davidedney123

Hi All I've not been on here for a long time, but I've been using MD since day one. The only picture I have of some of my portables is this Total list of Sony kit is (I think) Portable Players: MZ-2p; MZ-E3 (x2); MZ-E30; MZ-E50; MZ-E33; MZ-E909; MZ-E10 Portable Recorders: MZ-1; MZ-R3; MZ-R30 (dead, in a drawer somewhere); MZ-R50 (as above); MZ-R55; MZ-R900 (dead); MZ-N910 I've also got a few of the more interesting tape and CD Walkmen: Tape: WM-EX808HG (all chrome finish with brass slider over the buttons - very hard to keep clean!) WM-EX20 (brushed stainless 25th anniversary of the walkman edition) And some others, but those are the only really interesting ones CD: D-777 D-E905 D-EJ01 x 2 And a handful of other not very interesting models To be honest I didn't realise how many of these things I had lying around until I saw this thread and it got me thinking. Something I have found with the MD portables is that the sound quality, particularly in terms of bass depth and impact, declined rather sharply with the introduction of the 1.5volt drive models (MZ-E30/E50 players, MZ-R55 recorder). I'd be interested to hear other people's views on this. Regards, Dave

Hi I have a wide range of MD units, and I can say that while the MZ-R50 is a fine sounding unit, if you want the best audio quality for home use even the cheapest Hi-Fi deck will sink the line out quality of the MZ-R50. Also worth noting - other than the MZ-2p no MD player only units that I am aware of have a proper line-out for connection to a hi-fi, only the headphone out. You can plug the headphone socket into the line-in of your amp, but I've found that this sound a bit ropey. I also think that the reason a lot of people find that older MD portables sound better than current models is that they can play a lot louder, and an increase in volume is often interpreted as an increase in quality. Modern MD players struggle to power all but the most efficient headphones up to amusing volume levels, and can sound strained when turned up loud with just about any headphones - this is the sacrifice we make for small size and long battery life. If you want an MD player that can really play obnoxiously loud, pick an an MZ-E3 on eBay - they are pretty cheap and very robust. Personal CD players are a different matter. All of the recent Sony players I've tried have had really poor quality output from the headphone socket at all volumes. Very compressed sounding, with a tendency towards "thump and tizz" sound. Let's hope Sony don't bring this "innovation" to the MD arena. Dave

Hi The thing I'd like to see most is the size reduced down to be the same as the MZ-R900 again. I do think that going back to removable, replaceable and cheap Ni-MH is a step in the right direction though. I'd happily live with the extra size over an MZ-N10 or MZ-NH1 not to have to put up with the limitations of the Li-Ion battery pack. Dave

As big as an MZ-R2....

Hi I think we all know that Sony will take this opportunity and flush it down the toilet. Personally I don't expect to EVER see that external Hi-MD storage drive in US or Europe, and I'm not sorry - it's slow and the media is too expensive. It can't compete with the universal compatability of CD-R/RW or the robustness and size of USB key drives and will doubtless be more expensive and slower than both. If they'd released something like this in 1997/8 for original MD, or better still in 1992 when they launched MD (ok, it would have been SCSI or Parallel then) then they could have made something of it. The MD data product they did release originally was crippleware for the get go, and was quite rightly rejected by the marketplace. If Sony are ever going to return to form in the CE arena they need to kick the lawyers out of the boardroom. Guys like us hold on in the hope they won't shaft us with their next brain-dead product, and they always dissappoint. As much as I love MD (I have owned an MZ-1 since the day MD launched in the UK, and have over 10 MD units) I do not think I will be bothering with Hi-MD. It takes a lot to loose a dedicated and loyal customer like me, but Sony have managed it. Also, SonicStage is so bad that I use RealPlayer instead to copy stuff to NetMD. I work in IT, and I choose to use RealPlayer over something else. That tells you everything you need to know about SonicStage. Until I got my NetMD recorder RealPlayer was on my "Do Not Install" list, along with Quicktime and the Netsky worm. Dave

Hi As someone who has actually handled one of these new recorders, can you tell me if it's as thick as it looks? In all the photos it seems to be noticeably fatter than previous generation MD recorders, but it's hard to gauge stuff like that without handling one. Cheers, Dave

Hi I use MD, and have done for a long time, because I like to be able to use something that I can listen to at home, in the car, and then just take out of the car and carry on listening to as I walk off. I'm a bit concerned at the total lack of Hi-MD car and home decks - does anyone know if we can expect to see them anytime? As far as I'm concerned anything that you can't play in the car or at home is a kiddies toy for them to listen to when they walk to school and use to show off to their friends. Half the selling point for MD in the first place was how good it was for in-car use, being far more robust that CDs. This bluetooth iPod to car stereo crap is stupid - I don't want two things to fiddle with as I drive along, and I don't want the player going flat unless I have a wire running from the dash, over my gear lever and to the player either. Why not just build a little cradle that holds the damned thing under the brake pedal. For christs sake Sony, adults with bags of money spend a lot of time in their cars, stop targetting the 14 year old who steals money from his grannies handbag to buy his electronics and start selling to the people with real buying power. This ties in with the downwards spiral in all of Sony's products really, both in terms of innovation and quality. I read an article recently about how Samsung is the new Sony, and it seems to me that only so much of that is because of Samsung building themselves up - the rest is due to Sony's seeming fascination with getting itself right around the U-bend to a point that it can never return from. It takes REAL effort to destroy such a powerful brand as "Walkman", but they did it! Sorry to rant so much, but it really pains me to see a once great company like Sony make strategic decisions as if a sea lion was in charge. Also, I'd like to be able to listen to my music in my car. Please. I'll pay you. Dave