Sony MZNH600D Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman
By: Sony Average Rating: 4.0 Total Reviews: 57
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 On: 2008-03-13
The 1 gig capacity and atracplus codec are reason enough to use HiMD. The fact that the media is removable makes this device even more attractive. If your hardrive player or flash player breaks and it will, or if the battery fails then you cant access any of the music on the player. In contrast, you always have your mini-discs. Minidiscs last longer than cds. Ive had cds corrupt data in as few as 2 years. Minidiscs have a much longer life span. Minidiscs are rewritable a million times according to Sony, and act as a hard disc drive meaning you can delete and rearrange the music or data on the disc. Since the advent of HI MD minidiscs Sony has made this the only portable way to listen to music.
 On: 2007-10-03
The Pros: Its a thing of beauty. Some people say its made of cheap plastic. Well may be true priced at $100.00+, but that aside I would have to disagree. Runs on a single AA battery for days. Sound quality is excellent for compress music. The bad . . . It uses the obsolete USB 1.0 so it take 45 min to 1 hr to transfer 1gb music or data. Sonicstage isnt music-sharing friendly.
 On: 2006-12-24
I have been a long time user of Sonys minidisc equipment. I mainly liked the removable media feature. For about $3, I could copy a whole CD to one regular minidisc and keep it in my media library. The early units seem to be made better. The more recent units look to be cheaply made. There is one inherent design flaw with a media that has to spin. The read/write heads have to move back and forth across the media, and this is the weak point. There is a tiny ribbon cable that attaches to the read/write head. THIS CABLE WILL FAIL in time. It may be 6 months, it may be three years, but it will happen. When it does, you will get the famous "BLANKDISK" error whenever you insert your disc. This will destroy whatever data was on the disc. No great loss if you use the minidisc for music only, but a potential disaster if you use it for backing up data (which I used to do). I researched this on minidisc forums and found that It had happened to others.
I used minidiscs for data backup because the $3, 300MB discs were perfect for my needs. After loosing valuable data, I have put all 3 of my units and dozens of recorded and blank discs in a drawer. Probably never to be used again.
On: 2006-12-23
I have been a long time user of Sonys minidisc equipment. I mainly liked the removable media feature. For about $3, I could copy a whole CD to one regular minidisc and keep it in my media library. The early units seem to be made better. The more recent units look to be cheaply made. There is one inherent design flaw with a media that has to spin. The read/write heads have to move back and forth across the media, and this is the weak point. There is a tiny ribbon cable that attaches to the read/write head. THIS CABLE WILL FAIL in time. It may be 6 months, it may be three years, but it will happen. When it does, you will get the famous "BLANKDISK" error whenever you insert your disc. This will destroy whatever data was on the disc. No great loss if you use the minidisc for music only, but a potential disaster if you use it for backing up data (which I used to do). I researched this on minidisc forums and found that It had happened to others.
I used minidiscs for data backup because the $3, 300MB discs were perfect for my needs. After loosing valuable data, I have put all 3 of my units and dozens of recorded and blank discs in a drawer. Probably never to be used again.
 On: 2006-10-06
Ok, first things first. Since I deal with a huge number of mp3 files, mainly on mp3 cds, the idea of being able to put them on a minidisc sounded to good to be true. And it was, because the files are converted before they are transferred to the minidisc, so technically, they are not actually mp3 files, they are oog files. Plus, the software is a nightmare. Other people have said that the updated version is better, which is the version I have, so I cant even imagine how terrible earlier versions were. SONY is really screwing the pooch, as they could absolutely rule the mp3 world, with major improvements, because with these Hi MD players, if the unit messes up, you dont lose your music, because it is on a removable disc, whereas with a conventional mp3 player, if something happens to the unit, youre done. One big thing that disappointed me was way these things were pitched to work as removable drives for a computer, but in reality, they are a long way from that. Sony has a very long road to make that particular part of the dream a reality, but I get the feeling they are just going to sit on their hands, and these things are eventually going to be phased out. So I say, pitch any other company out there to actually take over the market for them, maybe Magnavox or Panasonic, two companies who arent afraid to improve their products and are known for decent reliability. But, as I mentioned in the title, they work for what I need them to, which is to put large amounts of music onto a tiny disc and never having to worry about the disc again, which is a huge improvement over cds, which have to be replaced from time to time. I know people who are using the same minidiscs from ten years ago with no trouble, and these guys are professional mobile djs. Sony is a really screwing themselves over this time by not making faster improvements with the software and etc., so Magnavox, I hope you hear me. Peace out
On: 2006-08-16
I have been a LOUD critic of Sonys SonicStage software. (You can see my rants on older models.)
But that has changed. The new version of SonicStage is very much better.
We active MD users have complained to Sony for years and -- to their credit -- they gave us the main feature we asked for: the ability to take music off the player in a non-proprietary format.
(Sony chose WAV which is very useful but big. You can also burn to CD.)
While I still find Sonic Stage 4.0 quirky it is MUCH easier to use than previous versions. Again, I give credit to Sony.
Personally, I wish I could just drag-and-drop the files off the MD but the SonicStage method isnt too bad.
So, for under $200 you get GREAT audio recording quality and a really well-designed piece of hardware. Thats hard to beat! You do have to put up with some "only OK" software.
by: willow_moon On: 2006-06-24
Sounds great, easy to use and easy on the battery!Software is absolutely no problem and ultra easy.Cannot understand why people are having difficulty with it.1GB disc is awesome.
On: 2006-06-23
Sounds great, easy to use and easy on the battery!Software is absolutely no problem and ultra easy.Cannot understand why people are having difficulty with it.1GB disc is awesome.UPDATE: had it over 2 years now - works great and the software is easy to understand. Love the submenu and shuffle plus equaliser. SONY -make more of these, they are great.
On: 2006-04-19
Ive had my mini disc player for about two years now, and though I have no complaints about the player Im having such difficulty with the software that Im about to break down and buy an ipod. At one point I purchased a track from the Sony Connect Music Store and when I tried to transfer it to my player I got an error stating that copyright prevented the track from being transferred. I was pretty aggravated since I had PAID for the song. After much fiddling I was able to work around it.
My computer has been rebuilt twice since Ive had this software and both times have caused major problems with the software. While I can still download the tracks Ive already purchased for free, I cannot transfer them to my player or a cd.
While I can convert WAV or MP3 files on my computer to ATRAC, I cannot convert ATRAC to any other format. Since my hard drive crashed and my some of my music was stolen out of my car I was originally excited because a lot of it was on my mini-discs. However, I cannot transfer those tracks back onto my computer. The lack of flexibility in the software has made the player itself useless to me.
Transferring tracks to and from the player takes forever and if a particular track is prohibited, no error pops up it just continues to say "transferring" and it is not until you stop it when youre frustrated that it is taking so long that you find out which tracks are problematic.
The Connect Music Store has a limited selection in my opinion. I like some semi-obscure stuff which it doesnt have, and there are artists that arent obscure that they dont carry either. In the two years Ive had this I have found maybe twenty songs that I wanted.
I am not the most computer literate person, if I was I may not have had so many problems, but after reading similar complaints about the software I can now place some of the blame on Sony. :)
 On: 2006-04-16
There is no way to digitally transfer information from the MD Walkman to the computer / CD rom, making this an expensive piece of junk. A toy not worth the effort. I am unbelievably disappointed with this product and its software.
On: 2006-04-15
There is no way to digitally transfer information from the MD Walkman to the computer / CD rom, making this an expensive piece of junk. A toy not worth the effort. I am unbelievably disappointed with this product and its software.
On: 2005-12-30
This review is more about the Hi-MD concept in general than one particular player.
The sound quality was excellent. The rest of the product and concept deserves to die in the marketplace.
Complaints:
-The only thing that isnt proprietary is the headphone jack and the AA battery. Beyond that, Sonys dual role as a content provider (complete with nasty intellectual property lawyers) and equipment manufacturer fatally compromises usuability of this line of players. No Macintosh support is just the beginning. Proprietary compression algorithms. Weird and twisted upload/download rules. Wrong choices made at every point of the PRD process.
-100x recording speed? Make that 4x on a good day. 100x speed is a specification that should attract the attention of Elliot Spitzer, if he only cared.
-The players are flimsy. Just walking with mine caused it to skip. And one hard fall to the floor and it stopped working entirely. Sony will charge you to honor the warranty (parts only--no labor). By contrast Apple replaced my daughters iPod no questions asked when it started developing hard disk hiccups.
