Price Paid:  $500.00 from 20/01/02

Summary:
Im a DJ and I use this unit for my booth speakers as they diliver high quallity sound reproduction at a reasonably loud voloume , the unit has very good illumination.

Strengths:
Its very small and compact , easy to opperate.

Weaknesses:
The MD Will probably break on you by the third mounth and every time you put a MD in the unit the display screen will flash DISK ERROR DISK ERROR C13 C13 (what does that meen??)

Summary:
Overall excellent product which is worth the money for top
quality and new technology.

Strengths:
Excellent sound for such a small unit. Has great volume and
clarity for it size. Tiny remote which is well laid out and
futuristic. Excellent look and well built feel. Includes
extra features such as minidisc, tuner, cd, alarm, sleep,
timer, etc. A very solid system

Weaknesses:
Only has preset equalizer settings. I would have liked to
change them as I wanted.

Summary:
The Sony CMT-MD1 is a very compact and stylish little unit. Instead of the usual cassette deck it incorporates MiniDisc which was the main reason for me to buy it. So far the JVC 9000R was the only micro system with this feature but in my opinion the Sony is a better sounding machine, especially if you hook it up to better speakers than the nice looking but so-so sounding ones supplied. As long as you don't crank it up too much, it works perfectly with Tannoy M1s. Used like this, the sound is quite acceptable and entertaining, although it would be nicer to have basic treble/basic tone controls than just the pre-programed equalizer settings. The Sony has useful features like 40 memory settings for FM and AM radio stations and sleep timer and record timer, but some programing functions are not very logical and take time to master. Some functions are only accessible from the remote control, and as this is a very tiny affair, it's very easy to misplace it, I did twice already. And although the design is very sleek, the sharp edges may not be to everyones liking and little and not so little fingers could easily be harmed by them.
For me the nicest feature of this micro system is the ability to directly record digitally from CD to MD; these recordings are excellent and sound very good even when played back on a very good system and in this respect this micro system is real high quality HiFi. I paid 450 US$ dollars for the CMT-MD1, list price is about 600 US$ (Swiss prices, your's may vary). All in all, recommended, but not without reservations.