Price Paid:  $229.00 from p.c.richards

Summary:
The unit works fine for what it is intended. I purchsad the MDS S40 so I could record mini discs in conjuction with my portable mini disc player. I was tired of hauling Walkmans around and I wasn't about to endure the idiocy of carying a portable cd player around. To my surprise, the home unit worked like a charm. it is easy to use, eminently versatile and sounds great. I like the fact that you can re-arrange tracks at will. In fact, the little unit has inspired me to record cuts from a variety of cd's alowing me to listen to what I like, leaving the rest out. I love the size of the medium. you can carry or keep handy a ton of music with you in practically no space. In conjuction with my Sony CD player which connects optically, I have a wonderful little recorder that puts tape to shame.

Strengths:
Love the versatility of being able to rearrange, separate, blend or delete tracks. The small footprint is great.

Weaknesses:
I wish it could play multiple MD's.

Price Paid:  $259.00 from crutchfield

Summary:
I will move on now to a Sony (I must be nuts) MDS-E10 or E12 for their rack mount feature and also a wired remote and (I hope) more rugged construction. I use the MDS-S40 for my work (multimedia musician) and it's just too cluncky (non-rackmountable. I also never know when it will give out again. It basically lost me a job the night it gave out. I had backup but only CD's and only part of the show. I'd say if you buy it try out my handy reapir when it breaks. The poor guy from U.K. I wrote had allready "tinned" his before
I tried my method.
I'll give overall rating as 3 1/2 stars (it IS still working)

Strengths:
It is a nice size only 11 inches. It reads disks better than my old MDS-101 the first generation minidisc which began to spudder and choke on disks. Sony gave me ZERO help on this and with much looking and asking online I found out it was dust and dirt on the disks. I opened them cleaned them with high quality alcohol and lint free cd wipes and then blew them out with a can of Dust-off. (use this hint...you won't find it anywhere else.
But the MDS-S40 would play most of these skipping disks for a while even before I cleaned them. It must be the more advanced ATRAC or a stronger lasar.

Weaknesses:
The unit froze up just after the warranty ran out. It wouldn't read a disk at all. The code translated to mean "get repair immediatly"
I tried all over the internet and all I found was people who got the same problem and were throwing theirs out. The cost of repair from Sony Service is at least or around the price of replacing it. I sent Sony a scathing note about the "BIC" lighter MD units they were putting out. The closest I could find out about the problem was that it was a mechanical problem with something sticking. So.... I turned it upside down and banged the heck out of the unit (not enuf to dent... just to try and unstick it ... I plugged it in ... and it worked again and has ever since.. (about 6 months later)

Similar Products Used:
MDS-101 unit one (hoplessly down and (thrown) out)
MDS-101 unit two (VERY touchy broken/fixed? eject button now consigned to the studio only)
MZ-1 (reads any and all disks as blank -- will try to eject "phantom" disks so I must keep the battery out and not plug in -- I will attempt one time to mend it before I throw it out!
Sharp Tiny little thing that was so small ... I lost it... but it worked fine while I had it.