Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony MZ-S1 S2 Sports Net MD MiniDisc Player

i got this mz-s1 3 weeks ago ive beenrunning it night and day i have a30 day warranty with circuit city. i cant get it to malfuncing its build like a tank iam very happy with it.the battery last me6 days i love this thing.hugh mcdonald chiefland fla

There's only one feature that needs to be discussed here, which is the lack of either an arm band or belt clip. How does one design a "sport" model of minidisc player, then demand that you hold it while using it? The ruggedness and durability of the player are fine and dandy, but if you're looking for something that you don't have to hold in your hand the entire time, then you'll have to look elsewhere. I find the hand strap completely useless! Who would actually let the player dangle from the strap and attempt anything close to a sport? Personally, I find it a huge annoyance while running, and an impossibility while working out, to have something in my hand the entire time. Note to Sony: you should have included the arm band! It would have meant the difference between having something durable, practical, and functional instead of nice to look at, but annoying because of its lack of usability. In the end, the product is only as good as the usage you're able to get from it in the capacity that you plan on using it. If I were on a firing range, then I might be impressed at the apparent bulletproofness of the player in case someone decided to shoot it, however, I'd have a hard time shooting accurately because I'd only have one hand to do so with! In the sport context, this player simply does not work well for me. Maybe it will for you.

and you'll still probably miss it. If your computer's OS is an upgrade from the 'factory installed' OS (i.e. from Win 98 to ME), the enclosed software will not run on your computer. It states it in nice big letters within the installation booklet, but not on the packaging. If you mosey on over to Sony's web site to try and find a patch to correct this problem, you're out of luck as their web site is about as illuminating as the vague information located on the product packaging. I was so so looking forward to running with this player, instead back to the store it goes to be replaced by something hopefully better designed.

I love it and it's desaign. I cannot place a estimate unification of it impossible undiluitea uses.

Mini Discs are not the best choice when it comes to portable music players. They are actually the worst. They look nice and designy though, but that's it!
I used to buy Minidiscs and I have a minidisc (model Sony MZ-N1 Net MD player/recorder) and I thought it was the best thing,...But I changed my mind after I got a compact CD player that also reads MP3's. When I got to use my CD/MP3 player it was so much faster, more convenient with a great CD quality sound, that I never looked back to my Minidisc ever again. That Minidisc is collecting dust somewhere!

Here are some reasons why Minidisc players are bad compared to CD/Mp3 players:

1. Mini Disc is too slow in recording and transferring your songs. CD/MP3's are faster, you just burn one CD at a fast rate on your PC and you are on your way. Put tons of MP3 songs on that one CD and you are done. Calculated, transferring your songs and MP3's to a CD is 15 to 20 times faster than the Minidisc! Or should I say the Minidisc is just 20 times slower! And keep in mind that my Minidisc is a top of the line model, imagine the lower Minidisc models, how slow those go compared to the average CD/Mp3 players. Simply put Minidisc is a waste of your time.

2. On a Minidisc you can only put 74 minutes worth of music. If you want more you can double or triple the Minidisc capacity and have 5 hours of music on it at the maximum, that's it, you get no more. In order to do that you have to record all your tracks on LP mode (long play) and with my so called top of the line Minidisc I had the option of LP-4 as well, but then in any of the LP modes the music quality lowers dramatically! The sound on the Minidisc is completely tarnished to a low quality pulp! So stay away from any LP mode in order to record more songs on your Minidisc!!!! You record more songs but you loose all the quality. If you want to have decent sound quality stick to the normal SP mode (standard play) and with that you can never record more than 74minutes of music on your Minidisc, that's IT!That is the maximum you get out of the Minidisc. But with a CD/MP3 player you have 1 single CD where you can have up to 11 hours of music on it! You read this right 11 hours, with a crisp CD quality. So, the Minidisc with its 74 minutes capacity on each disc is just too limited next to the CD/MP3 player that can handle 11 HOURS of music!

3. If you need more songs to carry around with your Minidisc, you have to have at least 10 Minidisc cartridges, just in order to equal the same amount of songs on a full CD with MP3's! Imagine the amount of songs and the variety of selection that I have with my CD/MP3 player with carrying only 1 single CD with me. If I wanted to do that with the Minidisc, I would need to record 10 Minidisc cartridges and carry all the 10 minidiscs with me all the time. Exchanging the discs every time you want to hear something new, and putting all those Minidiscs in your pocket,...It's just too much hassle. With the CD/MP3 I have all of that recorded on 1 CD, worth of 11 hours of music! With great CD quality.

4. Just imagine the cost of buying all those blank Minidisc cartridges, compared to the 1 blank CD! Plus keep in mind that one blank Minidisc would cost you 6 to 8 times more than a blank CD. Just do the math on the 10 Minidiscs that you need to equal the same amount of music that goes on just 1 CD for the CD/MP3 player. Do the math on that! Minidiscs are just too expensive.

At the end go with a CD/MP3 player, they also read CD-recordables as well as CD-Rewritables. They are fantastic! Even their average models out do my top of the line Minidisc. I have them both and I went with the CD/MP3. I regret for buying the Minidisc and paying $[amount] for it!
I wish I had discovered the CD/MP3 sooner, because not that it gave me better quality, is faster and saved my time and that it is more convenient, but it costs a lot less money. Just go and compare them here at Amazon or any retailer.
There would be only one reason for buying a Minidisc though, if you just don't know any better. Or you just like to throw away money and your time. Or maybe you just like to carry around all those tiny Minidisc cartridges with you! Other than that Minidisc is just a waste of machinery to me, I can't say how much I regret for buying Minidiscs all these years and coughing up all that money for it. As a consumer I hope others won't make the same mistake, go with a compact CD/MP3 player. I know I did, eventually.