PogoPogoPogo

1. How old were you when you first 'bought into' the format? 17. 2. Do you still regularly use your very first player? Not really…because it's had such heavy use in the early days it now has occasional problems with playback, so now it's purely used for NetMD track titling/arranging etc. 3. Do you regularly 'use' your items, or are some purely of interest as a 'collector'? Use them every other week when I have time to sit down and listen. Used to have a massive collection, but eventually narrowed it down down to 3 HiMD, 3 LP, 2 SP, and 2 Decks. 4. Do you listen to 'new' music on your discs, or prefer to keep the format for music 'of the era'? Any music! 5. Do you own more items than you can 'practically use'? Yes and no...8 units and 2 decks is more than enough for me, but each has their own specific 'job'. The SP units for my SP MDs, LP units for LP2 mixes, HiMD for recording, and decks for playing on speakers. 6. Did you 'go away' from MiniDisc', only to return to it at a later date? Yes. First unit started playing up after 4 years of solid service, so I caved in and got an MP3 player. 6 years later I bought an RH1 and before I could say "broken bank", I started raiding eBay for more units I missed out on from back in the day. Let's just say I missed the format… 7. Do you associate use of your player with 'fond memories', or is it a purely 'practical' consideration? More for practical consideration. Saying that, I no longer take my portables outdoors for fear of damaging them (I realise how silly that might sound, but consider this: for every irreplaceable/unrepairable MD unit there are a squillion new MP3 players being churned out everyday!) so they stay at home for full, concentrated listening i.e not as background music. On my travels, I leave the incessant track skipping to my MP3 Walkman

Whilst browsing YT I stumbled across this great old school track. Back in the day I never noticed what the kid was actually holding in his hand! Skip to 1:18…

Two recommendations from me: 1 - Sony MZ-NF610 or N510: It's a bit chunky but feels good in the hand; nice tactile feel to the buttons, has great sound - can adjust treble and bass and is S-Type. AA Battey lasts for AGES on this one!! There's a hack out there to enable 'line-out' on the unit, too. One minor downside is the LCD screen is small (but clear). These are fairly common on ebay around the £20 mark, so well worth looking out for. 2 - Sharp MT290: It looks and feels a bit more plasticky but the bass performance is superb, I find it better than any Sony or Panasonic unit I've ever used (and I've used many!). The bass really 'thumps' without muddying the overall sound, so I find it suits rock music really well (which is what I mostly listen to). There are three bass settings which you can individually adjust and save as presets, which is nice. Or you can just turn it off and leave it flat; have never tried that so cannot comment on how it sounds 'bass-less'.

Excellent topic here, I always have wondered if there was a real (measureable) difference between recording realtime on portables and decks. It would also be interesting to see if there are measurable differences between recording LP2 on a deck/portable and LP2 via NetMD on a portable; when I record LP2 tracks that flow into each other on my JE480 deck (optical in), it's always smooth and gapless. However, I'm pretty sure gapless track flow can't be achieved via NetMD. This might suggest that the NetMD recording process slices just a tad more detail off hence the loss of that all important micro second for seamless track transition? However, as mentioned in an earlier post, the most important thing to decide of course before leaping onto Ebay to purchase a deck is if one truly can make out a discernable audible difference between recordings made on deck and portable! I've not tested myself, but i'm pretty sure I'd find it difficult to tell a difference...

Yes the forward and rewind switch is wobbly and seems prone to breaking, and I feel like I'd crush the tiny thing every time I press the volume buttons, which is why I only use the remote for it! I'm amazed yours survived after dropping even once. The RH1 had such potential to be the best Minidisc recorder EVER, but due to what I can only imagine as rushed or lazy design choices, it falls just short of that in my opinion. Bah. Still, I love it, it looks great and sounds superb so will continue to use it sparingly for my most favourite music...it kind of makes me appreciate the listening experience that much more.

Hi all, I'm no stranger to the world of MD, but I didn't know there was such a loyal following way after MP3 players took over everything. Now, to pop my forum cherry here (sorry), I would like to discuss the MZ RH1, specifically how long it lasts with frequent use (playback only) before it begins to show signs of problems and/or dying. When I got mine years ago I was most disappointed with just how frail the build quality is. Because of this, I rarely use it and whenever I do, it's strictly for playback only, indoors, and using the remote. So, how many of you RH1 owners been able to use it on a fairly regular basis without it failing on you? How many years of use have you managed to get out of it so far? Thanks in advance! Pogo