MiniDisc - The Audio Cassette Replacement

How times have flown in the world of the MiniDisc. In the 1990s, the production volume of audio cassette tapes were on a continuous rapid decline - no thanks in part to the establishment of the compact disc media, which had quickly replaced analog audio technology due to its digitally-based, high speed random access and direct search capabilities. But compact discs are a read-only media. So Norio Ohga (Sony's President back then) decided that a new media was needed to replace the aging cassette tapes, and challenged his engineers to develop a recording and playback device that uses a disc smaller than (yet, as good as) the CD to replace the audio cassette tapes (CD-R and CD-RW media were pretty much unheard of back then, you see).

Then in May 1991, with all developments concluded, the new audio standard, the MiniDisc was announced. Sony then made a call upon various hardware and software manufacturers to endorse the MiniDisc system. A product launch was then projected for the end of 1992, and the rest, as some would say, was history.

A cigarette casing, anyone?

Fast forward to circa November 2002, and the world was introduced to the, well, world's smallest and lightest MiniDisc player in the form of the MZ-E10. Available in Japan since that month (and only in Singapore this year), the MZ-E10 was one of four Sony commemoration models to celebrate the behemoth company's 10th Anniversary of its MiniDisc division. And if you're wondering, the other three models are the MZ-N10 (essentially the recordable cousin of the E10), the LAM-10 and Z10 (both of which are desktop MD systems). We'll take a look at these three other anniversary models some other time, but for now we'll get our hands full with the MZ-E10.

The MZ-E10 is only about 1/3 thicker than a minidisc.

At just 9.9mm thick and weighing only 55g with a built-in battery, the MZ-E10 is really one of, if not the smallest player around. And along with its signature magnesium-alloy body, the MiniDisc walkman can easily pass off as a metallic cigarette case or a namecard holder.

 

Like David Meeting Goliath

With a dimension of just 81.9(L) x 72.2(B) x 9.9(H) mm, the E10 MiniDiscman will fit anywhere in your pocket and can be virtually hidden in your bag. This is made possible by the fact that the E10 uses a new optical pickup lens, motor and miniaturized main IC - which is roughly 30% thinner and 33% smaller than the ones used in the MZ-E909. The cool new form-factor and look is only masked by the impression that the E10 does seem a little fragile from the outside. But I still got to admit that the overall built of the player is nothing short of perfection - it just got that X-Factor feel that everyone have come to expect from Sony.

The MZ-E10 features a One-Touch fast disc ejection button.

A side profile of the E10. Notice that the Group and Hold buttons are on the right side.

For those who just want to fiddle with the player directly, there's a sweet little diagram here that gives you instructions to the nick-named "thumb" stick.

Anyhow, let's take a tour of the E10's physical assets. You would have noticed that the E10 comes in a very squeaky clean look - with the notable absence of a display screen. Well, in order to "compress" the size of the E10 to be no more than a few millimetres square larger than a MiniDisc tape, some sacrifices have to be made. The lack of a display screen was already mentioned, and one of the most common feature that also faced the axe was the control buttons. In place of that, a "joystick-like" stick now protrudes from one end of the player. It doesn't do much except that it still performs the basic functions that include Play, Stop, Forward, and Rewind depending on which direction you push the stick at (just check out the picture above). Which brings us to the remote control of the E10 - because unlike previous models, where the player can function fully independently, the E10's full functions are only available from its remote controller.


A Swiss Army "Tube"

Due to the nature of the E10's design, it's impossible to stick a gazillion buttons onto its surface without ruining the sleek and slim form-factor. To go around this problem, Sony have instead placed all the necessary and core functions of the E10 onto the wired controller. The silver-colored controller still retains the same cylindrical design of its predecessors, and comes with the standard assortment of button functions you'll expect from portable players - including the usual Volume knob, Pause/Play/Rewind/Forward lever, Stop, Hold, and Display buttons.

The Stop and Group Play buttons are featured in this screenshot, along with the centered Play/Pause/Forward/Rewind button.

From this end we have the Sound, P (Play) Mode, Display and Hold buttons.

A look at the display screen on the remote control.

The green-lit controller also sports a new "Sound" button that triggers the MiniDisc player's most interesting feature, which is known as the VPT (or Virtual Phone Technology) Acoustic Engine. By using the built-in DSP, the E10 is able to provide a selection of four effects - Studio, Club, Live and Arena. You won't find any digital bass settings here, but an Equalizer is present to allow up to seven steps of adjustment, ranging from -10dB to +10dB, in six frequency bands. Besides the four included fixed presets (Heavy, Pops, Jazz and Unique), the player is also able to save up to two customizable settings as well.

