Sony MZ-DH710 Hi-MD Walkman Digital Music Player

by Sony

Product Details

• Item Weight: 3.8 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0007Y6AL2
• Item model number: MZDH710
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Sony has created a great, compact digital music player with the MZ-DH710 Hi-MD Walkman Digital Music Player. Music is stored on Hi-MD discs -- one GB of storage equals over 600 songs (depending on file format). You can easily expand your music storage with additional discs. They are available for only a few dollars, so increasing your storage capacity is affordable. The MZ-DH710 is also backward compatible with the standard MiniDisc media discs.

The three-line LCD screen lets you know what's playing -- the display provides album, artist, and song title. This recorder also comes equipped with Skip-Free G-Protection technology which provides virtually uninterrupted playback of your music. Music on the go has never been better!

Sony had the digital music lover in mind when they built this player -- it is highly compatible with your PC. With the included software you can transfer files from your PC to the MZ-DH710, and vice versa, at a break-neck, 100x transfer speed. And while you're doing this you won't have to worry about your digital music player's battery life -- the USB cable will power the unit when transferring music. Speaking of battery life, you can expect up to 19.5 hours of continuous playback with a single AA battery.

If you already have extensive music libraries, use the included software to store and play back your collection of MP3s. On the other hand, if you're just getting into digital music and downloading, Sony's ATRAC format provides higher sound quality with smaller sizes than many competing formats. This enables you to store more music and have longer listening times. And the system allows you to play back the most popular Internet audio formats, including WMA and WAV files, with quick, easy conversion to ATRAC.

What's in the Box
MZ-DH710 Hi-MD Walkman, Walkman earbuds, SonicStage software, and USB cable.

Product Description

Sony's MZDH710 Hi-MD Walkman(R) Digital Music Player delivers massive amounts of storage in a very portable format. Each Hi-MD MiniDisc can store up to 1GB of file and music. Carry around massive amount of audio or datawith you -- and enjoy listening to it anywhere, with the longer battery life. Compatible with the Connect Music Store ATRAC (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding), ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus data compression Sampling Frequency - 44.1 kHz Frequency Response - 20Hz-20KHz, +/-3dB Input - USB Battery Life - Approx. 20 hours continuous playback (in ATRAC3plus @ 66Kbps) with 1 AA battery Dimensions - 3 3/8 x 1 3/16 x 3 1/8 (83.6 x 29.5 x 77.0mm) Weight - 3.6 oz (107g) without battery Accessories Included - Walkman(R) Earbuds, USB cable, SonicStage Software CD-ROM

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Improved Software and updated (solid) Hardware, August 8, 2005

By 

Jack "bdcu" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony MZ-DH710 Hi-MD Walkman Digital Music Player (Electronics)

The MZ-DH710 is the 2nd generation entry level HiMD, successor to the MZ-NH600D, much praised for the audio quality but bashed for the software. I got mine for under a hundred shipped at amazon.com.

Hardware-wise, MP3 playback is native, so it's only transferred to the unit rather than being recompressed with ATRAC - much faster. Sharing the technologies with step ups RH10/RH910 and predecessor NH600D, I suspect that Sony uses the same high standard LSI circuits rather than redesigning an inferior chip especially for this price range. The main difference between the step up models would be mic and optical/line inputs - they can all write on the MD (MO-technology) and are USB Storge Class devices. The Walkman runs fine on NiMH batteries, although the specs imply that only Alkalines work. The included MDR-E808LP earphones are poor and "muddy", though, and no way reflect the potential quality with better headphones.

Software-wise, Sonicstage 3.2 is the latest version, and addresses many of the past criticisms. DRM on home-ripped CD is optional, that means you can include as many copies of a song that you own in multiple mix discs (I just think of each $6 disc as 1GB, physically swappable and portable folders). It even handles Asian characters (Traditional Chinese) properly in "My Library", although you'll need the step up model RH910 to view them on unit.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great unit., July 13, 2005

By 

Joel Pomales - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sony MZ-DH710 Hi-MD Walkman Digital Music Player (Electronics)

I was looking for a nice alternative to the ubiquitous iPod. My objective was simple: no moving parts. After scouring the web for alternatives I set my sight upon MiniDiscs. MD's are the type of technology that is often overlooked. This unit is great. You can't beat its battery life (close to two weeks or more with regular use). There are no moving parts, so if the unit falls (has done it twice) the music and the media is safe. Carrying MD's is a hassle in today's age of tiny Hard Drives and Flash memory, but the media's versatility offsets this. For example, I've three HI-MD discs (3Gb's worth of data). A disc for Podcasts, a disc for music and a disc for data. I've had at any given time close to 10 Podcasts of different sizes on the disc. I guess I can probably squeeze a month's worth of 'casts here.

Now for the negatives: Sony's SonicStage software is plain bad. Is manageable, but bad. Don't expect iTunes like funcionallity. Having to convert to ATRAC format (which is not necessary since MP3 is supported natively by the unit) is a double edged sword. ATRAC wraps Sony's DRM around the data and adds an extra step to the synchronization process. However, it takes MP3's and cuts them to size. The unit's tiny screen is troublesome to read for lenghty titles. Although it scrolls at a good rate, and it's not lighted. USB data transfers from the PC are molasses slow. But the unit can double as a backp device in a pinch.

I would recommend this unit if you're after a nice, cheap alternative to other players, check this unit out. I'm happy with this puppy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beats the heck out of an iPod, September 7, 2006

By 

Robert Slater (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sony MZ-DH710 Hi-MD Walkman Digital Music Player (Electronics)

I bought this player last year. Not only is the sound far, far superior to that of an iPod, the Atrac 3+/Open MG file format is superior. It's like a half-bitrate MP3 with greater sound quality! At 48kbps with Open MG/Atrac 3+, the sound quality is only slightly below that of a CD. With a file 1/4 to 1/3 the size of an 192 or 128 kbps MP3 respectively, the 1GB disk suddenly gets a whole lot bigger. I was able to fit every Metallica, Pantera, Offspring, and Black Sabbath album I own (just about every one) on to one disk.

Did I mention this thing is durable? After owning it for one year, it's been through a deployment to Egypt, constant Army training in the sandy, windy, hellish Southern New Mexico desert, and it still works like the day I got it. I've dropped it so many times that I've lost count, but it still ticks like a timex. I just laugh every time I hear a buddy cry about a broken iPod screen, battery, charger, or something else. They pay more than this costs just to fix it. Lack of a charger is a great thing here. I get over 20 hours of playtime from one AA. Factor in a costly iPod battery replacement 2-3 years down the road and you'll still probably save money by going with a regular alkaline.

One of the greatest things about Hi-MD players is that you don't need the rights to every song you load. Just upload your collection directly on to the device, no hassle. Why Sony hasn't trown in an ad campaign for this is far beyond me, but they're definately getting noticed by word of mouth. I'll take a superior $200 player to an inferior $400 player and pay $4.50 for disks any day.

The only thing I didn't like about this device was the load time of the songs. Considering the fact that I spend long periods of time on the PC anyway, I just set it up when I hop on and it's still done before I know it. The once problematic Sonic Stage software now works just fine after a couple updates last year, and I haven't had any recurring problems with it.