Compras Nikon Bluetooth |
The MZ-S1 Net MiniDisc Walkman is a larger, chunkier, and heavier MD player than most, because it's a rugged sports model. It comes complete with a large latch that clips securely over the rubber-sealed disc slot, rubber covers for all the ports and socket, and a tough, wipe-clean case that won't scratch. The earbud headphones are light and unobtrusive, too, but the strap only prevents you from dropping it rather than letting you carry it easily.
You can run, jog, and shake or drop the case without interrupting the music, and all the controls are on the side, falling naturally under your thumb when you hold the player one-handed. Play, stop, fast forward, rewind, and volume are all combined in one five-way control; only pause is separate. Although the edges are a little sharp for comfort, the control makes it easy to get the track you want without looking at the player, and it's almost impossible to change the volume by accident; if you do there's an automatic volume control to stop it from getting too loud too suddenly.
You do need to look at the player to record or edit track names, but as you can only record from an external source like a CD player you're not likely to be on the move at the time. There's an optical cable in the box for digital connections but you'll need a second cable for analog sources. Alternatively, you can plug the USB cable into your PC and transfer tracks you have stored as MP3 or WMA files. You get the same choice of single-, double-, or quadruple-length recording, which puts over five hours of music on one minidisc, and you get about 50 hours play time from a single AA battery. The OpenMG JukeBox software is a little complicated because you have to check tracks in and out of your library to transfer them, but you can create multiple playlists and convert CD tracks directly. You can't transfer tracks from minidisc to MP3, though.
You're paying a slight premium for the rugged, go-anywhere portability of the Net MiniDisc Walkman, but the controls are simple and the sound quality is excellent. --Mary Branscombe, Amazon.co.uk
I have a fairly large collection of music on my computer and the songs and albums are all in fairly different formats. Contrary to what many users have said about this product, using the SonicStage software I haven't had any problems yet with the song format. But it is still a huge pain sometimes. I use Windows Media Player. That is where all of my playlists and other songs are. But I cannot transfer from there to the minidisc. I have to take all the songs from Windows Media Player and load them onto the software that came with the player. If that weren't enough trouble, the playlists won't transfer. And I have yet to figure out how to store groups of songs on the new software.
I like the minidisc player. But Sony certainly done a better job of making it compatible with current PC softwares.
It can record from any source: from the pc (mp3), from virtually any other source with a line out (fm, cd, etc).
I do not think that this is expensive. If it breaks, I will go and get another one, at least I do not need to create all the music data again. Other good things are the looks, feel, sony name, storage media, battery life and type.
It has some solid drawbacks too:
1. The main attraction of this unit comes from the huge storage that it offers, I must say that the lowest bit rate is virtually offensive to my ears at least, so the best it can really do is 2 hours in mid level recording. I will NOT blame sony for it.
2. The software has been widely blamed all over, I just used the real player and got the plug in for this device, and get set going. People spend too much time blaming and not giving the solutions, which is as simple as installing the real player, which most have, and get the plug in. Yes, I will blame sony for it.
3. It only supports 2nd edition of win 98, this is misleading. I will not blame sony for it.
4. It requires a lot of reading and understanding, you just cannot use all the features without doing the essential reading. I will not blame sony for it.
5. Once you record a checkedout file from the computer, that number can not be erased and that disc is gone too, I will blame Sony for it big time.
6. Great joystick, but no remote, bad very very bad. I will blame sony for it.
Unless one is committed to put in all the effort, stay away from this one, this is not the usual plug and play equipment.
1. it's true: if you use sonic stage software (v 1.5) you can only transfer (check out) each file 3 times to three different media. but that is true only for the (imported) open mg files. if you imported a cd, wav or mp3 file, just import it again and you will be able to tranfer it another 3 times.
2. the sonic stage software is obviously not the best shot. but on a windows 2000 computer it works stable and i didn't face any conversion problems so far. i wouldn't recommed it as my favored jukebox but it does the job it should do.
3. some people recommend real one player instead because they say that you are not limited to the 3 times check out. but what it realy does is: it converts each file (even real/atrac files) into an open mg file and than again you are able to tranfer it three times. after the third check out real one just converts the original file again but you can do so by yourself in sonic stage as well. just delete the old file within the sonic stage software and import it again. don't be afraid: sonic stage will not delete the original mp3 file because it only deletes files it created.
4. sonic stage is not able to create files in sp (short play) size (original atrac format). it always imports files in the new atrac3 format which is less than half size. if you want to create a md in short play, you can do so, but sonic stage will convert the atrac3 file. quality will therefore never be better than 132kbit atrac3, which is quite good though and hard to tell from original atrac.
My thoughts on this player, the Sony MZ-S1 Sport Net MD
The Good:
Does not skip. I have run, hiked and worked out on machine assisted equipment while using it. When running I have to hold it in my hand. When hiking or working out with machine equipment I hang it around my neck. I added a lanyard to the small, but very strong, strap that came with the player and this works very well. The player uses a single AA battery. I use the player constantly when I travel, 6-7 days a month and one battery normally last for my whole travel time when I play it for 4-5 hours a day while traveling. I have never used more than two batteries in one month. Very durable for being dropped 7 times.
The Not So Good: A little heavy for being water proof. I have not tested the water proofing claim yet. Sony makes a non-water proof model that does the same things but is $60-$80 dollars cheaper and weighs half a much.
