Hi Maynard, "MAYNARD" writes: >How much do the brands differ when it comes to Portable, Recordable >Mini Disk Players? In the $150 - $400 price bracket. >Which are the best and why? I think your question is of general interest, so I'm responding to the MD mailing list. Bear in mind that this is a simple summary of my opinions. Real, in depth comparisons have been taken on by several authors and I recommend reading them (see the MDCP equipment tables). I think the top-of-the line models from all the manufacturers (Sharp, Sony, Aiwa, JVC, and Panasonic) do not differ significantly in build quality, sound quality, or price, but list prices of recent top-of-the-line models seem to be coming down. Sharp and Sony have both introduced low cost AA drycell models (Sony MZ-R37 and MZ-R70, Sharp MD-MT15/16/20/21(?) and MD-MT50). The low cost versions will have no loss of sound quality, but are bulkier than their rechargeable brethren and may be made of cheaper materials. Sony gear seems to offer the fewest "cool" features and the highest prices, nonetheless their units appear to lead in overall desirability. I think this is due to their attention to so many details: build quality, human factors (END SEARCH being one painful exception), design standards, and appearance. Sharp gear to me has the "We're Avis, we try harder!" feel. More cool features, lower prices, maybe more bang for your buck. Their styling has always seemed a bit over-the-top to me however. I have always thought of Aiwa gear as the real "hackers" equipment. Many interesting submodes with features not found on any other equipment (e.g. backlit buttons, AGC *and* on the fly controllable manual rec. level control). Sometimes they have been reported to have manufacturing quirks (strange hiss in some AM-F70 units). I'm not saying their units are flakey, but I can imagine that Sony is hard to beat in terms of quality control. That's a tiny summary of my feelings about current machines. I think to get an accurate picture you'd have to ask many more users. I should also add that I have not played much with any of the modern Aiwa's, so my sense about them may not be quite right. Best of luck choosing a machine! I don't think you'll be unhappy with any of the modern recorders. Regards, Rick ----------------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
