Sony MEX-1HD Car CD / MP3 Player
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Similar in In Dash Receivers
- MP3 / WMA Playback: MP3 Playback
- Additional Features: Built-in Hard Disk Animated Display
- Anti-Theft Protection: Detachable Face Panel
- Player Type: CD
- Controlled Devices: XM Ready
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Sony, WHY?
Pros
Good sound, fast copying, cool display.
Cons
Manual track naming(if no CD-Text), cannot transfer mp3s easily, COST.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
The bottom line is buy it if you can get an excellent deal, otherwise Sony needs to implement some improvements before it gets my final recommendation at its retail price.
Why would Sony do a great thing and screw it all up??!! I bought this unit well below its suggested retail value because I have a friend that owns a shop. Needless to say, I had to have it. Do not get me wrong, what it does, it does well. It rips cd's to the hard drive at 8x speed. It plays the song as it rips it and when it finishes, it starts playing the next track. So you end up hearing about 20-30 seconds of each song. It plays it at normal speed while it rips it at 8x, pretty cool. From what I understand (from a magazine review), the Pioneer unit only rips at 1x. So you have to be in your vehicle for the whole length of the cd. The Sony unit will also let you listen to other sources (AM, FM, etc) while it rips the cd too. I liked this feature. It rips the songs in Sony's ATRAC format (I think at 112 and 132kbs). I have not ripped at the lower, but the upper is fine and sound almost indistinguishable from the cd.
If the cd has cd text, it will copy this information. I wish more cds came with this because otherwise you will have to enter the artist, album, and track info by hand. This is not really very bad unless you have an extensive collection. Sony should have implemented Pioneer's ability to connect to a computer to a database with this info, really Sony, you really should have!! I hope that Sony somehow implements this feature at a later date through the USB port. HEAR ME SONY!! The cost is outrageous. $1500 is crazy, even for a unit with a hard drive (10GB by the way). In its defense, the Pioneer retails for $2000!! The Pioneer unit also has XM satellite radio capabilities where the Sony does not. The Sony unit should retail for around $700 tops, the Pioneer $800(if it ripped faster). This is just my opinion.
This unit is not for the average person, as it is marketed at the high-end consumer (mostly because of its price). Overall, the sound quality is above average for the unit. I only had a regular memory stick and not one of the Magic Gate sticks that you have to have to put mp3 files on the drive. The largest Sony makes it in is 128 megs, so you will have to make multiple trips inside to bring your collection to the car. It will read the regular memory sticks and playback was fine. It read all the id3 tags fine. Most of my files are encoded at 128kbs so I cannot attest to its ability to read different sizes. I wish Sony had let the user copy files over to the hard drive with the USB cable!!! HERE ME SONY!!! Sony should also supply you with a memory stick! If you are going to pay $1500 for an automobile head unit then it should come with all that is needed. The remote should not have been an option either, as it is not included.
I enjoy the display, even though it is one color (white). It is a dot matrix display and comes with various screensavers, which Sony should make more that could be downloaded!! HERE ME SONY!! The unit definitely has some coolness. The face flips down to reveal the memory stick, I/O port (USB), and the cd tray. Yes, it has a tray. Different, definitely different and kinda cool. At night, the unit has a cool blue theme going on. All the buttons glow blue and the display really shines!
Without my friend, I would not have bought this unit. It is overpriced for what it DOESN'T do. If it included the stick, remote, allowed you to copy files via the USB, and had access to a database for naming the files, then it would be worth the cost that it is available at some retailers here ($1050). However, it does not do these things. It does allow you to take your collection with you (albeit with some pain) and that is a great thing.
Sony is known for its fit and finish, but it somehow got lost on this product. For the price I paid, I love the unit (I know it does not sound like it). It just comes so close to being great, but falls short fast. I would recommend buying this unit, if the retailers start selling it cheaper. I mean I have copied 12 cds to the hard drive and still have over 8 gigs left (the unit already has about a gig used already from the factory, for the displays and stuff I guess). I hope some adventurous people open it up and try to swap the drive out with a 40 giger; I am not going to be the first. It cost too much to play with it!! If you are not on a budget, buy it. If you are, complain to Sony and wait for the price to come down to around $700-$800.
If the cd has cd text, it will copy this information. I wish more cds came with this because otherwise you will have to enter the artist, album, and track info by hand. This is not really very bad unless you have an extensive collection. Sony should have implemented Pioneer's ability to connect to a computer to a database with this info, really Sony, you really should have!! I hope that Sony somehow implements this feature at a later date through the USB port. HEAR ME SONY!! The cost is outrageous. $1500 is crazy, even for a unit with a hard drive (10GB by the way). In its defense, the Pioneer retails for $2000!! The Pioneer unit also has XM satellite radio capabilities where the Sony does not. The Sony unit should retail for around $700 tops, the Pioneer $800(if it ripped faster). This is just my opinion.
This unit is not for the average person, as it is marketed at the high-end consumer (mostly because of its price). Overall, the sound quality is above average for the unit. I only had a regular memory stick and not one of the Magic Gate sticks that you have to have to put mp3 files on the drive. The largest Sony makes it in is 128 megs, so you will have to make multiple trips inside to bring your collection to the car. It will read the regular memory sticks and playback was fine. It read all the id3 tags fine. Most of my files are encoded at 128kbs so I cannot attest to its ability to read different sizes. I wish Sony had let the user copy files over to the hard drive with the USB cable!!! HERE ME SONY!!! Sony should also supply you with a memory stick! If you are going to pay $1500 for an automobile head unit then it should come with all that is needed. The remote should not have been an option either, as it is not included.
I enjoy the display, even though it is one color (white). It is a dot matrix display and comes with various screensavers, which Sony should make more that could be downloaded!! HERE ME SONY!! The unit definitely has some coolness. The face flips down to reveal the memory stick, I/O port (USB), and the cd tray. Yes, it has a tray. Different, definitely different and kinda cool. At night, the unit has a cool blue theme going on. All the buttons glow blue and the display really shines!
Without my friend, I would not have bought this unit. It is overpriced for what it DOESN'T do. If it included the stick, remote, allowed you to copy files via the USB, and had access to a database for naming the files, then it would be worth the cost that it is available at some retailers here ($1050). However, it does not do these things. It does allow you to take your collection with you (albeit with some pain) and that is a great thing.
Sony is known for its fit and finish, but it somehow got lost on this product. For the price I paid, I love the unit (I know it does not sound like it). It just comes so close to being great, but falls short fast. I would recommend buying this unit, if the retailers start selling it cheaper. I mean I have copied 12 cds to the hard drive and still have over 8 gigs left (the unit already has about a gig used already from the factory, for the displays and stuff I guess). I hope some adventurous people open it up and try to swap the drive out with a 40 giger; I am not going to be the first. It cost too much to play with it!! If you are not on a budget, buy it. If you are, complain to Sony and wait for the price to come down to around $700-$800.
