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Which oldies but goldies?

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rauer

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As many people seem to be selling their old MD stuff when going MP3, I'm pretty tempted to buy one or two older players or recorders. I currently have a portable MZ-N910, two decks, a 333ES and a Sony 510.

Now what I'd like to know is which of the older (portable) gear are considered true treasures and for what reason? An R50 might be going pretty cheap locally in a few days but without the charger. I guess it's pretty good?

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True oldies and goldies from all era’s? From memory let's see…

Recorders

Sony MZ-1 (for obvious reasons)

Sony MZ-R37

Sony MZ-R50

Sharp MD-MS721/722 (first small factor recorder, but with slot-loading)

MZ-R90/R91 (first small, compact factor clamshell recorder)

Aiwa Am-F75/F80 (backlit LCD on main unit)

Sharp MDMT831

Sony MZ-R900 (introduced MDLP)

Sharp MT77/877

Sony MZ-N1 (introduced NetMD)

Sharp MD-DR7

Sony MZ-NH1 (introduced H-MD)

Players

Sony MZ-E75 (twin jacks)

Sony MZ-E900 (first MDLP player)

Most of Sharp’s offerings

Sony SJ-MJ88 (collapsible clamshell)

Sony MZ-E10 (smallest, lightest ever player)

Sony MZ-EH1 (first Hi-MD player)

Edited by Rob F1UK
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stick with the n910 i would say

I agree with that, on balance ...

I have both the N10 and N910, they seem to be much the same thing, operationally, but with the N10 there is always the "worry" of the internal non-repaceable battery.

Also the N10 uses a "special" USB lead (I have a spare ...) and needs to be on the stand in order to charge from its 6V power supply. The N910 can be charged independently with a 3V charger, uses easily replaceable gumstick batteries and uses the "standard" USB lead.

I think the N10 is the "sexier" of the two, and is slimmer and lighter (remember it was advertised as "10th anniversary special"), but both have a great "quality" feel to them.

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Thanks for the hints. I have no plans of getting rid of the N910 but I've heard some of the older ones have great headphone outs or other properties better than the newer ones though they lack in the encoding field.

Rob, if _you_ would be getting a single portable player or recorder 2 to 5 years old (in addition to owning the mentioned gear already), which would it be?

EDIT: a problem with quick reply..

Edited by rauer
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I think Rob meant to say MZ-E10 rather than MZ-N10.

I did indeed! :P

As to the other question, I mayself would look at the MZ-E10, but also the Panasonic SJ-MJ88 (the still new SJ-MJ99 is very nice also for an MDLP player). I also quite like the older MZ-E60 and the MZ-E75 for pure old-skool appeal.

As for recorders, the MZ-N10 is a good choice, but you already have a pretty good unit in the form of the N910, perhaps and R910 or R909 to compliment it? My personal 'holy grail' would a 'Go Fasta' Red MZ-R900 tho...

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So I ended up buying an R50 for a little more than 20 euros from a local equivalent of Ebay. It should be in good condition but without the charger. Let's see when it arrives..

I hope you got the AA battery adaptor attachment. The R50 doesn't use a standard battery, and the stock batteries for that model are pretty hardto get these days.

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  • 4 weeks later...

This is what my years in MD have given me as advice.

MZ-1 - It's large, with poor battery life but it is so well built it doesn't matter

MZ-R70 - The build quality is amazing, 2 headphone outs, the only problem is the battery door tends to not stay shut flush with the unit after a few months of heavy use.

MZ-R50 - High quality, the first top of the line recorder that really made MD something worth investing in.

MZ-R90 - The best unit ever made. Even with upgrading past this unit to the R900 (I had many problems) and the N10 (the unit netMD function died within a year) this is the last top of the line unit with amazing build quality that lasted through years of heavy use. My unit was stolen but I would love to find one for under a hundred dollars still. sigh...

MZ-R900 - Good unit, but I had the problem that was reported with many of these units that the audio playback skips because the lens to the recording head dies a lot faster than other previous MD models. I did a lot of recording and about a year and a half into the unit it died. If it's used, I would avoid buying this unit.

MZ-N1 - I never owned this unit but I've heard very good things about the build quality.

MZ-N10 - within a year expect the main board to the unit for the PC to MD to break. I'm not the only person to have this happen for it's rather common. Other than this the unit is highly durable and regular 'old school' type recording works wonders. I replaced MD for the NW-HD1 which just died. I got 500 USD back from CC because it was no longer replaceable and plan on cuting loose from the HDD market and going back to MD. Replace the N10 through Sony online and get a Hi-MD unit.

The only other unit that I've had is the MZ-N707. I can't stand anything anymore unless it's the top of the line unit. They are large, have poor build quality, and lack features. The bottom of this unit is plastic (ew) and I've had a problem of the screws falling out of the unit which doesn't make any sense. All it does now is sit next to my computer to record and I use my N10 as a portable player.

I've always been an amazing MD fan. Before MP3 players became more affordable with more capacity than 128mb for around 300 dollars MD was the way to go. I now use SonicStage on my computer hooked up to all of my dj gear and audio equipment. If you want a player for the good ol' times, get one of the above units that are pre-Net-MD/mdlp. If you want something better for use with all of your audio and quick transfer from your computer, keep the N910 but get a Hi-MD device. ATRAC has really grown into something amazing over the last year and a half and Hi-MD takes advantage of the encoding ratios. Other than that advice, that is all that I can say upon this subject.

Edited by djduquet
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True oldies and goldies from all era’s? From memory let's see…

Recorders

Sony MZ-1 (for obvious reasons)

Sony MZ-R37

Sony MZ-R50

Sharp MD-MS721/722 (first small factor recorder, but with slot-loading)

MZ-R90/R91 (first small, compact factor clamshell recorder)

Aiwa Am-F75/F80 (backlit LCD on main unit)

Sharp MDMT831

Sony MZ-R900 (introduced MDLP)

Sharp MT77/877

Sony MZ-N1 (introduced NetMD)

Sharp MD-DR7

Sony MZ-NH1 (introduced H-MD)

Players

Sony MZ-E75 (twin jacks)

Sony MZ-E900 (first MDLP player)

Most of Sharp’s offerings

Sony SJ-MJ88 (collapsible clamshell)

Sony MZ-E10 (smallest, lightest ever player)

Sony MZ-EH1 (first Hi-MD player)

Hi Rob,

Sony SJ-MJ88? It's Panasonic!

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