Price Paid:  $95.00 from best buy

Summary:
Excellent machine DOES NOT SKIP Purchased it so I could listen to music on the slopes. Jumps on a snowboard are no match for this non skipping unit! That is all i was worried about.

Strengths:
easy to use

Weaknesses:
software SUCKS!!!!

Price Paid:  $95.00 from Wal-Mart

Summary:
I think this Mini Disk player is the best for your buck. No other Mini Disk players come close to the quality you get for this price. I like to listen to clear good quality music and this does the job. I have heard of many just buying this because you can use it to burn the mini disk. I would recomend this product to any one who needs a reliable music player that can't skip. I hope this helps you.

Strengths:
-Clear music -More bang for your buck -Looks Cool -Dosent Skip

Weaknesses:
I really cant think of any???

Similar Products Used:
RCA MP3 Player and it sucked

Price Paid:  $89.00 from Wal- Mart

Summary:
I was initially looking for a MP3 device that I could use in the gym. After comparing those devices I was hesitant to jump in and purchase this type of device. A co-worker received this player for the holidays as a gift and was eager to show me, unimpressed with the headphones that come with this unit, I plugged in a set of my own and instantly fell in love with this device and bought one that night. I would reccomend that anyone who is looking to purchase a portable music solution look at this device, I have definately become an advocate of the minidisc!

Strengths:
Compact Size, long battery life. You can control Bass and Trebble levels. This thing DOES NOT SKIP!

Weaknesses:
Software that comes with for lack of a btetter word "sucks". It is however 100% compatible with Real One player (I use the free version that is available for download). I would like to also have the option to have an AC adapter, but other than that it's a great unit.

Similar Products Used:
iPaq pocket PC with SD cards.

Price Paid:  $94.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
In my opinion, MD is by the far the best, while also most overlooked, portable music solution. Most MP3 players on the market right now sell for between 130 and 300 dollars (not considering the multi-gig jukebox players) and have between 128 and 512 MB of storage. This translates to anywhere between 15 and 50 songs. Compared with NetMD players, which can store up to 5 hours of music in LP4 mode on one inexpensive MD (about $1.29 each) while lasting 56 hours on a single AA. Not only that, but the NE410 is smaller and lighter than any jukebox model, while possesing a far greater storage capacity the smaller MP3 players. Further, because MD's is so cheap, you can transfer favorite playlists, etc onto different MD's and keep them around instead of dumping music off MP3 players every time you want to change the music, or you can dump music off MD's as you please. Why isn't NetMD huge!? This, I do not know. Best Buy needs to put NetMD models next to their MP3 players, so people can make this comparison. The player itself is very simple. Small display, small buttons, no mic input, no remote capability...which is perfect for what it does. Adding clearer forward or reverse buttons would be nice OR just including a in-line remote would solve this problem. I have two MD's units, one for recording live events and the NE410 for listening to my tracks once I've imported them to my computer. This setup is awesome, and I highly recommend it. Sony also makes live-recordable NetMD models, but they aren't as adept as Sharp players for live material and still import analog in a PC. OpenMG is silly, but is functional. Sony, something to add: allow computer files to be imported to MD's and back to other computers, so the player can act like a flash drive, like many MP3 players already do. Adding this functionality would be awesome.

Strengths:
Simple interface, light player, long battery life, sturdy design. NetMD is the best portable audio solution at the moment when considering value, size and storage capacity.

Weaknesses:
Unable to import computer files to MD. No in line remote option.

Similar Products Used:
Sharp MD recorder, older

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Woah!!!!!!!!!! This is the only appropriate reaction to such an amazing portable audio player. No doubts about it, this thing is definitely worth the price, and you'll never regret your purchase. I was looking at getting a creative MUVO NX with 256 Mg, when I came upon this strange Mini Disc/Mp3 player. It looked cool, so I decided to try it out. I've only had it for a little while, but I'm loving it more every minute I use it. It is a relatively simple peice of equipment. You simply hook it to your USB port, install the included software, then copy your favorite music to the inserted MD. The file transfer rate is very good for full speed USB, making it convenient for those who want theire music fast. There are three levels of recording quality for your MD's: RS, LP2, and LP4. RS is excellent, but only allows about ten to fifteen songs per disk. LP2 is pretty good, and doubles the capacity. LP4 is only decent, but it allows five hours of songs. Some might complain that they want to record RP, but they want more room. No problem. The MD's are rerecordable, so you can change selections every day if you want. As well, MD's are extremely cheap, so you can simply buy more if you don't want to continually re-record. The sound is excellent on this player, and it includes two preset EQ modes. You only have a choice of Bass and treble, but you can custumize these to your personal preference, which makes this player all the more attractive if you listen to a variety of styles or just like to change your sound sometimes. Predictably, the headphones that come with this are extremely cheap, and give terrible sound. However, that shouldn't be a problem to most people. (If you are looking for a good pair of earbuds to use with this thing, I highly recommend the Sony MDR-EX71's. They have plenty of quality to match this player, and they look great with it.) Although the interface for the player can be clumsy and small at times, it isn't a big problem. As well, the great amount of functions you can use and custumize are a welcome addition to this thing. I do have one problem with the hardware though: the screen is too small. With all of the info that this thing can show, the scree just isn't large enough. But I guess you have to pay a price for portability. The software that comes with this is very quirky. Although the latest version is better than when it first came out, you will find it necesarry to patch it as soon as you can. Overall, this is a great player, and I highly recommend it. You can only get it better if you spend hundreds on an Ipod.

Strengths:
Great sound, very portable, lots of options, plenty of room for custumization.

Weaknesses:
software is annoying, but other wise no weaknesses.