The Sony MZ-R900 Recordable MiniDisc Walkman is one smart-looking player. It sports a full metal jacket and a plethora of buttons and controls. It’s incredibly small too; you have to wonder where all the electronics are. There’s a remote, complete with LCD screen and a comprehensive set of controls. This is a little too chunky to let dangle though, so there’s a clip on the back to attach it to your clothing. There’s a smart rotary control, which is neat, but really needs two hands to operate. The small buttons can be awkward, when trying to name a long list of tracks for example.
Sony claims it will play back for up to 66 hours, which is a tad optimistic, especially when you start playing with all the features. It does have an exceptionally long battery life though, thanks to its low-power electronics. There’s an internal rechargeable battery or you can use normal batteries with a little clip-on unit.
This player has just about every feature currently available on any Portable MiniDisc player. It’s a full recording player, supporting LP2 and LP4 long play modes, although LP4 does mean a noticeable degradation in music quality. It’ll record from both digital and analogue sources. There’s a bit-rate converter so any digital source will do. Recording from analogue requires a special cable, which is just about the only accessory not supplied. There’s also Sony’s G-Protection system to stop skipping, which is excellent. All these functions inevitably mean you’re going to need to refer to the manual a lot initially, but the documentation is sufficient and readable enough that this is a painless exercise.
The MZ-R900 is a state-of-the-art player. It looks good, performs superbly and is well-built. If you are looking for a high-end MiniDisc player, then this model should definitely be at the top of your shopping list–Miles Berkeley
- Built-In Radio: No
- CD Player: no
- CD Player / Recorder: No
- Category: Portable
- DAB: No
- DAB Broadcast: no
- Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB): No
- Digital System: Minidisc
- Long play: no
- Longplay: no
- MD Longplay: Yes
- MD Type: MD Standard
- MP3 Playback: No
- MP3 Player: no
- MP3 Recording: no
- PC Connection: No
- Record Function: yes
- Recording Function: Yes
- Table / Portable: Portable
- Table/Portable: Portable
- USB Stick: no
- Width (mm): 79
- Year of Introduction: 2001