Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony MZ-R37 Portable Minidisc Player/Recorder

I wasn't bowled over by MiniDiscs when they first appeared. I heard there were some audible artifacts of the compression technology which kept these pocket-sized marvels from being a true match for CDs. And the price of the MD machines was more than I wanted to spend. Just the other day, however, I managed to score a Sony MZ-R37 portable MD recorder at an online auction, and I'm here to say -- jump in, everybody, the format's fine! The truth is, I'm not about to replace my CDs or cassettes or equipment. But I'm a semipro drummer who wanted to get digital quality recordings of rehearsals and jam sessions in a pocket-sized unit. Well, all I can say is -- if there are any audible deficiencies of the MD format, I can't hear them, and as a musician, my ears are pretty good. Although I haven't made a live recording of my band yet, I have been making test recordings all weekend, dubbing CDs of demanding acoustic music like the David Ware Quartet. The MZ-R37 makes and plays back superb recordings that I cannot distinguish from the original CDs; this despite the fact that I'm not using the digital optical hookup available (cord provided). I hear no hiss, wow, or flutter, no glitches between selections, and all instruments are present and accounted for, and sound the way they should. There are no problems with the azimuth misalignments I constantly encountered with cassettes. Recordings of electronic music sound superb too; the Beatles' "Come Together" sounded awesome! I did discover two things I have to get used to with the MD format. The first is the necessity of using the "END SEARCH" button if you have been listening to a recording before you resume recording; otherwise, songs get split in half and weird sequencing events occur. The second is to remember not to push PAUSE before pushing STOP at the end of a recording; every time you push PAUSE on the MZ-R37, it adds a track number. I'm so used to doing that on a cassette deck so as not to introduce a glitch onto the tape between songs. I also discovered that you can make a better recording by overriding the automatic gain control and pumping up the volume, so the peaks hit the top element in the display. In terms of things I would change on this unit, I wish the buttons were a little bigger; my old fingers don't always have the easiest time zeroing in on the button required for a certain function! And I wish the MZ-R37 had a back-lit or electro-luminescent LCD panel you could see in low-light conditions. I predict I'll be pulling out my pocket flashlight on more than one occasion to check levels and disc run status! And some sort of carrying case would have been a more welcome inclusion with this package for me than the cheapo headphones or optical cable included. Live recordists will need a stereo microphone too, one that draws power from the mike input; for sound quality, compactness, and affordable price, it's hard to beat Sony's PC-62 or its successor, if there is one. And that pretty much sums up the Sony MZ-R37 MD Recorder itself too!

I bought the MZ-R37 early this summer. I got a refurbished model on Ebay for a resonsable price for recording concerts over the summer. This is a great model, durable and very shock resistant. I purchased a binaural microphone after I recorded a couple shows on a cheaper mono and man what a difference. One major tip if you are starting to record with the MZ-R37 - be sure to hold the record button in place and be sure recording has commenced, I missed some songs at gigs because the recorder didn't start. Better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, this is also great for recording MP3s off of your computer just get a connection line from your sound card to the line in and you are set. You can also transfer concert recordings or band demos onto you computer if you have a recordable sound card. Great investment. Forget about MP3 players, too expensive to add memory. Minidiscs are inexpensive and far more durable than CDs also, with identical sound quality. If you are a music fan I don't know how you could live without one.

The Sony Mz-R37 is easy to use and very portable. The buttons are easily accessible and the remotes editing functions make titling, deleting, moving tracks on the mini disc easy. The remote allows you to keep your mini disc in its case and still make use of track searching, stopping, and adjusting the volume. I do reccomend that you buy a cable with stereo mini jacks on both sides so you can record from devices that don't have the optical output. This will also allow you to record directly from a portable cd player. The player also includes recharble batteries that have good battery life and can be charged in the mini disc player usding the supplies power adaptor. I strongly recommend that you purchase this mini disc player from Amazon.com like I did. Amazon.com is $50 cheaper than Best Buy and even $100 cheaper than some other stores.

i don't know how i survived without this! i have had this unit for about six months now and have really appreciated having digital recording in such a small package. although i have made pleanty of mix discs with it, i bought it mainly for field recordings. it's super slim size (it's the slimmest, but not the smallest) and side facing display make it perfect for incognito recordings. i use a set of omnidirectional stero earbud mics and get no machine noise and with the auto level setting, hardly ever any signal overload. i thought that the remote would be dissappointing because it does not have a built-in display (like earlier sony models), but after you memorize the layout where you don't have to look at it, the lightweight "stick" is actually preferable. 2-position mega-bass feature kicks. only complaints: battery life could be better. it has a great "on board" recharge feature, but i found that after only a hanfull of recharges, the life was down to 50% of conventional batteries. you get about 6 hours of playback or about 2 hours of recording time on one charge. also, there is an annoying beep which accompanies any command - unlike most md players you can not turn this feature off. it is especially loud and annoying when you have it hooked up to your car stero. but don't plan on cranking this machine, because the volume only goes up to "30" (literally 30% of what you're used to on a regular walkman), which is not loud enough for me- especially with decent headphones.

I was torn between purchasing either a CD-RW drive for my computer, a stand alone CD-RW audio component, or a MD recorder. I took a chance and spent the money on the Sony MD Recorder, and I have been basking in the glory of this tiny digital device. The MZ-R37 is a little bigger than an audio cassette case, and is completely versatile.

--Why I chose it over another type of audio recording device-- The MD is completely re-recordable. If I don't like something, I can erase it. I can create track divisions to longer songs or dialogues so that I can scan through a disc quickly. I can title songs and discs, I can erase parts of songs if I would like to, and I don't have to carry around a bulky piece of equipment. This unit is the size of a walkman, but you can record and play from it, hook the output to your stereo system and play what you have recorded over your speakers.

You can record from any audio source. --The unit comes with a mini plug (headphone jack size) to digital connecting cable. Most new CD players have a digital output. However, you will probably need to go to a Radio Shack and buy a mini to RCA (aka phono jack) cable (it costs about 3 dollars) so that you can record from most home stereo components (cd players, turntables, tape decks...). I have been making wonderful sounding recordings from every audio source I can (from my CD player using both the digital and analog connectors, tape deck, turntable, the sound out port on my computer, and a mic).

The quality is fantastic. I can not notice any audible differences between CDs and MDs. ALSO...if you are making live recordings of music or interviews, you can use a cheap omnidirectional mic that comes with most computers to make incredible sounding monoaural live recordings that are supreme to any cassette live recording.

The price of MDs are inexpensive. Amazon has a 20 pack of blank MDs for 30 dollars, and that's pretty cheap, about the price of a blank CD (recordable only once). I am using my MD recorder to transfer records and tapes onto MDs for college. Its wonderful because I know that the quality won't deteriorate (as in a cassette tape with heavy usage), and I get the benefits of tracks and titles. The current price of this unit is 200 dollars and that is a fantastic price for an amazing piece of equipment (it retails for up to 100 dollars more...).