MiniDisc Decks

I bought this item on a whim to do digital, two track recording from the main outs on my new Mackie 1604VLZPro, around 1998 or 1999. It was five hundred dollars at the time, and very small. I imagined with the ATRAC compression cutting off a lot of lows and highs that I could add them back to the mix by dubbing them through some low end on the board. The cheapness of the disks appealed to me, as did the portability. I only use it these days for listening to the 100 or so MD that we fully recorded in stereo (74 min) or mono (148!) And to prove that it still works. The sound quality was incredible. Building quality was top notch. It took some hard floor drives during it's career, travelled to some shows and on trips. Not a smoke free environment. Never once gave up, never quit working. MD is of course a dead format now, and it really does sound like MP3s, especially through the 1/8" outputs. But the "remote" is handy, and the manual is great.

(Originally written by Maytouk/translated from Audiofanzine FR) I used it for about five years . Very good sound quality, convenient and great for recording!!! Many possibilities. It sounds better than MP3 files. But I had to send it five times to the service center!!!!! Even though I was very careful!!!! The 6th time was too much so I bought another one. It was a secondhand unit and it got broken after one year... In short, Sony builds good-sounding products but they are not reliable at all. And I haven't said anything about my first Sony model. I had four breakdowns (three times during warranty period) and the 4th time it was not repairable anymore so Sony and the dealer decided to replace it with a MZ R-900... Conclusion: don't buy MD players because they are not reliable and you'll have compatibility problems regarding data compression between models and manufacturers. I owned four MD players in seven years (including a JVC): it's much too much!!!!!!!!!!