Leland

I owned a NH600 for just under 30 days, then returned it. As a MD unit, I liked it. Later, when I tried a HDD player (I bought the little one from Sony) I decided I would most likely not use MD much for portable listening. For recording, it is still an outstanding format. I used to recommend MD, but these days I think it would confuse most consumers as being overly complex. Sony always has treated me right but my history with MD has included some units that died after only a year or two. I never minded because I liked buying a new one almost every year, but I think the units have lacked longevity. The discs are bulletproof, which is great. I am sorry to say I am afraid that HiMD is not going to do well. I was at Best Buy in California this week and they have lowered the price on the NH600 to 179.00 US$, indicating they are not moving. Also, the one I returned is on the shelf still, not moving even at an additional 10 dollars off after two months. The Best Buy and Frys near me have yet to stock any units other than the 600. Doesn't bode well. I might buy one as a recorder in the future depending on the price and performance of the next gen products, assuming there ever are any.

And in my experience, LiIon technology is more reliable and robust than NiMH. The gumsticks always seemed to wimp out on me long before I expected them to, whereas LiIon was always consistent and predictable. This is based on my R2, R-30, R-50, N-10 vs. R-90, R-900 etc. experience.

It seems to me the main reason for Sony to continue non-HIMD units is to stay in the game from a price and battery life standpoint. HiMD must be more costly to make at this stage and we all know the battery life is less. Unfortunately, except for recording, I'm afraid this is going to marginalize the success of HiMD vs. todays alternatives (HDD units etc.). I think HiMD is going to be a niche forever. I might get a 2nd or 3rd generation HiMD recorder (if they appear) for recording from analog sources IF the upload restrictions are improved (WAV converter). Otherwise, after having my NW-HD1 for a month or so now, I love it and MD starts to fade into my past. Now what to do with the 300 or so MD's I have lying around the house...

Interesting that Sony is still launching new MD hardware that is not HiMD compatible. I guess HiMD is not a complete conversion like MDLP was.

I saw the 900 and 700 for the first time a few days ago at the Tokyo (Narita) airport, described as "world" or "export" models. I'm not sure if these are in the shops in town, perhaps the 900 but most likely not the 700. The airport shops sometimes have different ones. What's strange is that as far as I could tell, the 900 had an all magnesium body, not plastic. The 700 had a plastic back, no questions. So are some 900's plastic on the back? The ones I saw (two different units at different shops) seemed to be all metal. If I am wrong, I am sorry. I never mean to mislead or misinform. I am simply saying what I thought I saw. (I'm a little sensitive at the moment)

Well, question my veracity all you like. Each of my sons has an Ipod. Neither has a dock or a Sik Din, thus no line out, OK? So I guess I should have said, my Ipod doesn't have a line out, rather than make a generalization. So you only get line out with a dock? To me that would be a minus, as I like to use the line out on my NW-HD1 to input to my Total Airhead portable amp to drive my Etymotic ER-4S earphones when I fly. Also, I did indeed own a Hi-MD, but I took it back. It was a 600 and I used it for about a month. So, no misinformation here. Just an opinion. Don't get me wrong, I like the ipod. I just don't find that it sounds better. Sorry to mistake you for a fanboy. Didn't mean that to be so inflammatory. Guess I was in a mood. Thanks for the profile BTW. You have some nifty gear there! Peace.

The very fact that you can divide tracks is "editing". How can you say there is no editing facility? I have found this feature very helpful and easy to use. Your answer seems misleading.

I agree with mmp64. If you are not too exacting, and are only using it for portable listening, the lowest bitrate Hi-EP is not too bad. On the other hand, I think the sweet spot is LP 132 bps, which is unfortunately not matched with the atracplus format. Now, I don't know what bhangraman really means by "sound-critical Line Out tests" later mentioning "'flat & accurate' players like the iPod" but I think that is somehow biased. I think he is perhaps an ipod fanboy. The Ipod does not have a Line out, so how can he call "Line out" critical and then later suggest the Ipod output is "flat"? I have had MD since yonks, have tried Hi-MD, have an Ipod and and Ipod G4 as well as the Sony NW-HD1. I find the output of the Ipod to be harsh compared to any of the Sony formats. I am very happy to have a real line out on my NW-HD1, which the Ipod does not. Overall, Sony has a great product, naysayers and confusers like bhangraman notwithstanding. He has no profile on this site. What is he trying to hide?

