As to the battery life, the unit provides 11-12+ hours of battery life for playback which is comparable to the Sharp MT-831. The record time of 6.5 hours is a little shorter than the Sharp MT-831, however it should be sufficient for most people. One feature I don't like is that you can NOT recharge and playback at the same time, however it only takes approximately 3 hours to charge a completely depleted battery which is average.

When using the remote you will be able to use a standard 1/8 earbuds/headphones. Buttons on the remote include: forward, reverse, stop, volume, pause, playmode, hold, and display. Most of the buttons on the remote are straight forward and easy to use.

Most people are interested in the sound quality of this unit. The sound quality on the MZ-R90 is very good to excellent. There are only 3 bass modes including the off setting. The bass with the included earbuds (Japanese version) however aren't boomy.

Unlike the Aiwa AM-F70 or AM-F80, the LCD is not backlit. It does display the basic functions such as the meter, spinning minidisc, battery life, track time and track number without having to go through the menu to change the display. It is however very small in size compared to the Sharp MT-831 when one holds them next to each other.

The Sony MZ-R90 is very well built. I was a little worried that the unit would not be well built. There is very little plastic on the unit with the exception of the battery door which is made of plastic. The color is a bright silver and is a lot nicer than the Sharp MT-831's color.

The buttons on the unit are flat silver colored. They are very nice and small like the Sony MZ-R55. Sony still keeps the "end search" and "track mark" button on the unit. The stop button like the MZ-R55 doubles as the charge button while charging.

One thing different than other units is that the Sony MZ-R90 now uses a menu system to operate any of the functions you need. To get into the menu you must press "Enter" which can be done by pressing in on the lever. Once you have done that the words "Edit" will flash. Now by pressing up or down with the lever, you can scroll through 6 main options. These options include: a) Edit b) Display c) Playmode d) Audio out e) Mega Bass f) AVLS. The Sony MZ-R90 is also the first unit with two new titling features: "Joint text" which allows you to copy text from your portable CD player. You must however have the correct CD player to operate this function and "Name Bank" which allows you to store commonly used phrases and recall the phrases when needed.

Overall, I am impressed with what Sony has to offer. The Sony MZ-R90 is an improvement over the MZ-R55. I'm not sure a 1st time user will really like the menu option. I found that the most inconvenient thing on the unit. Other than that, the unit is awesome in size. If your a big fan of the Sharp, I'm not sure if you'll like the MZ-R90. However, if you're a user of any of Sony's portable recorders, I think you'll be happy to see what the MZ-R90 has to offer. If you own the MZ-R55, I suggest upgrading to the MZ-R90. The battery life is so much better than the MZ-R55. My conclusion is that the unit is a very nice unit that many people will enjoy having. I have had minidisc for about 3 years now. The first was my beloved R30 and now recently I decided to uprade it to a R90 since it only cost me about $300 over the internet.

The R90 is about 2 discs on top of eachother big, with their cases on. It is, for now 3/3-00, the worlds smallest and lightest recorder available.

Though I'm very pleased with the unit I have comment some things. vFirst, the batterylife is NOT 12.5h playback. I ran a test and found it was only 10.5h. During the test I had full bas, 90% volume and shuffle mode. The disc being played was exactly 74.59min long and I never touched it during the test.

The jogdial seems reversed and backwards. The jogdial is placed on the left side of the unit (when looking at it) making titling a little more difficult, not much though. BUT when your going to choose letter, next letter is being selected by moving the lever up and not down. Making it more difficult to title. And if we then compare it to older models, like R50 or R30. It is a JOGLEVER and not a JOGDIAL. A real jogdial would have made life easier. On the R30, I managed to title a whole disc (20 tracks, both group and songname) in 20-30min) Nów it takes me about 40min. Which could be annoying. But theres a real nice feature here. NAME BANK. Here you can store up to 600 characters or 40 banks 10character each worth of text. These text can thereafter be added when you title. Pretty neat.

Everything is made from menus, using the jogdial. This will take longer to choose playmodes, rec modes display etc on the unit. Some of these menu functions can be easily be manouvered from the remotecontrol.

In order to make the unit as small as possible. Sony merged the Line out with the remote/headphone. The option to choose whether you want it to be line out or remote control is from the menu. However, the unit will automatically choose remote/headphone option if the remote is being plugged in. Those who wanted it to be line out (to the amplifiers) and still being able to choose choose options via remotecontrol (which is easier) the this. Increase volume to maximum and set the bas to 0. Plug the RCA cable where the headphones on the remote should have been

The antishock system is devoloped to make the batterylife longer. It will spinn for 10s and then stay still for 40s, shock resistant at this time). If you happen to jump or something during the spinning moment. The unit will likely skip cause of the rapid spinning.

