Sony MZ-NF810CK Net MD MiniDisc Recorder with Car Kit

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Product Details

Product Manual [3.16mb PDF]

• Item Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000092Q9R
• Item model number: MZ-NF810CK
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #67,136 in Electronics (See Bestsellers in Electronics)

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  #15 in	Electronics > Home Audio & Theater > Minidisc Players & Recorders > Component Players & Recorders
  #26 in	Electronics > Portable Audio & Video > Minidisc Players

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 1, 2003

Product Description

From the Manufacturer
Sony's Sony MZ-NF810CK Net MD MiniDisc Recorder with Car Kit is a great fit for active lifestyles. So start listening now. Record your MP3s or CDs at up to 32x the speed, and store over 5 hours of music on one 80 minute disc using MDLP long time stereo playback. The AM/FM/TV/Weather tuner remote enables direct access to the player's AM/FM/TV and weather stations with a stereo mini-jack on the remote for headphones. The supplied car kit accessories allow you to connect your NetMD in your car! Additional features include the charging stand and rechargeable battery, multiple audio format playback (ATRAC3 Audio, MP3, WMA, WAV), and music management software. All these features and more make this digital choice simple--the MZ-NF810CK.

Features:

 
• AM/FM/TV/Weather Tuner Remote provides direct access to the player's AM/FM/TV/and weather stations and has stereo mini-jack on remote for headphones
• Car Kit Accessories easily connects in vehicle for use in car
• Charging Stand and rechargeable battery let you easily access the Net MD recorder and recharge the supplied rechargeable battery by simply placing the Net MD player into the charging stand (stand is powered by the supplied AC adapter)
• Included Mic Jack allows the ability to plug in an external mic for recording business meetings or lectures onto a MiniDisc
• Bookmark Function lets you mark sections of disc for easy retrieval and playback of your favorite songs
• Record your MP3s or CDs at up to 32x speed. Net MD products provide high speed transfer of your music from your PC directly to your Net MD recorder. The title/track information you create in the jukebox automatically will be transferred to the Net MD Recorder
• Ability to Record from Multiple Sources including PC, portable CD player, home CD unit and radio, making this a most versatile system
• Utilizes Affordable MD Media. Choose your recording level preference (LP2 or LP4). Store over 5 hours of music on one 80 minute disc using LP4 mode. MiniDiscs are re-recordable, scratch-resistant, low-cost, high-capacity media
• Plays Back in ATRAC3 and supports multiple internet audio formats (MP3, WMA, WAV)
• Up to 82 Hours Continuous Playback using supplied rechargeable battery (LP4 mode) is made possible by advanced technology that extends battery life beyond previous limits
• MDLP Long Time Stereo Playback (up to 320 minutes/more than 5 hours in LP4 mode) of music on one 80 minute disc plays back music recorded in LP2 mode for over 2 hours of music storage or in LP4 mode for over 5 hours of music storage
• Music Management Software supplied to manage and store your digital music files (MP3s and your CDs), make custom playlists, and transfer music directly to your Net MD player
• SonicStage Software and Net MD Simple Burner Application Included. SonicStage is a music management application that enables you to rip, import, and transfer your digital music files to the Net MD recorder. The Net MD simple burner application enables you to dub your CD tracks directly to your Net MD recorder using your CD-ROM drive. This gives you all the music you want without storing music on your hard drive
• Compatible with RealOne Player--RealOne is a music management system which lets you download, create playlists, and transfer music to your Net MD
• Skip Free G-Protection Technology adds shock protection to the pick-up mechanism, thereby minimizing the loss of position. Skip-Free G-Protection technology continues to provide quick recovery from both horizontal and vertical shock
• "Easy Skip" Group/Folder Function allows for easy navigation between multiple file folders transferred from playlist
• 6 Band Graphic Equalizer (4 preset/2 custom) gives the user more flexibility in choosing which sound setting best suits the music. The 4 preset sound settings are Heavy, Pop, Jazz, and Walkman Unique. There are also 2 custom settings
• Acoustic Sound Settings create different listening environments by digitally adjusting sound resonation. The 4 preset listening environments are Studio, Live, Club, and Arena
• Multiple Playback Modes: Normal--all repeat, 1 track, 1 track repeat, shuffle, shuffle repeat, program, program repeat; Group--all repeat in a group, 1 track in a group, 1 track repeat in a group, shuffle in a group, shuffle repeat in a group, program 1 in a group, program repeat in a group; or lets you play through a MiniDisc from start to end
• Format: Digital Audio MiniDisc System
• Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz
• Data Compression Method (Coding): ATRAC/ATRAC3 (Adaptive Transform Acoustic Coding)
• Frequency Response: 20-20,000Hz +/-3dB
• Wow and Flutter: Unmeasurable
• Inputs: DC In 3V, USB (2.0 full speed), Optical Line In (stereo mini jack), Mic In (plug-in power, stereo-mini), USB (2.0 full speed)
• Outputs: Headphones/Remote (stereo mini)
• Power Requirements: AC-ET305K AC Adaptor (supplied), NC-10WM Rechargeable Battery (supplied), DCC-E230 Car Battery Cord (supplied), "AA" Alkaline Battery x 1 (optional)
• Battery Life (approx.): SP (Normal Stereo): NC-10WMAA--5 hrs record, 17 hrs playback; 1 x "AA" Alkaline--10 hrs record, 39 hrs playback; NH-WMAA w/1 x "AA" Alkaline--23 hrs record, 60 hrs playback; LP2 Mode: NC-10WMAA--7 hrs record, 20 hrs playback; 1 x "AA" Alkaline--13 hrs record, 45 hrs playback; NH-WMAA w/1 x "AA" Alkaline--31 hrs record, 67 hrs playback; LP4 Mode: NH-10WMAA--10 hrs record, 24 hrs playback; 1 x "AA" Alkaline--16 hrs record, 53 hrs playback; NH-WMAA w/1 x "AA" Alkaline--38 hrs record, 82 hrs playback
• Color: Silver
• Supplied Accessories: AC-ET305K AC Power Adaptor, Battery Charging Stand, NH-10WM Rechargeable Battery, RM-MC37LT Tuner Remote, MDR-027SP Stereo Headphones, Dry Battery Case (for 1 x AA"), Digital Cord, SonicStage ver. 1.5 CD-ROM with Net MD Simple Burner Software, USB Cable, Car Cassette Adapter, Car Battery Cord, Car Remote Commander Remote Control, Case with Velcro Tape, Plastic Tube
• Dimensions (W x H x D): 3-3/16" x 3" x 13/16" (81 x 74.4 x 20 mm)
• Weight: 3.8 oz (108 g) without battery

