Sony MZ-NE410 High Speed Net MD Walkman Recorder

• Stores more than five hours of music on an 80-minute minidisc; speedy USB connection minimizes recording time
• Compatible with MP3, WMA, and WAV music files as well as with the pressplay.com online music subscription service
• Bundled software helps you organize your music by artist, song, style, or tempo
• ID3 tag cleaning ensures accurate artist and title information for your digital music files
• Up to 56 hours of playback from a single AA battery

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EDIT 10/31/2012

Good grief, I just read over this after almost 10 years. The writing is terrible! It's like listening to some kid who just bought something they are so excited about that they cannot even communicate in proper English. I am very disappointed at past 'me'. I really want to erase this whole review to save me from future embarrassment. Although, it was fun and humiliating to read this. For those still wondering if they should get this in 2012... Probably not, but then again if you're searching for nostalgia or a headache it looks like they are still being sold as used items.

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After browsing hours and hours for a cheap alternative to buying an mp3 player and something I could run with I spent about 2 hours in Best Buy and reading reviews on Amazon.com to find what I wanted. I paced back and forth through the aisles constantly going back to the mp3 area only to find myself so close to buying this open item iPod... it was 269 for a 10 GB old style iPod, however it was kind of beat up.

I realized its really not practical to buy that thing or any other flash mp3 player for that matter... if you ever wanted to change songs you'd have to head back to your computer to add or remove songs on to your flash mp3 player. I knew about the Sony MZ-NE410 and it was on sale for 99 dollars. I use to own a MiniDisc player and hi-fidelity is a plus for a minidisc player vs. an mp3 player. Ignore those SNR (Signal2Noise Ratio) numbers on mp3 players nothing compares to a minidisc player.

Last but not least LP4... I was afraid it was going to sound horrible like a 64 kbps mp3 or even worse... LP4 is freaking amazing let me tell you. There is a quality difference but the difference is hardly noticable to the average ear. I can hear flaws but there's no distortion and its very clear. Amazing product! 99 Dollars and CHEAP MEDIA! Each minidisc holds about 320 minutes (LP4 Mode), 160 (Lp2), and 80 min (SP NEAR CD QUALITY). It is about 1 ounce lighter then an iPod and MUCH MORE PRACTICAL. Stop throwing away your money... the iPod's Hard Drive is more likely to fail since there are moving parts in a Hard Drive. I listen to about 5 or more CD's on one minidisc. I am still using the one that came with mine. Its not as thin or as small as those keychain mp3 players but its great for jogging and small enough.

The minidisc player also plays just like Sony's recent mp3 products. It buffers music into its memory while it's playing and stops spinning the minidisc after gaining filling up its buffer space. This increases battery life (about 56 hours with E2 Energizer Batteries) and the actual players life and of course for movement protection (G-Protection). Most mp3 players only play for about 10 hours. Technically an mp3 player is suppose to last longer then something with moving parts but many forget that an mp3 needs to decode the music which is like processor power in your computer and translate it to a sound unit in your player just like sound cards in your computer. YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH THIS! There's no pretty LCD but you're listening to music not watching equalizer bars go up and down and see the lapse time of the song, screw the LCD.

Buy Sony MZ-NE410 High Speed Net MD Walkman Recorder Now

After quite a while of wanting an MD player, I bought my MZ-NE410 at the local electronics superstore yesterday. I'll start with the bad. The included software is almost totally useless. I have never encountered such a buggy program past its alpha stage. It crashed four times trying to catalouge my media. After I got about 20 MP3s in my list, it alerted me to the fact that all but 6 were unsupported, and couldn't be converted!. That was enough, so I went online, and downloaded Real One player. It works like a charm. I've been using Musicmatch to make playlists, then importing em in Real One.

As for the good, this player is tiny, light, and has a cool matte black finish much like that on a B-2 or F-117. The amazing sound quality lets me hear things I never heard when listening to music through my computer, and I have a high quality home theater system connected to my comp. The player seems to excel with classical and soundtrack background scores, but everything else sounds incredible too. One unusual thing is that the included headphones actually sound great too. The display is tiny, but easy to read. It does only show track name at the beginning of a song, but you can switch to a mode that always shows the title quickly, with only a few clicks, so you can just switch back and forth if you really want to.

In closing, if you're in the market for an MD player, go with this unit, just make sure to download RealOne. I'm sure the newest high end models are great too, but they cost twice as much, and still have the same enraging SonicStage software.

