I have been delighted with this product since I bought it 3 months ago. It is so simple to get started, and install the software. The RRP is around £240 but it is availble on the web for aroung £170. When the product arrived I unpacked it straight away. I didnt bother reading the manual, and I didnt need to everything was so straight forward. The first step was to plug the cradle into a USB port on my PC, place the MD unit in, and wait for it to charge. I left mine charging overnight, and it was fully charged the next morning. The next step was to install the SonicStage software onto your PC. This was delightfully easy, and took about 2 minutes. Once the software is installed, there are 3 main areas, CD, Music Drive and Device. The device is the MD itself and the contents of any disk you have inside it. CD will show you the contents of a CD you have in your cdrom drive to allow you to transfer files onto your MD, and handily links into a database of cd's to save you having to remember all those pesky track names. Finally music drive is all the mp3's you have cataloged by Sonicstage. You can either use the software itself to create the mp3's or you can import them from another source, useful if you already have an mp3 collection. Once you have created a catalog within sonicstage you can easily check the tracks out onto your minidisk. You also have the option to group tracks, these groups show up when you are moving through the track listings on your 910, so you can tell it to play a group of songs. Also at this recording stage you can select the compression you want, at maximum you can get around 6cd's on one MD which is pretty good going, and although you lose a little bit of quality, it seems worth it. Once you have mastered the software (this is easy to pick up), you get to play with the unit itself. It is very small and light, and looks great. The Jog dial makes selecting tracks a dream, and the buttons on the front of the unit are intuitive and easy to use. As an added bonus you also get the remote control unit, which has all the functionality available from the main unit, and an LCD panel to keep you informed of the track details. The battery life is great, and the size of the whole package makes it very portable. The added feature of an optional AA battery to extend the life is a great idea. I think that this product compares very well against the more expensive models available. The main complaint that I have is the limitation of only being able to check songs out 3 times within the PC software, after that you need to re-import the mp3's. I find this an annoying feature, and recommend that you rip your mp3's outside of sonicstage and import them, this way when you reach your checkout limit you can clear the files out of sonicstage and re-import. Having said that I would not let it put me off purchasing the product. The easy of use, good looks, portability and long battery life more than make up for it.
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Postage & Packaging:£4.39 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days......
Advantages: Looks Good, Compact, Easy to use, light and generally stylish Disadvantages: not many, other than if it isnt looked after and kept in its pouch it could get scratched.
Hatz09 29.05.2004 (30.05.2004)
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Review of Sony MiniDisc recorder
Advantages: Looks Good, Compact, Easy to use, light and generally stylish Disadvantages: not many, other than if it isnt looked after and kept in its pouch it could get scratched.
Hatz09 29.05.2004 (30.05.2004)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Sony MiniDisc recorder