-Trying to find Hi-MDs offers the thrill of the hunt, if youre into that kind of thing. But their rarity suggests that Sony is at best half-hearted about supporting this device.
I used to be a loyal Sony customer, but now believe they have gone almost irretrievably downhill. Sleek designs do not compensate for disfunctional product management and shoddy manufacturing. In fact, Im planning an HD TV purchase next year and have Sony far down on the list of possibilities. You can find better quality and value almost anywhere else these days.
Howard, are you listening?
On: 2005-12-29
This review is more about the Hi-MD concept in general than one particular player.
The sound quality was excellent. The rest of the product and concept deserves to die in the marketplace.
Complaints:
-The only thing that isnt proprietary is the headphone jack and the AA battery. Beyond that, Sonys dual role as a content provider (complete with nasty intellectual property lawyers) and equipment manufacturer fatally compromises usuability of this line of players. No Macintosh support is just the beginning. Proprietary compression algorithms. Weird and twisted upload/download rules. Wrong choices made at every point of the PRD process.
-100x recording speed? Make that 4x on a good day. 100x speed is a specification that should attract the attention of Elliot Spitzer, if he only cared.
-The players are flimsy. Just walking with mine caused it to skip. And one hard fall to the floor and it stopped working entirely. Sony will charge you to honor the warranty (parts only--no labor). By contrast Apple replaced my daughters iPod no questions asked when it started developing hard disk hiccups.
-Trying to find Hi-MDs offers the thrill of the hunt, if youre into that kind of thing. But their rarity suggests that Sony is at best half-hearted about supporting this device.
I used to be a loyal Sony customer, but now believe they have gone almost irretrievably downhill. Sleek designs do not compensate for disfunctional product management and shoddy manufacturing. In fact, Im planning an HD TV purchase next year and have Sony far down on the list of possibilities. You can find better quality and value almost anywhere else these days.
Howard, are you listening?
On: 2005-11-27
I thought it was finally time to replace my Irock 520 32MB mp3 player. I looked around, but I couldnt find anything that really suited it, especially in my price range of under 90 bucks. So I talked to one of my friends and he recommended a MiniDisc Player. So I looked them up and I was impressed. I ordered the MZNH600D after getting some advice from these forums and I am blown away by it. Long battery life, GREAT sound quality (at 48kbps!), unlimited storage, sleek and small design, and very easy to use controls. I love the jog dial wheel, makes it very easy to flip through large numbers of songs. Anyone who has a large library of songs to flip through will quickly grow to love this jog wheel. I currently have 230 songs on the 1GB disc it came with, I still have 663MB left. And you can hold a total of 675 songs per 1GB disc, and for 6 bucks a pop, thats an awesome deal, unlimited storage! I bought a five pack of regular discs instead though for only $6.25 ($1.05 a disc). Each disc holds 300MB, about 200 songs. Dispite what I have heard about ATRAC, I love it. ATRAC3plus sounds fantastic, even at 48kbps, which is the minumum rate and I use it. The software (sonicstage 2.0) is very easy and simple to use. The LCD is great, you see everything you need and the song/artist name scroll across the screen so you can see all of it, its only missing a backlight but I can live without that. I couldnt be happier. And best of all this thing was only 80 bucks, and with ipods as much as 300 bucks, this is a steal. I am now a diehard Sony Minidisc fan and I will always recommend them to others.
On: 2005-10-12
After buying this for almost one, I decide to write a review for this machine.
FIRST, this is NOT a true mp3 player!!!
I was convinced to buy this from amazon.com mainly by the long battery life promised by SONY, and high capacity of the 1GB Hi-MD. This turned out to be true after I tried the machine.
However, the use of this machine is a painful process.
I have quite some collection of mp3 and wma music albums, and some mp3 audio books. At first, I thought I can just plug in this machince into my computer and transfer the files I need, and listen to the things I desire. In the end, I found, all of the mp3 or wma files must be first converted into SONYs special format(.omg) with the provided hassel software, then you can transfer and listen them. The conversion takes so much time, although the transfer of the converted files are pretty quick. In the end, I have to quit the using of this and replace it with a Creative MuVo TX FM 1 GB MP3 Player.
This is not a true mp3 player!!!
SONYs thought are very different from other mainstream mp3 companies!!!
On: 2005-10-11
After buying this for almost one, I decide to write a review for this machine.
FIRST, this is NOT a true mp3 player!!!
I was convinced to buy this from amazon.com mainly by the long battery life promised by SONY, and high capacity of the 1GB Hi-MD. This turned out to be true after I tried the machine.
However, the use of this machine is a painful process.
I have quite some collection of mp3 and wma music albums, and some mp3 audio books. At first, I thought I can just plug in this machince into my computer and transfer the files I need, and listen to the things I desire. In the end, I found, all of the mp3 or wma files must be first converted into SONYs special format(.omg) with the provided hassel software, then you can transfer and listen them. The conversion takes so much time, although the transfer of the converted files are pretty quick. In the end, I have to quit the using of this and replace it with a Creative MuVo TX FM 1 GB MP3 Player.
This is not a true mp3 player!!!
SONYs thought are very different from other mainstream mp3 companies!!!
On: 2005-08-16
This player is really amazing... i really recomend it!
PROS:
*The sound quality at 64kbps is excellent... I cant tell the difference between atrac3plus at 64kbps and MP3 at 128Kbps.
*I was able to store 36 CDs on one minidisc and 38 on the other one...
*Software isnt really a problem as other reviews have said. I recommend that you download the 3.2 version from the internet.
*Small enough to fit in your pocket!
*Battery life is very good.
CONS:
*The wheel is somewhat hard to move! (Dont expect it to move like the ipods one)
*The screen is not backlit so its really hard to see it at night.
*Takes about 15 minutes to copy each CD into the player (Note that Im using an USB 1.1 instead of a USB 2.0 which is faster)
*The headphones are not the best... but you can better ones for 15$
*You will need to use the custom EQ to set your best desired sound since the standard setting is really bad...
Buy this player unless you have enough money to buy an ipod! If you can buy 1 or 2 blank minidisc extra (you can fit about 35 CDs on each one at 64kbps).
On: 2005-08-04
When I dropped my original MD player I had to replace it in a hurry. I didnt think to look to closely at this product and wish I would have. My original one allowed me to record to MDs by several different ways. With this one you can only go directly from a computer to it. Also no microphone function on this one either. There is also no ability to use AC with this so you will be stuck using batteries.
The software that comes with this is not very user friendly but once you get the hang of it you might not think it is so terrible.
On: 2005-08-04
==Excellent Sound.
==Excellent Battery life.
==Excellent Look.
==Excellent Storage. 1 hi-md can store 1 gb of data, songs etc.
==Excellent New Software. Sonic stage software.
==Excellent MP3 palyer.
==NOT REALLY Excellent Headphones. Can buy new Sony Headphones starting from 9.99 at BestBuy.
On: 2005-08-02
I bought this product three months ago, and it is already broken, making it the second SONY product that I have gone through in six months. I wrote a review a couple months back after I had first bought it thinking that it was a great product and that I would be perfectly satisfied over an iPod. My opinion has now changed, as I have now been so enlightened to notice that SONY as a whole has gone downhill, and I will not in fact be buying the PlayStation 3 I had so anticipated now that I am seeing that SONY has chosen the path of faulty and tmeperamental products. Microsoft has just gained one more customer. Heed my words: under no circumstances should you buy this product. Just save your money and buy an iPod.
On: 2005-07-25
This player is sweet in every single way:
->The 6 band equalizer is very flexible. I can customize it by mimicking windows media player setting to create a pleasant listening experience to almost any music genre.
->The navigation is very friendly and fast. The jog-dial is very convenient when browsing a massive list of song on 1GByte disc.
->Atrac3 plus and 1GByte disc are a killer combo. I can put as much at 36 hour of high quality music (encoded at 64kbps) on one 1Gbyte disc.
->The quality of Atrac3 plus encoded at 64kbps is pretty identical to mp3 at 192kbps. If it is not because of the copyright hassle, it might have made a revolution in music archiving.
->The player is pretty durable itself. I have dropped it 3 times from about 2-3 feets height but it has never died on me. During 6 month of ownership, there isnt any problem I can think of.
->One fully rechargeable battery can last for the whole week with 4-5 listerning hour per day. If it is out of battery, I can always swap in a new AA battery to increase listening time. Its ability to use AA battery makes it very friendly. Unlike Ipod and other hard drive base mp3 player, there is no hidden cost in the battery replacement. AA battery is dirt cheap: 1 Energizer rechargeable battery costs only 1-2 bucks and can be recharged up to 500 times.
