Home > Consumer Reviews > Sony MZ-NH900/BM Black Hi-MiniDisc Walkman

I can't find any fault in the unit, it does exactly what I paid for. 1GB sure is a lot for a removable disk, but will obviously lose out to high-capacity hd players, who's capacity seems to be growing by the day. I personally prefer the idea of removable storage, you have the freedom of being able to lend someone a disk. While the NH900 works perfectly as a portable music player, if that's all you're looking for, you can find mp3 players, and even md players that are far cheaper for what you want. The main selling point of the 900 for me was its abilities as a recorder, namely, the ability to record in uncompressed PCM. The quality of recordings i have made with this unit have been near CD quality, which is pretty impressive, given the size of the unit.
I have heard a lot of complaints about the Sonic Stage software provided with Sony units, but it works perfectly fine for me. Admittedly, I have mainly been using the MD simple burner to transfer CDs to the 900 (approx 6-7 mins transfer time per cd). The main Sonic Stage program works fine, and with a simple update available from Sony's website, you can convert files recorded on the unit to .wav files. (They are uploaded as ATRAC files) There's lots of nagging about the restrictions of Sonic Stage (uploading limitations) but I can't really see these getting in the way for me.
A few downsides:
The supplied 900 mAh rechargable battery isn't too wonderful on its own, although used together with the clip on AA battery attachment, you can get decent battery life. (Though this obviously makes the unit slightly bigger)

You can get line out or headphone output (you choose via the menu) when the remote is not plugged in, but headphone output is the only option with the remote.

The menu itself takes a few days to get used to, but isn't that bad.

1GB Hi-MD disks are around £5 each. This isn't too bad, given the high capacity, but does add up if you were to start a large collection.

Sound quality is good on PCM and hi-SP mode, but does get a bit 'flat' on hi-lp recording mode. This is easily compensated by the fact that you can get 45 albums on one MD. I personally use Hi-SP for my more favorite albums, and Hi-LP for music that i listen to more 'in the background'. (You can mix on the same disk)

Top volume is a bit low... maybe this is a good thing, as I'm slowly going deaf listening to so much music.

Some strong points:
The remote is perfect! Just the right shape and size, it's backlit, and you can choose the information you want it to display.

The sound is great, although does need 'tweaking' occasionally with the sound settings and EQ.

Transferring music from CD to MD is fast, probably faster than mp3 players.

It works as a 1GB hard drive, what more can you say. It's almost worth the money just as a very elaborate floppy drive. As you can mix music and files on the same disk, you can take files anywhere with no extra weight- not bad.

Oh, and it looks damn good.

To summarize:
The NH900 is a good player and a great recorder, highly recommended for musicians who listen to a lot of music and want to record themselves in decent quality on the move, or anyone in general who needs a good portable player/recorder.

I love my minidisc player, and I use it everyday. I haven't been amazed by sound quality as yet, although neither have I read all the instructions, so I'm probably not recording at the highest quality! :o)

I almost always use the remote control/display, since the display on the machine isn't much good, and isn't backlit.
It looks gorgeous, does everything I want it to (recording from just about any source is brilliant), and the battery life is good.

My only real gripe (though don't let this put you off buying one!) is the Sonic Stage software it is supplied with. I have never seen a more unstable, clumsy piece of software. It crashes almost everytime I use it! Dreadful. Sony - you MUST sort this out. i-Tunes is lightyears ahead.

Agree Hi MD is really good but dont agree that a clip on battery box is any good. The Sony nh700 use one lr6 battery (cheap and light) and lasts ages. Sony needs to think again about adding a clip on box its flimsy and is too much trouble.

MD 900

I researched this player alot before buying and am still unsure whether this was 100% the right choice.

plus points to HiMD (compared to Mp3 players around the same price):
the capacity is endless, just buy more discs.
if mates have them, it's easy to share the music.
you can record from any input at high quality
you have choice of using AA batteries.
when used as an external drive you can store the discs seperately.
well built
g protection
good compression (48kb/sec sounds fine and there's plenty of choise of bit rate)comes with remote (although not used it much yet - wires too long)
digital recording level
you can reformat old MD's to huge capacity (60 min disc to 219MB)
(80 min disc will hold 610 mins)

negatives.
size - MD's are small, but mp3 players are smaller.
you need extra cables to record and play back through hifis
(can only record CD's using digital cable supplied)
capacity is good but again mp3 players are smaller for more memory.
slow to convert files (maybe due to crap computer)
could do with radio (saying that though, portable radio is always poor quality)
not as easy to use as ipod/creative zen etc with only 3 line display

advantages of the 900 (as opposed to the other MD players)
aluminium nice finish
removable add on battery cell holder (useful if you dont intend to use AAs much)
backlit lcd remote.
charging cradle (although not USB connected)
3 line display on player.
black

if you just want to play mp3's get an mp3 player, like ipod mini.
if you want to listen to a bit of radio and record the odd thing, get a creative zen micro.
for good quality recording from all inputs and the ability to expand the memory forever get a HiMD player.

Yes This MD is great. I got one as I wanted an Mp3 player but with more versatility.

With a 1GB MD it is better than other MP3 player (especially the little white box! which you cant even remove the battery in!)

My only disappointment is with the software for transferring Mp3s. It is NOT a simple drag and drop job. (Not in windows anyway)

If you want to play mainly Mp3s but like the idea of better features - then get an Mp3 player!

If you Love MDs, want to be able to play Mp3s as well and want better features (such as removable battery and very good battery life) then buy this:

It is a great device but the software is just awkward!