Sony Walkman MZ-NH600 Personal MiniDisc Player

AWESOME piece of kit. It has practically everything for a portable recorder and superb playback quality.

The recording modes are fantastic, even the lowest bitrate, sound is far far superior to any MP3 format. You can get an incredible amount of music onto 1 minidisc using the lowest bitrate. The functionality and connectivity of this item is whar sets it apart, it has a USB connection and the software that comes bundled with the recorder is superb. Sonic Soundstage 4.2, it allows you to connect the recorder to your PC and convert music files and transfer them to minidisc very very quickly and easily. For Windows Vista you can download Sonic Soundstage 4.3 from the Sony website (which I did).

You can also connect this recorder digitally via a Optical link to any other digital audio source and it also accepts Analogue input too i.e mic's etc etc. see what I mean about connectivity!!! It is easy to use, and the menu function allows you to access all the features in this recorder including a 6 band EQ!!!

If you see one of these going up for sale - GET IT. You won't be dissapointed.

I dreamed of owning a Hi-MD player, now four years later I finally got one and I have to honestly say I love it.

It's too bad that MD player technology is only popular in Japan and we are stuck with iPods images in the UK.

Thumbs up:

Hi-MD, not many people know that Hi-MD can store files like flash memory drives. You can store and transfer any files (pictures, text, video) on it at 1 gig memory capacity. I have more than 450 songs in ATRAC3Plus format on one Hi-MD disc. True, it's not easy to find Hi-MD discs. Some shop locations only have a few on hand. I couldn't even find them in Sony stores. But you can get them online. I have two Hi-MD discs. Wasn't that hard for me to get another one.

The sound is amazing for such high compression. Absolutely amazing. Like many portable music electronic products, the headphones that are included with the product suck. But if you love your music as much as I do, you would already have a few good ones that you probably use with this player anyway, so that wasn't a problem for me.

I use my MD player everyday and I mean I really USE it. I am the type of person that change my songs very frequently and turn the volume up and down all the time. This player was able to stand all of it. It's a tough little player.

Many people complain about SonicStage and the Atrac format but I have no problems with either. I have to say I like the Atrac format more than MP3 sometimes because of the size.

**SonicStage will play and convert your WMA files, unlike iTunes.

I use SonicStage as my media player because of the search function in the player and the way it organizes my songs.

**Song, artist display is good.
**there's a resume function
**songs can be organized into playlist with the groups function
**search function is awesome (search by artist name, track title, or group)
**able to customize equalizer/sound
**bookmark function
**quick start mode
**transfer speed isn't too bad
**no skips whatsoever
**easy to understand and use as soon as I got it
**a lot of other functions as well (but you have to expect that coming from Sony)

Problem:

Battery life, 23 hours is not enough for me (if you don't mess around with the buttons as much as I do, the battery life will be much longer for you). But it's better than most products out there. I also have a Sony Mp3/Atrac/Atrac3Plus CD player and it has 50 hours + battery life so that was what I was hoping for with this. But the MD player only needs 1 AA battery so what can you really expect. Note** When you transfer your files with this player the USB drive will be its power source unlike the older models where it drains a whole lot of power from the battery.

I was hoping for a remote control but I got it for a good price so no control for me. I do know where to get one for around 80 dollars so not a big problem for me.

I also wanted a radio mode but you have to shed a bit more cash for that function so oh well. And the same for the mic recording function.

Recommended:
Yes

Why you bought it?
– This is a real walkman – easy to carry and use
What you like most about it?
– I don’t have to use rechargeable battery, here I can go for one AA - battery I can bay in every shop.
What you dislike about it?
– The JOGDIAL is not very trustable.

This MP3 player may look very simple to use and a bit small!? Well it is, this MP3 player is perhaps the most under-rated player Sony have made in 3 years. To begin is how and why it will last you...

Its made primarily from Aluminium and obviously hard to damage but also super light and conducts the cold very well (just a bonus). Its features and buttons also are made to wear!! Rigid yet very stylish and easy to use, never got lost in my MP3 player...

It uses software to import your music to the player but this allows you to form groups based on Artists, albums, song names or whatever, u make the groups so you design the librabry.

If there are negatives, they are:

- Item maximum storage space = 1GB
- After 3 years the USB 2 connection must be held in place so as to connect properly. (loose fitting from prolonged use)

But the positives are too many:

- No battery needed, rechargable lithium thing. (this is only appreciated when u go back to a normal MP3 player which needs batteries. Then u realise what a load of poo that all is, inbuilt battery that lasts forever, lol!
- Very sleek and sensible.
- Features are excellent and very customisable options, not just picking from a list of options, you can change them one by one making your own perfect sound, usability and visual settings.
- LOUD ENOUGH! Dont ya just hate an MP3 u cant hear over the train or bus ride, hate it no more...
- Software allows execellent options when organising your music.
- Will not break. My mp3 refused to surrender, i have dropped it in the bath which only left little water stain on inside, which looked fine and still worked 1 year later. Dropped it tooo many times but it never cried about it. Just kept working! Have leant it to certain people who you could describe as being real dumbasses. After using it and not breaking it with theyre whit n banter, they all wanted one.
- I guess i would need another MP3 to compare any more features but this player is the BOMB! Try it...