Usually there's something funny here but I figured my pic was enough!
Usually there's something funny here but I figured my pic was enough!
Member since:28.09.2004
Reviews:29
Members who trust:16
This is a re-write of my previous review.
I purchased this before everybody and their dog had an iPod but it still has its place. The minidisc format never really achieved the status it so rightfully deserved. Here is an optical medium much smaller than a CD but with the same storage and quality capabilities. It was also a rewritable media long before we were writing to CD, so why didn't it take off? Beats me.
The MZ-NH600 is a neat little package, well built but for the price although I'd have liked to have seen aluminium instead of plastic. There is not much in the way of accessories, not even a charger or a remote control. All you get is the player and earphones and a USB cable. The software in the box is already outdated by the time you buy so it's better to go
to the Sony website and download the latest version.
I purchased this player because of it's Hi-MD feature which lets you store up to 45 CD's per Hi-MD disc. This is a tad optimistic and is the norm for manufacturer's unrealistic claims. The fact is the more CD's you squeeze on it the lower the quality they have to be ripped. The lowest quality sounds like AM radio so you can guess what your 45 CD's will sound like. The software supplied is nothing special, most of it is easy to use without instructions and you could have your first couple of CD's ripped and transferred to your minidisc in a few minutes.
The player needs to be hooked up to the PC with the supplied cable and is recognised by windows as a mass storage device. You can drag and drop any file type you wish onto the minidisc including mp3's but you cannot play them back this way. The software first of all has to convert them to Sony's Atrac3 format and every file converted is stored on your computer should you need to copy again without the conversion. The files are encoded with Digital Rights Management (DRM) so you won't be giving a copy to your mates or even transferring them to another computer you own like a laptop. The files are coded to your computer. I found this out the hard way after building a new computer and transferring all my converted songs.
Although it's a Hi-MD player, you can still use original blank minidiscs and get up to 200 or so songs on them, more if you lower the compression rate. Hi-MD discs are still expensive and I can't see the prices coming down as they are not widely available but you can still get standard discs for a bargain, especially on ebay.
The player itself has a 3 line, 16 character LCD display, there's no backlight but there are remote controls available with this feature. It has USB port and an earphone socket which doubles up as a line out to your amplifier or stereo. The US model of this player doesn't have the line out feature for some reason so avoid that one. It takes one alkaline AA battery and it lasts for ages, well over 20 hours. This is pretty good for something that has moving parts.
On the front and to the right of the display there is a little jog dial and a button in the middle acts as a little joystick. These are the controls for selecting tracks, play, volume and for scrolling through folders or track lists. The buttons underneath are for pausing the player, selecting groups of songs which is done with the software and a stop button. Pressing the stop button twice turns off the player. These controls can be a bit fiddly because they are so small so you might want to invest in a remote control. I have seen digital display ones on ebay for as low as a fiver. The remote also comes in handy for selecting tracks on the move.
The supplied earphones are ok but like most portable players, they could have been better and longer. What's the point in short earphones when we all put our players in our pockets? It's about as useful as 30mb internal memory in a 10 megapixel camera. Overall I'd say the player still has its place and its battery life outlasts any iPod on the market by about 3 or four times. Sound quality is pretty decent and as long as you don't compress too much will sound even better than any iPod or digital equivalent. I use it in my car sometimes and it sounds better than any of my mp3 CD's that I play in the car.
This is a good portable player and has reduced in price dramatically because of iPod sales so if you want one, now's the time. I have an iPod classic 80gb but I still use my minidisc because it sounds so much better and its a lot less hassle and quicker to change your music on it.
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Not bad for one of your firsts. Doesnt sound too bad x
catsholiday 23.08.2009 15:11
Nicely done review :)
NATI 20.11.2005 09:24
Great review, it would be a little easier to read if you broke up the sentances a little more into paragraphs but you seem to have covered everything and you write well.xxx
Advantages: Excellent Sound Quality Disadvantages: Very Temperamental
insertfunnynamehere 01.03.2005 (01.03.2005)
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Review of Sony Hi-MD Walkman MZ-NH600
Advantages: Excellent Sound Quality Disadvantages: Very Temperamental
insertfunnynamehere 01.03.2005 (01.03.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Sony Hi-MD Walkman MZ-NH600
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Nov 19th, 2005
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