Quote:
Originally posted by Trawlerman
I've recently been contemplating getting a Net MD, probably an MZN707. However, due to general concensus of opinion that:
1. Sony are cutting the headphone outputs in favour of ever longer playback times.
2. The fact that the Open MG software is inherently crippled.
3. The data transfer is only one way.
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hey mick, don't let these reasons stop you from getting an N707. NetMD units are great portables. i have an N505 an i love it.
1. for the recent generation of Sony MD units (n505, N707, N1), they have really good headphone output. in fact, my N505's output is even louder than my previous generation top of the line MD unit MZ-R900. my MZ-N505 can easily drive my full size Sony MDR-7506 headphones and my Grado Sr60's.
2. yes, OpenMG is a very resticting program. but for the most part, it works. so far, all of my mp3's has been easily importable to OpenMG, and transfer to MD is reasonably fast. however, i never touch OpenMG, i use the included Simple Burner program to directly dub CD's to MD's. again, transfer is reasonably fast (15 minutes for a full CD album), and unlike OpenMG, tracks recorded from Simple Burner can be easily editable, moved, and erased on the unit itself. and recording from original CDs yields much better sound quality than the already compressed mp3 files. if you must record from mp3's, there is a loophole you can use from using Nero Burning ROM to record mp3 files to MD using Simple Burner.
3. yes, transfer is only one way. this is the most heard complaint. but MDs are not data storage media like SD or Smartmedia cards. its an audio media. besides, if you're recording to MD, you prolly have the main source to begin with, either it be an mp3 file or one of your CDs.
last but not least, MDs sound great! even tracks recorded with LP2. i'd say LP2 tracks sound just as good, if not better, than mp3's encoded at 192 kb/s. and tracks recorded to SP (which has to be in real time unfortunately), are virtually indistinguishable from the CD itself. besides, they're smaller than an iPod, and just as small as some flash mp3 players.
sorry about the long post, cheers!