Does anyone have an insight into why sony doesn't include an optical digital output on the HiMD units? linear PCM .wav files can only be recorded in the HiMD disc format structure. There are no HiMD capable players with digital output. So, if you want to avoid sony software altogether and still transfer bit accurate copies of your recording session to another digital medium (hard drive, other optical media) then you are forced to use the regular minidisc format structure. Then you can stick the disc into a cheap old deck that can play out through a digital connection. But then you can't use linearPCM .wav recording, so the quality goes down. Did sony purposely go cheap on the optical output to force people to use their software to get bit accurate copies out of the himd unit when using the highest quality pcm file format? Or did they go cheap just to go cheap on this one part? I would usually say that they just saved money, but the himd units are of such excellent quality, seems silly to save on a little part. While there is a huge advantage to keeping people hooked on sony software. But then, that also drives sales away, negating the software userbase gains. It seems sony didn't want to give TOO much away with himd, and they got greedy and live in a delusion where HiMD can still hold its own against the relentless onslaught of other recorders. So is their marketing and product strategy department a little touched in the head? Or is there a secret I just can't guess? Being stuck with linux and refusing to go back to windows for just one device, I am denied recording use of the HiMD using linear PCM .wav with bit accurate copies for further editing. And that really burns. P.S. If the hacking effort to access himd file structure without using sony software ever works completely, I wonder could it probably get integrated into the linux kernel as well as being its own project . Wouldn't that be cool? There would be a section of the linux kernel devoted just to minidisc and HiMD file format access. The kernel maintainers would be listing fat32, ntfs, other formats, and HiMD as equal file formats of interest.
