Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony MZ-R700 Silver Recordable Mini-Disc Walkman

This is my first minidisc, and I'm not disappointed. The actual minidisc has many features that you would expect and others you do not. There are four recording modes, as well as 2 long-play modes, which means that you can record up to four CDs on one minidisc without too much loss of quality. The playback is very crisp, even with the supplied earphones. The stick remote is extremely handy with its clip-on nature, so you can clip it onto your collar or jacket and have easy access to songs, as well as powerful editing facilities suck as renaming and editing tracks. Editing is very powerful, with the ability to move songs, erase a disc in a few seconds and name the disc and songs on it very quickly. The rechargeable battery lasts a good deal longer than normal batteries, so you do not always have to swap batteries. The player itself is very sturdy and resilient to all of my brutality upon it.
One of the only downsides is that your hi-fi system has to be pretty new to start recording straight away without buying more leads, as an optical jack (that is supplied) is required to fit into the stereo, and older systems (2 years old +) will not have such a socket, but the manual tells you what leads you need if you want to record tapes or don't have an optical output. But there are many more features that I have not discussed here, but I found this to be a very good player and if you're new to the world of minidisc and you have the money, this is a very good buy, with clear and easy instructions throughout and an easy interface- I recorded my first disc as soon as the rechargeable battery charged up after I bought it.

My son bought one of these minidisc player/recorders last year and I was impressed from the word go. When I discovered that Amazon was selling a vastly superior (sorry Gary) machine for much less money, how could I not buy it?
To say it is incredible is a gross understatement as I knocks most of the competition into a cocked hat. I have been thinking about buying one of these little beauties for some time, but I never realised just what they can do. This particular model is as good as it gets, and more so. I will be using it to record natural sounds (birdsong, waves, leaves rustling in trees, etc) as well as using it for pure entertainment.
Minidisc is superb and this Sony is the tops. I'll guarantee that if you buy it, you won't be disappointed...

I have the the MZ-R700PC (exactly the same but bundled with a PC link kit for downloading MP3s). This is a good piece of kit. Only mild criticism is that if, like me, you intend to use it for jogging, it isn't really skip proof - I have yet to have an uninterupted 3 mile jog - though when it does skip it is the exception rather than the rule. Sound quality great - no real audible degradation in the LP2 mode, so you can double the number of tracks and get a couple of hours worth on a single MD. The only other minor quible is that the stick controller looks a bit cheap and plasticy for a nice bit of kit like this - mind you this is irrelvant for me as I've bought differnt headphones anyway, and never really use the remote.

Firstly I have only had my R700 for a few weeks now and already I have managed to find out how to edit tracks and combine/name tracks easily. You can delete portions of tracks and do these functions with this player. It has ALL these functions included. And it is also very easy to do. I use it mostly with a line cable (not supplied but easily available) to record my mix's and other mp3 files from my computer with no noticeable loss of sound quality compared to the digital cable which is supplied (Only some soundcards have the digital socket). The only problem I find is it doesn't always insert the track marks when recording so music is recorded with many songs combined but it is very simple to insert track marks and separate the music. This doesn't happen while recording CD's.
Overall I love this product and would advise anybody who is buying their first MD to get this one. It's Great!

I bought this fairly recently and was distraught to discover that Amazon were selling it for.. less. The sound quality is very good, though you need to listen to it loudly to make the most of it as the mechanical machine operation is fairly noisy. I have found the anti-shock to work fine, I can go pretty much anywhere without it skipping. It was annoying that it didn't come with a line cable because like many people I have an older hi-fi which doesn't have a digital socket. The cable was fairly easy to find (try your nearest electronics store) and costs between £5 and £10. I also bought a second hand remote control unit with a backlit display as I found the original to be tacky and not at all useful in the dark (the main unit is not backlit either). Battery life is good with any kind of battery, but for best results use the suplied Sony battery or normal alkaline ones. It is not the slimmest of minidiscs as it bulges out at the back where the battery goes. Overall though it is easy to use and edit tracks but it does (especially from copied CD's) tend to put in loads of unnecessary track marks in the wrongs places (i.e. 1/2 way through a song). Despite a few minor niggles I would still recommend this minidisc recorder to anybody who wants a leading brand bit of kit (good build quality) at a low price.