I got my Sony MZ-N505 personal MD player/recorder back in 2002. It was bought as a gift at Circuit City, including a 2-yr extended replacement plan, which means that they will replace the unit when something goes wrong. That plan is good until Nov.2004.
Unfortunately my MD recorder, which has operated flawlessly under heavy use, is having problems with it's "jog dial" buttons. When I press the buttons, they dont always do what they are supposed to. Like if I'm playing a track, and I want to stop it and press stop, often it wont stop, or it will advance to the next track. Its an annoying problem, especially when I'm listening to an MD with long tracks.
Anyway I was going to send it in (you cannot drop off at CC anymore,so the waiting game..) like in the plan, which would give me a credit of the full purchase price of the unit, so I can get another one.
Here's where the dilemma comes in. Circuit City doesn't carry any MD portables that can record audio. The three units they have (Psych, mz-n520D, and the new Hi-MD unit) only have USB inputs for the PC. Now how stupid is that? I use my MD to record off analog audio sources, often of radio stations, and my own dance mixes.
So those units can not serve my purpose.
So basically I will now have to go out and buy another portable MD recorder, because CC doesnt carry a unit that records from a stereo-mini jack. These major chains dont have much of a selection, it seems to get worse every year. They only carry 3 models (Best Buy only carries 2) of MD recorders.
Of course, I can use the credit for something else at Circuit City. But in the meantime I'm going to have to buy another MD recorder. Unless there's someway to "fix" the jog dial problem. I've tried canned air to remove dirt but its not working. Any ideas? Any ideas on the lowest priced, reliable MD recorders with MDLP? Sony still makes the S2 MD walkman (though its not sold at Circuit City anymore) as well as the MZN510, which both have line-in recording capability.
I know that Hi-MD is the newest thing, since it can hold alot more, but I generally dont use my MD's to store a ton of music (160min with LP2 is fine enough).
I think Sony was foolish to not include line-ins in their newest units. I guess they want to compete with iPod?