Sony MZ-RH910 Hi-MD Walkman Digital Music Player

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Price: $999.00   

Product Feature

• Skip-Free G-Protection technology for uninterrupted playback
• Five-line LCD screen for data display
• Huge song and data storage capacity with one GB Hi-MD disc
• Excellent recording and digitizing capabilities with mic input and line-in jack
• USB connectivity for 100x, high-speed file copying

Product Description

Sony's MZRH910 Hi-MD Walkman(R) Digital Music Player is like having a complete music library in your back or briefcase. Record from multiple sources or use the Self Recording Upload Feature. The large 6-line scrolling OLED display lets you see the full artist and albums name with song title. Expand your musical library with the Connect Store -- and get more enjoyment from it with the extended battery life. Compatible with Connect Music Store Expanded 5 Way Control Jog Dial(R) navigation ATRAC(Adaptive TRansform Acoustic Coding), ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus data compression Frequency Response - 20Hz-20KHz, +/-3dB Inputs - USB, Line in(mic/optical/analog), DC Outputs - Headphones Battery Life - Approx. 35 hrs continuous playback(ATRAC mode @ 64Kbps) with 1 AA battery Accepts AA alkaline or Ni-MH batteries Includes - dry battery case, AC power adaptor(AC-ES3010K2), USB cable, 1GB Hi-MD disc, Walkman(R) earbuds, 1 Connect Card, SonicStage Software CD-ROM, rechargeable battery Dimensions - 3 1/4 x 2 7/32 x 3 3/8 (80.2 x 20.7 x 84.3mm) Weight - 4 oz (112g) without battery

Sony MZ-RH910 Hi-MD Walkman Digital Music Player Review

This device can be used to:

- Listen to music i.e. instead of an ipod.

- Record audio (with a microphone, not included)

- Function as external disk, when connnected via USB to a PC.

It uses 1GB removable disks which sell for about $7 each (plus shipping). As a audio recording device, it is unique for its capabilities in this price range, and essentially substitutes for a DAT (digital audio tape). The device has a line-in and microphone analog inputs. You can record in one of the three formats: high compression (Hi-LP), low compression (Hi-SP), and uncompressed (Linear PCM). The recording times per disk are 34 hours (Hi-LP), 7 hrs 55 min (Hi-SP) and 1 hr 34 min (Linear PCM). The compressed formats are stored in a proprietary Atrac format developed by Sony, which are basically are only of use on this device. Thus most crucial and invaluable feature, however, is that for audio recordings made from an analog microphone, you can convert the recording to the open .wav format when you upload the recording to your computer. The upload requires the SonicStage software which comes bundled with the device. There is pointless restriction that you can only upload the audio file once to your PC, but then you can convert it to the open wav format (the uncompressed CD quality Windows format), and then you are home free--you can do whatever you want with the audio file i.e. make an unrestricted number of copies, copies of the copies, edit the file using sound software, burn CDs, whatever. The sound is exceptionally clear; I use the ECM-719 Sony microphone (this is great mic, the cable is almost 6 feet long however which is a little too long for my preference). I generally record at the Hi-SP level, and it sounds great. For no loss of fidelity due to compression, you can record uncompressed and still get 1.5 hours on a disc. The manual warns that the device should be plugged in when recording, due to high battery consumption while recording, but I have used it off the battery for short periods with no problem.

This device does incorporate SCMS (serial copy management system), which puts all kinds of restrictions on copying digital files. As mentioned previously, you can only upload your analog-source recordings once to a PC, which is not really a problem as long as nothing goes wrong during the upload, and there is no particular reason why it should. As far as MP3s or other digital music, you can load them onto the device, but you can't copy them again after that i.e. back to the computer. The MP3s are not converted to another format, this device can read them directly so there is no loss of quality. You can also copy uncompressed audio to this device, or you can compress it into the ATRAC format to save space. The highest quality compressed format is ATRAC3Plus, which reduces files size to about 20% of uncompressed, and sounds very, very good. It is supposedly better than the highest quality MP3. ATRAC3Plus is the format used by the Hi-SP recording mode also.

This device also has an extra battery holder which holds on AA battery an can power the unit in the event your rechargable battery fails. This is an exceptional feature; it means that as long as you bring some AA batteries with you, you will be able to power the unit.

The reliablity of the interchangable Hi-MD disks appears to be exceptionally good. They are basically infinitely re-recordable; Sony claims you can re-record 1 million times. They are encased in a well made enclosure, well protected unlike CD-RWs or DVD+RWs. I would guess they are much, much more reliable than CD-RWs and DVD+RWs. They are also quite compact, and make a good replacement for thumb drives, or can be used to back up files. For example, you can use it to back up the wav files from your recordings. Howevery audio files, copied directly to the Hi-MD disks cannot be listened to on the device, you have to download them using the SonicStage software. The songs you download are then placed into the some special files on the disks which contain the song catalog, and all the music--i.e. you cannot manage the songs/audio on the Hi-MD through the Windows file system. This was probably done because of the SCMS restrictions, to prevent from copying audio at will. This is an annoying restriction which means that if you want back ups of your audio on the Hi-MD disks, you must do extra work and consume extra disk space--i.e. backup your MP3 or wav files to the Hi-MD disks as Windows files (which cannot be listened to directly).

When the device is connected to your PC it gets power from the USB cable, and actually appears to even recharge the battery while connected. The LCD screen is adequate but has no backlight, Sony makes a lit version for the next model up from this one, for another $100. You need to basically angle the player reflect off the main light source to see the screen. This is not really a problem for me, but the lighted display is probably more convenient. The fit and finish, as with all Sony devices, is excellent. The battery life when used as a player is quite long, they claim up to 34 hours; reports on the internet report that 20+ hours is common.

In summary, the only downside to this device is the SCMS restrictions, but generally you can still do everything you want to do. In particular, you can record audio from a mic (or from any analog input using the line-in; i.e. old cassettes) and make unrestricted digital wav files out of them.

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