UPS came by today and dropped off a brand spanking new in box Sony MZ-R50 that I won off Ebay. This was my first contact with this now legendary recorder, and man it is not hard at all to see why it's been such a rave. I knew that if I wanted one of these that I had better act, and boy am I glad I did.
This thing is built SO much better than just about any MD recorder or player that came out after it. The first sign of this is its weight without the rechargeable battery inserted. It is heavy...it weighs as much as some of the older discmans that were built out of all metal. Just about all current day MD players and recorders feel as if they could be blown off a desk if the rechargeable battery weren't inserted to put some weight in it. The tray, when ejecting open, comes up smoothly and without any springy loose sounds that you hear in today's recorders and players. IIRC the R50 utilizes titanium for the tray construction...don't know if stuff after the R50 bothered to use that.
Anyways I haven't listened to it yet and I suspect its sound quality will be so-so compared to what we have by now, but I'm quite the happy owner now of this old piece of technological marvel.
In it goes with my collection of other recorders and players with outstanding features or build construction.
If anybody's thinking of getting one of these old dinosaurs, I can highly recommend you do so. It's definitely the highest quality MD recorder Sony has ever built.
This thing is built SO much better than just about any MD recorder or player that came out after it. The first sign of this is its weight without the rechargeable battery inserted. It is heavy...it weighs as much as some of the older discmans that were built out of all metal. Just about all current day MD players and recorders feel as if they could be blown off a desk if the rechargeable battery weren't inserted to put some weight in it. The tray, when ejecting open, comes up smoothly and without any springy loose sounds that you hear in today's recorders and players. IIRC the R50 utilizes titanium for the tray construction...don't know if stuff after the R50 bothered to use that.
Anyways I haven't listened to it yet and I suspect its sound quality will be so-so compared to what we have by now, but I'm quite the happy owner now of this old piece of technological marvel.
If anybody's thinking of getting one of these old dinosaurs, I can highly recommend you do so. It's definitely the highest quality MD recorder Sony has ever built.