->About the software, unlike lots of peoples opinion, I found it very friendly and easy to use. I ve learned that you can make it more stable by disable auto launching whenever the player is connected and CDDB function (go to tool/Option and disable CDDB or auto launching function). This can fix the memory leak in SonicStage 3.1 and make it more stable.
On: 2005-07-22
Back in January, I purchased an Nomad 40GB Jukebox mp3 player and really love it, Ive had no problems with it and the software is simple as the abcs. I laugh when people write about how bad the software is. A first grader could figure it out.
As such, as much as I love the mp3 player, it is rather large and awkward to carry around. So for me, it makes more sense to use it as a desktop stereo attached to speakers.
So, I wanted to find something small, lightweight, and relatively inexpensive. My partner had purchased a different inexpensive model of the Sony Minidisc player so I thought Id give it a shot.
I purchased the MZ-NH600D back in May. It came in a sealed package with all the accessories, including an armband. I also shelled out $25 for an extended warranty - I believe its a four year warranty. Cant beat that.
So, now I want more. This little thing is good for...say the gym, or the beach. But I want to upgrade and get something of better quality for the car.
This is where Im at a loss now. Appears that the MZ-NH1 was released and only stayed on the market for maybe....three and a half seconds.
The new top of the line model is ugly. Its black plastic which means you will be able to see every fingerprint on it. Nice was the magnesium casing. What happened? Too expensive for Sony?
The new models look cheap and there is not a good variety. I like the MZ-NH600D, it works like a charm, but it feels too disposable. I dont even see better quality HI-MD players offered overseas where they eat up the minidisc market much more than the U.S.
I dont need a silly camera in my MD player, especially if the photos are no better than that of a top of the line cell phone camera.
Hoping to see a top of the line model in magnesium casing in the near future. As for the MZ-NH600D, it truly is a gem. And the 3.1 Sonic software again, is as easy as ABC. Im not sure why people have such a problem with the software. Import and transfer. The sound quality is superb, much crisper than the MP3 files on my mp3 player, I mean, not a HUGE difference but enough if youre paying close attention.
The greatest plus with this little gizmo gadget as mentioned before is the battery life. UNBELIEVABLE. If you have rechargeable batteries, youre set. I have been playing the MD player all day and its been going about four days on one battery. So then, I charge that battery and slip a charged on in the gadget. Brilliant.
So, on a scale from 1-5 for a bottom end minidisc player, it truly does get a 5. You cant beat the cost, sound quality, and battery life.
On: 2005-07-15
I was initially cautious about buying any device that compressed the music because a friend who is an audiophile said that there was a dreadfully discernable difference in the sound of the CD or from other sources it was taken from. He was also very obstinate and insisted that it sounded horrible and I would not be able to listen to it because my ears would bleed from the horrendous sound. I went ahead and purchased the basic $99 one anyway and was very pleased (and extremely surprised) with the sound and had no problems with the way it sounded. My ears didnt bleed by the way. About 2 months ago I purchased the Sony MZNH600D Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman and was again, extremely gratified with what I had purchased at the incredibly low price of $74 (plus tax) from Tweeters but had some bad luck. Not with the player but what happened to it. I normally took it to work with me because the database I work with on a daily basis doesnt allow me the use of the CD player on the computer because it causes the computer to crash. I had been placing it in the cabinet above my desk and locking it during the day when I was out of the office to prevent theft but due to my own absentmindedness (and stupidity) several days ago before leaving work, I forgot to check and put it in my backpack and it was stolen by the housekeeping staff because I forgot to lock the cabinet. Even though it was only 2 days or so ago, I have already purchased another Sony MZNH600D Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman. I got the same model because I was extremely satisfied with it. I still use the $99 unit as a backup and as a second unit for my partner to use and listen to while doing odd jobs around the house or in the backyard. It seemed very awkward to use at first but that was due to not being familiar with it. That and the fact that I hadnt read the manual that came with it. After reading the manual, I realized that the Simple MD Burner really was as simple as it sounded and I havent used any other way of transferring CDs to the mini-discs. I would urge the purchase of this model to anyone that is interested in high capacity music storage at a low price. I gave it 5 stars because it is well worth the money I spent for it. BTW, if you cant find any place to purchase the 1GB Hi-MD blank discs - go to http://www.minidiscaccess.com for them and anything else related to mini-discs (storage, cases, etc). I highly recommend them because I previously purchased a number of things from them and was awarded with quick, efficient and extremely friendly service.
On: 2005-07-14
I was initially cautious about buying any device that compressed the music because a friend who is an audiophile said that there was a dreadfully discernable difference in the sound of the CD or from other sources it was taken from. He was also very obstinate and insisted that it sounded horrible and I would not be able to listen to it because my ears would bleed from the horrendous sound. I went ahead and purchased the basic $99 one anyway and was very pleased (and extremely surprised) with the sound and had no problems with the way it sounded. My ears didnt bleed by the way. About 2 months ago I purchased the Sony MZNH600D Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman and was again, extremely gratified with what I had purchased at the incredibly low price of $74 (plus tax) from Tweeters but had some bad luck. Not with the player but what happened to it. I normally took it to work with me because the database I work with on a daily basis doesnt allow me the use of the CD player on the computer because it causes the computer to crash. I had been placing it in the cabinet above my desk and locking it during the day when I was out of the office to prevent theft but due to my own absentmindedness (and stupidity) several days ago before leaving work, I forgot to check and put it in my backpack and it was stolen by the housekeeping staff because I forgot to lock the cabinet. Even though it was only 2 days or so ago, I have already purchased another Sony MZNH600D Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman. I got the same model because I was extremely satisfied with it. I still use the $99 unit as a backup and as a second unit for my partner to use and listen to while doing odd jobs around the house or in the backyard. It seemed very awkward to use at first but that was due to not being familiar with it. That and the fact that I hadnt read the manual that came with it. After reading the manual, I realized that the Simple MD Burner really was as simple as it sounded and I havent used any other way of transferring CDs to the mini-discs. I would urge the purchase of this model to anyone that is interested in high capacity music storage at a low price. I gave it 5 stars because it is well worth the money I spent for it. BTW, if you cant find any place to purchase the 1GB Hi-MD blank discs - go to http://www.minidiscaccess.com for them and anything else related to mini-discs (storage, cases, etc). I highly recommend them because I previously purchased a number of things from them and was awarded with quick, efficient and extremely friendly service.
On: 2005-06-15
PROS- Sony makes good hardware- no doubt. Great sound. Great battery life. Good storage capacity. I like the mini disc concept.
CONS- Sucky software. The mini disc format would have so much more potential if the software were better. I cant imagine anyone describing the software as good.
The control dial & buttons are tiny and not very intuitive. For instance, theyre difficult to use with gloves or without both hands.
However, if you could use other software, like Music Match or i-Tunes on these mini disc products, Sony would have a winner-
On: 2005-05-30
Ive had mine a couple of weeks now, and Im having a ball with it; its given me a whole new way to listen to my music. Its easy to use, and the sound is really good for something this small (if you have really good headphones, then itll sound even better). I got 43 CDs on the Hi-MD disc that came with the player--time to order some more blanks from Amazon.
This really is a good low-cost alternative to iPod/mp3. I agree with all of those who have said that Sony should market it more agressively. The minidisc is the #1 choice in Asia and much of Europe, and could be more popular here with the proper push, especially with the Hi-MD players ability to hold more music.
Get one of these, youll like it!
On: 2005-05-12
I read a lot of reviews before I purchased my Hi-MD player. And they started to make me wonder because they were all complaining about the proprietary ATRAC and how it doesnt work with MP3s. Well I bought one for $87 including shipping and I love it. Ive been mostly copying my CDs but have used a few MP3s and it works fine. Only computer geeks who think they need the very latest and best wouldnt like it. But I dont think anything on the market is going to satisfy them.
I dont have a real problem with the ATRAC. I dont think the transfer speed is too slow. I expected much slower after the reviews I read. But in order to fit 45 hours of music on a disk, you need to compress the music! MP3 doesnt compress it enough. Im thankful for the compression and I think the quality is still very good. Yes, I can tell a little on the 48kb/s transfer speed, but not enough to give up the amount of storage space it offers.
My biggest complaint is that the software will crash occasionally and a backlight would be nice for the display. And I wish it was a little more sturdy with metal and not plastic. But then it would be heavier.
