Full QWERTY keyboard on remote (although buttons need better tactile feel), one-button rec., CD+MD in one deck!

Where's the friggin' PAUSE button on the remote? Remote itself feels cheap. Pain to program particular songs.

I absolutely love MD and this deck was a no brainer. No problems whatsoever. Sure it's a little noisy changing CDs in the trays, but damn, that's pretty nit-picky.

Ejecting the trays can sometimes take two presses of the button to get it to register.

Wish there was a serial port/VGA port like one of SONY's MD recorders so I can input w/a computer keyboard; that'd be cool!

I hate MCRS!!! I record to my Sharp MDS-702 portable but can't if I want to use the optical line! Weak! But that's not JVC's fault, it's RIAA!!!

Similar Products Used:

None.

I have been using this product for a couple of months and I love it. Have had no problems with the unit, the copy from CD to Minidisc is wonderful. Great sound quality. I dont like the dial which you use to change tracks... but hey, its a small price to pay for such a quality piece of equipment.

Changing CD's is a little slow in automatic mode, and its a bit noisy.. but that is a small issue here.

I think SHARP makes a similar product which is cheaper, but when it comes to buying a piece of audio equipment, I would rather pay a little higher price and know the quality of the item I am receiving up front.

Similar Products Used:

None

Some extremely convenient features such as one-touch CD-to-MD dubbing.
Nifty, light-up, full alphanumeric keyboard hidden in remote.
It's two, two, two decks in one.

Several less useful features,
Extremely slow and loud CD-changing,
Way too busy-looking exterior,
Extremely loose jog dial,
Painful recording process if you only want to select a few tracks.

I purchased this unit for two reasons: The first being because my Sony MDS-JE510 was making unbearable clicking noises. The second was that since I was expecting to move around regularly, one deck with both a CD changer and a minidisc recorder would be easier to lug around than two separate decks.

A 3-cd changer and Minidisc recorder combination deck seemed like a good idea.

In retrospect, it would have been smarter to have just purchased separate decks.

The overall feel of the unit is also rather poor. The disc trays are flimsy and loud. The unit changes CDs with much whirring and clicking, while also taking its time. There is barely any resistance in the jog dial, which is bad since the jog dial is used to search through tracks. I usually wind up skipping the track I want to listen to and have to turn the jog dial back millimeter by millimeter until it goes back one. The dial has ticks for resistance, but aside from being too weak, they don't seem to correspond to much. Turning the dial one tick doesn't always have an effect. In order to move forward/backward one track or menu option I sometimes have to turn the dial 1.5 clicks, sometimes 2, usually 1.

Even the bottom-of-the-line Sony units have meaty-er, more pleasant feeling and accurate jog dials.

Aesthetically, the unit is... well... with 39 buttons/dials and a slew of red, orange, and green lights scattered about, it may not suit everyone's tastes. It certainly does not suit mine (especially the studded and wavy jog dial which best resembles a bumpy contraceptive diaphragm).

The JVC XU-301BK does have its strong points though. There is large button for 1-touch cd-to-md dubbing. This function is geniunely useful.

Then there is the "listening edit mode", which basically goes through the tracks of all loaded cds one by one and prompts you to decide whether or not you wish to add it to the recording queue. The problem with this feature is that it will go through every cd loaded, track by track until you have either said "yes" or "no" to every single track. There seems to be no simple way to select just one or more particular tracks directly for recording. Add to this the agonizingly slow cd-changing and you have a very tedious procedure for recording.

A more useful feature would have been to allow the user to just program in the desired tracks using the keypad on the remote or the jog dial, on the desired discs. I don't want to have to listen to every disc or take out the other two every time I want to record off of just one.

It does have a nice alarm feature, though, which allows me to wake up each morning to thundering music through my stereo.

Some of the features are less useful. It has mic input, balance controls and pitch control, which is good for Karaoke fans such as myself, but either way, they are not that useful.

The least useful of all features is the "First Track Rec" feature, which, with one touch, will record just the first track of each cd loaded onto MD. Why assign a giant light-up button to this function?

Well, if you find yourself recording whole CD's to MD rather than making mixes, this is may be a decent product for you (it is also a must for those who wish to record themselves singing to their favorite cd's at home onto MD).

For a little bit more, you can easily find a good CD-changer and a MD deck. But I suppose that for its price, it is a decent value.

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDS-JE510
JVC XM-448BK

I work at an electronics store which unfortunately enough did not carry this model of mini-disc player, in fact, it seemed hard to find anywhere in Canada. I love the minidisc format for total versatility, but I hate sony. I actually had to purchase this unit from a place other than my place of employment due to the extensive research which I did. The strengths are its easy recording (once you've gotten used to it), the hidden keyboard in the remote, and the fact that it is a combination deck.

I have read the other reviews about the jog dial, and the noise of the trays and I have to agree, but I don't care. I very rarely use the controls on the unit, and as for the noisey tray, JVC's three cd trays have always sounded like that, and I found it to be a better option than choosing a different brand.

I rank this thing as up there all of the way. If somebody likes music and records often, there is no better option. ESPECIALLY NOT A BURNER. I went through that whole cd burner phase as did others...luckily enough I grew out of the phase quickly.

Its value might not be the best, as the md format will surely have to grow more before the prices fall, but I have no regrets, and in retrospect, probably would have paid more for this machine.

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sony 320, 520. GOD I HATE SONY!!! Way too much for way too little...end of story. If the quality was there I would understand, but seriously, sony camcorders are about the only thing still made by the company of any quality.

Great MD recorder cd player in one unit. Optical In and Out YES!

Slow Cd changer, crappy remote.

I use it mostly for all cd tracks to MD recording. For One cd recording I have NO complaints. Very nice unit.

Similar Products Used:

1st MD

i havent seen this product in person our heard any reviews on it but to me it seems like the best value as far a md recorders go. at the same time i need to get myself a new cd player. i have suffered to long with my peice of shit rca shelf system for walmart. for just $369 i can accomplish both needs in one unit. sounds good to me! are there any educated opinions about this theory of mine and if so please leave them here. i cant really give a offical review until i use it or have seen it in person. so i give a 3 star just for the idea and the price.

Nearly every feature you need in one unit; works well with other JVC equipment.

Limitations of MD with over 20 tracks. Hard to pick and choose tracks to record.

A good idea; both MD and CD in one unit. While most of the functions work well, there are a few odd things. Such as if you record more than 20 tracks on an MD, you can't use edit functions on those higher numbered tracks. There isn't a quick way to select individual tracks to record- you must step through each CD. Titling operations work well with the keyboard on the remote but are still time consuming. The "noisy" CD trays aren't an issue with me.

Similar Products Used:

Sharp MS722 portable MD recorder.