It takes time for the unit to find and read a specific location. Example. Your listening to song nr 3. And then of a sudden you want to listen to song nr 2 3min into the song. You press backwards 2 times and press forward. Now, the unit wont have time to read the sectors. And there will be a delay. Quite a long one. TOC writing also takes a few seconds longer now. My R30 did it in 2s, the R90 in 7s Woooow. What if you rec live and want to change discs???????????

But overall this is a VERY good unit. It is mall, it looks cool and the jogdial and the buttons is just a matter of learning the unit. I have had my R30 for almost 3 years and I have used it alot. I will miss you. Im learining techniques titling. And I must say its advancing. I dont recommend it to newbies cause of the menu function. Rather buy an older modell where there are more buttons to push. I recently bought MZ-R55 for $249, but battery life wasn't good enough for me. So instead of buying 40 batteries, I decided to save money and invest $100 more to get MZ-R90. The unit was smaller than MZ- R55, but didn't like the looks when I first saw it, but I quickly fell in love with it. I'm a product designer, and in designer's point of view if the unit didn't have the grill on the cover it would look boring. Beside, the R90 is so small that you'll drop it if you didn't have something to grip on to. I think the design makes it look different and Cool! Foldable Headphone isn't greatest thing, but sounds good, and you can fold it to care around in your pockets. Control stick is hard to control at first, but you'll get use to it after few tries. Jog dial with menu option is great. Sony did a very good job taking off all the buttons and putting in the menu option. 40 sec. shock resistant works great "IF" you don't bump the unit when it's buffering. Reading tracks do take little time, but what can you do when it's saving you batteries. =) Besides, you'll get use to it and won't know the differences. Sound quality is EXCELLENT! 2 step Mega Bass gives you the excellent sound quality and enough bass for you to enjoy music. My other sharp unit with 3rd bass settings gives you more bass, but clear sound quality gets lost. Sony is not stupid for having 2 step bass settings. If you want more bass, just record MD with more bass. Recording is Easy! Just plug and record. I thought manual recording was important, but Automatic Gain Control works great on MZ-R90. It offers optimum recordings by automatically adjusting the record level settings. Editing track mark is easier than you think. Pick a spot, and add or delete track mark by pressing track mark button. Yup! That is all. MZ-R90 can't recharge and play at the same time. But you'll find that you don't have to recharge a lot because of the long battery life. The Sony MZ-R90 is expensive, but it's worth it. Trust me on this one. I was up all night comparing and thinking over and over, but I made the right choice. Before you buy online, Re-think! I have purchased many electronics online, and it got damaged along the way. I have a friend who works at well know shipping company, and he says that small boxes get tossed around a lot. Also, when you buy the unit or any electronics, pick the box that doesn't look alike its been drooped. Package doesn't always protect what's inside. =) have fun with MZ-R90. I've recently purchased an MZ-R90 after having looked at all the available reviews. I therefore felt duty bound to add my contribution.

The unit is very robust and the sound quality is very good. I compared the MZ-R70 and MZ-R90 expecting no difference in sound quality, just size and facilities. I was therefore surprised to find the 90 had a much brighter sound that I felt was superior. Had it not been for this discovery, I would have purchased a 70.

I have a Sony MDSJB930 minidisc deck and do all my recording and titling on this unit therefore cannot comment on the recording and editing facilities of the 90.

I find the track seek time slow only when "fast forwarding" or "rewinding through a track. Other than this, it's perfectly tolerable.

I've seen lots of comments about mechanical noise. I do not find this to be any problem whatsoever.

I was not aware before using the unit for the first time that while a disk is in the unit, it remembers the last track position after the unit is powered down. It therefore appears to operate like a cassette - you continue from where you left off - I find this incredibly useful. This is a feature my 930 does not have.

I have read a lot of reviews that refer to low output volume. Again, I have not found this to be a problem. It's worth noting that I play my unit mainly in the car, through a "cassette" attachment (sony). I am very surprised at the high quality sound using this means of playback. I find that I have to lower the volume on the unit to about half to two thirds, otherwise the output is two high and I experience distortion. Switching to "line out" is even worse! (so much for low output levels).

Curse serial copy protection, I can't catch it out (no I'm not risking test mode).

I am sadly 44 years old and am therefore becoming long-sighted as most people of my age. As a result I find it very difficult to read the display on the remote because the headphone lead is so short that the remote is not far enough away to read without the help of reading glasses (don't laugh it will happen to you). The R30, after almost 4 years of good service, finally gave up the ghost recently, so I needed to replace it.

