Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony MZR90 Minidisc Recorder

I am electrical dumb. And being only 16, when reading the instruction booklet to my MZ-R90, the booklet seems very vague. I'd like to know everything my MiniDisc can do. Maybe it says it in the book. But I'd like a step-by-step learners guide on not only what it can do, but a simple how-to do it guide. This Recorder is pretty neat for what it is. But even my brother, who is semi-electronic smart, hates the instruction booklet because it is confusing. I'm sure I would like the product more if I knew how to use it and what to do. I guess its just the new technology changes. I wonder how the normal owner of one of these things found out how to use it and what to use it with and for.

I ordered the MZR70 first and wasn't too impressed with it. The remote was pretty aweful and it felt a little breakable. The R90 I got instead has a much nicer feel to it. The remote is about 20x better than the R70 remote, and the body of the recorder seems much sturdier. It's like the difference between a $40 cd player and a $100 one.
Given the small price diffence, I'm glad I went for the higher model.

Let me start off by saying that I love this thing. It's by far the coolest new toy i've purchased.

I got it at some going out of business sale in the city. I bought a nice microphone from Sony to go along with it. My primary goal was to record all my language classes while overseas and then post them on my web site.

Anyways, the sound quality is great, and i'm definitely sold, but here are the two major drawbacks for me:

1) No digital offload of recordings to your computer. (I'm a web developer)

2) They have this stupid "End Search" button. It works like this. If you want to record anything... first you hit the "End Search" button, then you hit the "Record" button. If you don't hit the end search button first, it will erase all the rest of your recordings after the track number that you hit record in front of. I lost lots of great recordings in Thailand before i finally learned about this user interface failure. They should have just labeled it "prepare for recording" in stead of "End Search". Better yet, they should have just eliminated it and included the functionality in the record button.

That being said, I'm thinking about selling my my current one in favor of one of their new ones that is more expensive but promises to overcome the above two drawbacks.

Living over here in asia I get access to all the new gadgets by japanese companies. I actually have this model. Mine is silver though. I guess blue is a world model.

There are some pains you must go through with this piece of equipment.

1st of all you cant change the bass level through the remote. This is the worst feature. Very inconvenient

Second sony still didn't get rid of the End search button. You might just erase your album by mistake.

Third the playing time isn't that great. 8 Hrs of so. Unless you have 2 or more batteries get's pretty irritating.

Actually the most important thing to know is that this model has been replaced. The current flagship sony is the r-900 which allows MDLP recording/playback allowing max 320 minutes of recording on 1 disc. This is worthless but the 160 minute option is very useful.

I recommend getting a MD audio system and a dedicated player. Not a recorder/player. I personally use a E-900 which supports MDLP playback and 20 hours of playback on 1 charge. Smallest, lightest in the world right now. Once you go to a dedicated MD player there is no turning back. MD recorders have just too many drawbacks.

Having a lot of experince with minidisc players, i can easily say that the MZR90 is a great buy. It's practically skip free under all conditions including running. Its recording and titling capabilities are easy and compact. The option for two colors always allows for slight creativity. The remote has display/and playmode features so u never have to be bother to even take the remote out of your pocket. The headphones are foldable for compact storage, or you can use your old ones and plug them right into the remote. If you have a few extra dollars and a need for an MD Player I would get the MZR90.