Product Description
Net MD Recorder and Player / Comes with tuner & cradle / AM-FM-TV-Weather bands / Car Kit included

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great quality product, August 10, 2003

By	Dan B (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

Build Quality

The Sony Minidisc NF810CK looks incredibly nice, as you can see from the pictures. Holding it in your hand it's even better, with a silvery gloss on the main casing and reflective buttons. It feels solid in your hand, and it's heavy for its size when the battery and minidisc are in. I've dropped it about a foot onto my desk already, it interrupted the song transfer that was happening but I was able to start again with no problems.

The remote appears to be of slightly less quality build, being mostly plastic and light, but it works and looks good.

Functionality

The small LCD screen on the front shows many things, most commonly a scrolling text display, a rotating disc to show that it is playing\recording, a one line bar that expands with the beat of your songs, and rotates to show progress in song transfer, song time remaining, LP2 or LP4, and many other smaller displays. The menu system is simple, but it works. Play is enter, and around the play button is a circular button for volume up\down, and next\previous song. On the remote is a slider for next\previous song, and to play\pause a song you push the slider in. The LCD on the remote shows most things that the LCD on the player show, except the beat visualization.

Changing songs, fast forwarding, and pausing\playing is really, really easy on with the remote, and instantly the name of the currently playing song is displayed on the remote. The search times on this minidisc player are short and I am impressed.

Sound Quality

Good and bad. First the good, the equalizer provided ACTUALLY WORKS. I love it. I can fine tune the sound output with the 2 custom equalizer settings. It is only 6 band but it works very well and makes a huge difference. The sound quality with $[...]sony headphones is what you would expect, and the provided earbuds are not great. You'd be better off using a good pair of headphones to take advantage of the sound quality offered by the player.

The bad. The maximum volume is just barely acceptable so that I do not need to take it back. For most of my songs it is good, but for some of my favorite tracks I like to have them ear-bleedingly loud. With the volume cranked, it's just barely loud enough. My hearing is slightly shot because of playing music too loud, so I doubt anyone else would have a real problem. The bass is good, but not great. If you fiddle with the equalizer enough you should be able to get the bass\treble exactly where you want it.