But Ive never had it skip and its small and compact. Much cheaper than an MP3 player and the storage is removable so you dont have to keep adding and deleting music every time you want to listen to something else. Just buy a new disk. Price is right when you look around. Im using it mainly for music right now so I cant speak on it being a portable storage unit, but nice feature. And you cant beat the battery life. If you could plug in a car adapter or AC adapter, that would just make it all the sweeter.
On: 2005-05-11
Before buying it, answer the question: How do you usually get your tracks? I am just talking about legal sources.
If you have those 400+ CD collection at home, then this is the right hardware for you. Use the Net MD simple burner software, and you can live reasonably happy. The sound and ease of use are excellent and will compensate some frustration with the software such as check in check out.. (forget sonic stage at all!!)
If you buy your music online, no matter where (Napster, Walmart, Itunes, etc..), then forget it! Before you get used to all the work around, such as burn all of them into CDs, them upload them and then edit the tag information for each track or so, you will want to get rid of it immediately... Unfortunately Sony hasnt woken up for the new digital world yet (Will they someday?)
On: 2005-05-05
I made the mistake of selling my old Net MD devices and buying several of these MZ-NH600D units to replace the old ones. At first, it seemed like they were a great replacement to the old models. Greater storage. Can connect to PC and use as a drive. It is now 3 months later and 2 of the ones I bought have broken. One, broke a month and a half after I bought it, was serviced, returned and broke again. Sony should be ashamed of putting their names on this junk. They were obviously trying to squeeze out profit on these units at the expense of quality and customer satisfaction.
On: 2005-05-03
I bought this player after spending loads of time choosing between the Creative N200 and Iriver flash 7XX series. I have many CDs and only a few MP3s (30) the "obvious thing" I thought was to buy a MP3 player and rip all of my CDs to MP3. Then I came across HI-MD and thought again.
If you have loads of MP3s that have been downloaded recently and they have DRM protection then this player is NOT for you BUT if you like me have lots of CDs and a few older non protected MP3s and you want portable music "Non Skip" music on the move then read on.
Ok lets deal with the biggest negatives first, this model has no MP3 encoder or radio but I wanted something that plays MY favourite songs not a radio DJs. The software supplied SonicStage v2 isnt the best either (download v3.0 its better)and the Sony control system is a bit fiddly but just like an Iriver player, once you get used to it, its fine.
One thing to note is that this is a MiniDisk player and so it only plays Sony Atrac files. Mainly the sound quality is better than expected and its brilliant if you convert CDs directly to Sonys Atrac3plus 64K rate. This gives you an amazing 45hrs of "CD quality" music. Ignore most of what youve read about converting MP3s to Atrac. All music has to be converted to this format prior to playing so your old MP3s and WAVs are turned into Atracs. If you had a decent MP3 file (192Kbps or higher) then for the most part the sound quality is fine.
Compared to the aforementioned MP3 players above, I got my player for £50 plus £5 for a 1Gb HI-MD. This is a lot cheaper than the equivalent MP3 model of 128K. On the Iriver and Creative players I transferred 22 MP3 songs at most and they were both full. This times 8 equals 1GB so we can say that we can get roughly 176 songs onto a 1GB model of the same players. Now onto HI-MD, you can get around 500 songs of around the same quality onto 1 HI-MD disc. Dont worry too much about HI-MD discs you can get them easily on Amazon or Ebay and youll only ever need a few. Most MP3 players have
In short, the sound quality is great, HI-MD holds about 500 songs plus you have folders and playlist support. Furthermore if you dont mind using SonicStage, manual podcasting MAY also be possible.
Its not a perfect solution to portable music (there isnt one) but in my view when comparing it to a flash based MP3 player its well worth the money.
On: 2005-05-02
This player is great. Really great. MiniDisc in general is great- a durable media that offers you unlimited storage (you can buy more discs) and that does not skip (P.S., I have seen iPods skip)!
The Software it comes with is bad unless you download the upgrade (version 3.4) which actually works really, really well.
Well, MiniDIscs in general rock!
On: 2005-04-29
With the prices of these units being so low, it definitely offers a great alternative to the ipod or flash based mp3 players.
Ive been using this thing for a week here are my thoughts:
pro: easy to use, the software is fairly simple, great battery life on AA batteries, media (80 minute or about 10-13 hours or 300 MB) are easy to find - the 1gb disks need to be purchased on line but are still easy to find and are cheap, small form factor, simple controls, DOES NOT SKIP - EVER, great sound, good volume control, has shuffle mode with barely any lag, the 1gb disc holds a ton of songs, downloading songs doesnt take too long.
con: only one case available that i could find, no backlight for display, not as popular as ipods or the like.
I really like the Hi-MD format, it works for me and I recommend it to others (if they can still find them)
On: 2005-04-22
I recently purchased a Sony MD Walkman MZ-NH600D on clearance for $100 (including a 1GB MD Card). The simplicity of the controls is very usefull and handy. Plus with $7 for another 1GB MD Card, this may be what you might call "an ipod killer".
The equivilent Ipod (1GB) would have cost me $150. For $105.98 (after 6% MI sales tax) I got the same amount of memory (1GB) and expandablity in inexpensive MD Cards. So for $150 I could have gotten a 1GB Ipod Shuffle, or I could get the Sony MD Mp3 Player with 6GB or more!
Overall this Mp3 Player is a great option if you do not want to pay a fortune for an Apple Ipod. The only complaint I have is that, being an older model, there is not as many accessories available.
On: 2005-04-21
The sound in Hi-SP is as good as, if not better than, that of ANY OTHER minidisc recorder/player I have heard at any price (and my base of comparison is fairly extensive--15 or so other models from Sony and Sharp.) So about 7 hours of music can be recorded on a 1 gig disc and about 2.5 hours on a standard minidisc utilizing the Hi-SP mode. And this model has been selling CHEAP. The 1 gig disc can also be used to transport & transfer files of any sort. Also the latest Sony software for this seems to be an improvement over older versions. The aesthetics of this model could certainly be improved, and, of course, it would really be a bargain, if it had other inputs (for example, MIC and LINE).
On: 2005-04-20
Firstly and most importantly, this hardware is excellent given the price. You can use regular 80 minutes MD disk which cost $1 to store 300MB of music. Since atracplus 64k sounds as good as mp3 128k, you can store 600MB music on $1 very small disk. This system is better than CD player since it is smaller and it is better than regular flash player since I dont need to start up my computer to change the music or I dont need to buy expensive memory card.
The reason I gave 4 star is because of its software. It works fine. If you have sonic stage 3.0, you just need to install MD driver and computer will recognize your devide. But please remember for every step you need to be very patient. I dont think my lap top is particulary outdated. Sotic stage is very slow. Be patient. After you transfered your music to disk, you dont need to see it again.
By the way, mine came with 5 downloads coupon for Connect. Given the price, isnt it very nice?
On: 2005-04-20
The hardware is amazing. Nothing to gripe about at all. It sounds good, is durable, gets great battery life, etc. I was hoping that the SonicStge 3.0 would take care of some of the problems that plagues the earlier releases, however this is not the case. The software is incredibly slow and hard to use especially if you have a large collection of music. It seems to have to redo the entire database every time I make one small change. I am incredibly dissapointed. The hardware would get 5 stars, the software gets -3.
On: 2005-04-08
Do you remember the loner who no one liked and would mope around the school yard during recess by himself? Perhaps you were that loner. But it doesnt matter, because the biggest corporate loner on the block is Sony.
If Sony has a mission statement, it must include something about proprietary products, as Sony always has a tendency to go the way of making technologies that no one else uses. Well, there have been some hits and misses. The Hi-8 camcorder format was a hit. The Trinitron picture tube was a hit. However, the Betamax and Memory Stick are only just two of the misses, and the Minidisc is no exception.
While Sony has indeed reintroduced the MD with new 1 GB capabilities, the glaring issues are still there. First the MDs take a long time to load/spin-up and it is tedious to switch tracks. The buttons on the player are placed in a haphazard manner as usual, and the music licensing protection features only make things worse. You can load songs onto the MD player, but not vice versa unless it is to the same computer. Not even if you own more than one computer. Not even if you accidentally had to reinstall Windows on your sole computer.
