pitdroidtech

when netmd came out I thought the same, here we an MD that allows connection to the computer, something that can be of real use to me, and of course as a computer tech, that could only mean BOTH WAYS to me I mean who ever heard of a bus technology that only works one way? I mean even parrallel ports are bi-directional! But fortunately I had researched it before buying so wasn't shocked when I actually had the unit in my hands, which would have been quite simply... traumatic Still, the improved transfer speed of music to the unit made it a worthwhile purchase. However now that Hi-MD is out, and drives that work as usb storage drives, and two way transfer of audio ability - well that's the way it should have been when they released NetMD. The latests drives include native mp3 playback. But anyway that was then. Now if you are interested in the media format and form factor, see about getting a hi-md unit, and a MZRH1 if you can afford it. That model allows transfer to computer of legacy (ie: NetMD and MD recordings) recordings as well as Hi-MD recordings.

1992 405 SRI. Not the much nicer Mi16, but still European styling, and much better handling than most Jap cars I've driven in the same class - even including modern one's. While I wouldn't say no to a V6 turbo Pininfarina 406 Coupe , I am still quite attached to my old 405. And the fm transmitter setup definitely helps me enjoy my music more, low tech as it is.

you are looking at a guy who paid $39 for a (new - an utter bargain) MZNH600!! I don't have the budget at the moment to buy a decent head unit, so I'm stuck the with the original 1992 peugeot unit (with no aux in). I've also been told only a few CD head units will function reliably at the 45 degree angle at which Peugeot have placed the stereo din hole, so I need to look at more expensive units. It's not as bad as it could be - I have an FM transmitter installed in the car - it runs off car power and is installed in line with the antenna (an actual metal to metal rf connection) so reception is always excellent. I'm happy enough for now. :-)

A few years ago what you say would mostly be true (however afaik SS has always worked with cddb for CD's?), but now the story is quite different. You can now buy minidisc recorders that allow drag and drop copying of music to the device via explorer, Minidisc units operate as usb storage devices, self-recorded tracks can be uploaded to the computer, SS is completely free of DRM rstrictions (though yes, CONNECT is dead, but you can buy an increasing catalogue of DRM free music from itunes and other online stores and drag that onto your device), and you can even upload old school MD recordings to pc using the MZRH1. True, ipod has a larger capacity than minidisc, but if you want hdd based mp3 players Sony cover that market segment as well. However, for people who are happy enough with a few GB of music, Minidisc has an advantage over 1-8GB mp3 players in that you can have 80 gb or more of music that can be swapped out to your player in a few seconds, whereas a 1-8GB capacity mp3 player you have to wipe and reload whenever you want to change your music collection. So the only real complaint that remains is to do with the media format itself. If you don't like the MD format and wish to stick with CD, you are free to use a handheld CD player, but I think you will find the mini-disc players a lot less cumbersome! As far as ipod goes, you still have to rip cd's to the player, so in this respect ipod is no different minidisc. Not to mention the audio quality of minidisc far out weighs ipod (I'm not talking abnout atrac per se - even if you run 320Kbps MP3 tunes on your minidisc or ipod - the music hardware itself is better than ipod). Oh I suppose hdd based players size per megabyte of storage is always an advantage over minidisc players (which are slightly larger than most hdd players), but this is not only an ipod advantage - any hdd based player also has the same advantage. And a Sony hdd based player is in my view a much better qulaity audio device than ipod. So the argument is between the form factor, not between sony/apple. The particular advantages of the minidisc form factor: durable storage, easy to change media (as opposed to using a computer - just eject and replace from your collection), smaller than cd. Then of course the ability to record high quality audio with the device itself - far superior to all but the most expensive handheld digital recorders. So there are manyu reasons why someone would still be interested in the mindisc format. I myself use my phone as a mp3 player for day to day use. But the minidisc absolutely rocks as an easily portable high quality sound device that I can easily move between my car (via fm transmitter), home stereo, friends stereo's, bedside for night listening through portable speakers etc etc. It's also a top notch recorder: record music direct from music dvd's (or my set top box) via optical connections or analog from pretty much anything with a line out or headphone jack. I can then copy that recorded audio to computer and burn cd's, rip mp3's or whatever I want. Sorry but this is a far more versatile form factor than ipod!!!