Accessories

This is what made me choose over the 10gb iPod. It come with 2 (yes, two) carrying cases, one with a belt clip, one with velcro. Both are very good quality. Decent earbud headphones. Average quality. As I said earlier, you would be better off plunking down and additional $[...] for some denon headphones to take advantage. Car tape kid, complete with car remote that you stick to your dash. This is an awesome accessory, it works well. The battery provided is very small, a few millimeters thick and a couple inches long. It has a long life, and it's made by sony. Good call with this one sony. The cradle is simple looking, translucent black, with a plug-in at the bottom for the ac adapter. As long as there's no tension on the USB cable or AC adapter it stays put, and looks pretty cool too. I've already talked about the remote so I won't here. I am very impressed with the accessories provdided, except IT COMES WITH NO MINIDISCS!! NOT ONE! I had to go buy a few. It's not a huge deal but come on, I expected at least one to get going with.

Software

I really don't understand why everyone is griping about the software. You import your songs into it so they are in the database, and then you check in \ check out to the player. CLARIFICATION ON THE CHECK IN\OUT PROCEDURE!!! All this means is that, when you check out a song onto a minidisc, it's been checked out once. You can check out a song on up to 3 different discs. If you want to put a song on another disc, you'll have to check in the song from a previous disc. Is this a big deal? NO! It is simply to prevent piracy, and I don't think this is unreasonable at all of sony to ask of us. Why would you need the same song on more than 3 discs? I wouldn't. Back to the software. When the player is connected, you can create groups (these are very hand) on the fly. Checking in (taking a song off a disc) takes about 1-3 seconds, and checking out (putting a song onto a disc) takes about 5-10, in LP2 (high quality) mode. I put an entire CD onto one disc, it only took a few minutes. To sum things up, transferring music is easy, fast, and stable. The software has not crashed on me yet, and it looks pretty cool too.

Final Conclusion

It was either this player or an iPod. Both have pros and cons... I couldn't really understand needing such a large volume of songs with the iPod. It's a bit larger, doesn't come with a cool LCD remote, no cradle, no case... Both products are very good quality made by quality companies. If you need a MASSIVE amount of songs on the go, then the iPod is the way to go. But when you can fit 2 or 3 (at least) CD's in high quality mode on one minidisc, what is the need... I understand the iPod can also function as a pseudo-PDA, which I do not need whatsoever.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good., July 16, 2003

By	"reyreyes23" (Broomfield, CO United States) - See all my reviews

I've had this for 3 weeks now and I'm quite pleased with it. As of now, this is the only Net MD portable from Sony that has an AM/FM/TV and Weather band tuner, Car Kit, AND mic input jack with plug in power feature that uses the MD deck to power up the mic(The MZ-NF610 does not. You have to use the line in jack with a mic that has it's own power supply).
It also comes with a charging stand to charge the rechargeable battery. I tested the radio and MD playback for 8 hours straight each and the battery held it's charge. Very good.
A dry battery case is also provided so you can use an alkaline battery along with the rechargeable one to double the playback/recording time of your player. A nice plus. The only gripe I have about this is that the remote control is not backlit (Don't let the picture of the illuminated remote mislead you. It is not)
Great for recording digital/analog(music) sources as well as live sounds (concerts, lectures, meetings).
So if you're looking for a great all in one MD portable at a reasonal price I highly recommend the MZ-NF810CK.

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy if you need to record, May 4, 2004

By	Thomas J. Busse "Gibarian" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This player has no way of transferring things you record onto another Computer or even other media. It has, as my reviewer colleague explains, no line out.

I bought this as I am a professional musician, and I want to record and archive rehearsals, etc. It was sold with a microphone(which I didn't buy) for that purpose.

The manual says this, but it is on page 72 in 8 point font in a footnote. The advertizing is misleading, as it says you can "check in" tracks.

The whole promise of MD devices was that you could do everything on them a CD couldn't do--like record. This lack of feature effectivly prevents you from recording, because you can never get the recording off the Mini Disc. In fact, for all the great editing tools that are advertised with this device, you cannot even edit the recording live.

The only solution is to plug it into a ripper. This converts the digital signal to analog, effectivly wasting the whole point of using digital media in the first place.