Sony MDS-JB920 Personal MiniDisc Player

Hello there, everyone. I purchased the Sony MDS-JB920 about 3 months ago after reviewing some of the benefits of minidiscs on the internet. For a long time, I haven't been very satisfied with the sound of cassettes after going digital with CD over a decade ago. Until recently, I was stuck with analog cassettes when DAT and DCC never really grabbed hold of the market. Along came minidisc and after a pretty aggressive advertising campaign, I decided to get a demonstration of MD. MD bridges the gap between analog cassettes and CD very well. I was impressed with its features, convenience, and ease of use. I love that I can record, move, edit, label, and erase tracks with the push of a button. You can record up to 74 minutes of material in stereo, or 148 minutes in mono. You also have the option of a digital output so you can connect the deck to a outboard D/A converter for optimum sound quality (toslink or coaxial). And the smallness of the MD disc itself makes it very portable for MD walkmans or MD car decks...and because it is digital, I know the sound will sound the same the first time I play it or the 1,000,000th time. The sound is crystal clear and very clean although I wouldn't say it is as good as CD quality sound. The MD sound is just a bit weaker, or less-substantial compared to CD, but it will more than satisfy most listeners. This deck will benefit from the use of mid- to high-end gear and nice speakers. This particular model, MDS-JB920, will meet your MD needs. It is not super high-end so that most people won't have to break the bank to buy it, but it is built solidly enough (about 10 lbs) and jam-packed with features that will more than satisfy all your expectations. This unit comes with a remote control, which helps you do everything from your easy-chair. Now that's VERY cool!

However, having owned this deck for a bit, I can foresee some problems. There appears to be a lot of moving gears for the eject mechanism. It seems rather complicated and the proper workings of the deck requires all these gears working perfectly together. I don't think it would take very much to throw everything out of synch and you would be left with a mess that would need some big-time repairs...discs getting jammed or not being accepted or not being able to eject. In fact, this is a pretty common complaint about Sony MD decks after checking out some fan-based MD sites. It's very possible you could end up sending the deck in for repairs, so maybe the extended warranty might be a wise option. With that in mind, I purchased the deck without the extended warranty...I'm going to take my chances. I haven't run into any problems with this deck yet, and the fun I'm having with this deck is well worth the price. I fully expect the deck to break down someday, but I hope I get my money's worth long before that happens. On a final note, I think if you were to examine Sony's repair history with any of its products (through Consumer Reports magazine, or the internet), you will find that their stuff is prone to break down...their reputation for quality products is a little overestimated, in my opinion.