Price Paid:  $270.00 from Mail order in London

Summary:
To put it simply, this product is amazing, the sound quality is unbeleivable. I have used this for just over a year and many slightly annoying things have happened to it. I used it on the beach and from then on it makes a real loud rattling noise when inserting a disc. The letters where off on the remote after a lot of use. I have used this machine loads and have dropped it lots. However the actual shell is unbeleivably strong. Many small problems have occured such as the battery cover falling off and the disc holding mechanism jamming (not holding the discs in when open)
However none of these problems can change the fact that Sharp rule the minidisc world with their deep bass and attentive treble. The anti-skipping feature isn't as good as some, but it will do you fine unless you want to use it jogging. One serious problem which does really annoy me is that you can't title songs when playing which is possible on the sony. On many long aeroplane journeys i wanted to do this.
One important feature is that the battery charges when playing and plugged into mains.
Also you can still play songs for half an hour when the machine starts blinking.

Strengths:
Sounds Great, Nice Remote, Long battery life, Very Durable Shell, Amazing Bass when well recorded

Weaknesses:
All very small: screen gets dusty inside, Can't title when playing.

Similar Products Used:
Sony R75 (think that was it)

Price Paid:  $310.00

Summary:
Best value in recorders still. Go to minidisco.com and get one. No wear so far. will probably last forever.

Strengths:
Great sounding, tough body, cool looking(especially the blue one) Long lasting battery life

Weaknesses:
None, i want a tiny md player though

Similar Products Used:
friends md's this is the best!

Summary:
This is the best minidisc player Ive owned yet. The controls are intuitive, it plays great. The chasis is made completely of metal as well as all the buttons which should provide for a very durable and long life. The battery life on the unit rocks I can charge it and use it for almost two full days at work without recharging. Its a very small unit considering that it has recording capabilities as well as serving as a very portable player. I cant reccomend it enough. I have NEVER had any problems at all with the unit.

Strengths:
Compact, Great rechargeable battery life, looks cool, sounds great!

Weaknesses:
?

Summary:
The Sharp 821 is a nice recorder with good recording time and playback, however I think that mine had a problem that the rest are not supposed to. When it would make recordings it would make 'skips' onto the recording, so although the source was 'skip free' and the player was not subjected to any sort of shock, there were gaps in the music.

Kind of a bummer for an otherwise great player, Amazon.Com agreed to take it back (EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE) and I'm thinking about getting a 831 imported from Japan. I'm sure that most of their players come problem free, it was just sad for me that mine didn't.

The price is 300 which is reasonable for this quality and size in minidisc recorder/players

Strengths:
Great Sound Quality, Warm and bassy, good for techno and similar and adds depth to classicals

Weaknesses:
The skipping problem described below

Similar Products Used:
Sony R-50

Summary:
I purchased this from a friend which bought his MT821 from Hong Kong. I compared MT821 to Sony MZ-R55 and I found that Sharp has better soundstaging, warmer but more natural vocal and better separation. I reckoned that this is the best portable MD player you could find in the market. Definitely 5 star....