For users who can't stand the tedious "button-mashing" method (press a button first, before pressing that, and so on...you get the drift) when programming a playback list, Sony have a solution for you with a feature known as "Bookmark Play". As the name implies, Bookmark Play allows you to bookmark tracks on a disc in just a couple of steps. It works very much like the normal Program Play, except that it's much easier to compile the tracks that you would want to listen on the fly. Unlike Program Play, the downside here is that the sequence of bookmarked tracks cannot be changed. For example, if you bookmarked Track 2, 4 and 8, you would have to play or skip Track 2 before it moves on to 4 and 8 and so on. And unlike Program Play, your bookmarked tracks will not remain in memory after playback is finished or when stopped.

 

It's A Sony (Again)

Sound quality wise, the E10 isn't that much different from its predecessors with its playback sampling rate of 44.1kHz - not that it was bad anyway. And I must admit that the VPT Acoustic Engine did make listening to my MiniDisc tracks much more interesting, and i'm sure it'll be no different to those whose ears have already been pampered by their Audigy's EAX. Now I'm not saying that the VPT effects quality are as good as those produced by audio chipsets such as the SoundBlaster Live or Audigy, but for a portable player of this size, it's more than acceptable.

The group function is provided to allow playback of discs with group settings - convenient for playback of MDs on which several albums or CD singles have been recorded in MDLP (L2/LP4) mode.

As part of the design to make the E10 as thin as possible, a new 3mm thin-shaped jack for the remote control replaced the traditional earphone/controller jack. A converter is bundled along for those who want to connect their earphones directly to the player.

Coming to the Equalizer part, I found that the available presets were sufficient for the average MiniDisc listener. But since not everyone's listening pattern is similar, I figured that the real joy of owning the E10 is by experimenting with the Equalizer using the two customizable settings. My only gripe here is that it offers only two custom slots. It would be great if the four default presets were customizable as well, giving the E10 a possible of six custom slots. Oh, and you cannot use both the VPT Acoustic Engine and the Equalizer at the same time - which is a pretty downer if you ask me.

Open sesame...

Sony also developed a new lithium ion battery that's only 3mm thick and built into their 10th Anniversary model.

On the battery life, Sony claimed that the E10 is able to last up to 40 hours of continuous playback with LP4 (Long Play 4) MDs. With normal 74 mins MDs, the E10 can reportedly last up to 25 hours - which is a pretty mean feat if it could last that long. So I went further of course, by trying to do some real-life battery test (where we playback a 74mins disc continuously). But by the time I took my eighth dose of caffeine, and with the E10's battery lifebar still at mid-level after 14 hours, I just had to give up - for both my health and sanity's sake.

 

Our Take

Some of the additional issues that I disliked about the MZ-E10 was the fact that it didn't come bundled along with a top quality pair of earphones. Perhaps it was a matter of cutting down cost? Yeah I may be nit picking here but whatever the reason was, I felt that Sony could have just done a wee bit better here. Next is the battery recharging issue. Sure, the 10th Anniversary player can be a quite a marathon performer. But the only way to charge back the player's battery unit is through the charging cradle, and wouldn't you like the option of deciding whether to bring just the power adapter, or the power adapter and the charging cradle with you on your travelling trips? No, you have to choose the latter, as the power adapter cannot be connected directly to the E10.

Another gripe here is that the MZ-E10 comes with a built-in battery, which means you're always going to have to search for a power point to charge up the MD player. Changing the battery is not going to be an easy option either, because you'll need to have a screwdriver in hand to remove the battery cover. Even then, the cover is so tough to open that you're going to wonder if it'll just break apart whenever a force is used on it.

The MZ-E10 comes bundled with a pair of earphone, as usual. But don't expect it to be top quality.

The MZ-E10's charging cradle. Strictly for charging the player, as well as a fashion statement on your table.

Beneath the charging cradle is the power point jack that's connected to the AC adapter.

But looking at the MZ-E10 as a player on its own standing, I must admit that I was very impressed with what Sony has done with one of their 10th Anniversary MD model here. Size wise, there is simply no comparison to the S$479 (incl. 4% GST) MZ-E10. This MD player is incredibly slim and light, and furnished with an excellent overall build quality as well. Along with audio features such as the Virtual Phone Technology Acoustic Engine and 6-Band Equalizer, the MZ-E10 will also no doubt make your listening experience more enjoyable than previous MD player models. Put the long-lasting battery life as the icing on the cake, and you get a pretty complete MiniDisc player solution from Sony. Now, if only there was a recordable feature on the MZ-E10...... just kidding!

The MZ-E10 comes bundled with an AC charger (not shown), a charging cradle, earphones along with an LCD remote control, and a carrying pouch.