Sony Net MD MZ-N1 Personal MiniDisc Player

I bought a MZ-N1 in the summer of 2002 and I loved it. It was compact, light, played music perfectly, and had the easy to use remote to switch between songs, put on repeat, shuffle, etc. The main MD has a 3 line LCD that has a blue back light, very easy to read, and next to the LCD are the controls to the MD. The controls are quite weird though, it has a main thing button that sticks out and when you push it up, it pauses, you press left, it changes the song backwards, push right, it changes song forward, or hold it down to rewind/forward, push it down and stop and press it down in the middle and it plays. Most would prefer to use the remote because you can put the MD in your pocket and use the remote to change songs or modify some settings and definitely much easier to use than the buttons on the MD.

The NetMD's special quality is being able to transfer songs from the computer through your own library or through the internet, via USB port. To be able to transfer from your computer, you use a program provided, called OpenMG jukebox, very non-user friendly, and has many many bugs. Sometimes when you're transferring, it would be stuck at 95% and not finish, or go all the way to 100% and start over, and sometimes the program will just freeze and not work at all. Though OpenMG jukebox is provided with the MD to transfer mp3's or WAV files, the good thing is there are alternatives. You can use RealONE player to transfer mp3's and WAV's and I think windows media player can too, the newer versions. Because not only is OpenMG very bugged, it also slows down your computer while using it.

Like other MDs, the MZ-N1 is able to transfer songs through CD players through the cord that connects both the CD player and the MD. It is a much slower and tedious way to transfer songs because you have to be playing the CD and it will directly record from it. So, if you have 80 minute CD that you want to record, it will take 80 minutes to finish recording from that CD.

There are many built in features that this model possesses. For example, the compressed ATRAC audio can transfer up to 30x with LP4, 16x for LP2, 2x for SP(stereo). For instance, say you can transfer about 15 songs with SP, you can transfer about 30 for LP2 and about 50-60 for LP4. But, the quality is a bit worse for LP2 compared to SP and worse for LP4. But, to be able to hold more songs is what someone whats. Another feature is the group button, you can group certain songs that you want into a group. Also, there is a input for a mic where you can record yourself singing, others singing, etc. For the mic, you can change the sensitivity to high or low. Also, what I love about the MD is the G-protection skip feature. It means that it is skip free, not 40 seconds skip protection or 5 minutes skip protection, it is completely skip FREE. I've read some reviews(not in epinions) that said they had it skipped once in awhile, but for me it has NEVER skipped, and i walk a lot with the MD moving a lot in my pocket.

The battery included is a NiMH, a rechargeable stick battery, very convenient. Though the battery life could be better, about 10-12 hrs depending on mode.(this is on my experience) There is also external AA pack included, as a backup if your rechargeable battery dies out. You only need 1 AA battery and with the external battery pack, you attacked it to the bottom of the MD. It makes it much more heavier than it is but it is convenient if you did not have time to recharge your battery.

Now, I will tell you the biggest problem of the MZ-N1. When I had my old computer, transferring from the OpenMG jukebox was horrendous, I had to transfer using my old computer for about a year, and then I got my new computer. Transferring was fine but one big big problem, once the transfer was finished, my MD disc would read BLANK. It would erase everything and though it said the song was done transferring, nothing was there. I tried many times, same thing, same problem. I tried using the RealONE and windows media player alternative, same problem. I then had to research this online, and it turns out this is a common problem in the MZ-N1. For some models, it happens early, some happens late, for me it was late because my 1 year warranty was already over. Though it could not transfer or record anymore, it could only play discs that were already pre recorded, like borrowed from a friend or had some discs pre recorded before. I'm not sure if they have new versions of MZ-N1 but this is a very big problem, happened to many many consumers who bought this model.

Final thoughts: Sure, MD is a good alternative to CD players but with the price for Mini discs and the player, you can get a very thin CD player for half the price, or a MP3 player for just a little more price. Before mp3 players were out, mini disc players would be a good choice but now, it is too much of a hassle. Mini discs are not cheap to come by and recording them is not a easy task. So, when you are deciding whether you want this MD player, try to give it some second thought and look for alternatives.