Sony MZ-N505 Portable MiniDisc Recorder $81.48 shipped

[Howard]

What kind of batteries do they use?

AA? AAA? Proprietary? Does it have a built-in charger for rechargeables?

 

[Howard]

Does the USB interface use a standard cable?

 

[gwlam12]

AA. Built in rechargeable function. USB cable provided. Not standard.

 

[yellowperil]

It uses a regular AA battery, I think it can also use (and recharge) NiCds also. I don't know if the USB connector is standard but I'm pretty sure it comes with a cable.

 

[DieselMan]

Originally posted by: Howard
What kind of batteries do they use?

AA? AAA? Proprietary? Does it have a built-in charger for rechargeables?

It uses one standard AA battery. To answer your other question, the USB cable is proprietary (like 90% of all digital cameras and mp3 players), since the connector on the MD side needs to be flat and small (the B connector of a standard USB cable is WAY to squarish and big).

Once you get used to the various software, and get over the fact that you need to convert everything to ATRAC3 (takes about 10-15 seconds per song on a Pentium 4 system), you will realize that this MD player is in almost every way superior to the various portable MP3 players on the market. No, it is not the smallest player around (I also own the Toshiba MEA220, and I am pretty sure it's the smallest/lighest mp3 player in the market), but it is a good tradeof between hard drive based players, and flash memory based ones. Again, you will easily get between 35 and 40 hours of playback, even 50 hours on the 66kbps (LP4) mode!!! Minidiscs cost about $2.00 for each disc (which can store approximately the equivalent of 128MB flash card), so there is no need to keep on erasing your discs if you buy a few more On my Sony CLIE, I spent $40 per 128MB memory sticks last year, and I find myself constantly deleting songs to put new ones in since there is so little room (and I can't keep on buying $35-$40 flash memory).

 

[robsgirl75]

Originally posted by: duhh

Originally posted by: robsgirl75

Originally posted by: Henrythewound
Got mine in the mail yesterday, this thing is awesome at this price! My only complaint is the lack of a belt clip. Anyways, this baby is one fine piece of machinery, now off to the nearest bvlank minidisc retailer....

Henrythewound: how long did it take for you to get it? I was looking at their shipping and it says it'll take 10-17 days!

Ordered mine on a Tuesday, got it on Thursday that same week

thanks! so hopefully i get mine by next thursday so i can take it to my spring break trip.

 

[gwlam12]

5 pack , 80 min memorex minidisc for 8 dollars + tax and free shipping at circuit city

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: yellowperil
It uses a regular AA battery, I think it can also use (and recharge) NiCds also. I don't know if the USB connector is standard but I'm pretty sure it comes with a cable.

What about NiMH batteries?

 

[gwlam12]

hm..according to the manual, it's supposed to recharge nimh batteries

 

[huesmann]

When you plug it into the AC?

 

[Grandmoph]

I recieved my N505 today after ordering on the 12th. That's amazingly quick! I think the uBid Superstore may even have newegg beat in terms of shipping speed. I'm impressed.

Now, for the unit. After reading all the complaints with the OpenMG software, I decided to use RealOne [ugh :disgust: ] to handle file transfer. So far everything works like a dream. I'm using LP2 and the sound quality is pretty good. I'll try LP4 sometime, but I'm not expecting much from it. The Simple Burner software included seems to work well. The headphones included suck, of course, so I am using some quality headphones I just so happened to have lying around . I'm glad they included a minidisc with the unit, as I have not purchased any minidiscs yet (I wasn't expecting to recieve it until sometime next week). Before purchasing this unit I was seriously considering a Creative Zen, but I'm glad I held off. I am very happy with the N505 and $80 is much nicer than the $300 I would have had to shell out for the Zen.

So, a thanks goes out to yellowperil for the posting the deal.

 

[gwlam12]

does anyone ahve the problem of not being able to record all their songs? i cant seem to record my simpsons: songs in the key of springfield tracks onto the burner. keeps saying "failed to write." this is an original cd that i ripped onto my computer. :/ same thing for my lion king soundtrack. this is on memorex minidiscs.

