component players and recorders

This is a great unit- I bought a sony mini disc player 6 years ago which just started to give problems (having dropped it many times)so i had to get a new one. This B100 as a great replacement. It is so convenient to have the ability to record and play-back all on one unit-no cords.

Cons.

No lighted display!

This makes it impossible to read even in dimmly lit environments and obviously an oversight on sony's part.

That said, however, an excellent unit, great features and performance

...As a journalist of 25 years experience, I have tried just about every cassette/microcassette/solid-state handheld field recorder out there. Too well do I know the hearbreak of getting back from a day of great interviews to find nothing but a hiss, or hum, or worst of all, a mumble that you cannot quite make out. This recorder solves all of those problems. It is very easy to see that it is recording -- a red light flashes -- which is reassuring while the interview is in progress. It can record for five hours, more than enough for the average reporting day. The media is removable, which means you can tuck the minidisc in a folder and transcribe it later (not possible with the new batch of solid-state microchip recorders). Battery life is fabulous, advertised at 45 hours and I believe it, the battery never seems to give up. It has a nice variable-speed playback feature, so you can run it at 80 percent speed and thus keep up while transcribing. Only minor quibble is that the review feature has a delay...if you want to back up a few seconds to catch a missed word, you have to wait about five seconds for the backing up to begin. Anyway, this thing is not cheap, but if it salvages one interview that would otherwise be lost, it will be more than worth it to the working journalist. I use it for print, but I understand that minidisc is becoming the media of choice for in-the-field radio reporters. I believe it: the sound that comes out of this thing is just plain perfect.

I had recently purchased a Mini disc recorder from the guitar center. It's advertised as a songwriters dream. In a box you get the md recorder, mic, headphones etc. I thought to my self,all these damn cords all the time! with todays technology and demand why hasn't anybody developed a md recorder with built in stereo microphones (along with an optional mic jack), built in speaker (along with an optonal headphone jack)And a variable pitch control (very important). Well, I did some deep research and found that the only way to find such a product was to take a look at sony's line of md recorders and see if there on the ball. Sure enough to my amazement I found the Mz B-100 a buisiness recorder with all the features I'd desired plus more. Except, it's advertised only as a journalists tool. This little bad boy is a songwriters dream for It's quick inspiration and exceptional surround sound quality (if you want). Mono or stereo and two more mega bass boost settings are available. It has a high/low mic sensitivity button. The stereo mics are labeled left and right on each side of the recorder and are by no means a toy, they sound fantastic and I haven't even tried it with an external stereo mic yet,I could only imagine. And the speaker works well enough to monitor your meanderings in quieter setting(not in crowds). You can also monitor while your recording to get the best mic placement with the supplied earphones that are great. Or even better yet, try monitoring at home with a set of professional studio headphones...incredible! It also has an input for an optical cable if you desire to hook it up to a cd player or multitrack recorder. And it has a power supply jack, contrary to the advertised specs. Also You can label each track or pass. And The recording time and battery life are great. It's just an awesome little heavyweight! (can you tell I'm impressed?) Now a few little NEGS and believe me there just a few little ones. The carrying case is rather useless. The only thing it might do is protect the finish, that's it! Besides that, I've seen better carrying pouches that come with more inexpensive ones, I think in considering it's application, a padded case would have been more deserving... besides, I always accidentally hit record when I grab the carrying pouch (not good). And Considering the price of the machine, A display screen that lights up is invaluable to the journalist. Definetely an overseen feature available on lesser md recorders. Another problem is a few of the buttons are rather tiny. I have a very small hand and even I find it difficult to press some of the buttons such as erase, edit/memo, display, etc. Apart from that, It's a powerhouse of a tool. Still amazed that Sony isn't pitching it to the music retailers.