The Bad: Head phones that came with them were not good. Used my old Sony head phones that goes behind the neck and clip on the ears. The software that comes with the player not very user friendly but gets the job done. Do not expect to just plug the player into your computers USB port and download music. You must load the software first. Windows XP will recognize the player as an external hard drive but will not transfer anything to it. It took me 30 minutes of reading and configuring to get my music to start transferring. It took about 30 minutes more to transfer and record an entire Mini-Disc worth of music in LDP mode (5 hours). The software first converts the MP3/WAV files then transfers them to the player. My computer is a HP Pentium 4, 2.53 GHZ, 512MB Ram, Windows XP Home Edition.
If I had to make the purchase again I would get the non-water proof model. Does the same thing, cost $60-$80 dollars less and weighs half as much.
I hope this review helps someone with a future purchas. This was my first long review.
I do not use the Open MG/supersonic program, BEWARE it embeds something into your computer that messes up your mp3's.
Instead i bought a cable to connect it to my cd player, casset tape player and radio. This works well, but takes out some quality in the sound. Its nice to merge 3-4 cds on one minidisc.
I don't think of this as a alternative to a cd player, but as a alternative to a tape recorder because I don't use the software.
http://www.musiclub.sonystyle.com/community/thread.jsp?forum=4&thread=16873
andy
Don't get too worked up about the hype of cheap minidiscs and 160 Mb worth of songs you can put in it. There are some catches that you need to be aware of:
1. You can transfer your MP3s only 3 times to a minidisc. Yes, 3 times. Why? Sony has made a licensing agreement with itself (the Sony label company) that an MP3 file can only be transfered 3 times. So, if your first transfer didn't work-- you got 2 transfers left. If your disc got broken, it doesn't matter-- only 1 transfer is left. This, ladies and gentlemen, is called the OpenMG magic. The OpenMG software is a nightmare to be told in reason number 2.
2. The OpenMG software that comes with this device is a pure frustrating-agonizing joke. Go to www.musiclub.sonystyle.com and see how many people are complaining about this software. Sony "the software company" and Sony "the electronics company" is so incompatible with each other that you'd think one's made in Japan and the other in the U.S separated by a large body of water (literally). Technically: You have to convert MP3s to an ATrac3 file before transfering anything to a NetMD device. OpenMG's job is to convert MP3 files into Atrac3 files. Guess what? Those converts DOES NOT always work. Transfering a CD to an MP3? You still need to convert to Atrac3 files. You cannot record anything to a minidisc without converting it first-- well what if the conversions DOES NOT always work? A HAH! Strike 2!
3. Finally, I have had a NetMD MZ-NF610 for the past 2 months. The first month, everything worked fine--transfers were good, followed every single instructions on the manual, and never dropped, bumped, and hurt the device in any way. What happened in the second month you asked? These MP3-Atrac3 conversions started to go wrong. Go to any minidisc forum in the website (search for "minidisc forum" on google) and you will see that there's this huge problem of converting files. The conversion progress goes up to 8 or 9% and then it halted into nowhere. No explanation and no reason. Sony support line doesn't help because the people working there are your grandparents.
If you're thinking about buying this device as an alternate MP3 device, re-think again. The industry is on a crackdown and what makes you think that you can transfer these files freely? Buying this device is like buying a 200 dollar worth of fish net. The simple truth.
I looked at a LOT of different brands, sizes, and types of MP3 players before deciding on the Sony. Why I chose the Sony: (1) I have a Sony PC, so I figured I would not have compatibility issues; (2) Sony has an excellent reputation for electronics and sound; and (3) I wanted the ease of changing out mini discs.
I found it easy to learn to use - both the hardware and software. If you are copying to a mini disc straight from an audio CD, the speed is unbelievably fast! I haven't figured out what to do with the MP3 music files I have, which the software does not appear to recognize; but that is a very tiny part of my music collection, so this is not a big drawback for me.
I find that using the ATRAC4 file type, I can get about 2 ? hours of tunes on 1 mini disc, rather than the 5 hours I've seen advertised. Usually 1 full mini disc will carry me through 2 workout sessions on the treadmill or exercise bicycle.
Caution: one stereo store associate told me this format (mini disc MP3 player) is rapidly headed toward obsolescence. I plan to purchase a bunch of blank mini discs to have on hand in case he is right.
I agree with other reviewers that the size and shape of this sports model is somewhat limited by not having a belt clip. The hand strap is fine and more than adequate for walking or jogging; but it gets in the way if you are using any equipment where you need to use your hands (e.g., elliptical trainer or weights). For me, it was worth getting this larger sports model to be it sure it was safe against any water or sweat damage.
I simply cannot say enough good things about this Sony MP3 player! Having great quality music of my choosing really gives extra pump to my workout.
Now for the serious rant-fest, but every word here is 100% serious. It may sound like I've slipped into hyperbole, but don't ignore this. If you are easily frustrated and/or you use an old, slow, or homebuilt computer, don't expect to use the included OpenMG software for mp3 transfer. OpenMG is easily the worst most unstable piece of software I have ever seen in public release. There are betas of other software that is more stable. Careful examination of Sony's included info about OpenMG has multiple disclaimers about no performance guarantees based on different aspects of computer setup. This is a silly way of trying to reduce the problems they feel compelled to solve with the software. Perhaps its made to run best on a Sony VAIO system. At any rate, I have come to expect multiple reboots every time I use it, even for something as simple as retitling tracks on a disc. Sony should be ashamed to pass off this software to paying customers. NetMD debuted in 2001, and the software should be more refined than this by now. I am a patient and generally computer-savvy person, and I have to say that Sony needs to start over with the code and user interface of OpenMG.