well yes most people would buy an ipod or even any old mp3 player over MD, but Police forensic aren't just anybody, they are experts in their field. It would be more effort than say an mp3 player or digital camera used to hide data, but niether of those options would require much effort. A police computer forensic expert who doesn't know about internal memory on digital cameras ought not to be in the job MD is a little harder but not obscure imho. Randomising data, or even better really strong encryption (such as efs) would be a better bet though. Of course if using efs you would have to ensure your os could self destruct (to delete the user account with acces to the efs files) when hacked into! PGP or other 3rd party encryption would be better. And then you just pretend you forget the key when interogated. You might get fined for contempt of court or obstructing the course of justice - so depends what you are hiding whether it's worth it or not! (also make it a long and high strength key, otherwise they will easily brute force it!)

Doesn't sound too hopeful then. You could try repartitioning the disc, or even run a scandisk, you never know, however it sounds like the discs are done for.

Yes I know that, but it's not that simple. To use the disc with sonic stage you will have to reformat it with sonic stage after formatting with windows. SS needs to store some info on the disc other than within the FAT structure, as well as create some files and folders to accommodate ATRAC recordings. Example: I formatted a standard md disc (I don't have any 1GB available) to hi-md. I then copied the SS created files on the disc onto my pc. I then formatted the disc with windows. The disc was then completely blank. I attempted to read the disc in SS - SS told me it needs to initialise the disc (as well as this information:"cannot read this audio disc because it was initialized by a program other than sonic stage") . I cancelled and exited SS, then copied the files originally created by the sonic stage format back onto the minidisc. I then attempted to read the disc in SS but it still told me to initialise the disc. So it is more than just files/folders that SS places on the disc when you format it with SS. So as I said before, it possible that windows format will wipe the disc of whatever is preventing SS from treating it as a blank disc, but it's also quite possible that a windows format will not be enough to wipe the disc sufficiently for SS to treat it as a blank.

There are all sorts of obscure media formats out there, some destined to become main stream, most not. For example I came across some optical discs in cartridges, similiar to mindisc but about 1/3rd the physical size, when cleaning out the old server room at work. I had never seen these discs before, or any kind of reader, and never have since. There must be a heap of proprietary formats like that never intended for the main stream. Police forensics would have to be able to access and read all such formats. MiniDisc is actually a relatively common format (even now), just judging by the fact you can buy minidiscs off the shelf at many consumer hifi stores.

raintheory's suggestion is sound, but if you have no luck with 4.2, repost with the possible reasons given for the message you get. Even though software error messages often seem obscure, to those with more experience they often pin point exactly what is wrong. Best of Luck

only in combination with a laser. (so these discs are not susceptible to magnetic degradation as is assumed by some. I don't think the data is stored in a magnetic medium, but rather that the pits can only be created or destroyed with a combination of focussed magnetic and laser beams) I wonder if you could format them using windows. I know this doesn't work - but maybe it will clear the disc enough to prompt SS to ask to format it rather than continue the track copying? Also, have you tried formatting it with a copy of SS installed on a completely different computer?

Will do Bob btw, I have been an MD user for years, but have only just decided to buy a HiMD unit (so cheap). Until then I was quite happy with my NetMD unit for recording purposes, but now of course I wish I had converted 2 years ago!