Read Best Reviews of Sony MZ-NE410 High Speed Net MD Walkman Recorder Here

I bought this unit hoping that I can do the audio recording the traditional way(in the sense that the audio is picked up by a microphone which hooked up with the unit. And sony calls this 'Walkman RECORDER') Amazon also lists(at least as of until today 02/04/2004) Sony ECMDS70P Digital Recording Microphones(miniDisc) as the accessory of this unit. So I thought I got a great deal and I anxiously waited for the package to arrive.

When I open the box I finally received, I did not find any jack that I can plug a microphone in. So I read the manual and only find something talking about recording with a computer. After several more hours of finding and reading manual/spec on the sony site, I realize that most other Sony minidisc walkman/recorder has optical input(which happened to be able to be used for analog line level input also) and some high end unit has mic input also.

And right now I have hard time to get a full refund which I believe that I am entitled to due to Amazon and Sony's 'false advertisement'. Amazon said that they will at most refund me 50% to 80% if I return. I am even willing to buy another sony model from them!.

I will let you know how it goes. But at least the future buyers won't fall into the same 'traps' as me.(Of course, you will still be in the same situation if Amazon somehow block this review from showing up)

Want Sony MZ-NE410 High Speed Net MD Walkman Recorder Discount?

(2008 HOLIDAY TEAM)There are so many great reviews for this product. I don't want to be repetitive but this unit ROCKS!

PROS:

First of all, the price can't be beat. Compared with other Minidisk players, it performs fabulously and is easily the best value around.

Second of all, everything you've heard about battery life is TRUE! I've gone over 150 hours at a time without changing the battery. I'm talking about playing it every day at work for 3 weeks, not to mention when I get home at night. This alone makes this MD player head and shoulders above the more advanced models. Invest in some rechargeable batteries for digital electronics and you won't be disappointed.

Disk storage is good at the highest quality. You can still get several hours on a disk and the sound is awesome.

CONS:

I really want to give this unit a 5, but a lot of the criticism can't be dismissed. TRUE: The software is bad. Sony's proprietary ATRAC3 music format ads an extra annoying step. There are limits to how many times you can record music on a disc. The display really does not give you any useful info. The panel controls are pretty bare (notice, no "Record" button) and you cannot record voice directly with this unit as with other MD players. Also note, this unit does not have the car-kit or wireless car radio play options of other Music players. Some MD players come packaged with these things, or other MP3 players like the Ipod have these features. Not to mention the Ipod will store Gigs of music; it will just set you back 3 times as much money. These cons all need to be factored in to your comparison with other units.

THE BOTTOM LINE:

Some have noted performace loss over time. Simple: get a MD cleaning disk to clean your lense. This unit is very durable and has a long play life. Software updates can also solve a lot of recording problems.

The cons pale in comparison with the pros. The sound quality is great. The unit is THE BEST VALUE in digital music. The battery life is UNBELIEVABLE. The MDs are getting CHEAPER BY THE DAY. An added bonus: Now that the new HD standard is out, you can buy these at deep discounts. Take advantage.

BUY THIS UNIT NOW!

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I bought the MZ-NE410 as a secondary player since I already own an Archos Jukebox. The NE410 is small, light and has great sound w/ ATRAC3-132kbps. The minor inconveniences are that the display is tiny (you won't see a multi-line display of track name, lapsed time, and/or total length) and it's not backlit, which renders it nearly useless in low light conditions.

The MAJOR drawback with the player, however, as other reviewers have pointed out, is that you have to use either the bundled software (SonicStage 1.5, Simple Burner, OpenMG), download Real Audio Player, or use some homegrown, freeware apps to upload/download music to the NE410. You are thus restricted from using multiple PCs to transfer/share music and God help you if a Windows XP system restore hoses your audio files you'll most likely have to start rebuilding the music library from scratch, unless you regularly do backups. As compared to a non-proprietary, drag-and-drop player like an Archos, these limited use restrictions are very, very chafing.

On a positive note, the player is great for audiobooks or language tapes/cds. You can upload about 5 hours to the player at 66kps and with a generic car kit adaptor, use it in the car. The automatic resume function lets you stop the player, pop into a store, then resume your place in the file when you get back in the car, SO LONG AS you don't eject the disc (which will reset playback from the beginning).

The NE410 can't compete with the storage capabilities of jukebox MP3 players (Megabytes vs. Gigabytes) and the software restrictions required by Sony Music (vs. Sony Electronics) certainly turn off potential buyers. But if you want a second player for your morning commute or you don't want to transfer all your music to one device, I'd recommend you pick up this player.