OpenMG also aggressively makes itself the default player for most media types...a pain in itself even if the software were stable.
While pretty much a novice with digital music, I got a Phillips/Nike MP3 player, and I encountered many more problems getting than I should have, and decided to ditch it. Plus, I have more options with music on this, and found a great carrier for the Sony MD player for travel...it works perfectly for me.
For me, this system works perfectly, and I like the fact that I can put 5 hours worth of music on one disk, the battery life seems like it lasts forever (compared to previous systems), and I can set up the music the way that I want to.
On an overall basis, the unit is ideal for a workout. The main unit itself is arranged a bit awkwardly but it's effective with one hand. The sound quality is pretty amazing and the headphones that came with the unit is not as bad as some of the other brands. In addition, with the size of MD discs nowadays, My tapes can provide at least two hours worth of music (depending on format and size)...
I've used to product for about 7 months now and am actually moving on to a new digital product. One of the biggest reasons is overall durability. While the unit was ok in the beginning in terms of durability, I have been in several sessions where the unit simply "stops" and doesn't play any music. This ONLY occurs when I'm running at a faster pace but highly annoying. Most of the time the unit runs fine but for a Sony product, the stoppage in in play was incredibly disappointing... The other reason I am switching units is that the unit is far from small. Being an MD player, even at 3 pounds it's big. It's good for solid weight-workouts but for aerobics and cardio exercises, it can weigh you down quite a bit. This unit is also the type that fits on your hip, it's not an arm unit. The original awkward design was made so you can run with the unit in your hand. But honestly, not many people run with their music units in their hands. Good for overall use, but not perfect...
I do have a few issues though. First, the unit needs some sort of strap. Whether it is a hand strap or arm or whatever, it needs something other than the wimpy wrist strap that comes with it which is meant more to catch the player if you accidentally drop it rather than keeping it in place during active use.
Second, The whole check in/out feature is annoying. If I used this player significantly more than I do I might wish I had purchased something different. I guess the whole idea is to help prevent the propgation of illegal music trading. Whatever your opinion on that subject I think anyone would agree that what Sony has done here isn't the answer, their implementation just frustrates those of us who have a large collection of digital music obtained legally. Besides, the process slows down the transfer of music to the player dramatically and thwarts any additional potential the player had, keeping the Sony Mini-Disc players from cometing on a level with the iPod. If the discs were treated like standard digital media and the player was recognized as a removeable disc drive by Windows think of all of the uses for the player. It could be a mini hard drive, carry standard files, speed up digital music transfer, etc. Instead it is just an "MP3 player", and even then it is not a true MP3 player, it can merely convert MP3s, WMAs, etc. into the propietary ATRAC3 format.
That gets into the OpenMG jukebox program used for transferring music onto the player. It's quirky and flakes out frequently. Evidently it has gotten better from the reviews I read but it still has quite a ways to go.
All in all I got the player mainly for use when I go running and it is quite good at that, I just spend longer than I want putting together my mini-disc compilations. If money is not an issue for you however or you have plenty of removeable memory I would recommend getting something a little nicer.
The good points about this player are:
1. More compact than a CD/cassette player
2. More music than either of the above
3. Skip-free performance
4. The MiniDisc is very compact - I carry one extra MD on my
runs along with the one in my player - it fits comfortably
in the key pocket of my running shorts.
The drawbacks are:
1. Supplied headphones are quite bad
2. Poor software (particularly the quick transfer tool,
which resulted in a few bad transfers
Overall, I am very impressed and happy with the player. I would
recommend any runner to look at this player seriously if they're
looking for a good portable audio tool.
The software is a bit buggy and doesn't work right unless you install it correctly, so make sure you know what you're doing.
Other than the software, this thing is amazing! Make sure you look at this format before CD or MP3 players.
So, I read up on minidisc players and decided to try out Sony's new sport version of it's Net MD player line, the MZ-S1. WOW, an mp3 player that looks good, is made well and the software actually works! The only drawbacks I found are that you have to buy an aftermarket armband holder...and you can only transfer songs three times before you need to start a new playlist (not a big deal). Ok, so you have to store everything on a minidisc - who cares, the things are a helluva lot cheaper that SD or other memory sticks & they're re-recordable, so you can use the same one over & over. I have been abusing mine for two weeks (trunning, cylcling, working out)and its WONDERFUL - no skips when I'm running, easy on batteries, much better sound quality than my old Nike PSA64 and I can fit about 25-30 songs on each 80 min. minidisc (using LP2 compression, which is near-CD quality). Ok, you whine, but it lists for about $$$ new - forget about it, shop online or buy a refurbished unit at a Sony Outlet store and get it for $$$. Wy pay more for those darn sports flash players when you can get a nice, affordable unit that does not need an EE degree to figure out? Try one & see what you think....
Music reproduction is extremely good.
The Open MG software that comes with the device is not so great. Everytime you burn something onto an MD you have to leave a copy on your hard drive for rights management. I just bought my first copy-protected CD that used Windows Media Toolkit encryption (XP and Media Player 9 users lookout!) and Open MG can't read it worth a damn. If the Windows Media Toolkit encryption becomes popular (Virgin seems to like it) the device will soon be useless.
