Sony MZ-NH900 Silver Hi-MiniDisc Walkman

AUDIO QUALITY
When I got mine, the first thing I did was to start recording CD's in HI-SP in fear that "64kps" equated to something similar to 96kps in Mp3 format (i.e. sounds like the radio). After having put 6 CD's on a disc and fallen in love with the device for how quick and naturally easy to use it was, I looked into the audio compression some more... Then promptly re-recorded my CD's in ATRAC3plus 64kps (HI-LP) - amazingly it's the equivalent of mp3 128kps.

Anyone who says different is either imagining noise or lying, here's a link that further explains the proof that HI-LP (ATRAC3plus 64kps) is equal in quality to MP3 128kps. http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html#r_q99

I recorded a hardcore track, a rock track and a jazz track all in both HI-SP and HI-LP onto mine, you could flick back and forth all day long and without looking you'd never know which copy was playing

Therefore expect to easily record tens of albums on a single 1Gb minidisc (one comes included which is really handy). 34 Albums is totally realistic at HI-LP. You really can reserve HI-SP for recording studio work or anything else where only the very highest quality recording is required.

SOFTWARE:
Having heard a few stories about NetMD's software I wasn't sure what to expect from SonicStage / MD Burner. But upon installing it I know one thing, it's amazing!

It works how you'd expect it to work, let's you do all the things you need to do - and then some more, like control the entire MD from your PC.

I personally like to use SonicStage for controlling my MD, like when I want to reorder the albums on a disc, or copy mp3's over to my MD. For copying CD's I find MD Burner brilliant, just put in the CD and it's detected, gets all the track info and then asks if you'd like to copy the CD to your MD player.

Copying a complete CD/album takes approx 3-4 minutes, but will be dependant on how fast your PC is etc. I know that you couldn't rip an album into Mp3 and copy it to a device in 4 minutes so on that basis you'll be stunned how quick SonicStage & MD Burner move data to your device.

2.0 of SonicStage is bundled with the device, but there is a 2.3 version available - other then a GUI colour change I haven't seen a massive difference between the two.

SPARE HARD DISK(s)
Plug your minidisk in and it instantly becomes an external hard disk drive. I used to use flash disks to move data round, now I just my minidisk. Think about it a 256Mb flash disk will set you back at least £20-30, a 1Gb minidisk costs around a fiver or less...... and you can have say 15 albums on a disc and still have hundreds of megabytes spare for moving your work round.

COMPARED TO iPOD
The MZ-NH900 is lighter then the 20Gb and 40Gb models of iPod. The minidisc has infinite capacity, if you fill one disc you only need to get another. But strangely the most useful feature for many people might be the Mic-In socket, just take it to a lecture or important meeting and hit record - even a disc with 20+ albums on can record hours of whatever you need recording. This is where iPods fall flat on flexibility, they have no Mic-In and for the student type or busy person with lots of meetings this facility is more essential then you might think.

iPod's also lack an optical input, the MZ-NH900 not only has an optical input but also comes with a free optical cable. For recording from a digital source "the right way".

Battery life is everything, what's the good in having 15,000 tracks if you can only listen to 8 hours of them? Again while iPod's is rated at 8-15 (so expect 8), this minidisc is rated at 23 hours and easily gets 15 from what I've used it for so far. The battery is easily rechargeable - but when it does eventually die it's also easily replaceable (remember the early iPod disaster with non-replaceable batteries!).

OTHER GREAT FEATURES
Digital Speed Control (+100% to -50%), this allows for a tracks speed to be changed without adjusting pitch. For any DJ that wants to mix in the odd track from CD this will save you a few hundred quid.

The configurable EQ is the other great feature; it has lots of pre-sets including virtual surround sound settings, but also lets you adjust the 6 bands manually to your own desire. Again it's the sort of feature that at first you don't use but over time come to love and wonder how you'd live without.

And finally, backwards compatibility, if like me you were an early adopter of minidisk all those old discs don't have to be chucked out - even better Hi-MD can double there capacity! This means you can get multiple albums even on plain 80min discs that are sold everywhere.

With Sony's new ATRC3plus compression method you can have high quality recordings (at 256Kbps) lasting nearly 8 hours.

The next recording level is HI-LP which uses a compression rate of 64Kbps. This may seem like a big drop down in quality, but with ATRC3plus's advanced compression methods, it is comparable to MP3 at 128Kbps. HI-LP is more than adequate for mobile listening, on the train, bus etc. The difference in quality is noticeable, but really not a problem.

On top of this, you can also convert your music to regular ATRAC3, which allows for compression rates of 132Kbps, for those of you who want something in between.

The biggest advantage the HI-MD player has over MP3 players is it's ability to record continuously with track marks. This is particularly important for mixed albums or the recording of a continuous source where track marks are required. There is no gap between tracks, whether they music is taken from a CD or whether the tracks are added after the recording of an external source.

Add to this the ability to use the player as a USB storage device, the ability to convert all recordings to whatever format you wish using your PC (using Sony's new FREE WAV converter tool) meaning you can then make your own MP3's, CD's etc. The long battery life (better than most MP3 players) and the ability to re-use those old minidiscs while still doubling their capacity.

The new HI-MD players are really an excellent buy, I can't recommend them enough!

Pros: light, looks great, has good controls & decent navigation on menus. Usual Sony high quality sound and it transfers CD/MP3/WMA audio very quickly (at 1 CD every 40secs u can pop round your mates' and leech their CD/MP3/WMA collections in an evening). Well equipped for recording and transferring to pc (I use it to record from turntables, the telly, CD player, guitars, samplers etc), the mic-in is very useful (check out the Sony ECM-DM5 microphone), and it also doubles up as a nifty and very useful portable pc storage drive. Jog protection works superbly - even when sk8boarding. And many, many more.

Cons: an AA battery case (kept within a supplied screw-on case) spoils the sleek lines but is essential for mobile use. SonicStage software is rubbish even on my Sony VAIO laptop which comes bundled with it (apparently Nero6 can be used to talk to Hi-MD). Rubbish earphones - difficult to believe the mighty Sony would put their badge on them. That's it for cons.

I'd rather have the flagship MZ-NH1 model, but only because it has got a radio & doesn't need an AA battery, but these gripes aside I'm extremely chuffed with the NH900. And, more importantly, its actually available in this country, altho only Amazon had any for sale :) Very Highly Recommended.

Why can't someone combine this with a decent mobile phone and something like an iPaq and help us all sort our lives out ...?