Good player bar the sound. (Sony MD Walkman MZ-E900)

Member Name: dr_doolittle

Product:	Sony MD Walkman MZ-E900
Date:	03/06/03 (168 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very Small, Wont break easily, Looks good

Disadvantages: No "megabass", Cant record, Small unit buttons

The Sony MZ E900 is very small. Its as thick as 2 or three minidiscs and the almost the same flat area. Im fortunate to test this for a few weeks whilst my other one is in for repair.

The main unit is like solid metal. Feels and weighs like solid metal which is useful because I know its not going to break like the last few minidiscs Ive had.

Most of the functions are accessed from the remote.

PROS
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Looks and feels great. Probably the best looking minidisc player ever. Available in black/blue and silver, and silver.
Slim, fits into any pocket.
LP2/LP4 playback. (thats long play recorded discs)
Plays NETMD discs nicely, can barely tell the difference between Type R and old discs.
Can Program a disc to play different tracks in sequence, random tracks and repeat
The memory is just for sound settings and some other nonsense.
The text on the remote is about 7/8 charactes long, but there is no display on the main unit.
The buttons are very small on the side of the main unit, and therefore difficult to operate the unit without the remote.
The remote is nice to use for sport, especially at night where the remote backlight comes in use. There is a "hold" function on the remote and the unit.
G-protection meaning you can shake it vigorously and it still plays.
The overall volume output of the unit is great, much louder than some of the other units Ive had.
The internal battery lasts for 24 hours continous use when charged for 30 minutes.
Can plug headphones into the remote or directly into the main unit.

CONS
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Doesnt record. You will need a recorder
Non standard battery, Sony could have used AAAs instead.
The sound adjustments.. The sound is a dissappointment for something so cool and stylish as this. You are given two presets and you can vary the level of bass and treble for each one , but thats all. It sounds slightly worse than megabass w
hich sounds slightly more harmonic. The bass offered on this unit feels around 100kHz, and it doesnt cost much to add a few more equalising bands.

What else, theres an operation light, AVLS which i never use and a "converter" which adapts AA batteries to the unit. This convertor is slightly bulky to carry around and remains in the box.

MANUAL - nicely written and succint, will allow operation in minutes for most people.

The price seems to have depreciated drastically for the MZ E900 since its release around 2000. Newer players dont do much more, and with durability and style of this one, its difficult to see why. Prices have dropped from around 250 pound to 110 in selected outlets.

ADVANCED information
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The optical head seems to be incredible, it plays the most dirty discs i have in my possession, including some TDK ones that have almost ripped to shreds.

The remote will display track titles, album titles and all NETMD information.
Other sony remotes with 4 pins work with this as well.

Pop up eject is very firm and can be done during operation. Nice to use metal pop up button adds a nice touch.

Cant see how long tracks are whilst flicking through them on the remote.

Seek time is about 1 second depending on the amount of dust on the disc. Theres some newer units that store the first few seconds of each track.

The box includes a rechargeable battery, adaptor unit, manual, headphones (which arent too bad but short), remote, main unit, manuals and a AA convertor.

Summary: