Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony MZ-N1 Silver Net MiniDisc Walkman with 5 Free Blank MiniDiscs

I was thinking about buying an i-Pod until I saw this. Less than 100 grams, PC-compatible and made by Sony - who for my money make the best personal audio stuff around.

I too bought the blue version (everything seems to be silver these days and the deep blue's really nice).

I've set about ripping my CDs to my hard drive. Unlike some reviews I've seen I didn't have any problems installing or using the software with my Win 2000 PC and ADSL line, although it does tend to make my computer a little slow.

I tend to use the LP2 recording setting, which lets you fit two albums on one MD. It takes about 5-10 minutes to write to the MD, and frankly you can't tell the difference between that and normal recording or a CD. The LP4 level compression is a little less high-quality, but the only situation I can think of where it would be important to have 5 hours of music on one disc is if you're on a long plane or train journey - in which case there'd be so much background noise you wouldn't be able to tell the difference in any case.

Battery life is good - and the dry battery case, although it doesn't do anything for the unit's looks, means you can easily extend it (on your long train or plane journey for example).

My only gripe with the unit is the control button, which looks a little tacky and flimsy (although in fact is isn't) and is quite fiddly - I often think I'm pressing play and am in fact skipping tracks. But if you use the remote control this of course isn't a problem.

All in all, top notch - and less bulky and heavy than the i-Pod. Better looking, too!

First of all, the MZ-N1 is a fantastic piece of kit. It is incredibly small and stylish while the magnesiun casing makes the recorder very strong. The sound quality is excellent, while obviously the quality of sound is fractionally decreased in LP2 and LP4 modes, the difference is so fractional it is barely worth mentioning. Being able to fit up to 320 minutes of music is a great advantage. Another feature of the MZ-N1 is the fantastic battery life. The quoted 110 hours envolves screwing a rather ugly looking battery pack containing one AA batery but even without the pack one and a half days of continuous listening from the supplied rechargeable battery will satisfy most long journeys.

Next, the NET MD part. Many current reviews on the MZ-N1 have criticised the way in which music is transferred from a computer to the minidisk, saying that the software is terrible. I found all these complaints to be rubbish. I found the software to be very easy to use, (Apart from a midly confusing installation,) It is easy to import music already on your hard drive into the OpenMG Jukebox software from which it can be effortlessly transferred to the MZ-N1. A lot of complaints have also been made about the copyright protection software, however, unless (and I can't think of any reason why somebody would want to,) you need more than three copies of a song on seperate minidisks simultaineously the copy protection is not even going to be noticed by the normal user.

Overall, if you want a top class minidisk recorder that also has the benefit of being capable of linking up to a computer by its USB cradle so downloaded music can be recorded to minidisk, this is definately the system to purchase.

I pondered long and hard over MP3 or MD, and then whether to get the Sony mz-n707 or the mz-n1. Finally, after much research and going to the shops to handle both units, I decided to go for the mz-n1. I have to say, it was the right choice and I have not been able to fault it yet. Ten out of ten. A beautiful piece of hardware that does everything I need. The only reason I would want to replace it is if it falls apart from prolonged use. Which hopefully should be after a long time, given that the 100% magnesium body feels very rugged. Highly recommended. Looks great in blue too. (It's a rich, dark blue)

I spent many months trying to decide how much longer I could wait for a really decent and sensibly priced MP3 player to hit the market. I had my heart set on the Sony NW-11 MP3 player, but with only 128Mbs of memory, it just wasn't enough. At first I didn't even consider a Mini Disk player for the simple reason that I wanted a portable player without any internal 'moving parts'. Truthfully, I only bought the Sony MZ-N1 Mini Disk player because I was desperate to have something - anything! to play my music on.

Two months down the line, and I can honestly say that I am glad I chose this Mini Disk player over any other Mini Disk or MP3 player that was on the market! The Mini Disk medium is fantastic and you will not find any other medium that is more versatile and cost efficient. Mini Disks are so cheap to buy, which means you can carry stacks of them with you on the road and swap them around as you please - I could never have been able to afford to do this with an MP3 player.

The MZ-N1 lets you copy Mini Disks from your PC in 4 different quality modes - ranging from standard CD quality, allowing 80 minutes of music onto a disk, to LP4 mode, with allows around 320 minutes of music onto a disk! Even on LP4 mode there is very little compromise on the sound quality. The capacity of these little disks really is awesome!

Sony's eye for durability on this particular model is evident all over and I still can not believe that this unit can stay powered up for well over 100 hours of continuous playback!!! (That's about 40 hours with Sony's rechargeable internal battery and another 60 hours with the external power pack, which uses a standard sized AA battery! - that's really extraordinary if you ask me!) It's a shame that Sony didn't think to include the wizardry that stops you from over charging the unit and tell you the charging status of the battery.