Then we have the horrible software that only allows you to export a song 3 times only. Thats right, if you export your song 3 times, you cant do it anymore. And not only is this feature frustrating, its easily remedied by simply changing the name of the file. Talk about a waste of time. Futhermore, more rage ensues when you find out that Sonys "support" of MP3s and WMAs really means that the program will encode everything to Sonys proprietary Atrac3 format. That just about adds about an extra 10 seconds to every file transfer. Adding insult to injury, the Atrac3 format is not used in anywhere but the MD software and the MD itself. Its a proprietary product WITHIN a proprietary product!!!
What are the chances of MDs and Atrac3 becoming widespread? None. MDs have been around for almost a decade now, and they are still rare as unicorns. So there we have it: the new ensemble of Hi-MD products are still slow, still way too over limiting, and still largely unpopular.
If my scathing words do not convince you of the inevitable demise of MDs, just look at Sonys new product line. They make white Fontopia earphones that cater to iPod-users. They recently started a line of hard-drive and solid state MP3 players like so many other companies today. Ready to ditch MD? I am.
On: 2005-04-04
I Love this thing. The battery life is great. I used it at work for around six hours. Then I took it on a trip and listened to it for another 15 hours on the same rechargeable battery and it still had playing time left.
With the 1 gig minidisc I have 345 songs on my minidisk and still have 242.7mb free with the tracks recorded in HI-LP(ATRAC3plus 64kps).
To me the great thing about a minidisc player is I can just change the disc and I have another gig of music ready to go so it is very versatile and cheaper than an MP3 player. Plus to be honest a gig of music in HI-LP (ATRAC3) suits my needs just fine.
At first I did not like the idea of using a proprietary format like ATRAC but it works great and since the software is free and I plan on using an XP pc for sometime to come I did not think it was much of a risk especially since I could always put regular mp3 formatted songs on the minidisc if I want.
I also like the fact that my XP pro OS will pickup the walkman as an external storage device if the SonicStage software is not turned on. That was a nice feature.
I am using Sonicstage v2.0 and it has worked great on my XP pro (sp2) machine. The MD Simple Burner has worked flawlessly for me also.I have written, erased and rewritten songs to my HI-MD minidisc with no problem with this software. As for the minidiscs I have had no trouble finding the HI-MD minidisks or the 80min minidisc.
Bottom line for the money I dont think you can beat this player.
On: 2005-04-03
I purchased this item 4 months ago and I couldnt be more pleased. Ive had three MP3 players, all of which were frought with problems not the least of which was very limited storage capacity. There has been a lot of discussion recently re; what mistakes Sony Corp. has made in the past few years. I can say without reservation that one major mistake was in not conducting a blitz campaige to publicize their line of Mini Disc Players and to let people know what a superior option they are. My MD functions flawlessly and is very user friendly. If I were pressed to make a negitive comment it would be in regard to the software. The "Mini Burner" is a jewel but the "Sonic Stage" unit leaves a good deal to be desired not the least of which is that you can not download from most internet music services without running into major glitches with "Licensing and Copyright issues. In an attempt at fairness I will admit that the problem may be readily fixable but thus far it remains beyond my syber abilities. This is a great product at a great price so if youre finished with MP3 or if youre just getting into all this buy one...
On: 2005-03-01
After looking for some digital way to carry my music I decided on this player. It fit the price (under 200) and offered some expandable memory via the disks. I wanted an Ipod or other large capacity player, but the price was to high and the issue of durability of the hard drive and internal battery was a downside. Flash based players only have a limited memory (upto 1gig) and offer no expansion. So, theres the MiniDisc. So far I have about 25 CDs recorded in the AtracPlus 48kbs format and about half of the 1gig disc is full. I tried the higher settings, but didnt notice enough difference in quality to give up the disc space. I also run this with a FM modulator (Belkin), so higher quality would get lost anyway.
Read the reviews and you would think the software (SonicStage) stinks. I have had no problems. Its not the best, but works. I have a newer PC and the file conversion from the CD to Atrac takes about 5-10 min per 1 hour CD.
As for the player itself, I like the ability to see the file data (the included support for GraceNote is very nice and accurate). I can get the song or CD I want quickly. The shuffle feature works really well! This was a major issue for me as I wanted it to randomly play songs from all of my CDs (like my own radio station). The time between songs is almost non-existant, the next song seems to already be cued up. I would highly recommend this player!
Also, I did try a portable CD player with MP3 compatabilty, but the speed was VERY slow. So, dont try that option.
On: 2005-02-28
Ive had it for about a week, and it works like a charm. Maybe its the newer version of SonicStage, but its really easy and intuitive to convert and load my CDs onto the device. (Im not worried that I have to convert to a proprietary format; Im not planning on sending my files to other folks. And the files stay in a directory on my hard drive as back up.)
For copying CDs, you essentially have three "tabs" to choose from
-- the first automatically loads up whatever CD you insert and finds the title information online for you,
-- then you click on arrow to transfer it to your harddrive library (the second tab, which keeps track of your albums)
-- then you can click on the third tab to show the directory on your Hi-MD Walkman, and you hit another arrow that transfers everything over.
It looks like Ill get about 30 albums on my first disk, then for $7 I can get another one at various places. (CompUSA and Amazon have em listed, so its not the problem getting them that folks reported earlier.)
Downsides? I do wish the volume was a little louder on some of the files that Id downloaded (the files coming from a CD are fine), as I like to listen to music when I mow the lawn so I need something loud. And, its not a flash drive, so itll be a little bulkier than you might like, but its very light.
On: 2005-02-23
I think this product deserves better than what some people have said. When I installed Sonicstage on my computer I had no problems using it. You simply import your songs from your folders and then transfer them on the the md. I especially like the MD Simple Burner . With your walkman hooked up you can just put in a cd and a little message will pop up from the toolbar, you press burn and it does the job with out any hassle. The joystick is easy to use but the jog dial is a little resistant to turn. A down side is that the LCD doesnt light up which is a bummer because when youre in a dark place you cant see what youre doing. The cool thing is that the USB cable powers the device, so you dont have to deal with an extra power jack. I received a five dollar gift card to the connect music store too.
Overall I would say that this is a great product. Go and buy one!
On: 2005-02-21
UPDATE: So I finally went and bought it and luv it. I burn the songs at 132kbs tried 64 and it doesnt work for me. Everythings fine, if you read the review on c-net you would think this is a flawed product i think apple paid them to downplay this. This is a much better deal than an Ipod. It takes AA batteries no recharging and you dont have to worry about a hard drive crashing or being away and having nowhere to recharge. You might want to wait a month, sony is coming out with the second generation hi-md players in april and they support mp3 if that is important to you however I think they all use gumstick batteries (recharge required) instead of AA which is why i didnt wait and went for this. Oh yeah, sonic stage 3.0 is out and so far, no major problems (like constant crashing)...
I actually dont have the high MD player yet, I have the Net-MD minidisc player, had it since september and still use it on a daily basis. I dont use cds anymore after getting this. I actually would like one of the hard disc players but before I drop 300+ dollars they are going to have to fix some issues that I have. It scares me when I hear stories of the hard drive freezing up and being rendered useless and me personally I hate anything that comes with the description "rechargable". What if Im away for more than 14 or so hours and cant recharge? Im stuck. With these minidisc players you just pop in a SINGLE AA battery and youre kool. With mine I change the battery maybe a little less than once every two weeks. Im getting the Hi-md player next week because I just want to carry around one disc. I HATE SONIC-STAGE one day it works and another day it doesnt but Real Player works just fine. One thing glad about this is that its powered by the USB cable. Oh yeah, I just performed a test. I ripped a song from cd directly to the player I own now and then transferred the mp3 version over to see if the double conversion from cd to mp3 to atrac was perceptible, if there is a difference it wasnt noticeable.
On: 2005-02-20
First I must say it was the most easy install of all the digital players I have had/tested. It was a dream out of the box!
I do not know what others are complaining about it is not a true drive, you can plug it in and it is present in your "My Computer" for access as a 1 GB disc drive, copy files to and from and delete music also.
Battery life is awesome! I had a rio that ate batteries for lunch! Also, the comments on MP3s, you people need to put the setup disk back in and choose the 2nd or 3rd (it slips my mind now) choice. There are add-ons, plug-ins and software tools of all sorts that are free. There is also an update to the Sonic program that adds many more features. I wish people would really get to know their prodcuts before they cut one down!
In summary, dont waist your money on the Ipod craze (as someone said) and the others that are much, much more expensive even if you paid retail for the 600D it is and will be a BARGAIN!
Happy Listening!
On: 2005-02-17
Pros:
+Its small. Perhaps not small as other devices, but its small enough.
