I`ve had my MZ-R50 for about 5 years now. I looked into the whole minidisc scene long and hard before I decided that it was the best available. They had been discontinued by the time I bought my first unit but I managed to get a near mint condition one off Ebay for £75. I then bought a MDS-NT1 to connect directly to the computer and that came with a free MZ-E501. I sold that on Ebay for £100 and then spotted a brand new MZ-R50 (minus the charger) for the ridiculously low price of £60 so I snapped it up. I have never used the second one, only just to test it all to ensure that it works. As for recording with the MZ-R50, I have probably recorded about a dozen albums with it as I record everything on the MDS-NT1 because its easier and quicker. I often use it to record conversations with an old microphone that came with an even older PC. All in all, I would not part with either of my MZ-R50`s, they`re brilliant peices of kit. Although I have an MZ-RH10 Hi MD unit and an NW-HD3 which are both very nice, they are nowhere near as good as the MZ-R50, a truely marvellous machine.