Why I buy this one ?
- Stores more than five hours of music on an 80-minute minidisc; speedy USB connection minimizes recording time
- Compatible with MP3, WMA, and WAV music files as well as with the pressplay.com online music subscription service
- Bundled software helps you organize your music by artist, song, style, or tempo
- ID3 tag cleaning ensures accurate artist and title information for your digital music files
- Up to 56 hours of playback from a single AA battery

WorldWide Distributors offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $34.99 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Wall Street Photo offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $47.26 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

What our customer's say!

"Some caveats you should be aware of..", While I'm a fan of Sony generally, I've long been disturbed with some of the 'walled garden' attitude that they show their own products.

You should be aware that there is no 64-bit driver for the Net-MD under Windows XP. The software is abysmal, requiring that MP3s to be transferred to the device are CBR rather than VBR. A viable 'hack' is to 'burn' an audio iso and use the simple transfer utility on the mounted iso.

There is almost no support in third-party applications; a much touted solution using real player has pretty much disappeared. It's unlikely that any third party solutions will appear in the future because of an extremely zealous legal department.

Indeed, it's impossible to transfer recordings from minidisc back to the computer if they have been transferred from a different computer or minidisc recorder.

I feel quite a bit of pain for what was a very promising format being shackled by overarching control of userspace.

Generally the NE410 is a solid little unit, although the supplied earphones are the usual commodity quality. I wouldn't presume to comment on the audio quality due to hearing destroyed by years of very, very loud nightclubs.

"GREAT BUT NOT ''THAT'' GREAT...", GREAT BUT NOT ''THAT'' GREAT...

Is a cool device but you CANNOT transfer audio files from the walkman to the PC via USB. You only can do this via headphone cable to mic of your PC.

"Not working", Would not record anything at the very onset. Useless. Didn't bother returning - not worth my time or effort and box already thrown away.

"4 Years of use and abuse, and still better than my ipod", My mother gave me this minidisc 4 years ago as a birthday gift, and Im still using it! Ive never had any problems with it, it works great if you (like myself) dont consider necesary to have 10000 songs on a device smaller than your hand wich will ocasionally leave you music-less in a year or two.

What I like:
Size
I can trust it will never let me down (unlike like my ipod)
The sound quality is incredible
People never guess what it is!

What I don't Like:
Small screen (but its not a real problem)
Doesnt really have an ON/OFF switch

I strongly recomend getting a minidisc, maybe not this one (wich is the cheapest one yet one of the best) over an mp3 player.


"MD Product Status?", I dropped my 10 yr old direct-recording MD and needed a new one to assure playability of my big MD collection from vinyl. This does that.
I might have purchased a much more expensive direct-recorder, but MDs are NOW lacking elemental support, and seemingly may be a discontinued product line. Also, specifications on the available top-line were not easily available. The product I bought is fine for my purpose, and for the price, I recommend 5 stars.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Old stuff", We are entering the digital music area, and this device is archeology! There is no need for tapes or other music supports. The Sony software is a pain in the neck. Once you imported the files into the ATRAC format, you cannot even move them back in your computer. Sony is so concerned of protecting copyrights that the software would lock on you. The MD player is also heavy and bulky, and it will dislocate your shoulder if you carry it for jogging. I had two of them and after I bought a regular Mp3 player. Buy something else!

"Why do I like this product?", Because I'm 32, and was brought up on electronic audio devices which required the user to insert a disc/record/tape into them in order to 'play' the information recorded therein. Or at least, that's my pet hypothesis.

This hypothesis gives me a reason as to why I dislike my I-pod: too much information without the effort of selecting something tangible from a rack/case and then using my fingers to place that piece of plastic into the appropriate playing device.

In any case, my NE410 was inexpensive (i.e., cheap). It's reliable. It's tough. And i reckon the sound quality is better than the I-pod mini and nano (which might not be saying much, but hey...)


"Such a good friend!", This player lasted me through many scary high school years. When it died, I was miserable.

