Sony MZ-NE410 High Speed Net MD Walkman Recorder

In December 2001 I purchased Sony's ZS-M35 - the personal minidisc system. CD player on top, mini disc recorder on bottom. This was my introduction into the world of mini discs. This was purchased after my Sony CD player - cassette recorder died. I really abused the heads. It lasted 6 years of heavy use at the office. It still plays cd's and radio but draggggssss on the tapes. My next in February 2003 was the MZ-E300 minidisc player - you know, the little blue player. Since I am recording in the office, I might as well take some to listen outside the office. It lasted until 2004 when the "hold" button gave out completely. The only thing to do was to throw it out. It did play Normal and LP2. Getting fancy in February 2004, I ordered the MZ-NE410. This is a very good machine except that it didn't have a line in and I don't download from the internet so the software is useless for me. In March 2004, I ordered the MZ-N510CK and IT IS A FANTASTIC MACHINE. It has a line in which I use to record in the office. The 410 is my "player". The 510 is line in/line out from my Dell in my office. I use Real Player. I am a hog for old time radio shows and they come in MP3 format on CDs holding as much as 100 half-hour shows. I plug this cd into my dell, bring up Real Player, press start on Dell - hit record on 510 and let it rip. I record in LP4 so I get 10 half-hour show or 5 hours of whatever using MD80. I still don't use the software, just MP3 cds and regular music cds to download. I have all the functions sans the software. This is a fantastic machine. I am thinking of going MZ-NHF800 Hi-MD later on but have to read a lot more about it. I only buy Sony for music. Not DVD, not television. I have not been disapointed yet.

Almost everybody I know either has an Ipod or MP3 player. Mini-Disc seems to just fly by and doesn't get a lot of attention these days. But you know what, thanks to Sony, I was able to find a portable music player that I can live with. Took me about 5 days to received my Sony MZ-NE410 Net MD. Seems like everyone hates the Sonicstage application that came with it (because of the check-in and check-out thingy). I Didn't want to take a chance so I downloaded the newest version and didn't see any of that crap that they were talking about. Also I was able to drag and drop, no problemo there. I'd transfered about 39 songs @ LP2 and only took me about 15 minutes or less. The battery was still full after all that. Maybe cause I was using a 2.8 Ghz system running on Vista. I suppose if your system can encode faster than you won't have to wait so long. The bad part of this Net-MD is that you cannot tranfer back any song, but you can delete it through the Sonicstage application. There's no editing on the Net-MD and you can only do that from the PC side. Too bad this style doesn't have a backlight or a mic, which is why I'm giving it just a four star. The best part was the battery life. It's freakin long. Just remember to bring a couple Discs. You may run out of songs before your battery do. I'm planning on getting another one; Sony MZNH600D Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman, which can hold more songs and is powered thru the USB when connected to the PC. If you're looking to record look for one that has a mic/mic line. If you just need to listen than this one is great for you.

This is a great player for endless reasons. The battery life is amazing, it feels like more than 50 hrs. It is so lightweight even with the 1AA battery inside. The design is very sleek and cool looking with the matte black finish. It's easy to use, the buttons are very clear and just impossible to screw up. You can group your songs on the disc too so you don't have to scroll through all of the songs. Please don't be frightened by some previous reviews by other buyers about the Software. I downloaded SonicStage 2.2 (most updated as of 10/16/04) from the Sony site [...] and it is very easy to use and dummy proof. All you do is drag and drop your songs to a box, how hard is that? Atrac conversion is very fast and on the 74 minute disc that came with the player I've been able to fit about 75 songs so far in LP4. It comes with a free Sony carrycase/wristband which I'm sure will come in handy too. The only complaint I have is I wish I bought this player sooner. I'm glad I didn't give into the Ipod craze and waste hundreds of dollars on that, I hear it also freezes. This player will never freeze and is a fraction of the price. The interchangeable + rerecordable MD media is great too!

While I'm a fan of Sony generally, I've long been disturbed with some of the 'walled garden' attitude that they show their own products. You should be aware that there is no 64-bit driver for the Net-MD under Windows XP. The software is abysmal, requiring that MP3s to be transferred to the device are CBR rather than VBR. A viable 'hack' is to 'burn' an audio iso and use the simple transfer utility on the mounted iso. There is almost no support in third-party applications; a much touted solution using real player has pretty much disappeared. It's unlikely that any third party solutions will appear in the future because of an extremely zealous legal department. Indeed, it's impossible to transfer recordings from minidisc back to the computer if they have been transferred from a different computer or minidisc recorder. I feel quite a bit of pain for what was a very promising format being shackled by overarching control of userspace. Generally the NE410 is a solid little unit, although the supplied earphones are the usual commodity quality. I wouldn't presume to comment on the audio quality due to hearing destroyed by years of very, very loud nightclubs.

excellent product