Some fair points, but I still tend to think a police forensics team would look at all possible sources of data. Infact, any thing that looks like a "cd" or any kind of optical storage media would be thrown in the bag for a closer look for sure. I'd be VERY surprised if computer forensics experts weren't aware of the data storage ability of Hi-MD. Infact they'd have manuals with information on a whole range of media types that you and I have never even heard of. As to your list of priorities, RAM would be low on the list, since it is very unlikely to recover any data from ram easily. While there are techniques to recover data from volitile memory, the best you can expect is maybe a password or two and even then you need an electron microscope to detect the traces. They would try RAM only as a last resort. (any DATA in ram is lost as soon as power is removed and the only recoverable data is data strings that have been repeated many many times and burnt wear patterns into the internal tracks of the chip. Only certain hardware will write that same data string into the same memory location everytime in order to create a wear pattern at all.) I also don't think they will be worried about "wasting time". They will take everything to the lab and if they can't find anything in the obvious stuff they will whittle it down to the less obvious. Also, when a computer forensics team is called in, they don't care squat about dogs poop, dna or anything else a standard forensics team would be interested in. Computer forensics are called in when there is a specific need to analyse a suspects equipment for illicit data. I have nothing to hide from Mr Policeman (though a bit of stuff I might not want my mum to find) but if I did I wouldn't hide it in anything that even remotely looked like an electronic device with storage capacity - including analog video and audio tape. Actually it's WAY possible, (though incconvenient and time consuming) to store data on analog tape. Of course you are right it depends what they are looking for and how sure they are you have it, but I wouldn't rely on MiniDisc to obsure data from a serious effort by police forensics.

My first HiMD unit, on sale at WOW Sight and Sound, for $39 Australian!! Now if only I can find an MZRH1 for $99... And some 1GB discs - no one in Brisbane seems to have any

If you are talking about mini-dvd, you can just plop it straight into your DVD drive. Mini-DVD is just a normal DVD with a smaller diameter. You need to finalise the disc before the computer can read it as a DVD, or use ripping programs to port the video to the computer as a video file. See this link here: http://au.answers.yahoo.com/answers2/front...02212804AASlC3h As to MD-Data, I'm not sure what's available but you are probably looking at big bucks to source anything, whether new or 2nd hand. Good luck though.

depends who you are hiding it from. You won't fool Police data forensic teams ;-) But very few home users, and even many computer techs, will not be aware of the data capability of HiMD unless they have actually owned a HiMD unit. Infact many computer techs spurned the format for good after buying NetMD units thinking that finally there was something that worked like any other mp3 player!! I AM a computer tech, and also a music buff AND a techie from way back who has been following the MD format for years waiting for the day it became a data format as well. I knew the day would come eventually, just as I knew with certainty that market forces would eventually lead Sony to drop DRM. But only now it appears MiniDisc's day is done But I don't care, I adore my HiMD unit, even more than I adored my NetMD unit (even with all it's failings and crappy OgMyGod software). And I'll buy an MZRH1 too!

Disc's currently in my MD carry case: Sade, Nelly Furtado, Pink Floyd, Madonna

it's quite a joke, and the joke is on us. And after admitting proprietary standards kill their products, they still can't help themselves with blu-ray!

So true! Even if they had provided options. For example a Minidisc that you could drag and drop non-drm content to via explorer, mp3 support, ability to upload your own recordings to computer without having to go via line out/in realtime methods. Then if you wanted to purchase online then fair enough use atrac drm. Hell, even if they didn't have drag and drop support - with the other two options they would have atleast been competitive to ipod with the advantage in recorder models of the ability to make quality recordings and copy themn to the computer with ease. (Something ipod has never been able to do) They really have no idea and learnt nothing from the beta/vhs war. It always surprises me that such a competent electronics manufacturer could allow themselves to be hobbled by marketing gurus. So sad!

look around. I just got an MZ-NH600 for $39 from WOW Sight and Sound (Aussie). It's not a native mp3 capable hi-md device, but it IS a recorder. Native mp3 seems a bit useless on hi-md format anyway since you can't just drag and drop mp3's to it, and converting mp3's only takes a little longer than copying them direct with sonic stage, so I don't think you will miss the native mp3 suport. You can still copy your recording back to pc (and convert with himdrenderer)

you can also use a site like keepvid to download the youtube video to your computer and rip the sound from the video using something like "super ©". That way you get to keep the video also.