Bad:
- bit bulkier than regular mp3 players.
- sonic stage was weird. Once I tried to put a file onto the player and the battery died. I did this twice until the checkout time remaining was 0. The file didn't even transfer and it thought I had burned the song three times.
- battery drains fast when burning. make sure you use rechargeable for your money, environment and your sanity.
- it's not totally waterproof. Keep it dry at all times.

Good:
- it's durable. I dropped it everywhere. Hardwood floors. Stairs. The pavement. Linoleum. Wooden desks. It kept playing like nothing happened. It developed scars and wear patterns on the finish (silver) but the screen never broke, and the functions/motor remained fully operational. It once got wet in the rain and stopped playing. I took it apart and let it dry for few days, put it pack together and it played like new. The second time when my water bottle opened in the bag the player was in it totally quit on me. It survived drowning. Once.
- It played in extreme weather conditions with no apparent battery wear.
- the battery life is amazing. While I switched players with my friends they'd say "okay, but don't wear out the battery".
But I never had to worry about the battery life. A fully charged battery would last in the very least five days. Once on a roadtrip I played it on full volume (30) for about five hours (with 20 min breaks every hour)and the next day the battery showed a 25% decrease in charge. Tuning out my parents and brother's music was never so much fun.
- it carries a lot. When at atrac3plus 64 kbps you can have about 70 songs on an 80 minute disc.
- your collection is forever expandable; you can get as many discs as you need.
-playlist making is ridiculously easy.
- you can reach into your pocket/bag/under your pillow and find the song you're looking for without looking at the screen. (you just need to remember the order your playlists are in so you can use the group button). And surely you agree those kids on the bus squinting at their player screen look inconvenienced.
- should your player die, you still have your collection on discs (which are super durable in themselves). Even if you get a hi-md player you can listen to the discs or reformat them to make them higher capacity.
Totally recommended. Plus, they're way cooler than mp3 players.

"It lasts but not for long", I first bought a Sony MD player, the same black one as shown here, three years ago. Shortly after, it broke because the insert where the Minidisks go stopped closing and opening and nothing could be done to fix this. Besides this problem, I was satisfied with the MD player's capacity and trusted that it was my inconsideration by which the player broke.

So, I bought a new one. This one lasted not even a year before a problem occured with it. This time the earphone jack isn't working. I can hear from one headphone but not the other with any headphones I use. This is horrible. Now I had to ducktape it so that it somewhat works.

If you're looking for a cheap alternative to classic MP3 players, then this is for you. Great capacity, ok sound quality, but let me warn you, if you're looking for something that lasts long, don't buy this because you'll be highly dissapointed.

"Cheap and cheerful", got this from a radio shack clearance sale for $30 whilst over in the US, was considering getting a newer Hi-MD player but a) couldn't find one b) $30 seemed a bargain, old tech or not

Main points:
Battery life is excellent - one of two main reasons i went for a minidisc player (other was physical seperation of my music from the player and computer, heard too many horror stories of mp3 players / hdrives busting and taking the music with them)

However, when transferring, it sucks the life out of batteries. Still, when just listening, I've had days out of one battery, when my wife can only manage about an afternoon on her iPod charge. I just don't see the point in a music player that can hold thousands of songs but only play a few hours worth before needing to be taken back to base for hours of recharging (or you need to drag the charger around with you as well).

Software - it came bundled with Sonicstage 1.5, but being an upgrade compulsive, I downloaded the new 3.3 version straightaway and it seems workable enough. On a par with iTunes 6.

headphones - the headphones it came with hurt, cutting in just above my ears and wouldn't stay in place. Get some new ones.

Capacity - 70 songs on 1 80-minute disc in max compression. Can hear noise at this level, (but not as annoying as the stutter my rubbish cd-drive added in when i was ripping songs in the first place)

File formats - only takes in atracs (converts mp3/wma to atrac)

All in all, a decent player, especially for what i paid, sound quality is ok, battery life great