So while our Ipod was away impressing someone with LP's eclectic choice of Nu Jazz and Funk we got Sony's latest evolution in Mini Disc technology for the weekend, like us you may be thinking that mini disc is long dead but it seems rumours of its departure were false and it's alive and kicking. Improvements to both the players and the disc technology have been steadily made peaking in the 1Gb Hi-MD Mini Disc which can now hold up to 45 CD's worth of music when compressed using Sony's Atrac 3 Plus format. Even using a standard MD you can squeeze 10 CD's worth onto the miniature CD discs and the Atrac 3 Plus format can give MP3 quality recordings at lower bit rates than the 128kbps MP3 rate that we use to record out MP3 tracks.

There is no doubting that the MZ NHF800 is a very beautiful bit of gadget hardware, measuring 81 x 29 x 79mm and weighing 11 grams the little MD unit oozes Sony's Vaio style with a wonderful tactile feel which is better than any MP3 player we have reviewed, the blue grey styling works well and looks very modern and dare we say funky. Using the LCD screen on the unit and the joy pad / wheel you can navigate the menu system which is typically Sony and therefore very useable, all of the features can also be controlled from the LCD remote which as we found out is the most likely interface you'll use.

Given we had only a weekend to test the Sony MZ-NHF800 MD it went everywhere with us, shopping, driving, even in use while LP worked on a new "explained" article for the site and all of this just to prove that a single charge could really last 27 hours, well we clocked 25 but that was good enough and far better than our Ipods 8 hours. Charging is accomplished via a mains charger or far more likely via a USB lead a feature that we love and one that is starting to appear on all kinds of PC connectable devices.

Still trying to find fault with the MZ-NHF800 LP ripped some CD's from his collection and tried those from one of the new 1Gb MD's expecting to find the Atrac compression objectionable it was a surprise to find that in LP's opinion the MD files better with more warmth and less background electrical buzz than the Rio MP3 player we had to hand as a comparison. Of course one disc will only hold 1Gb using the new Hi-MD format but then when have you been able to swap your Mp3 players hard drive with a friend? the possibilities for exchanging discs and therefore changing what music is loaded intrigues us.

Getting your paws on blank 1gb Hi-MD's is tricky at the moment but this is expected to be under control by the end of august as Sony up the supply to match the sales of the new range of 1gb mini disc players entering the UK market.

Priced at £195 the Sony MZ-NHF800 Mini Disc player is an interesting challenge to what we like many others thought was an exclusive battle between rival MP3 manufacturers, of course Sony is due to enter the fray with the HD-NW1 in the next few weeks but it looks like MD has a lot of life in it yet and we have to admit to being quite taken with this mini disc player. It certainly does the job well and has a huge battery life and lots of extras like an FM/AM radio and full recording facilities which pitches it against the high end MP3 players, sure you have to carry a few disks in your pocket but that seems a worthwhile inconvenience to get this kind of quality gadget at a price under £200.

Is Mini Disc dead? not by a long shot!

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