Sony MZ-N505S Net MD Walkman Player/Recorder (Silver)

I own a MZ-N505 that was given to me as a gift less than a year ago. This product does not currently put out any sound through the headphones. When I contacted Sony I was told that it was past the 90 day warranty period and that I would have to pay 95 dollars to have it fixed. The unit was only worth 150 dollars when it was given to me. In response to my dismay about the large repair cost, Sony responded there was nothing they could do and I should either pay to have it repaired or buy a new unit. I have bought many Sony products for myself and as gifts of the years but after this fustrating experience I will not buy another Sony product. Why should I when in less than a year it will not work and they will expect me to fork over more money to them. I recommend not purchasing this product.

I am not a music expert, but have a good size CD collection, plus many MP3's. MZ-N505 makes it a breeze to: build playlists, and burn MD's. The Net MD Simple Burner is REALLY easy to use. The Open MG Jukebox can sometime be clunky...Overall, there is NO comparison between MP3 players and the MZ-N505. This recorder can burn/play unlimited numbers of MP3's, and CD tracks. The software is completely intuitive. The price is great also!

This Minidisk Player is by far the best option when it comes to portable music. It has a very cool design, also it is cheap and of great value considering other options availble today. You can record about 40 songs in LP2 mode and double that amount in LP4 mode in a single MD(Thats about 4-5 CDs). The software its very easy to use and it also transfers music really fast via USB. I really recommend this product, far over any mp3 player out there. The vast ammount of space availble per MD its reason enough to buy this.

I've had this player/recorder for over a year now and i am completely satisfied with it. I researched models online and sony is the clear winner and has made a durable and worthy product. First of all, I owned a relatively expensive mp3 player ($270) which i used to listen to music, then i decided i wanted to upgrade so i could bring more music with me. I debated between moving up to 128mb card or getting this minidisc player. I decided on this and now don't even understand why i wasted time deciding in the first place...the answer is clear. This product is far superior to any mp3 player for many reasons:
1. While it is not as small as some mp3 players it still fits nicely in your hand and is lightweight.
2. The media is super cheap...$10 for 5 minidiscs, and if you record at LP2 (mid quality which is perfect for headphones even car adapter) you can get close to 150 mins, i have 4 entire cds plus extra songs on 1 disc. This is a lot less expensive for much more space.
3. Battery life...they ain't kiddin, it took forever for my battery to run out, i'm talking constant 4-5 hour play each day for a week or so. Even better...just get a rechargeable battery, energizer will do and put it in, plug into the wall, itll charge itself. I haven't replaced the battery in there for as long as i can remember (at least 9 months).
4. The software isn't even that hard to figure out and the 3 limit check out is not a problem at all. OpenMG while it does have its flaws such as occassionaly freezing up, is pretty self explanatory, just import music from your computer (find whatever folder it's in) then put them into playlist or however you wish to organize and when your ready check them out onto the minidisc and itll convert the file to atrac for you and put it on, then you can organize, label, etc as you want. the 3 limit checkout isnt a problem, you can get credits when you check them back in and why would you need more than 4 copies of the same song out at the same time? well if you find some reason just reimport the file from your music folder and youll have new checkouts.
Well that's my 2 cents. Please if your debating between mp3 players or minidiscs make the smart choice...less money, more space, still small/lightweight, you can drop it and itll still work and wont skip, volume has perfect range...and everything else that makes them awesome. sony is a good brand, trust it...

I think this minidisc player is great. The only problem is it's anti-copy/piratery/whatever security systems.For example, you can't copy songs to your computer if the songs aren't already in your computer.
The worst problem is the "atrac format". And this is bad because when you want to copy a song to a MD, first the "OpenMG Jukebox" software has to convert the mp3/wma/etc. files to atrac format, and this can take long, very long (depending in your computer).

Anyway, sony's MD players are in my opinion the best portable music players you can find. MDs are re-writable, and with LP2/LP4 option, you can put 300 minutes of music on each MD. And if you don't have a computer (well, if you're here is that you have one, but...) it includes an optical cable to copy the CDs to MDs with a DVD player, for example.

If being portable isn't important for you, maybe you should get a mp3 player instead. But if you like moving constantly while listening to music, like me, you need one of this.

Ps: oh, and don't choose the "gold" colour, it's horrible.