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The Last MZ - MZ-NF520D Vs. MZ-R500

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walkdude

Which Is Better?  

  1. 1. Which MDP is better?

    • MZ-R500
      0
    • MZ-NF520D
      0
    • Get Both.
      1


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:new_russian: Hey everybody, My name is Fender, I come from Canada and am into A/V, Computer and Lighting equipment. I usually buy sony equipment because it lasts a long time. I recently stumbled on the minidisc format whilst searching through old audio equipment classifieds.

I did some research and found that they sound better than MP3's, I tend to like MP3's, but most people never go above 128kbps so the music is eternally cursed with the "jingles". I like CD's, but find its hard to carry an entire CD player and 20+ CD's in one pocket. Half the size and recording on-the-fly... Its like I went to heaven.

So I Found 2 Players for a reasonable price and that come with a few MD's...

First:

MZ-NF520D with remote/tuner.

MZ-NF520D

Comes with a few PreRecorded Country MD's (my mom might like them). $60 O.B.O

Second:

MZ-R500 with headphones and USB cable

MZ-R500

It is used and has minor scratches, and colour wear on the edges, but works perfectly, It comes with 7 MD-RWs. $50

I could buy both, but would like to know which is better...

A few things:

I like listening to the radio, and recording songs I like when possible.

I like carrying alot of discs with me at one time just in case.

I dislike country but my mom likes :)

I looked at the manuals of both...

The MZ-NF520D lacks inputs for recording.

The MZ-R500 lacks a radio, but can record from input.

- WalkDude

Edited by WalkDude
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Welcome to the forums!

You've about summed up most of the major differences:

The MZ-NF520D lacks inputs for recording.

The MZ-R500 lacks a radio, but can record from input.

To add to the differences:

MZ-NF520D is a NetMD, which can be used to transfer music from your PC>MD faster than recording in realtime.

MZ-R500 does not have this feature, but as you stated has a line input. This model does not have Mic input, so line-in will be the only way to record.

Unfortunately even units that come bundled with the AM/FM tuner remotes cannot record from it... Silly design IMO, but thats the way they all are... only built for listening to the radio. You're only option for recording radio would be line in.

---

All in all I guess it depends on what you plan to use the unit for. There have been quite a few enhancements of the MiniDisc technology since these units with the introduction of Hi-MD, which is what I would suggest looking into.. for various reasons. Hi-MD FAQ: http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html

While I have nothing against these older units (I have plenty of older units myself), the fact is that they do in fact start to break down over time. The biggest problem that starts to affect nearly every unit is deterioration of the ribbon cable that connects the record/overwrite head. Once this begins to happen, units will start randomly corrupting/erasing discs, quite a headache. So be cautious when purchasing older used MD recorders.

Back to Hi-MD... Aside from better sound quality using Atrac3+ (not to mention the ability to record in uncompressed PCM), and the ability to upload your recordings, you can also use Hi-MD recorders as external USB drives on PC & Mac computers. Also, there is Hi-MD media which comes as 1GB discs (holds much more than the legacy discs). Have a look around the forums as well as the main site ( http://www.minidisc.org ) and see what you can find about Hi-MD versus Legacy MD.

If you have any questions, we're here to help!

Edited by raintheory
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Welcome to the forums!

You've about summed up most of the major differences:

To add to the differences:

MZ-NF520D is a NetMD, which can be used to transfer music from your PC>MD faster than recording in realtime.

MZ-R500 does not have this feature, but as you stated has a line input. This model does not have Mic input, so line-in will be the only way to record.

Unfortunately even units that come bundled with the AM/FM tuner remotes cannot record from it... Silly design IMO, but thats the way they all are... only built for listening to the radio. You're only option for recording radio would be line in.

---

All in all I guess it depends on what you plan to use the unit for. There have been quite a few enhancements of the MiniDisc technology since these units with the introduction of Hi-MD, which is what I would suggest looking into.. for various reasons. Hi-MD FAQ: http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html

While I have nothing against these older units (I have plenty of older units myself), the fact is that they do in fact start to break down over time. The biggest problem that starts to affect nearly every unit is deterioration of the ribbon cable that connects the record/overwrite head. Once this begins to happen, units will start randomly corrupting/erasing discs, quite a headache. So be cautious when purchasing older used MD recorders.

Back to Hi-MD... Aside from better sound quality using Atrac3+ (not to mention the ability to record in uncompressed PCM), and the ability to upload your recordings, you can also use Hi-MD recorders as external USB drives on PC & Mac computers. Also, there is Hi-MD media which comes as 1GB discs (holds much more than the legacy discs). Have a look around the forums as well as the main site ( http://www.minidisc.org ) and see what you can find about Hi-MD versus Legacy MD.

If you have any questions, we're here to help!

Comes with a USB chord (sic) to connect to a computer.

Selling cause I got a newer mp3 player.

hmm... it comes with the DPC USB to digital optical PC linkup kit, which means that there is 3 options to record, line, optical and optical-usb...

dpcsml.gif

So it would still work with Sonicstage, just in a different way.

Edited by WalkDude
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hmm... it comes with the DPC USB to digital optical PC linkup kit, which means that there is 3 options to record, line, optical and optical-usb...

dpcsml.gif

So it would still work with Sonicstage, just in a different way.

Nope, the PC link is just an outboard sound card for your PC to interface to the R500's optical input. It is still real time recording.

EDIT* Let me rephrase that. It will work with SS in the sense that you will just play your music and record real time on the R500.

Edited by KrazyIvan
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Buy them Both Send me the Country MD's

If you want recording on the Fly you will need one with Mic Input ( which is a Stereo Mic in , that will accomodate an Audio Technica AT822 very nicely ) Alot of folks on the board here have benn using MD since the beginning , and the MP3 debate is fun to watch , But MD Most definately sounds better .

You can find probably a much nicer MD for not much diference in the money , but the other two would just be nice to have around ( This is the fair warning , You WILL end up collecting a few once you start ) So get a better unit for your needs from the beginning and you will be happy .

Browse the Equipment browser below And learn the differences between the recorders and players , there are MANY models out there used , and not all MD's are equal.

http://minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

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Buy them Both Send me the Country MD's

If you want recording on the Fly you will need one with Mic Input ( which is a Stereo Mic in , that will accomodate an Audio Technica AT822 very nicely ) Alot of folks on the board here have benn using MD since the beginning , and the MP3 debate is fun to watch , But MD Most definately sounds better .

You can find probably a much nicer MD for not much diference in the money , but the other two would just be nice to have around ( This is the fair warning , You WILL end up collecting a few once you start ) So get a better unit for your needs from the beginning and you will be happy .

Browse the Equipment browser below And learn the differences between the recorders and players , there are MANY models out there used , and not all MD's are equal.

http://minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

I also agree MD sounds better.

I think both would be a good investment as I listen to the radio and usually use USB as a connector and tend to use Disc's for both music or data, like a regular CD.

Also, I like the fact that the MD-R500 can be hacked as I like tinkering with secret menus, and since its Realtime I can dump audio off of machines with RCA outputs (I do this with a Sony RK-G129 Y-Cable), which means I can record sounds off of Dance Dance Revolution, or use a patch cable to record another source such as my freinds iPod when I have no PC around.

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