So you can understand why I don't want to test this

I do not plan to test the gshock on purpose, sorry :happy: I'm not really sure what you would measure to test it. I've not done a real battery test, but I used the player last night for a dinner party on the back patio. I hooked it up to some powered speakers to have music outside. I had it set to shuffle mode for my Jazz genre and played it for about 6 hours straight. All my files are ATRAC3 132kbps. After I was done, there was only one segment down on the battery indicator, so it clearly will outlast an ipod. I think 20+ hours would be no problem, unless you keep turning on the backlight and settings etc. PS Contrary to the reviewer in the WSJ article, it is not that hard to use shuffle mode and the idea of music units is very powerful. It lets you shuffle any subcategory as wide or narrow as it is. I agree that the ipod software is easier to use and sure itunes is better than SS, but that guy must have been an idiot at using gadgets if he couldn't figure it out.

I had this problem when I upgraded and fixed it this way: I started the install a second time from the web, but kept the TMP folder where the downloaded files were being kept. After all the files needed for OpenMG Secure module were done, I copied them to another folder. Then I cancelled the rest of the download and installation. Then when I started SS 2.1, it said I needed to install OpenMG secure module. It gave the option of installing it then. I used the browse feature to point to the OpenMG Secure Module.msi file I had grabbed. It installed, but when finished the process seemed to lock up. After the progress bar was full and sat there for about 5 minutes, I closed the install dialog box behind it and I think perhaps also the progress dialog that appeared frozed. SS 2.1 then just opened and everything worked. If you can follow this, you might try it. I was surprised it worked because of the awkward completion of the process etc, but it worked.

It gives you the option to delete the old files, but you need to have double the HDD space available before it can do this. Could be a problem for some.

My my. That is truly incredible. I can't imagine why they let you make Audio CD's from other CD's you rip into SS but not make Audio CD's from recorded files you uploaded. Insane. I suppose my confusion came from your description of a different 2.0 build (the beta you mention?) than I was using. For my part, I will stop confusing others with my erroneous assumptions. Sorry to get your dander up. I'll give you a positive karma point as penance.

I was looking through your old posts to see what I missed. You state that you could make Audio CD's with SS 2.0, but that was not the case for me except on my Vaio. After I upgraded to SS 2.1, I could then make Audio CD's. What kind of computer were you using and what was the source of your SS 2.0 that burned CD's? Perhaps that was a source of confusion for me, as my assumptions were based on this being new functionality. Anyway, I look forward to hearing your clarifications of my errors.

I am happy for you to politely correct me. It seems odd that you would make this statement for both SS 2.0 and 2.1. My point was that some things changed in 2.1. If you have tried this and are right, then I stand corrected, fine. I was indeed making an assumption based on the new capability, but have only tried it with ripped tracks, not uploaded recordings from HiMD.

bhangraman, I have no intention of misleading anyone. If you have information I lack, simply state it, OK? I do not have a HI-MD recorder so I was speculating that with the ability to write Audio CD now enabled in SS 2.1, that perhaps the upload to WAV problem could be solved this way. It was a suggestion, not a statement of fact: sorry if I sounded too sure. So, are you saying you have uploaded PCM recordings made with Hi-MD and they are protected from making Audio CD's in Sonicstage 2.1?

I should have mentioned: even though the player did not come with a remote control, the remote from my MZ-N10 works with it, providing fairly complete functionality. It would be interesting to try the three line remote from the NH1 with it to see if the scroll wheel on it works. Either way, I don't really care as I rarely use the remote, but from time to time it is handy. Also, the unit comes with a CD with SonicStage 2.1, which is required. It actually converts the .omg files to .oma files which are nearly the same size. I don't know the difference, but it is not a transcoding, more like some change to the file header or something. It can convert them on the fly, but they would be slower to transfer. I converted mine before the player arrived, so I was ready. It took about 40 minutes for a 14 gig database.