Only downsides: No attachment for belt clip or arm strap. I am used to using an arm strap. The volume does not quite go as loud as I would like, even with the AVLS turned off- but I like really loud music. It still plays fairly loudly. I wish it took less time to copy from cd to player, but that is probably the fault of my computer/CD Rom. I am also very impatient.
This thing rocks! Mini discs are the way to go, and if you are listening to music during sports/exercise, this is the machine.
Basically I like to listen to a lot of different kinds of music. I can fit about 40 songs (5 hours) on one mini disc at a great quality level. I can't fit that many on my MP3 player. If I want to switch tunes, I simply change discs --- Takes a second or two. With the MP3 player, I have to boot up my system, hook up the player, etc, etc, etc.
I run, snowboard, mountain bike, and work out with this player. It gets sweaty, and it gets frozen, and it gets knocked around big time. What it doesn't do is skip. It's bulletproof. I think it runs about 50 hours on 1 AA battery. The sound is excellent, but as mentioned in some other reviews, the headphones could be better.
It does take a while to load up the songs from your PC to the player though. Loading songs to my MP3 player is much faster, I have to admit. But here's the thing - Blank mini discs are [very reasonable priced, and can be recorded on again and again about a million times without failing. All told I have a bunch of discs, but only 3 that I listen to with a fair amount of regularity. Those 3 discs have about 15 hours of music, and cost [very little]. Do the math, and compare that to the cost of extra memory in an MP3 player.
Bottom line is I'm really surprised that these players have not really caught on in the USA. They're big everywhere else. This new generation of players are among the first to be easily managed from a PC, so hopefully that is what was keeping them from catching on before.
I'm planning on bringing my player around campus with me in (the bottom of) my backpack, carrying it when running, and keeping it in my jacket pocket while skiing. Nothing heavy duty--I think most people will subject their players to all kinds of similar use when they realize how convenient and portable they are.
The S1 is a shade bigger and weighs almost twice as much as the 505, but the only way you can tell the difference between 4 ounces and 7 is when you're holding one in each hand. That extra weight is used to make the body thicker and more 'drop-resistant'. Should I wipe out while skiing, the last thing I'll have to worry about is this player. I can hold it in my sweaty clutches or get it rained on and the rubber gaskets around the MD and battery compartments and the playing controls will keep it from getting wet inside.
The player controls put the 'joy' back in 'joystick'--they're designed to be easy to control when you hold it upright in one hand (while running,for example) but can be operated from any angle. The backlit LCD screen is another improvement over the N505.
I also found the design more tasteful--it lacks the "please steal me" ghetto design philosophy of the 505. When you throw in the hand strap and better headphones that come included in the package, the MZ-S1 is the better choice.
about 3 years ago, i upgraded my portable unit to the
sony mz-e44 model. it's a fantastic player, and i really can't say much bad about it. small, stylish, and efficient. a sweet blue/purple irridescent color scheme. but after 3 years, it was time to upgrade again.
i purchased the sony mz-s1 model about 2 weeks ago, and absolutely love it.
the minidisc technology is not for everyone. it is not the most perfect medium w/ which to record and listen to music. but from what i've seen and heard, if you are a fan or user of this technology, the mz-s1 will suffice for all your needs.
the pros:
- stylish. off-white and orange colors. smooth, rounded edges. not the smallest and most compact model, but it's good enough for most purposes.
- comes w/ software containing two seperate recording/playing programs. i've seen some negative opinions about the software, but it's nothing that should prevent the average user from enjoying the player, or the recording process.
- you can record up to 5+ hours of music to one minidisc. this is the most major upgrade to the 2 previous players (3, if you count the home deck) i've owned.
- my previous 2 models have occasionally skipped, even just during normal walking. this player has yet to skip on me. even once. even during rough, rugged movement. i once dropped the player while trying to put it in my pocket- it hit the ground, but never missed a beat (and the casing didn't scratch or scuff, either! needless to say, a pleasant, and great surprise)
the cons:
- a little bigger than it probably needs to be, but this is just nitpicking. the mz-e44 model is smaller, but only slightly, and the mz-s1's features more than make up for it. it still fits quite nicely in the inside pocket of my leather coat, but it doesn't fit as well into my jeans pocket, as the mz-e44 did.
- the included software is a bit complicated and cumbersome at first, but after playing around w/ if for a short while, is easy to get used to.
- this is probably nitpicking as well, but 2 things this player lacks, that my former, 3 year old model had, is a rechargable battery (still, you get 50+ hours of playback w/ a single AA battery, which really is nothing to complain about), and one of those remote-stick thingies that you can change tracks, volume, etc. from. in order to do these basic tasks, you have to actually touch the player itself. again, not a big deal, but a feature that would've been nice.
in conclusion, i would reccomend this player to anyone, though not highly. i would suggest doing some research and shopping around, to find the best fit for you. there's nothing here that should deter anyone from purchasing this model, but other models out there may contain other features that this one lacks, that may suit you better. still, this is a player that the average consumer can't go wrong w/, and should make most consumers happy w/ all the features and abilities it has. i know i myself am happy i bought it. and i owned what i previously considered to be a top of the line model (paid [money] for it 3 years ago).
The Headphones it comes with are decent but you gotta shove em in your ears... you know what i mean.
