Sony MDP-AP20U: Style and functionality - Reviews - Cool Gear - Consumer Electronics

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Sony MDP-AP20U: Style and functionality

January 07, 2003
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/coolgear/electronics/soa/Sony-MDP-AP20U-Style-and-functionality/0,139023382,120270997,00.htm

Sony MPD-AP20U Portable CD-RW/DVD-ROM

With its glitzy looks and wide range of features, the Sony MDP-AP20U will strike a chord with Sony-style fans or gadget geeks with very deep pockets.

The company's new external drive is a battery-operated portable that not only reads CD, MP3, and DVD discs, but writes CDs too. It's probably the only such device available now. The MDP-AP20U also sports a memory stick slot to read audio and video files stored on the company's proprietary flash media format.

Multi-format support
The MDP-AP20U's sleek design mimics those of Sony's popular portable Discman CD players but at 330g, it's a shade heavier than conventional players. CD playback is standard and the device works as a standalone CD player when not connected to a PC via USB, with a four hour battery life for CD audio playback, according to Sony. The MPD-AP20U also offers an hour of DVD movie playback when running on battery-operated mode. The player supports the CD-RW, DVD-ROM, CD and MP3 formats and comes with a Memory Stick expansion slot, and a USB 2.0/1.1 interface.

Sony packages a variety of software with the device that includes image editing and backup applications. Other extras include a pair of bud-type earphones, a rechargeable battery and a wired remote control with a backlit LCD display for showing information encoded on an audio or MP3 file, like artist or title tracks. The drive needs to be connected to a computer in order to recharge its battery.

Apart from CDs and DVDs, Sony's new gadget will play back CDs as well as MP3, WAV and WMA files that are stored on CDs, DVDs or the company's own Memory Stick cards. When connected to a Windows or Macintosh computer, the device can serve as a CD-RW drive for recording digital content or backing up computer data. When connected to a television or PC, the device can also become a DVD player for watching movies.

When connected to a computer with a USB 2.0 port, the drive is capable of recording and reading CDs at 24x, rewriting CDs at 10x and reading DVDs at 8x. Sony uses its own brand of shock control to prevent skipping during playback; the MDP-AP20U also comes with an 8MB memory cache and uses buffer under-run technology to prevent discs from getting damaged during writing.

Buyers get a one-year warranty with the drive and support comes in the form of online manuals and driver/firmware downloads.

Company: Sony Australia
Price: AU$849
Distributor: Selected resellers
Phone: 1300 13 7669