 

[PoPPeR]

linkified

 

[Amputater]

Now they only have the MZNE410's on sale. Anyone know how theses compare to the MZN505's? I did a search on Pricewatch and while the MZN505's can be had for around $80, the MZNE410 are priced at around $130.

 

[abominable]

Originally posted by: Amputater
Now they only have the MZNE410's on sale. Anyone know how theses compare to the MZN505's? I did a search on Pricewatch and while the MZN505's can be had for around $80, the MZNE410 are priced at around $130.

I'll try to answer this, but I am by no means an expert, so if I am wrong on any of this info, please correct me.

I believe that the MZ-NE410 is a newer model, but it is intended to be a lower-end model compared to the MZ-N505. The only difference is that the NE410 is missing the optical input...the dimensions, features, battery life is identical. That being said, the reason that the price is cheaper on the N505 is that it has been around for a while and alot of the places are liquidating the gold color, which nobody seems to like.

 

[deejayshakur]

woooo.... indeed, i've never considered an MD player til now. BUT...

1) does this display song title and track (or MD players in general) ? how (ID3)? also, will it display chinese song titles (this is my biggest gripe with some of the hard drive based mp3 players)?

2) why get this over an mp3/cd player? im considering the iriver slimx and slimx-2...

3) recording features... i need to tape lectures and i've seen some classmates bring MD players in to tape with.. how's the quality? this is one advantage over the mp3/cd players...

thanks (sorry still spring break and don't feel like researching.... )

 

[Henrythewound]

Mine only took 5 or so days to arrrive, I'm in Tucson AZ, so I'm not sure if it will differ if you are on the east coast or elsewhere far away from the shipping center (which I believe is in the midwest)

 

[MaxDSP]

Can we use a car adapter kit (like the ones you get with some portable cd players) with this player? The mp3/cd player I have is wayy too big to carry around while working out, but if I can use this thing to play music through my car speakers and use it at the gym, then Im definetely gonna check into it

EDIT: if i am able to play it through my car speakers, would that shorten the battery life or would I be able to use the cigarette lighter adapter also with this unit?

 

[Gleo]

Yes you could use this with a car adapter. You could use the headphone out with a cassete adapter or if your deck has a line in, either way.

You could also use a power adapter for this player but i think you'd need a pretty low voltage just match em' up.

 

[MaxDSP]

Originally posted by: Gleo
Yes you could use this with a car adapter. You could use the headphone out with a cassete adapter or if your deck has a line in, either way.

You could also use a power adapter for this player but i think you'd need a pretty low voltage just match em' up.

Thanks for the info...have you actually tried this?

 

[goraj]

I bought both models so I can answer some of the questions

MZ-NE410 is lower end model. It does not have an AC adapter, no line in and recording capapility. Also it doesnt have mega bass. Sound may be little bit less louder than MZ N505. U can transfer songs to the disk using USB cable only. But still for 75$ it is pretty good player. In LP4 mode u can play up to 56 hrs with one AA battery. I got about 30 hrs with 2000Mah NiMH battery. Sound quality is pretty decent for 64k ATRAC3 format. If u have 5-6 disks for coast to coast to flight it is ideal. But I still prefer 505 to 410. I dont care about the color as long as I can listen to music for 30-40 hrs with 1 AA battery.

 

[MaxDSP]

just visited a site that seems to have a ton of info on the different models of the players...MiniDisc.org...will have to research a bit later on

EDIT: Good forum for more info

 

[weepul]

i have this one and it rocks! got it @ amazon for $120 - $40GC.

//krunk (^_^x)

also, the amazon sells 20pk minidiscs for $30 shipped (it used to be $25 but i guess they jacked up the prices). pretty good deal.

 

[robsgirl75]

i love mine! i bought a remote for it too. r0x!!!!!!!

 

[gwlam12]

Originally posted by: robsgirl75
i love mine! i bought a remote for it too. r0x!!!!!!!

where and for how much? link?>