Sony MZ-N505 Review

Overall Rating

great audio quality
great battery life
small size

too many limitations imposed by proprietary format
slow transfer speeds

I love sony products, i really do. I've been tempted into buying this Sony MZN505 recording device, but, now i'm afraid that i'll have to return it. My main gripe about the minidisc is the format it uses the ATRAC3 format, is a proprietary format....sure it's small, sounds great but still there is a brighter future for hard drive style devices since they can record on higher bit rates and also permanent storage is becoming larger than we've ever imagined and even cheaper... i'm sure that once apple's ipod goes down in price, has a longer battery life and includes more recording options (line in, optical, etc.) it will make the minidisc virtually obsolete...also apple has a better idea of protecting copyrights... rather than make the user *that's you and I* frusterated over flawed software that will only let you copy your own legitamate CD's to minidisc 3 times...it doesn't even MATTER since unless you retain your playlist in the software there is no way to check it out back to your computer.... the idea of the music drive for sony's "sonicstage" software is flawed because it ends up denying you rights to your own recordings, this is extremely frusterating because you then have to play your recording through the optical line out, and record this through your line in on your soundcard...doing this in real time is a pain, as well this takes a LOT of time. I think if anything, users have less respect for copyrights when they can't even use the software in the fashion intended. I refuse to pay $220 CDN for a device that will only allow me to record copies of cd's that i already own. oh and did i mention that it is slow? apple's firewire is superior to the USB format, even it's later format USB 2.0.... the bottom line is... anyone with sense will wait a year for the ipod to dominate the competition by that time there will probably be (80, 100GB harddrives which means over 8,000 songs), extend the battery life most likely to 30 hours by the end of 2004, and do away with proprietary formats and companies like sony that don't understand how to make a product that is accessible. There is a reason that this didn't fly in the early 90's.. it was too expensive... and there is a reason it doesn't fly now... it's just not the most advanced item anymore..

Members' Comments onmute509's Review

• jazzbass on 12th Jun 2006

  M.D CAN BE GREAT BUT I HOPE SOMEONE FROM SONY READS THIS PAGE, I HAVE ALWAYS IN THE PAST, BROUGHT SONY PRODUCTS WITHOUT ANY SECOND THOUGHTS BUT THEN THE 520 RECORDER AND THE TOTALLY USELESS SOFTWARE HAS LOST A LIFE LONG CUSTOMER. I WOULD EVEN TRADE IT BACK FOR I SIMPLE MACHINE MR SONY. THIS ONE HAS LOST ME IT IS 100 PERCENT THE MOST AWKWARD THING TO USE EVEN SIMPLE PLAYING DISKS IS A TASK WHY?