The player really doesn't weigh enough to go into weights. The body design is hardly attractive with its square design and the button on the front of the player, which can be pushed in all directions, is ugly and awkward to use. However, thanks to the neat remote control attached to the headphones, you are able to ignore the button on the player itself. The remote control is really well designed - although, sometimes I wish that there was a 'twisty button' on either end of the stick - one for controlling the volume and the other for skipping tracks. As it is, there is only one single 'twisty button' that you pull outwards to adjust the volume and push back to skip tracks. If you are trying to use the remote through your jacket (as I do when its raining) it is hard to tell whether or not the 'twisty button' is pushed in or pulled out and you end up skipping your favourite track instead of turning the volume up. The illumination of the remote control in the dark is really something! - it could perhaps also be used as a flashlight!

I have never once had music skip while playing in the MZ-N1, and I do often run with it. Overall, the build quality is superb and everything that you would expect from Sony. Unfortunately, the unit has been dropped a number of times from height onto hard surfaces - but on each instance, I have simply plugged the headphones back in and found that the unit has already started to play the song from where it left off before it dropped! - that says it all really about the great build quality of the MZ-N1. The reason the player has been dropping is due to the useless carry pouch that you get with it. Don't use it! Go to Argos and buy a proper Mini Disk carry bag by CASE LOGIC which will actually go through your belt - unlike the worthless one supplied which will not stay clipped onto anything. Given the value of the unit, I would have expected something much better to have been supplied. The headphones are far from comfortable. I have never understood the idea behind making one length of cable longer just so that you can put it around the back of your neck? - all this does is cause the shorter side to dance around and frequently fall out of my ear.

Its worth noting that you can attach an external microphone to the unit and record anything you want! And furthermore, the MZ-N1 is even smart enough to automatically adjust all the recording balances for you depending upon the source so you always get the optimum sound quality! I have also used the unit to record audio from a variety of other sources, such as a video source through my hi fi or television. Basically, it'll plug into and record from almost any other device and does so with really impressive results! Be warned! I wrongly assumed that if you can drag and drop files from your PC onto Mini Disk then you should be able to drag and drop any tracks that you have recorded from external sources directly onto your PC from Mini Disk - but no - unless it is an audio track that originated from you PC, you need to play the audio on your Mini Disk back through your soundcard and manually record it using other software. I guess this is just another flaw of the Open MG software.

Every bad thing that anybody has ever told you about the Open MG software is true. When its good, it fine - but I learned straight away that you can not depend upon it to copy music from your PC onto Mini Disk. It frequently displays a cocktail of unknown errors - to the point that made me pick up the phone and call Sony for help. They didn't know off-hand what the problem was and would have to get a technician to call me back. No one ever did call me back. Open MG is out to make your life hell! All Open MG will do is ensure that you make no more than 3 illegal copies of any one audio file from your PC onto Mini Disk. The process means additional files being made on your PC - thus slowly munching away at any free hard drive space. I appreciate that the problem of audio piracy needs to be tackled, but surely there are friendlier and less messy ways of doing it than the Open MG way? This software really, really does spoil the package.

I cant understand why Mini Disk hasn't really taken off in a big way? I would recommend the Sony MZ-N1 to anyone! - you'll be surprised by what you get!

I bought the Sony MZ-N1 after contemplating the choice between this option and an mp3 player, and I am pleased to say that I am very happy with it. Sony really have gone to town with features on this model; it is really compact and light enough to put in a jeans pocket and the LP2 version of recording is very good and perfectly adequate when combined with a decent pair of headphones. The remote is a real joy to use too, and the unit itself has an elegant and sturdy design.

I did a lot of research before buying this; there is a vast amount of information available on the internet discussing whether mp3 players or minidiscs are the way forward, but the majority of expert opinion comes down on the side of "minidisc is better at the moment because mp3 players are still too expensive for what you get" - though this situation may change in the next few years. The problem with mp3 players is that if you want to change the music you are listening to on a whim you have to hook your mp3 player up to your pc - that is the real irritating point which you can avoid with minidisc. With minidisc you can build up a litte library of, say, 5 minidiscs containing a total of 10 albums (in LP2 format) and that is enough to last you a month or so of listening - which you can carry around easily and flip between when you want. When you fancy a change it would only take 30 mins of an evening to create a whole new little libary! Plus with minidisc you get all of the benefits of a portable music recorder...

The software is glitchy but it does work most of the time. On the occasions that it has crashed I have reloaded reasonably quicky - and it does not corrupt anything, and I am sure Sony will patch this soon enough so I don't mind.

If you can afford the MZ-N1 I would recommend it, especially if you have loads of mp3s on your PC that you want to listen to on the move, especially if (like me) you are not prepared to tolerate the bulk of an mp3-CD-player. The MZ-N1 is the best pocket-sized portable music solution available today, by a fair distance.