The software, i actaully dont have any problems with, its straightfoward and fast. My only complaint is that it can take a few seconds (10 - 20) to sort through my list of songs, only a few hundred of them on a nice P4 setup, with DDR ram and an ata 100 HD... but its only an inconvience.
The player itself is very cool, great design, and durable... i have dropped it, from about 4 feet onto frozen asphault with only a scuff to show for it. Works well in the cold too, its with me everywhere i go, and it being winter in Michigan its ... cold right now. It can store 5 and a half hours of music in LP4 if i recall, i have a few mini discs with 4 and a half hours worth of trance mixes, which i was worried about compressing into LP4 but they still sound incredible, you really should pick up the car kit for it, i picked up a Sony car kit combo for ...at Best Buy.
As for everything else about the device...absolutely no complaints. I was worried it would be too heavy for long runs, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't bother me at all. The ability to have great, customized soundtracks with me on runs more than made up for having to carry the player in my hand. I think the wrist strap is fantastic because it gives me the confidence to carry the player very loosely in my hands, instead of a death grip that would fatigue my hands and arms. Yes, some people might prefer a clip or belt strap, but I find that I would much rather carry this in my hands given its weight. The sound is absolutely fantastic. Although some reviews have said the volume level is a little low, I have found that even with hearing that my wife claims borders on deafness, I can get this player cranked up loud enough that it hurts.
I received this as a gift and was initially disappointed that it wasn't a memory-based MP3 player. But the more I researched the various options, the more I realized this is a fantastic solution. In my opinion, what sets a mini-disc player apart from memory-based players is the ability to create different sets of music on dirt-cheap media. Instead of having to constantly connect my player to the computer for loading and unloading tunes to fit my mood, I can cheaply create a whole bunch of different discs - one for endurance runs, one for pace runs, one for sprints, etc.
If not for the Sony software, this player would definitely be a five. But since you can work around it easily enough, I will give it a four.
As for everything else about the device...absolutely no complaints. I was worried it would be too heavy for long runs, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn't bother me at all. The ability to have great, customized soundtracks with me on runs more than made up for having to carry the player in my hand. I think the wrist strap is fantastic because it gives me the confidence to carry the player very loosely in my hands, instead of a death grip that would fatigue my hands and arms. Yes, some people might prefer a clip or belt strap, but I find that I would much rather carry this in my hands given its weight. The sound is absolutely fantastic. Although some reviews have said the volume level is a little low, I have found that even with hearing that my wife claims borders on deafness, I can get this player cranked up loud enough that it hurts.
I received this as a gift and was initially disappointed that it wasn't a memory-based MP3 player. But the more I researched the various options, the more I realized this is a fantastic solution. In my opinion, what sets a mini-disc player apart from memory-based players is the ability to create different sets of music on dirt-cheap media. Instead of having to constantly connect my player to the computer for loading and unloading tunes to fit my mood, I can cheaply create a whole bunch of different discs - one for endurance runs, one for pace runs, one for sprints, etc.
If not for the Sony software, this player would definitely be a five. But since you can work around it easily enough, I will give it a four.
*I didn't purchase this item to use in conjunction with my PC. I found it to be poor software and wouldn't recommend it if that was your SOLE reason for wanting this item.*
Here are some reasons why Minidisc players are bad compared to CD/Mp3 players:
1. Mini Disc is too slow in recording and transferring your songs. CD/MP3's are faster, you just burn one CD at a fast rate on your PC and you are on your way. Put tons of MP3 songs on that one CD and you are done. Calculated, transferring your songs and MP3's to a CD is 15 to 20 times faster than the Minidisc! Or should I say the Minidisc is just 20 times slower! And keep in mind that my Minidisc is a top of the line model, imagine the lower Minidisc models, how slow those go compared to the average CD/Mp3 players. Simply put Minidisc is a waste of your time.
2. On a Minidisc you can only put 74 minutes worth of music. If you want more you can double or triple the Minidisc capacity and have 5 hours of music on it at the maximum, that's it, you get no more. In order to do that you have to record all your tracks on LP mode (long play) and with my so called top of the line Minidisc I had the option of LP-4 as well, but then in any of the LP modes the music quality lowers dramatically! The sound on the Minidisc is completely tarnished to a low quality pulp! So stay away from any LP mode in order to record more songs on your Minidisc!!!! You record more songs but you loose all the quality. If you want to have decent sound quality stick to the normal SP mode (standard play) and with that you can never record more than 74minutes of music on your Minidisc, that's IT!That is the maximum you get out of the Minidisc. But with a CD/MP3 player you have 1 single CD where you can have up to 11 hours of music on it! You read this right 11 hours, with a crisp CD quality. So, the Minidisc with its 74 minutes capacity on each disc is just too limited next to the CD/MP3 player that can handle 11 HOURS of music!
3. If you need more songs to carry around with your Minidisc, you have to have at least 10 Minidisc cartridges, just in order to equal the same amount of songs on a full CD with MP3's! Imagine the amount of songs and the variety of selection that I have with my CD/MP3 player with carrying only 1 single CD with me. If I wanted to do that with the Minidisc, I would need to record 10 Minidisc cartridges and carry all the 10 minidiscs with me all the time. Exchanging the discs every time you want to hear something new, and putting all those Minidiscs in your pocket,...It's just too much hassle. With the CD/MP3 I have all of that recorded on 1 CD, worth of 11 hours of music! With great CD quality.
