Sony MZ-NH900 Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman

• Store up to 45 hours of music on a Hi-MD MiniDisc
• Includes backlit LCD tuner/remote with editing functions
• Skip-Free G-Protection technology
• Easy jog dial navigation
• NOTE: The MZNH900's recording features and bundled software are not compatible with the Mac OS operating system.

I've been looking for a way to replace my professional walkman for several years, and finally decided to get this MD recorder when I found out that it could make wave recordings and upload them to your computer. I even read the manual before buying the unit to make certain that wave recordings could be uploaded. What I did not know AND SONY DOESN'T MENTION IT IN THE MANUAL is that ANYTHING you record on the machine will be encoded with DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGMENT. This means that if you make a recording of yourself, performing your own music, using a microphone, you will be unable to edit the recording and distribute it to other people on a CD. I called SONY to ask them about this, and how to get around it. They said that corporate policy was that ANYTHING recorded on the player was probably copyrighted, so you can't copy it! You can still use the original files, but if you were thinking of editing WAV files and burning CD's with the recordings you make, think again. The only way I have found to get a WAV recording is to play the protected file in a media player while simultaneously recording it with a wave recorder set to use the computer's WAVE output as an input. I don't know if this degrades the quality of the recording or not. It is a slow process because the conversion has to take place in real time. If you have a wave recorder, you already have this capability.

This could have easily been a 5 star review were it not for the DRM problems, and some other things...

1) Unless you are near sighted, you will have trouble reading the display on the recorder. The remote is illuminated and easier to see. The main unit display is not illuminated and the print is tiny.

2) The controls also a little counter intuitive (you turn the volume knob down to raise the volume) and hard to see. I often seem to press the wrong buttons.

3) The unit seems to take quite a bit longer to upload files than to down load them. I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of SONY's hobbles intended to make it harder to share files. Uploading times are very long! It took me about 50 minutes to upload 6 hours worth of compressed recordings.

4) The only case that SONY makes only holds the player and is meant for putting on your arm. If you want to store a mic and some blank disks, get a little camera bag.

5) The plastic external battery holder looks very flimsy. I don't expect it to last very long.

6) HiMD disks are expensive and pretty much unavalable (mid-September 2004). SONY doesn't have them in stock. Neither does any place else I checked. You can still use regular MD disks which are a better value, but if you want to make a long wave recording you'll need the new disks.

7) Setting up recordings with a microphone without AGC is a combersome process. Each time you start the recorder, you have to navigate through the menus, and turn off AGC. There should be a preference setting for this. I record loud percussion instruments that sound terrible with AGC.

8) You cannot upload any recordings made in non-HiMD formats, or made by any other non-HiMD recorders.

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...this thing has worked for me from the beginning, with no hitches. All software installs, including Sonic Stage updates, have gone smoothly. For just ripping CDs onto the MD unit, Simple Burner works perfectly and quickly. Sonic Stage is a little clunky, but it hasn't failed on me yet. USB transfers have been seamless and fast.

The rechargable battery life is excellent for just playing music, and if you know you're going to be using it a lot on a road trip, just bring a spare AA or two and you'll be good to go for a lonnng time. I find the screw-on battery gives much greater flexibility. It adds about 3/4 of an inch to the length of the NH900 when it is attached.

Live concert recordings made with binaural stereo microphones are just amazing. Just don't use the automatic gain control (AGC), and DO set the mic sensitivity and recording levels according to what kind of mics you use and what kind of music you are recording.

The newly-released Sony wave converter utility improves upon the Hi-MD's overall usefulness by allowing you to convert material recorded on the MD unit into wave files for editing, CD burning, etc. It works perfectly.

Some improvements I would make if I were King:

1. The NH900 unit's display should most definitely have a backlight, as it is awkward to read under anything but ideal lighting conditions without turning it to get the best view.

2. The headphones Sony ships with this should be much better. They are just plain uncomfortable. They do, however, have a shortened cable which makes them better for use with the remote. I use Sennheiser PX-100's with mine.

3. Navigating the menus, both on the MD and on the remote, takes a little practice, mostly because of the very small display (i.e. one line on the remote).

4. Speaking of the remote, this one is nice and sleek and works well enough, but there is another one Sony sells overseas, the model RM-MC40ELK (Google that and you'll find it at several online sources for about $80) that has a larger, 3-line backlit display.

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1) Hi-MD discs are expensive... compared to what? $7 for 1 GB of removeable media? How much is a 1 GB flash or SD card?

2) Hi-MD discs are unavailable actually, you can order them from trusty Amazon.com (mine ended up coming from Circuit City). Took about 4 days. But they aren't really available at any stores except some Radio Shacks.

3) The DRM thing Sony claims that they will have a wave converter "in the Fall" that should resolve the DRM issue on uploaded self-recordings.

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I bought this to record live instrumental music (me!). The machine is great, apart from a somewhat awkward seek function. But the software (like all Sony software) is not good at all cumbersome, and not well thought out. And you pretty much have to use the Sony software, because other programs don't support MD players/format. Too bad.

This MD is truly the best out of the 11 MD players i've had. I dont know why people dont like it. Here are some fixes that other people are having trouble with;

*The new version of the sonicstage is out (easier to use)

*The display is fine (try opening your eyes)

*The new wav converter is out (enables you to upload your recording onto the comp)

All the other functions and stuff make this earn 5 stars