Sony MD Bundle 4 Personal MiniDisc Player

I purchased this package in 1997. However, please note that I upgraded the portable player to the much more expensive (and smaller) MZ-E30. The JE510 player was used for recording and home playback while the E30 is simply a portable player. I found the home player to be quite easy to use. Naming songs and disc was a breeze with the jog dial. Editing functions were also quite easy to master. Audio quality of Minidisc's is quite good. There is an incredible improvement over audio cassettes. I could notice a slight drop in quality between the original CD and the Minidisc, although this was only evident in A/B comparisons through about $5000 worth of audio equipment. I have had quite a few problems with the eject mechanism in my player. I have had numerous disc's become lodged inside the player requiring me to remove the top of the player and manually eject the disc. This procedure probably voids warranty, but mine had already run out so it doesn't really matter. My eject mechanism has actually failed to work at this point in time and with the player being about 5 years old, instead of repairing it, I think that I will upgrade to one of the new players incorporating MDLP or better yet, a portable recorder/player incorporating NETMD. NETMD allows the user to drag and drop songs on your computer and have the software "rip" the mp3's and record them at upto 32X normal playback speed. The MZ-E30 has been a dream. Sony's top-of-the-line player back in 97, the E30 is about the size of 3 minidiscs stacked in their cases. It incorporates a rechargeable "gum stick" style battery which is fantastic. The battery charges in under 2 hours and gives over 4 hours of playback. Add the external AA battery holder and you can more than double the playback time to 9 hours. The headphones are earbud style with a lcd remote contained on the cable. The track/disc label can be read and the most common functions such as track skip, stop, play and volume can be controlled without having to take the player out of your pocket. The player has a ten second buffer which means playback is virtually skip free. The player is gorgeous even by today's standards (oct 2002). Encased in an all aluminum body, the player has a very solid feel to it. My only complaint is that the display is rather small and does not have any back lighting. Over all, I am very happy with this product. I am very enthusiastic about the Minidisc format and am thrilled to hear the arrival of NETMD. The minidisc format has been around for about 10 years and finally with the advent of MP3's and the relatively low cost of minidisc media, the format may finally take off!