4. Just imagine the cost of buying all those blank Minidisc cartridges, compared to the 1 blank CD! Plus keep in mind that one blank Minidisc would cost you 6 to 8 times more than a blank CD. Just do the math on the 10 Minidiscs that you need to equal the same amount of music that goes on just 1 CD for the CD/MP3 player. Do the math on that! Minidiscs are just too expensive.
At the end go with a CD/MP3 player, they also read CD-recordables as well as CD-Rewritables. They are fantastic! Even their average models out do my top of the line Minidisc. I have them both and I went with the CD/MP3. I regret for buying the Minidisc and paying $[amount] for it!
I wish I had discovered the CD/MP3 sooner, because not that it gave me better quality, is faster and saved my time and that it is more convenient, but it costs a lot less money. Just go and compare them here at Amazon or any retailer.
There would be only one reason for buying a Minidisc though, if you just don't know any better. Or you just like to throw away money and your time. Or maybe you just like to carry around all those tiny Minidisc cartridges with you! Other than that Minidisc is just a waste of machinery to me, I can't say how much I regret for buying Minidiscs all these years and coughing up all that money for it. As a consumer I hope others won't make the same mistake, go with a compact CD/MP3 player. I know I did, eventually.
1) OpenMG does *NOT* support ID3v2 tagging. This actually presents a problem for me, because I have a large collection of music that have titles that are longer than the normal ID3v1 tag length. For example, one of the tracks on an MD I just created is "Whatever [Ferry 'System F' Corsten Vocal Edit Mix]". If I leave the ID3v1 tag in the file, then it gets truncated and I have to go and manually rename the track. Solution? I stripped the ID3v1 tag from the file, and let OpenMG get the title from the filename.
2) OpenMG has problems playing (and thusly importing) some songs recorded at 256kbit-CBR. I know it sounds like a waste of space, and I do realize that, but I recorded a few hundred songs on my computer back in the days when I was first experimenting with MP3s, and I never re-recorded them at my ideal 160kbit. Of course, I dug a little deeper into why it has problems - especially since I noticed if I fast forward into the song, it plays fine. It turns out that it has problems with the song if there is pure silence in the beginning (i.e. the frame is full of zeroes). Solution? Wrote a util to scan through the 256kbit songs and remove beginning and trailing silences. I haven't come across any songs that have pure silence in the middle, so I'm not sure how OpenMG will react to it.
3) OpenMG does *NOT* have a simple interface to create playlists. Plus, surfing through the file lists to build a playlist from scratch is painful, since it takes about 5-7 seconds for the display to refresh properly on this laptop (WinXP, reinstalled the day I purchased the NetMD). I would like to see a program that can just read a text file that has a list of filenames and locations to play them from. Oh wait, that's what Winamp's *.m3u files are for. Solution? Wrote a utility to convert the *.m3u files to a batch file to transfer the files from their original location to a holding directory, with track prefixes added on. This actually leads to the fourth point
4) OpenMG uses the digital rights management system to prevent distribution of music. Of course, if I transferred the music into the holding directory, I can burn it, then nuke the holding directory, nuke the .OMG file, and rebuild that directory. Kind of a pain in the butt, but it gets around that issue. Not like I'm a music distributor or anything. It just sucks when you lose an MD (happens) and you can't check the song back in.
5) (Nitpicky) OpenMG doesn't seem to respond properly to the media keys on this (HP-ZT1000 laptop) computer.
Going to the MD player, it seems to write at about max 2x speed. It took this PC approximately 25 minutes to convert the MP3 files to OMG files (though admittedly, a portion of that in the beginning was spent multitasking a download into the player, which, also failed - though that could be due to it running into the aforementioned 256kbitCBR music). Then it took about 40 minutes or so to transfer 80 minutes worth of music onto an MD, and it crashed once in the middle of the transfer (9 tracks into the player). Dunno why that happened, but after a total of hour, I have an hours worth of music ready on an MD!
I tried playing the music, and it sounds great! Well, all except for the 256kbit song that didn't transfer (I figured out the solutions after I downloaded the music). The controls are more responsive than my older MZ-R90, but not as responsive as my MZ-E60. What I mean by "responsive" is how long it takes to go between tracks, and to FF/REW. The MZ-R90 was horrendously slow, probably due to Sony's attempt to do power conservation.
As an added bonus, you can use this to label MDs! As an added negative, you can't import music from MDs. And as an added wish list - why couldn't this be used as a data storage medium too? I swear, if I could transfer files between home and work, and still listen to music on the MD player, then it would just rock. I guess that's what things like the iPod are for!
In conclusion - this product is good, but don't expect to use OpenMG as your player of choice. In fact, the only thing keeping me from returning this is I have workarounds to bypass OpenMG. Whenever I want to make an MD, I've got programs to take a playlist file and convert it into a temporary directory, and then use OpenMG to transfer that directory into the MD player. I have yet to experiment with LP2/LP4, but from what I've been hearing from a friend who uses it, the quality of those modes are good.
I bought this unit after researching portable players for MiniDisc's, MP3's, CD/MP3's, as well as MP3 Jukeboxes units. I wanted to get back into listening to tunes while snowboarding...The S2 or S1 or whatever just seemed like to right choice...These things have come down in price. The USB feature really sold me as I have a ton of MP3's on my PC that I would need to have on MD.
I'm happy with my decision. I was able to load and use the included software to rip and convert my CD's and MP3's onto MD's within minutes (Win 2000 PC). I did not have any of the bug issues I've read about - I was a little concerned but I guess I lucked out. I did notice that during the loading processes for Simple Burner and OpenMG that updates / patches were added.