Here is a reference to some pics. http://www.msnusers.com/NWHD1pics/shoebox.msnw?Page=1 Enjoy.

Yup. High speed USB2. You can selectively transfer like with MD or there is also an automatic transfer mode that is like a sync similar to ipod. I started with the auto transfer and then changed. This is all from my laptop. I will have to redo it when I get home to my main computer that has my more complete database on it. The display is a bit weak and the volume level is a bit low, about the same as my N-10. The country of manufacture is Japan. I'll see about pics.

I just got the Sony NW-HD1, 20 gig HDD player. It's really cool. Very small and light, good capacity, stylish design, much better look and feel than all other makers except apple, long battery life claim. It also claims to have a sophisticated HDD protection system using accelerometers to detect potential shocks and retract the head. The build quality is excellent. Solid metal feel, mostly metal body, except perhaps the bottom. (not the back, the bottom) The battery is built in, but it can be removed by taking out two screws. I wouldn't do it unless the battery died, but one could easily replace the battery if it failed by ordering one from Sony parts and poping it in. The charging cradle is nice but is required for charging. That is a bit of a downside, but it is very small and light so bringing it along on a trip to charge with is not a problem. The player locks into the cradle with a snap to prevent accidental removal during music transfer. File transfer speed is very fast. Navigation is not perfect, but after reading the manual (yes I did!) it became more obvious and I find it adequate. The Ipod inteface is better, but frankly the difference is not a make or break issue. That being said, the placement of the buttons is great for operating it without looking at the unit. You can easily know where your fingers are and what to do to change tracks, volume ect. without pulling the unit out and looking at it. This is very nice. Sound quality is fine. I never expect miracles from portables and I am used to the ATRAC3 sound and like it, so I have everything in ATRAC3 132 and that's what I want. One thing I like is the selectable Line-out setting for the output. This is better for feeding a stereo system or powered speakers than using a headphone feed. For me, it was an easy decision. I wanted a HDD player so I didn't have to carry so many MD's with me and all my music is in a Sonicstage database. I didn't want to have to rebuild a 6000 song database, so the Sony device was up and running with 14 gigs of music in less than 30 minutes. Plus it has a fine overall feature set. It's a little expensive, but that doesn't bother me. This will probably represent my gradual exit from MD for anthing other than a recorder. I will still make MD's for the player in my car, so again, for me to have SS up and current serves a good purpose.

I just got the Sony NW-HD1, 20 gig HDD player. It's really cool. Very small and light, good capacity, stylish design, much better than all other makers except apple, long battery life claim. It also claims to have a sophisticated HDD protection system using accelerometers to detect potential shocks and retract the head. For me, it was an easy decision. I wanted a HDD player so I didn't have to carry so many MD's with me and all my music is in a Sonicstage database. I didn't want to have to rebuild a 6000 song database, so the Sony device was up and running with 14 gigs of music in less than 30 minutes. Plus it has a fine overall feature set. It's a little expensive, but that doesn't bother me.

Sonicstage 2.1 adds the ability to write CD-R or CD-RW from the SS database. This can give you the ability to create an editable WAV file without resorting to realtime recording.

It seems to me this issue goes away with Sonicstage 2.1. You can now make Audio CD's (PCM) directly from SS2.1 with any makers computer. This functionality used to be restricted to Sony brand computers. So if you record in PCM, upload from HiMD to SS2.1, then burn a CD-R or CD-RW, you have a rippable CD of PCM quality with no loss from recording to ripping.

I'm committed to dealing with whatever ease of use issues there are. My main driver was that I wanted a HDD player but didn't want to re-create my database of 6000 songs which are all in the Sony format.

Yup, all ATRAC3 132 kbps.