+It carrys a lot of music. I find that the format of aTRAC actually is a smaller bit size compared to the overruling mp3. It can fit almost the same ammount of music as a mini Ipod, which is 4 GB.
+It runs on a AA battery. Which means the rechargeable batteries I had from my CD player can still work in this, meaning its not wasteing.
+Custom EQs. I have mine set up as the same as my Windows Media Player EQ is, and the sound is amazing. Compared to without an EQ on the player, it feels live.
+Soundstage has worked beautifully on my computer. As long as youre paitient with it, itll be fine.
Cons:
-No backlight. Though it is better than a CD player that doesnt even tell you other info besides the number.
-The play button does not function as a pause button. There is a seperate button for that. Ive had mine for about 2 months, and it still gets some getting used to.
On: 2005-02-12
Ive owned this device for about two weeks now. Let me share my thoughts on it with you.
When I first opened the package and held the unit in my hand, I was impressed with how lightweight it was, and its attractive look and design. The manual was clear and I learned the basics quickly. Here are few tips:
* If you didnt know, you can disable the annoying beep that plays with each press of a button. Its much more pleasant with it off.
* Create your own Custom EQ setting with the bars in a U shape. This is the perfect setting to use for Rock and Hip Hop music.
* I recommend setting your tracks to the 64 bit rate. It sounds almost identical to 128 bit and youll have double the capacity for maybe a 10% sacrifice in quality.
* If you have Windows XP make sure you have all the critical updates or else the Sonicstage program may not work correctly.
This thing is so energy efficient. One rechargeable AA just lasts and lasts. I have it playing in my car for 2 hours on my commute and in my office 8 hours a day and the battery only needs charging twice a week. Ive given it a good shaking and took it on a bumpy ride and I have yet to hear it miss a beat.
My nitpickings...
* The scroll wheel has too much resistance; I wish it turned more smoothly.
* From the moment you press the play button to when the song plays takes about twice as long as most CD and mp3 players. Its a difference of a few seconds so this is a small flaw.
* It would be nice if the LCD was backlit, but I dont use it much in darkness and it would take up more juice if it did, so no big deal.
* The Altrac format is a hassle and youll need to spend a big chunk of time changing the format if you have a lot of MP3 tracks.
I was considering joining the iPOD craze, but it was well beyond my meager budget. You can purchase this MD player brand new on eBay for less than $100 which is only about 1/3 the price of a 20gb iPOD. Sure it would be nice to have all that capacity, but the way I see it, 1GB is much more music than I could ever listen to in one day, and switching discs once a day or less is fine with me. If you have a budget of 3 or 4 hundred, go for the iPOD. If you dont have the coin and want the best value, I recommend the MD walkman.
On: 2004-12-01
Ipods are cool and have a lot of capacity, but expensive and the battery doesnt last much.
Solid-state players are cool, but storage is bloody expensive, and battery doesnt last much either.
CD/MP3 players are cheap but bulky, do not double as portable storage and you need a burner.
PDAs are convenient because you only carry one thing, but have expensive storage and short battery life.
This little thing can store 35 CDs with pretty good quality on 1 minidisc, will run over 25 hours on just 1 humble regular AA battery; I use rechargeables which last even longer. It is great as portable storage and backup tool since you can have several discs. I am in Toronto and buy them at the Sony shop in Yorkdale mall, but you can also get them from Futureshop or Sonystyle.ca.
Sound is very good, probably like a 128 Kbps MP3. It has a 5-band customizable equalizer.
Only cons: I installed Sonicstage on 3 PCs: it refuses to work on one of them, other than that its ok. Also, you cant copy back music from a minidisc to a different PC.
My advice: go get it.
On: 2004-11-29
I dont own the HiMD Mindisc yet, although I look forward
to buying one eventually, but I keep reading of people
having problems with Sonys awful included OpenMG software
(I find its horrible, and lately RealOne Player is crashing
on me when I try to transfer Mp3s to the NetMDs I own,
which are an mzn505 and a 410 (the no frills black one).
So I had to find a better solution for mp3 files or other
pc music files, the SimpleBurner Sony gives you is fine for
CDs....then I found out you can just compile a CD "Image"
if you have a burner like NERO, which Ive got...what you do is,
just burn a CD image from Nero or another burning suite,
save to HD, mount the image as a regular "CD," THEN open
Sonys SimpleBurner and burn the Image, it will recognize it,
then you just burn to the NetMD and let it rip..I think
you can even specify space between tracks before you burn
the Image. This seems to work TONS better than Sonys crappy
software, which everyone seems to despise, and who wants
to record in real time unless you have to? Plus it burns
10x faster this way on a newer PC with USB 2.0, so its the
method of choice. You can tell me IPOD but that is super
expensive, its not for archiving music or burning as the
NetMD is, and now the HiMD will even do data files, so it
should probably save the Sony NetMD line for the near
future..I sure hope so cause I love the NetMD format,
its just Sonys support and junky software that is a
major glitch in the products marketing. Why doesnt Sony
fix this? It cant be that hard to come up with a better
suite of software, and SimpleBurner itself is fine!
On: 2004-11-28
I dont own the HiMD Mindisc yet, although I look forward
to buying one eventually, but I keep reading of people
having problems with Sonys awful included OpenMG software
(I find its horrible, and lately RealOne Player is crashing
on me when I try to transfer Mp3s to the NetMDs I own,
which are an mzn505 and a 410 (the no frills black one).
So I had to find a better solution for mp3 files or other
pc music files, the SimpleBurner Sony gives you is fine for
CDs....then I found out you can just compile a CD "Image"
if you have a burner like NERO, which Ive got...what you do is,
just burn a CD image from Nero or another burning suite,
save to HD, mount the image as a regular "CD," THEN open
Sonys SimpleBurner and burn the Image, it will recognize it,
then you just burn to the NetMD and let it rip..I think
you can even specify space between tracks before you burn
the Image. This seems to work TONS better than Sonys crappy
software, which everyone seems to despise, and who wants
to record in real time unless you have to? Plus it burns
10x faster this way on a newer PC with USB 2.0, so its the
method of choice. You can tell me IPOD but that is super
expensive, its not for archiving music or burning as the
NetMD is, and now the HiMD will even do data files, so it
should probably save the Sony NetMD line for the near
future..I sure hope so cause I love the NetMD format,
its just Sonys support and junky software that is a
major glitch in the products marketing. Why doesnt Sony
fix this? It cant be that hard to come up with a better
suite of software, and SimpleBurner itself is fine!
On: 2004-11-01
At this price (below $170) Hi-MD is a beast! The unit is so light that I carry it everywhere even without headphones just for the sole purpose of data exchange. It is so much geeker than those pen-drives. And for few bucks I can buy a bunch of old, dirt cheap MD disks.
The only one thing I can not understand in this business is why Sony is not pushing this product as much as it deserves???
For music I am mostly using MDs copied on my stereo, so the software does not hurt this much.
On: 2004-10-24
This Player is very nice and capacity is OK for a removable media, however the whole Hi-MD---OpenMG----SonicStage---ATRAC is very inconvenient to use.
I will summarize:
PROS:
-ATRACplus algorithm sound decent at 64kbps, comparable to MP3 at 128kbps in my opinion. There is also a 256kbps option which sounds very good, but files are pretty big for the Hi-MD capacity, makes it inconvenient.
-The advertised price for the Hi-MD blank disks is ok, around $7.
-Price compares to that of the MiniIpod or some Flash MP3 players, however this is "supposed" (read below) to be upgradeable by buying more blank Hi-MDs
-Runs on AA battery.
-You can run with it and get no skips.
CONS:
-You MUST use SonicStage software to transfer files to / from the MD.
-No MP3 support on the unit, only plays ATRAC. MP3s are transcoded by the PC software.
-SonicStage is a little bit unreliable.
-You CAN NOT upload songs from MD to your PC. So you cant use the MDs as a backup of your PC music collection, because if your PC fails, you cant upload the songs again.
-Even if you encode songs in ATRACplus with SonicStage, you cant move the files to another PC. And Im not talking about illegal moving, you might have more than one PC.
-You can only play (so far) ATRACplus files with Sonys software (in your PC, I mean).
-Hi-MD blank discs are scarce, not even sony online store has them in stock at the moment of this review.
I think this unit is a good alternative to a Flash based MP3 player of medium capacity (256-512MB) if you can find it for less than $200.