The sound is great - can't say enough about the sound. Example: I converted a CD track to MD using the Simple Burner program (very simple and quick to do with the USB), listened to the original CD track on a Sony CD Walkman then listened to the ripped track on my MD unit with the same headphones - the NetMD blew away the diskman on sound! - bass was way better. overall tone was fatter / more clear, etc. I had read that the sound on MP3 players are hollow and not very loud. I'm convinced that MD's are the way to go if audio quality is important. For me this was very important.
I ruled out CD/MP3 players (portable CD players that read MP3 files) due to my past experience with burning CD's full of MP3's. This allows you to get a lot of MP3's on a single CD, data transfer is much faster from PC to portable media but very unreliable as scratches can render them useless. Very prone to skipping and just kinda junkie, one track is normal the next one could blow your ear drums out. Also - not very flexible - if you have new MP3's - you need to burn another CD. And overall just not as cool - it's basically a workaround for the fact MP3 players can't offer a cost effective way to improve capacity. Have you seen the cost of those memory flash sticks? Flash this!
I looked at that Apple iPod.... Carry 20 GB's of MP3's with you - what ever. I'd break that thing in one day... I looked at other GB + Jukebox players - too bulky - too expensive, and not portable enough.
So far so good with the NetMD S2 / S1 or S1 / S2. It is a bit more work to get your music organized with MD - but once you do it's flexible, highly portable, and sounds great...
While a belt clip may have been a nice addition, I think the unit is too heavy to be clipped to running shorts and the hand strap is a reasonable compromise.
Other reviewers have complained about the Sony software. However, I found that if all you want to do is record from a CD to Mini Disc it is very simple, fast and similar to EASY CD creator. I have not tried recording off the internet or with MP3's yet.
Overall, a quality unit that perfectly meets the needs for which I purchased it.
Anyways, if this device wasn't supported by other software, I'd have a hard time recommending it...However, since it works well enough with Real One Player, I'd have to say you couldn't do better than this device for a portable (and ruggedized!) digital music player. I have experience with the Nomad II, Nomad Jukebox, Sony MusicClip (crippled by the OpenMG SW:(), and RaveMP players. The sound quality is significantly better than any of those players. Furthermore, I've experienced much longer battery life than any of these other players by a factor of 2 or 3. The real payoff, however, is the cost of media: Minidiscs are a factor of 20-40x cheaper than comparable 128MB flash memory devices (compact flash, smart media, etc.).
Five stars if it didn't come with OpenMG.
All you need to avoid using the Open MG software are two pieces of software. One comes supplied with the MD player, and that's the Net MD simple burner which allows you to transfer music CDs to your MD. The other piece of software is Nero Burning ROM. Simply use Nero to create a Music CD image on your harddrive somewhere, and then using the Nero Imagedrive which comes with the Nero burning ROM software, mount the Music CD image you just created. This tricks Net MD simple burner into thinking you have just put a music cd into your cd-rom drive and will then allow you to transfer all the mp3s you just burned to the music CD image.
Aside from the software that comes with the MZ-S1, everything else is great. Although slightly larger than its counterparts, I still find that the MZ-S1 fits quite easily into my pocket whenever I'm on the bus. One advantage to the S1 which most other MD players in it's price range don't have, is the Backlit LCD display. This is very useful for use in dim lighting.
If you are considering an MP3 player in the MD price range then you are probably looking at something with 128 MB of space. Under the best circumstances (1 MP3 = 3 MB) you will only be able to hold 40 MP3s or 120 minutes of music or 2 hours. With just one Mini Disc (costs approx. $1.50) you can hold over 5 hours of music. Mini Discs are very flexible. If you don't want to buy any more than the one that comes the the MZ-S1 then you can erase and rewrite to it over 1,000 times. No, I did not make a mistake: ONE THOUSAND. Mini Discs weigh nothing, and the players themselves weigh anywhere from less then a quarter of a pound to less than half a pound, and are comparable in size to any MP3 player.
In the end I didn't give the MZ-S1 five stars because the Open MG software was obnoxious. I hope Sony gets their act together someday and makes a piece of software that matches the quality and workmanship of the MZ-S1.
[note: i have not (and will not-- i use another program that works fine) used the software that comes with the player, so i can't comment on it. i also never use the headphones that come with audio equipment, so i can't comment on them, either.]
The software, OpenMG Jukebox, is also great. I am running Windows ME and have had no issues at all. Initially, the driver would not load but the manual helped me out and it loaded off the CD via Device Manager. OpenMG is great for oranizing mixed discs and very fast and easy to use.
Overall, this is a great product. It is not only great for working out but will be ideal for travel as it is smaller then a CD player.
The salesman convinced me that of the various netMD models this would be the best to take to the gym because it is more rugged. It needs to be. It is twice the size and weight of the other netMD recorders, cost an extra [PRICE], and offers no additional features except it's extra outer shell. It needs to be more rugged too because it is too big to fit in your pocket, has no belt clip, and is too big to fit in any of the neoprene minidisc belts. I guess I could use a belt designed for a standard CD player but then what's the point of having a Mini Disc. The unit seem to be designed for joggers who wish to hold the unit in their hand while they run, using the thumb joystick on the top.
