Aiwa AM-F70 Personal MiniDisc Player

I love my MiniDisc player/recorder. I'm somewhat of an audiophile, so I like to be on the bleeding edge of technology. MiniDisc's are a relatively new format for audio. Unlike CD's, MD's are tiny ( about 1/4 the size of CD's ), re-recordable, and almost un-shockable, and I love 'em. About 2 months back, before I got my great Aiwa AM-F70, I did a ton of research on the MD format. I was in the market for something that was portable, had a high sound quality, and could record at least an hour of music. I looked at portable MP3 players ( I gave the Creative Nomad a good long look ), but decided that MP3 players don't hold enough music, and besides, new flash ram is expensive. I moved on and looked at CD-RW's, but decided that they were too expensive, not only for the recorder, but for the media too. Then I took a look at MD.

MD, I think, is going to start kicking the CD's ass in a few years. The reason its not doing too well right now is the price, and the selection. Portable CD players range from 30 bucks for a crappy one, to 200 bucks for a really good one. MD's, on the other hand, range from 200 bucks for a good one, to 1000+ bucks for a great, professional level recorder. And while I'm on the subject of recording, let me make it perfectly clear that if you are going to buy an MD system, DO NOT GET PLAYER ONLY. What makes MD great is its recording function. Without it, MD is no better than CD, and good luck finding pre-recorded MD's.

Anyway, back to my search for the perfect portable audio system. When I was looking at MD players to buy, I looked at a ton of them. Sites like minidisc.org, and t-station.net were invaluable to me. They listed just about every MD player in existence, and the pros and cons of each. On minidisc.org is where I found my new toy - the Aiwa AM-F70. I read some reviews on it, and liked when I saw. It wasn't as cheap as the Sharp MS701/702, or as tiny as the Sony RZ-55, but for me it was just right.

The AM-F70 has some great features, as well as looking damn cool. It has a 20bit DAC ( Digital to Analogue Converter ) for crisp, CD quality sound. When looking at MD players, remember that the higher the DAC, the better the sound. The AM-F70 also has some pretty neat recording features such as double-time mono recordings for speeches, and other thing that don't need to be recorded in stereo, and the ability to sync with a non-digital sound source, which cuts down on editing time. Speaking of editing, the AM-F70 has a suite of more editing features then you will probably ever need. There is divide, move track, erase, erase all, re-number, title, combine, and more. It also contains a feature called "practice mode" which will play a 3 second segment over and over again, assisting in placing an edit point. As I mentioned before, the AM-F70 also looks damn cool. It has a sleek sliver ( or cool black if you get the Japanese version ) case with a big, oversized jog wheel for the volume and titling functions. The display screen occupies about 1/4 of the total unit, and displays useful information such as track name, number, battery lv, DSL ( Dynamic Super Linear Bass, which is Aiwa's answer to Sony's MegaBass ) lv, play time, date and current time and MD name. Did I mention that the screen, the four main buttons ( play, stop, FF and RV ), and the remote are all backlit? This makes the unit easy to operate at night or in places where light is a problem.

The AM-F70 also has a great battery life of almost 40 hours of play time using the rechargeable and add-on battery back. The add-on battery pack is a bit big, which kills the size of the unit, but unless you are taking your MD for a long haul, you'll get plenty of play time, about 10 hours worth, with the supplied rechargeable battery. When recording, the battery life dips a bit, to about 4 hours with the rechargeable battery and about 15 hours with both the rechargeable and battery pack. Unless you are taping a LONG lecture or concert, you wont need 15 hours of record time. Trust me.

The AM-F70 also has a pretty cool remote, which can do just about everything the unit can do, except record, which is a bummer for bootlegging concerts discreetly. The remote, as I said before, is backlit, so you can see everything easily day or night. It displays 10 characters at a time in the title, and shows the track, DSL lv and battery life.

The AM-F70 has a digital output, and a digital input for mic and miniplug. The AM-F70 comes with a Mini-TOSlink ( Toshiba Link, which is found on many newer home stereo and video components ) which is used for clean, crisp digital dubs. I also suggest buying a $15 digital mini to mini plug if your stereo doesn't have a TOSlink. Digital recordings sound SO much better then analogue recordings, its not even funny.

The only downside to the AM-F70 is the somewhat average loudness. I tested the volume lv of the AM-F70 with the supplied Swoops headphones, which are very neat and sound good on my walkman, my Sony behind the ear Stree-Cred headphones, and my Aiwa VMMS Brain Shaker headphones. The unit sounded crisp and clean, but just not as loud as I wanted.

If you are in the market for something to replace those damned cassettes, go with MD. If you are looking for a great MD player, at a good price, get the Aiwa AM-F70. I recommend it to anyone who loves music, and cool gadgets.