For a little more than this you can get a 4/5 GB HD player like the MiniIpod and save the hassle of the propietary format, algorithm, rights protection format (OpenMG) and having only one choice of software.
I think Sony could have made a good product but its taking the wrong path towards protection of copyrights. They shoulnt do so at the expense of reducing the product functionality and reliability.
On: 2004-10-11
I have had this unit for 2 weeks and love it. It comes with all of the features that last years higher net-md players came with, including EQ, remote output (no remote though) and easy to navigate mini joystick and jog dial. First thing I did was go to Sonys Connect website and download the latest version of SonicStage. It installed perfectly, saving all of the play lists I have accumulated from my Net-MD Walkman which used SonicStage 1.0.
It works great for ripping songs from CD; its fairly fast. It has a CD info database that blows away Windows Media Players, no matter how obscure the title.
I was able to fit all 200 CDs, over 2000 songs onto 4 HI-MDs and 2 80 minutes discs, one for each genre of music. They all fit neatly into a compact 5 disc case.
I plugged the remote that cane with my MZ-N10, and it works great. I can easily change play modes and skip tracks with it.
The problems I had are:
Ultra slow MP3 conversion; it takes SonicStage hours to convert a whole HI-MD disc worth of Mp3s.
No song export from HI-MD disc; if you try to transfer a song from the recorder to SonicStage it will erase the track from the recorder, and disappear from the music library, possibly to a temp folder some where. (Just checked, they did get exported but are in a folder called Optimized Files, not to the music library like where they were supposed to go.)
Finally, the discs are hard to come by, I tried 3 vendors and all were out of the discs.
On: 2004-10-10
I have had this unit for 2 weeks and love it. It comes with all of the features that last years higher net-md players came with, including EQ, remote output (no remote though) and easy to navigate mini joystick and jog dial. First thing I did was go to Sonys Connect website and download the latest version of SonicStage. It installed perfectly, saving all of the play lists I have accumulated from my Net-MD Walkman which used SonicStage 1.0.
It works great for ripping songs from CD; its fairly fast. It has a CD info database that blows away Windows Media Players, no matter how obscure the title.
I was able to fit all 200 CDs, over 2000 songs onto 4 HI-MDs and 2 80 minutes discs, one for each genre of music. They all fit neatly into a compact 5 disc case.
I plugged the remote that cane with my MZ-N10, and it works great. I can easily change play modes and skip tracks with it.
The problems I had are:
Ultra slow MP3 conversion; it takes SonicStage hours to convert a whole HI-MD disc worth of Mp3s.
No song export from HI-MD disc; if you try to transfer a song from the recorder to SonicStage it will erase the track from the recorder, and disappear from the music library, possibly to a temp folder some where. (Just checked, they did get exported but are in a folder called Optimized Files, not to the music library like where they were supposed to go.)
Finally, the discs are hard to come by, I tried 3 vendors and all were out of the discs.
On: 2004-10-06
the player itself is great and all that blabla... but I just have to point out sonys software (like a lot of us :))
ive been trying to get sonicstage to work for days.. at first when I installed it, everything was ok. and when I ran it, it said that I had an old version so it wants to update (it wasnt a must) so silly me, I did as it asked. the next thing I know (after installing for 10 minutes) it had a file missing.. now how could that happen? I only used original software and there is sth missing.. anyway, its openMG. www.openmg.com is down too. cant get that thing from nowwhere.
so any suggestons on how to solve this, mail me l10n@hot.ee
the full name that it needed was "openmg secure module.msi"
On: 2004-10-05
the player itself is great and all that blabla... but I just have to point out sonys software (like a lot of us :))
ive been trying to get sonicstage to work for days.. at first when I installed it, everything was ok. and when I ran it, it said that I had an old version so it wants to update (it wasnt a must) so silly me, I did as it asked. the next thing I know (after installing for 10 minutes) it had a file missing.. now how could that happen? I only used original software and there is sth missing.. anyway, its openMG. www.openmg.com is down too. cant get that thing from nowwhere.
so any suggestons on how to solve this, mail me l10n@hot.ee
the full name that it needed was "openmg secure module.msi"
On: 2004-09-26
I owned a minidisc player a while back (specifically, the Sony MZ-N510CK NetMD Walkman) and I had mixed feelings about it. First, the storage on the minidiscs wasnt the greatest - one could fit maybe two hours of music on it with the 150-megabyte discs. Second, I always found it odd you couldnt write other media to the discs, like documents and pictures. And I was disapointed that there wasnt a wider range in bit rates you could rip music from using Sonys Sonicstage. While the atrac compression format gives excellent sound - better, in my opinion, than any mp3 - I wished they would give more options. All in all, I didnt feel that the player was worth it. But then I found that Sony was relasing a new line of minidisc players, so I thought Id give it a shot.
It was worth it.
First, the new discs hold an incredible one gigabyte of information. I have fit almost 240 songs onto a disc at the 132 bit rate. Also, you can now use the players to back up your information. The old minidiscs that only held 150 megabytes, in the new players, are reformatted to hold 300 megabytes. I use my old ones to back up my documents and pictures - I havent touched my CD burner in months! And there are new bit rates to choose from. It isnt as wide a selection as with mp3 rippers, but the extra choice is nice. The transfer of info using my USB 2.0 is quick and easy.
Sadly, as other reviewers have mentioned, the new Sonicstage software is a pain to use. I never had any problems with the old Sonicstage program, but for some reason the new version is extremely buggy and irritating. Additionally, dont be fooled by the packaging - while sonicstage does recognize mp3 and wma format, when you try to transfer the songs to your discman it will convert them to atrac format beforehand.
All in all, if youre leary of investing your money in a hardrive-based mp3 player, as I was, this is an excellent alternative. I am very satisfied with the product.
On: 2004-09-25
I owned a minidisc player a while back (specifically, the Sony MZ-N510CK NetMD Walkman) and I had mixed feelings about it. First, the storage on the minidiscs wasnt the greatest - one could fit maybe two hours of music on it with the 150-megabyte discs. Second, I always found it odd you couldnt write other media to the discs, like documents and pictures. And I was disapointed that there wasnt a wider range in bit rates you could rip music from using Sonys Sonicstage. While the atrac compression format gives excellent sound - better, in my opinion, than any mp3 - I wished they would give more options. All in all, I didnt feel that the player was worth it. But then I found that Sony was relasing a new line of minidisc players, so I thought Id give it a shot.
It was worth it.
First, the new discs hold an incredible one gigabyte of information. I have fit almost 240 songs onto a disc at the 132 bit rate. Also, you can now use the players to back up your information. The old minidiscs that only held 150 megabytes, in the new players, are reformatted to hold 300 megabytes. I use my old ones to back up my documents and pictures - I havent touched my CD burner in months! And there are new bit rates to choose from. It isnt as wide a selection as with mp3 rippers, but the extra choice is nice. The transfer of info using my USB 2.0 is quick and easy.
Sadly, as other reviewers have mentioned, the new Sonicstage software is a pain to use. I never had any problems with the old Sonicstage program, but for some reason the new version is extremely buggy and irritating. Additionally, dont be fooled by the packaging - while sonicstage does recognize mp3 and wma format, when you try to transfer the songs to your discman it will convert them to atrac format beforehand.
All in all, if youre leary of investing your money in a hardrive-based mp3 player, as I was, this is an excellent alternative. I am very satisfied with the product.
On: 2004-09-23
I have had mine for about 2 weeks. The battery performance is less than the netmd players, but that came as no surprise. the included headphones are cheap. The storage is incredible. On my 1.2gig computer, transfer with conversion to atracIIIplus takes about 5 min per cd, which is not bad at all. Probably the most pleasant surprise ive had out of this thing is the data storage. My internet connection is horrible, so I cant always upload large files that I need at school or work. I can put the files on a hd disc at home, go to school and plug it into any computer (windows xp) and the player is automatically recognized and set up as an external harddrive. that comes out to a very affordable 1gig+ portable harddrive!!! AtracIIIplus at 64kbps is blind test rated slightly better than 128k mp3, and I totally agree. with around 32 cds on a disc, the sound quality is very nice, listening to mostly classical and a bit of rock. buy this over an Ipod, like i did, and save some money without losing much more than fancy looks and headphones.