This joystick is another point of contention. The S1 is suppose to be water resistant but the joystick sits in a non-sealed well on the top. The stick itself has sharp edges that are uncomfortable to use.
The electronics are good. At my age my ears aren't good enough to tell subtle differences in sound quality, especially when I'm in a noisy gym listening to myself grunt. It is evident the LP2 mode is not as good as the original MP3 file which is not as good as the CD file.However it is still better than anything I can pick up on the radio and better than a tape. And in spite of all my complaints about this particular model I would go out again and buy another (smaller) netMD player (I returned this one)if it weren't for one very important thing...the software.
In order to get the music into the player you download it via USB using software provided by Sony called OpenMG Jukebox. On a 1 - 10 scale this software is a minus 2. Using Windows XP and the NTFS file system the software crashes everytime I try to load more than a few songs at once into the player. Worse yet, after spending over an hour on the phone with a very nice tech it became apparent Sony has not placed a priority it dealing with this very common issue. Jumping on to the Internet I discovered this poorly designed and unreliable software is affectionately called Junkbox and has been a point of contention with Sony customers for a long time.
I guess if I was willing to fiddle with the system everytime I wanted to create a disc, I could ultimately create a set of enjoyable music and once it is on the disc the system works flawlessly. However I don't think this kind of corporate attitude should be rewarded. When Sony decides to put their resources into completing the product or a third party creates a stable and much less cumbersome tool to transfer files, I may look at the netMD world again. Until then I think these products are not ready for prime time.
I think something like NetMD would have been utterly fantastic three years ago, when USB-enabled computers were starting to gain mainstream adoption, and before hard disk and cd-r burner prices hadn't dropped low enough for more people to rip and burn their music collection. Then, I think, the ability to transfer up to five hours of music onto a single, (relatively) inexpensive minidisc would have held greater appeal.
Regardless of timing, the NetMD technology is still pretty neat. You are able to transfer digital content, either imported mp3/wma or audio CD's, directly to minidisc using one of three compression settings.
SP, the full-bore setting, allows up to 80 minutes on one disc, and is the best sounding of the three. It is "lossy" compression, like mp3, but to my damaged ears, they sound at least as good as CD's. LP2 doubles the storage time, but the increased compression makes the resulting recordings sound like... well, ALMOST as good as a 160kbps cbr mp3. Almost.
LP4 quadruples storage time, but as you might guess, the sound quality is pretty dodgy, comparable to a poorly ripped 128kbps (or lower) cbr mp3. LP4 is pretty much a lost cause as far as most rock goes, but it is surprisingly passable for hip-hop and spoken word (and probably for most electronica, but I have yet to test this).
As far as transferring existing mp3/wma content goes, I wouldn't recommend it (I know, it pretty much nulls the hype of NetMD, doesn't it?). I've tried converting a batch of 160kbps cbr mp3's to SP and LP2, using the included OpenMG Jukebox. At SP, the sound quality is comparable to the original, but the transfer to MD takes almost as long as the length of the content. Transfer in LP2 is faster, if you disregard the processor-hog conversion to ATRAC LP2 mode, but the sound quality takes a nosedive.
From what I've read, OMG Jukebox is notoriously unstable. Or so I've read. I've been able to successfully install it on two separate Windows 2000 Pro machines, and I'm feeling so lucky, I'm going to buy a lottery ticket once I'm done with this review.
That said, once you fast forward to 2002, where more people than not have gigabytes of existing mp3's on her or his hard disk, you have to wonder whether it's more convenient to rely on a solid state mp3 player to take small sections of this content without any further format-shifting, or dump them en masse to CD-R/W's for use with 3" or 5" disc-based mp3 players. If NetMD handled mp3's and wma's natively (or even managed Sony's proprietary ATRAC without the inflexible audio management software), I think this product would have much more relevance today. However, due to intellectual property concerns, I think Sony hamstrung itself with its convoluted content management system.
In the meanwhile, I've been using the Net MD Simple Burner program to transfer audio CD content directly to MD (mostly in LP2 mode, with some LP4, but for some weird reason, SP is NOT available as a transfer mode with Simple Burner!). I have started amassing a usable variety of discs packed with songs for the gym or for walks in the park, and from there on, it's straightforward MD goodness. Compact form factor, high skip resistance, durable media, high battery life. Basically all the things that most CD-R/W mp3 players aren't. And in a nice change of pace from the bumblebee black-and-yellow motif, the new S2 Sports design definitely adds some to the "cool factor".
I'm inclined to think that Sony munged the Minidisc yet again, this time with questionable software, but the good news is that I am still able to make use of NetMD. Drop me a line if you have any questions or war stories to share.
We can predict everything, except the future.
My message is not that biological determinists were bad scientists or
even that they were always wrong. Rather, I believe that science must be
understood as a social phenomenon, a gutsy, human enterprise, not the work of
robots programmed to collect pure information. I also present this view as
an upbeat for science, not as a gloomy epitaph for a noble hope sacrificed on
the alter of human limitations.
I believe that a factual reality exists and that science, though often
in an obtuse and erratic manner, can learn about it. Galileo was not shown
the instruments of torture in an abstract debate about lunar motion. He had
threatened the Church's conventional argument for social and doctrinal
stability: the static world order with planets circling about a central
earth, priests subordinate to the Pope and serfs to their lord. But the
Church soon made its peace with Galileo's cosmology. They had no choice; the
earth really does revolve about the sun.
-- S.J. Gould, "The Mismeasure of Man"
