I am pretty new to MiniDiscs but I've had several high quality cassette decks over the years. The 320 is a pretty bare bones unit, no remote or digital level, and a real pain to enter titles. But to me all that matters is the sound quality. I'd say that the unit is an amazing little device. I paid $185, on sale and I'm totally satisfied. I'd say it gives about 90 or 95 percent of original CD quality in an A/B comparison. Without the A/B comparison it is very satisfying, clear as a bell, detailed, and dynamic. I really think MD decks should be compared to a cassette though. Against a high quality cassette deck with a great metal tape, with Dolby S, I find it to be very close. But cassettes are prone to all sorts of problems and taping is an inexact art. That said, the Sony MDS-JE320 is a great machine. I can't see myself making any more cassettes. The 320 is a great way for beginners to get into MiniDisc. Now priced as low as $179 bucks, it is far more affordable and much more convenient then a component CD burner. It features a single line matrix display and a 25 element music calender. It has analog and digital inputs (one of each) and a analog record level control.

The unit comes with no remote, but the ir sensor is present. If you have a Sony receiver you can control all the basic functions of the deck (stop, play, track forward, record,etc.) however, one major drawback is that you cannot turn the power to the deck on or off via the receiver remote. I found this extremely inconvenient because if I am listening to the deck before I go to bed I have to get up to power it down. The editing is easier on this deck then the 520, because their is only one menu, the edit functions menu. The jog dial, character, and edit buttons are in a nice cluster which is easily in reach using one hand. To name using the jog dial you simply turn the jog dial to the letter you want (you press the character button to jump to capitol, small, or numbers) and then push the dial in to enter you selection. With practice you can learn to input characters really fast. All the Sony decks also have rehearsal mode which continuously repeats the part before the point you wish to divide a track, it then allows you to make very small adjustments on the exact point you wish to divide the track. That is a feature I cannot do without because I do a lot of recording off the radio.

It also has the time machine function, which stores 6 seconds of music in the memory buffer as soon as you press the record button. This is great if your recording off the radio and you don't know when the song is going to begin.

It features Sony's second newest ATRAC version 4.5 and if you record via the digital in, I can't tell the difference between the CD and the MD. This is a great beginners deck or if you want the convenience of MiniDisc without spending a lot of money. Well what can i say about this machine? The MDS-JE 320 is a basic minidisc recorder without to much buttons on the machine.It looks, sounds and is far greater than the price sony asks for it. When i bought this machine i offered myself up for a tour around some HIFI shops in my neighbourhood, and asked if this machine could perform the same basic tasks like erase, move, combine, devide and title input. In first some shops claimed it would only be a machine good enough for playing pre recorded mini-discs.

I now have this machine for about a halve year and i must say that it does all the above mentioned things, is a "woman friendly" machine (some girl firiends said óh what a cute machine!) and you can input titles via the menu buttons and the jog dail! Ok the machine lacks a stacked remote but i have this machine on "economy working hight in a audio rack, parked nearby a seat.

If you want a minidisc recorder and don't want too much of killing knobs, this machine might be the one you are looking for. It is stacked with atrac 4.5! has a 6 second record buffer, and plays and records on Maxell, Sony, TDK, BASF md's (other brands not tested but will proberbly be no problem). The fun is that i even takes a 80 minute md and will record the fully 80 minute and even some more seconds!

Yes, i am very sattisfied with this GREAT small MDS-JE 320 and will certainly recomend it , the price in Ducth Guilders were 399.-- so that you only can buy 6 - 10 year old cassette decks for the price , and than lack all the adicting fun of Minidisc. SONY, Thank you for the Music, fun and this GREAT machine. The only complaint I have about this unit is the lack of a digital output link. However, when I consider the fact that Sony sold it as a bundle package for $200.00 and included a free portable Minidisc player worth $150.00 if purchased separately, I'd say I have no real reason to gripe. The unit delivers a great sound, and I love the fact that you can edit your track listings after the recording is complete. As a starter unit I'd say this unit is excellent. I use mine to make master cd's of non-stop dance music. There are a couple of concerns I have which are pretty minor but concerns nonetheless. First, I've heard that Minidisc don't actually record true digital due to the way it stores the information on the disc. I also hear alot of jokes about Minidisc heading the way of Beta VCR tapes. I really hope this doesn't happen because I really believe in this medium. In summary, this unit is great to start out with, but if I could by it again, I would select a unit with an output optical link. I think that is a must for any Minidisc recorder. Pathetic Recorder! No headphones out, no play mode functions, no digital-out, no pitch control, etc... and worst of all, NO REMOTE!

This unit is missing A LOT of functions! It only has the VERY basic functions like Play, Pause, Stop, Record, jog dial, Fwd, Rew, FFwd, FRew... This unit is too lacking even for a beginner as anyone'd need functions beyond these! The only thing really worth mentioning about it is its very good sound quality and clarity. Other than a great amplifier chip, this unit has NOTHING!! If you are looking for a shelf recorder at least consider the 500 series and up. Of course cost price is definitely higher, but it wouldn't be something you would sell off eventually because it is too lacking in features! Pathetic Recorder! No headphones out, no play mode functions, no digital-out, no pitch control, etc... and worst of all, NO REMOTE!

Alvin, I'm forced to disagree with you on this one. I'm a DJ and I use a pair of Technics CD players and a pair of JE320s to DJ my mobile gigs (along with Technics 1200s for my club gigs). I LOVE the 320 - I use it just like a recordable CD player.

I've also tried several other models and have found that the 320 has the simplest editing functions I've found so far. The only things I would want from another player are an optical out, a remote (to make trac naming easier) and perhaps a headphone jack.

Things I really like:

Alvin also said: "If you are looking for a shelf recorder at least consider the 500 series and up." Of course cost price is definitely higher, but it wouldn't be something you would sell off eventually because it is too lacking in features!

If the 320 had a remote, I would definitely recommend it to a beginning MD person. Dont get me wrong, the JE440 has some nice bells and whistles (namely the remote, some added editing features like the fade in/fade out the ability to adjust levels on stuff you have already recorded) but, given my druthers, I'd stick with the 320. This is kind of a moot point as I believe Sony has stopped making the 320s :(