On: 2004-08-19
i bought this player a few days ago and it is awesome. i curently already had sonic stage 2.0 version on my computer and over 3,000 songs in my library. all i had to do is install the new software so that my hi md player would be recognized by the 2.0 software. it was very simple to do. then i just started transfering all the music that i wanted onto the 1gb mini disc. i did not finish cuz the storage is enormous. so then i just went on and played the song that were in it already. you can always go back and transfer more if you want to or try to fill the disc in one day if you have the time. the only thing is where do i go to buy more blank 1gb minidiscs? sony.com has them for $6.99 a piece but they do not ship to p.o. boxes. so for now i can use the 80 min minidiscs which can store 13.5 hours of music which is incredible cuz the other minidiscs players can only hold 5 hours and the sound is not as good as the hi-md player is a lot better. if you are looking for something not too expensive and do not want to be limited to memory card players or skipping hard drive players, go with this sony. you wont regret it!
On: 2004-07-31
waiting for the MZ-NH1 or NH900 to be released. These will have a digital amp,. presumably improving the sound quality. The NH600D already sounds great and yet it will be improved in the above mentioned models!! Ive been using minidiscs for some time now and am very impressed with the Hi-MD units.
As a reply to reviewer titled "Good but Pointless, July 15, 2004". Please get your information right before posting on a site like this. Giving false info is not good for other customers who are relying on it. The 1 Gigabit discs are available on sonystyle.com. They have been for a few weeks now. I ordered 6 of them a few weeks ago. Also, something is very wrong if it took You 12 hours to do your download. It should not take a tenth of that amount of time.
On: 2004-07-30
waiting for the MZ-NH1 or NH900 to be released. These will have a digital amp,. presumably improving the sound quality. The NH600D already sounds great and yet it will be improved in the above mentioned models!! Ive been using minidiscs for some time now and am very impressed with the Hi-MD units.
As a reply to reviewer titled "Good but Pointless, July 15, 2004". Please get your information right before posting on a site like this. Giving false info is not good for other customers who are relying on it. The 1 Gigabit discs are available on sonystyle.com. They have been for a few weeks now. I ordered 6 of them a few weeks ago. Also, something is very wrong if it took You 12 hours to do your download. It should not take a tenth of that amount of time.
On: 2004-07-26
OK, right off the bat I have to wonder how the earlier reviewer took 12 hours to download 1GB of music to the MZNH600. It took me about 1 hour! While that may still seem like a long time, considering how much music youre transfering, I dont think its a problem.
I was seriously considering the Apple iPod. The Sony Hi-MD won me over as a great alternative - it uses a standard single AA battery which last an incredable 25 hours. Theres no hard drive to worry about - excellent shock resistance. It doesnt hold as much on a single disk but its not that big a deal to change disks. Besides, 1GB on the Sony is about equivalent to 35 CDs... it works for me. Took it on a 800 mile car trip to Oregon and back and it was flawless.
Some have complained about the SonicStage software but Ive found it to be just fine. Ive used iTunes and Im annoyed at how iTunes takes over the CD-ROM functions to the point that it disables other CD software! At least the Sony SonicStage doesnt do that!
Sound quality is excellent at the Atrac3 64kbps rate. This is the next to highest compression which allows about 35 hours of music to fit on 1GB. At the highest compression, I noticed that voices started to sound a bit odd. Still, at 64kbps, I can fit more music on 1GB than a typical mp3 player - I estimate about 50% more. So compared to other mp3 players, the Hi-MD is really equivalent to 1.5GB to 2GB.
If I have a gripe, its the tiny display. It actually works fine but its not backlit and navagating the menus takes a little practice. The controls, while small, actually work quite well, though.
I also considered some of the solid state mp3 players but to get the same amount of music on a Rio Chiba for example, would raise the price way beyond that of the Sony. This little Hi-MD player is an excellent value - Oh yeah, and did I mention that it doubles as a 1GB plug and play portable USB data drive... I highly recommend it.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-07-25
Very easy to use, works great, nice small package that is light and easy to take with you while working out or whatever.
Easy to navigate, nice to have the 1GB storage, and is backwards with the cheaper smaller MD.
Big thimbs up!
On: 2004-07-25
OK, right off the bat I have to wonder how the earlier reviewer took 12 hours to download 1GB of music to the MZNH600. It took me about 1 hour! While that may still seem like a long time, considering how much music youre transfering, I dont think its a problem.
I was seriously considering the Apple iPod. The Sony Hi-MD won me over as a great alternative - it uses a standard single AA battery which last an incredable 25 hours. Theres no hard drive to worry about - excellent shock resistance. It doesnt hold as much on a single disk but its not that big a deal to change disks. Besides, 1GB on the Sony is about equivalent to 35 CDs... it works for me. Took it on a 800 mile car trip to Oregon and back and it was flawless.
Some have complained about the SonicStage software but Ive found it to be just fine. Ive used iTunes and Im annoyed at how iTunes takes over the CD-ROM functions to the point that it disables other CD software! At least the Sony SonicStage doesnt do that!
Sound quality is excellent at the Atrac3 64kbps rate. This is the next to highest compression which allows about 35 hours of music to fit on 1GB. At the highest compression, I noticed that voices started to sound a bit odd. Still, at 64kbps, I can fit more music on 1GB than a typical mp3 player - I estimate about 50% more. So compared to other mp3 players, the Hi-MD is really equivalent to 1.5GB to 2GB.
If I have a gripe, its the tiny display. It actually works fine but its not backlit and navagating the menus takes a little practice. The controls, while small, actually work quite well, though.
I also considered some of the solid state mp3 players but to get the same amount of music on a Rio Chiba for example, would raise the price way beyond that of the Sony. This little Hi-MD player is an excellent value - Oh yeah, and did I mention that it doubles as a 1GB plug and play portable USB data drive... I highly recommend it.
On: 2004-07-24
The sound quality of this Hi-MD player is fantastic. My Rio player just did not deliver this kind of quality. I was skeptical for a long time about the whole MD concept, but MD actually costs the least per byte, and its optical playback method makes it drop-resistant. MD seems to be quite suitable for carrying around downloaded music. The only thing is that Sonys music store does not match this great medium or the player in quality. I hope they are working on this problem.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-07-16
This is a fantastic device. I love the fact that you can transfer music from your cd right onto the MD player without converting it to an MP3 (or similar file) first. Not to mention that Sonys proprietary ATRAC files have been proven to sound better than MP3s that take up more memory. The transfer rate is actually suprisingly fast. 1GB of disk space is more than enough to fill your head with tons of songs. Not to mention that the player is infinitely expandable since you CAN buy more disks. I bought this player on June 31st 2004 and was able to buy extra 1GB disks right from www.sony.com (no problem with availability either... and they shipped it to me overnight for the same cost as ground shipping). So ignore the hype about availability or lack there of and dive on in on machine. You wont regret it.
by: Anonymous On: 2004-07-15
This is a great player. Its compact and well designed. Sounds loud enough through headphones, and the menus are easy to use. Single battery lasts more than 25 hours and it uses computer power while downloading. The player comes with a 1GB disc which hold up to 45 hours of music. Sony seems to think 1 disc is all youll ever need. There is no point in buying this player because 1GB discs are NOT available and Sony doesnt bother to say when they will be. All they say is that one comes with the player.
Also note that you cant be in a hurry with this player - it can take about 12 hours of downloading from your computer to fill the disc with music.
On: 2004-06-16
The player is on par with Sonys excellent track of Minidisc players. The new 1 Gig discs are awesome! They can take up to 45 hours of music. 7 hours if you are using the best quality. The player increases the capacity of regular 5 hour Minidiscs to 13 hours! So you can more than double the capacity of your old dics. Battery life is awesome. 30 hours or so with HD discs and 50 with older ones. Best part for me, the player can be used as a portable drive! Only using HD media, you plug the player to your PC using the USB cable, and voila! You have a 1GB drive ready to use without installing any drivers! Just works! Best part, no adapter needed for the player when its connected. The player takes power from the USB cable and does not use your battery while connected to the PC. Overall, this player is awesome! I love it! Go get one :)
On: 2004-06-10
THe new minidisc by Sony is awesome. 1 minidisc holds a Gig of memory, shock resistant and it is very portable. The sound is awesome, becuase Sony allows you to customize the sound on 6 different levels meaning sound can be adjusted to your preference. Battery life is around 30 hours which is great. Runs off one regular one AA battery which is great and this thing is light. You can use to workout or whatever it perfecty sets itself up to be any type of player you want it to be. Atrac3plus is a great addition to the Hi-MD, even Atrac3plus at 64kps is better than Mp3 128kps. Overall this is a great product I recommend this over any Mp3 jukebox or flash player.
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