The R30 had been on it's last legs for some time; none of the buttons on the facia worked anymore, and practically every screw holding it together had fallen out. Finally, it wouldn't record more than 20 minutes before cutting out, so it had to go.

I elected for the R90, finding the extra money most retailers charge for the R91 unnecessary for what is purely an aesthetic difference.

First impressions were good, the compactness and weight difference is an obvious plus over the R30, as is the battery length.

However, the R90 is incredibly slow compared to my old model in more ways than one. It's slow to seek out tracks, to write to the TOC, and it takes twice if not longer for me to input track names and so on.

The lack of a seperate lineout socket from the headphone output is a minus point, as is the loss of the indicator on the R30 that told me how much space on the disc was used, and how far I was through it. Sure, I can find out using the time elapsed and remaining displays, but it was nice to have that indicator there all the time 'at a glance'.

I don't know if there is any sound quality difference between the units, they're both great.

The R90 is good, it's also cheaper than the price the R30 retailed at. It's a logical progression for those still clinging onto their R30s wishing they could use the pause and volume buttons.

I am pretty happy with it. Well, i just got this crazy thing and its great, i recorded analog from my comp and the mp3's sound much better than any cd-r with a cd player. Cant wait till i get my new md mate sound card (digital out), to use with it.

1. Thing the volume is not low at all. Like ppl complain about.
2. Its small for an md recorder/player, but its not the smallest lightest thing, but gosh darn diddly this thing is small.
3. Durable, i dropped it the first time i took it out, while it was open! When i recorded with it no problems at all.
4. Ppl complain about the earphones, they do have bass, and good sound , but it doesnt block outside noise whatsoever...wich makes the headphones suck.
5. For all the ppl who complain "it makes funny noises yad yada yada" when listening to it, u dont even notice its their, but dont record with a microphone that attatches to the unit....it will pick up the noise.

I think the reviews by other people are pretty accurate in terms of the features. I must say that I have grown used to the shape of the MZR-90 not being overly impressed with it in the store. Its size was the feature that attracted me. I wanted to listen to my music, not carry it.

I have found most MD brands, Maxell, TDK, Sony all work perfectly and give about equal results.

I have replaced the remote control and headphones with another high end pair (the Sony MDR-E848) and this increases playback time because the remote control and its backlight do consume battery power.

My verdict, a fantastic unit. There are ways to defeat the SCMS copy protection features through table of content cloning and test mode on a dedicated Minidisc component such as my JB940 and this is very useful when making dubs of your specially compiled, digitally recorded music.

9.5/10 After deciding to go with MD technology over a dedicated MP3 player for my MP3's, the Sony MZ- R90 has been an adequate unit in terms of sound quality, usability, and durability.

For best sound quality, I've been forced to use the highest bass setting. The headphones that come with the unit are average at best...keep in mind this is a portable unit and you can always replace the headphones. Putting the MD player w/ line out setting in my car, the sound is good as well. I kept in mind that I have stock speakers in all my cars and that is obviously a limitation. The sound quality is better than some mp3 players (the rio 300 or 600 come to mind). I also use a sound card with digital output to record my mp3s. When I was using analog connection from onboard sound on the motherboard, there was an unacceptable amount of noise. This just means that the unit is nothing but a smaller cassette player so I highly recommend using a sound card w/ digital out or a high quality sound card with analog outs.

Recording is easy with digital out. The mz-r90 waits for signal before recording. However, it doesn't auto handle track marks the best and will add an extra 0.00 sec track between songs sometimes that can be deleted. The buttons are well laid out on the unit and and can be operated without looking. The headphones remote has a loose fitting clip that falls off often on certain clothes but has great button layout. However, the pause button could be placed better. The headphones are also comfortable and fit snuggly in my ears. I don't bother titling my songs because it is too much of a hassle. I don't know what titling is like on other units.

The unit is small enough to put in your pants pocket and not be a noticeable bulge. It has skipped a total of 4 times during the 2 month period i've had it and I use the unit almost everyday. Battery life is also good and I don't hafta recharge for like 3 days at a time.

I highly recommend this unit to anyone just getting into MD technology like me. If you have the money to spend, ofcourse get the mz-r900. This unit is however better than the r55, r70 and sharp units (possibility of TOC errors). I paid 185 american dollars for my "used" unit. This was comparable to a higher end 64meg mp3 unit. Though the r55 or r70 or sharp models could have been had for cheaper, size really mattered to me and the r90 is one of the smallest out there. If you're gonna get the panasonic one for size, is it worth a hundred plus bux to shave off a few grams?