MDmp3

First off all, I cannot believe the quantity and quality of posts this thread has recieved in a span of only one day! To everybody who replied, I cannot thank you enough. I feel as though you genuinely care about my purchase. @andyk - I imagine the 256MB mp3 player I linked to in my first post can carry a bit more music than your 64mb Diamond unit. I actually only plan on putting Mp3's off my computer onto the device, whether it be the mp3 player or the MD. The MZ-S1 looks like a durable unit, but unfortunately they are not sold in Canada. @campekenobi - iPod is ridiculous, in my eyes it is trendy garbage. I understand there is a bias depending on which forum you visit. Does the sound quality of an MD really rock as much as you say it does? Even in LP4? And does an Mp3 player really sound that "flat"? The one I linked to in my first post was the "bargain basement value" brand, and I imagine it sacrifices sound quality for good looks (even though it comes with Sennheiser buds). Can you adjust bass/treble on the MD unit? Specifically the one I linked to in my first post? @JeffS - First off, thank you so much for your informative post. It answered many of my questions. I wonder if the fact that the MD unit I plan on purchasing (link in my first post) has bad sound quality because it is a cheap unit? And surely I will inform you all of my purchase. Once again, thanks everyone for their opinions and contributions! If you have anything else to add, please do!

Alright, here's my problem. 'Tis the season and Best Buy is having a sale or sorts, and I've long been looking at a MiniDisc player. Then I found this basic MD player. It's not the prettiest MD unit out there, but at that price (Canadian dollars) I feel it's a bargain. Of course I could be wrong, which is why I'm posting here. Battery life sounds good (56 hours apparently, probably realistically much less). My friend has this exact unit and he loves it, although his earbuds have failed on him (one speaker will not play sound). So anyways, everything was going all good, I had finally set my heart on the MZ-N420DL, when this 256mb Mp3 player, for a little less than the aforementioned MD player! I love the 5 EQ modes and the ID3 tag support. 256mb for $100 seems almost too good to be true. So anyways, i'm torn between the two. Visually, the Mp3 player is nicer. I also like the 256mb thing, thats quite a bit of space. Looking at the Mp3's on my computer, a 256mb Mp3 player will be able to carry about 40-44 songs. Will the MD carry this many songs? And if it can, will sound quality be affected? I've been told Mp3 players sound is flat. With the 5 EQ modes on the Mp3 player, I imagine this problem is overwritten. Sound quality is very important to me, as is unit quality/durability. The Mp3 player comes with Sennheiser earbuds as opposed to the bottom-of-the-line Fontopia earbuds that come with the MD. The MD is a Sony, so I imagine it is very durable. The Mp3 player is made by Ice Audio, some loner company which appears to sell exclusively to Best Buy Canada. I wonder why it is so cheap... And does LP4 mode on a MD really sound that bad? This is the mode I plan on using if I do end up purchasing the MD unit. Thanks for reading all that... any help or advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.