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Sony MZ-N1 Blue Net MiniDisc Walkman Portable Audio
The Sony MZ-N1 is a top of the range Net MD Walkman with full magnesium body. Sony's MiniDisc format became a portable digital music standard before the age of MP3s. Sadly, though, MiniDisc lost its flavour as MP3 players became ubiquitous. Sony aims to fan the flame up once more with their Net MD line, MiniDisc players that can also connect to your PC to transfer downloaded music. Despite some minor drawbacks, this pricey but versatile digital music player is generally impressive. Firstly, you can use the optical connection cable to transfer songs directly from your stereo (CD player, DVD player, Xbox, etc) to the Net MD. Like traditional MDs, the transfer takes place in real time, so a three-minute song takes three minutes to move. With Sony's OpenMG software, you can also move songs from your PC to the MD. But your music files must be converted to the OpenMG standard before being moved over, which slows down the transfer rate. Music moves at the rate of about a minute per three-minute song (although songs transferred more quickly subsequent to the conversion process being completed). Ironically, Sony's Net MD Simple Burner, which allows you to transfer songs directly from CDs in your PC's CD-ROM drive to the MD, proved more efficient. It takes only 10 minutes to move an entire 45-minute album to the MD. Unfortunately, you can officially only move tracks from MD to the PC that made the reverse trip: you can't load up the MD with songs from a CD in your stereo and then transfer them to your PC. We say "officially" because there's a workaround: connect the MD's headphone output to your soundcard's input and then catch the music with a software mixer. Users with an advanced audio setup such as Creative Labs Extigy can easily handle the process. Transfer caveats aside, the Net MD is a well-designed digital music player with excellent sound output. Its mid-cord remote control, complete with back-lit LCD display, clips onto your shirt and puts tools for manipulating the sound menus close at hand. And the inexpensive MD format means that you can load up lots of your favourite albums (at the highest compression level of LP4, an MD disc can hold almost 300 minutes of music). In addition to the rechargeable battery, you can connect a single AA battery to the Net MD to increase your play time to up to 110 hours. It's not an inexpensive player, but its increased versatility, expansive removable media and long battery life make it worth the extra dough. The MZ-N1 is supplied with a battery charging stand, Open MG Jukebox software, USB cable, optical cable, Fontopia headphones, rechargeable battery, dry battery case, AC adaptor and carrying case (belt-clip type). --J Curtis
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