole MP3 download/copy/ ... stop... well it's missing one great feature UPLOADING! I installed the software without a glich and it's as straight forward as it can be. Even my 7 year old cousin could use it. I copied a cd recently [Capelton - Still Blazin] in the ATRAC3 mode in about 10 - 15 mins. That's fast. That cd has 19 songs on it which average 3mins per song. From there you have a choice to check in/check out to your portable unit [not just mz], in sp, and the lp modes. The lp modes are lightning fast. I cannot stress the word fast even more; okay think of Flash from DC comics, it's that fast o). In LP2, the Capelton CD blazed to my md in a mere 5mins or less. So how's the quality, SP truly does give you a bigger bass and higher heights but the LP modes still sound great to me. Maybe my ears are not trained to pick out what's bad but its hard to tell the difference between sp and lp if your ears are not trained. The choice truly is yours here since this will become a matter a preference. The songs will be stored on your HD, so if you have little space, thing about how you will manage that space between copying cd's and deleting older files. Also, since the songs are ripped from the cd's, you can play them without the CDs, much like burner softwares out there today. The software is also SKINABLE [yup, you can design skins for it; which is a BIG PLUS!] for you skin ap users out there. So far it has only crashed once since my March purchase but I have no other complaints. Keep in mind though that I'm runing it on a PII 266mhz WIN98 old toshiba tecra laptop. I know it sucks, now leave my MunchMunch alone!!! hehe. I still haven't ran the software on the new machines but I'm very sure that it will be moving faster with those fancy new scsi drives and those gigahertz cpu's that I am longing for.
Is it better? Well yes, all the extra features and all the other bonuses definetly makes this one of the best units out there from "my" point of view. Easier to copy music, minus the upload feature, light weight, no more recording at the length of a cd and it looks good if looks mean that much to you. True no uploading is a set back but the pros over way the cons here. I believe that it's over time that you may wish the unit to have this particular future but then again, we were hoping for the ability to copy mp3 files for a while now and we have it. In essence, what I am saying is that "Beggers are not choosers." When you love MD, you love MD.
Didier
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28
out of 28
people found this review helpful
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It dont get much better than this...
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Reviewer: Anonymous
from Oslo, Norway
April 29, 2002
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Ive always been into MDs, and when i bought my blue MZ-N1, that did certainly not change! I wasnt shure how i felt about the netMD-thingly before i got the N1, but i quickly found out its the future of md. The unit is extremely small, robust, the menues are easy to undestand AND use, the sound is incredible and the possibilities when it comes to recording and editing are unlimited. The functionality is what i enjoy most about this little machine, u just have to read the manual if ur going to take full advantage of this little miracle. Even though it IS expensive, it well worth it, trust me.
After this, im shure. Ill always have a MD near my heart;.)
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2
out of 8
people found this review helpful
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I'm Impressed!!!
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Reviewer: Mountaineer (biodudesg@yahoo.com)
from Singapore
April 27, 2002
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I had actually wanted to get the MZR-909, but when the MZ-N1 came out, i immediately grabbed it. Its been with me for almost 3 months now and even though i paid a hefty sum for it, it is worth every cent.
The most impressive part is the recording of MP3s and CDs from my PC to the MZ-N1 in a much reduced time.
My frens are definitely impressed with my new toy and i have managed to convert quite a number of MP3 and CD Player enthusiasts to actually be infatuated with the MD.
A good companion to have when on long roads and travelling. Definitely irreplaceable.
I would have to admit there are a few kinks but they are minor compared to what the set is capable of...
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Present Soldier, Future Scientist |
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3
out of 7
people found this review helpful
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Very fast! Very light!
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Reviewer: Darth4114
April 13, 2002
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The transfer rate is incredible and the battery life is soooo long. The software is a little sketchy, but it is useful.
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2
out of 16
people found this review helpful
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Awesome electronic Device
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Reviewer: Anonymous
December 30, 2001
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I bought my MZ-N1 from Minidisco for a very expensive amount. I'm not one to wait for prices to go down. But I am happy with the purchase even though it was expensive. Installation on windows XP machine was a little tedious, but painless nonetheless. The interface takes a little time to learn, I still haven't spent enough time to understand how it works fully. Although, transferring songs was simple enough, I just plugged in the MZ-N1 and imported the mp3s and the songs transferred seemlessly. I haven't done anything else with the MZ-N1 yet so I don't have too much to say about it.
It's smaller than the R900 and the cradle charging station is quite a time saver.
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38
out of 95
people found this review helpful
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