MDX-400

??? What's the discrepancy? I don't really see anything except in one the screen is on and in the other it is off (and the pictures have different levels of zoom or "bigness" lol). What am I missing? I've seen this unit a little while ago myself though, Sony's had it on their mobile electronics site for a little while now www.xplodsony.com

Oh yeah I'm sure that you can still get one--I didn't mean to say that you couldn't get one anymore, just that it isn't either easy/readily available nor cheap in any way. For example, even those prismatic Li-Ions that Sharp had used for many years on their older units are now widely and cheaply available (albeit as made-in-China, off-branded cells) on eBay as they are actually used in devices other than Sharp MD units. (Strangely enough, those batteries just started to surface as popular on eBay so I guess more recent electronics have started to use the same battery format.) Even cells that people thought would not be readily available like the Sony LIP-3xxx for the N10/E10 are quite commonly found, new and relatively inexpensive (i.e. not anywhere near Sony's price for the replacement part). But that battery from the F70, as you said is pretty much only available through Aiwa parts suppliers and the like and at prices like you mentioned. Hardly worth it, not just for you but for anyone really. You can easily buy an entire [newer] machine accessories and all, with lots more features for the same money or cheaper. As good a unit as it was, it would simply be foolish to pay that much money just to replace the F70s battery.

Hmm I'm unsure about MD but you definitely can't do that with an NW unit... I've never seen that option anywhere anyway. In any case you still have to go into the library, right? That isn't really the point of SB. The point is more that you don't have to put the files in teh Library at all they just go straight to the device (well MD unit, with the SBs we've had so far). I.e. Instead of having to import to the library and have the files on your PC, you can just "rip" straight to the device and not have to worry about using the library and having files on your PC.

That's an idea too. I'd be happy with either really--functionality included in SS or a new version of Simple Burner. If a new SB is released I'd like to see compatibility with all devices too, not just MD. A lot of people are asking for this, hopefully Sony will do something about it?

Oh no optical in? So it is just like the NH600D then! But someone's saying it can playback MP3? Is that confirmed? Because let's not forget a lot of Sony devices which can't do MP3 natively still say "MP3 capable/compatible" in their literature/advertising... Still even with MP3 this is not worth $160+ more than the NH600D. And BeatJam? LOL. Perhaps BeatJam was competitive with SS 1.x but I highly doubt it would have anything on SS 3.4. Perhaps it's been updated as well but it's clear from its popularity (or lack thereof) that it probably hasn't moved ahead as much as SS.

No there is the transcoding loss as well. The SP recording is in ATRAC, what you end up with is going to be ATRAC3plus, going by that example. The loss will be small though, being only one [more] generation of loss from the original SP recoring (more if the SP recording was transcoded from another lossy format like MP3). The RH1 will do for you what you can already do with any MD unit, only faster than realtime, via a digital connection and through much easier means. What happens with the RH1 is the unit "plays back" the ATRAC content faster than realtime and it goes via (highspeed) PCM to the PC where you can either keep it as PCM (WAV) or transcode it to ATRAC3plus or whatever. (You can apparenlty transcode to ATRAC3plus 256k aka Hi-SP on the fly though.) ATRAC3 (i.e. MDLP/LP2/LP4) tracks, OTOH, will just upload in their native ATRAC3 format (132k or 66k). Also ATRAC3plus is not lossless at all, in any bitrate. ATRAC Advanced Lossless, however is. If you keep the SP uploads as PCM you should be able to convert that to ATRAC AL which will be about 50% the space of PCM. But note ATRAC AL isn't compatible with any player as of yet (unless the RH1 supports it???). Really eh? I've been wondering about this myself. If it makes a difference on Bose equipment surely it must make some difference on decent equipment too eh? The thing is 256kbps saves nearly 30% the disk space that 352kbps takes up and undoubtedly also increases battery performance.

I think OpenMG v1.x which pre-dated even SS was even worse, lol. Yes the program was actually called OpenMG, it wasn't just the "technology" behind the program as it is in SonicStage... Yeah comparing SS 3.4 to OpenMG or even SS 1.x it's been a huge improvement for sure! Connect player was definitely not an improvement though. Seems like the next version we get will be called SonicStage CP (Connect Player)... Dunno if they are going to call that v4.0 (continuing with SS numbering); v2.0 (continuing with Connect numbering); or just 1.0 making it a "new" program. The only thing I would like to see though, is a SimpleBurner v3.0 or something, because I could really use a program that didn't require you to add things to the library first, and then to the player...

LOL yeah I'm actually thinking some of those "shipped from China" BC-7xx chargers are fake/counterfeit. I could be wrong but given the pics I've seen in auctions and the reports of shoddyness here, it seems to me that may well be the case. The 7HT as noted here is a world voltage too and that would fit the bill nicely. However, the 9 series chargers charge much much faster. 7 Series chargers are typically around 200 to 400mA charge output--depending on the exact model that can take up to 10 hours to charge the gumstick. BC-9xx chargers output 1200mA, which will charge a 14WM in about an hour to an hour and a half. The disadvantage is that fast charging these prismatics (gumstick shaped) cells seems to also shorten their life a little bit in some cases. Still I'd rather use a BC-9xx than a 7xx charger myself. Someone noted the BC-9HP2 charger in this thread, though I would note that is a 220-240V AC version. The 120V AC version is the BC-9HU2. The 100V AC (Japan-only) version of the charger is the BC-9HS (if memory serves). It is not recommended to use the BC-9HS on 110-120V (North American) AC outlets as it will overcurrent/overvoltage the gumstick which will charge it very quickly but significantly decrease the lifespan of the battery and possibly cause it to bulge or vent. There is a BC-9 something or other which is universal voltage I believe, but it is rare. The best place to get a 9 series charger is with old-skool MD player-only units. Nearly all of such units used gumstick batteries and did not have any kind of AC adapter/stand/cradle with them and therefore utilised the BC-9xx chargers. I have like two or three 9HS chargers and perhaps two 9HU2 chargers, from the various players I have. I can assure you that none of these, incuding the MD player and accessories, some even purchased years ago, were even near that above price of the 9HP2 charger part price. As someone else mentioned there is also a GP version, which is likely easy to get a hold of and will work well as well. Don't know the charge output/time for that but I've heard it is quite good. I'd definitely buy that over a suspect, possibly fake 7xx charger anyway.

I'm thinking this one might be simple... What recording mode are you in on the R700? Are you getting the track titles showing as "LP ..." on the JE530? The MDS-JE530 is not MDLP capable--you have to record in SP Stereo or Mono (but you probably do not want mono, lol) to get the discs to play on the JE530. If you record on the R700 in LP2 or LP4 those discs will not play on the JE530--you'll just get silence.

Problem is mainly that people don't know what you consider reasonable. Truth is some people's definition of reasonable may seem like a lowball to you. Though it seems you now have at least one offer (and you may end up selling there) really you should probalby post a starting price of some sort first or say $x "or best offer" or something like that. Someone even asked you "how much" and then you just said "make me an offer", lol--you could have at least said "how about $x?". Just some friendly advice, and good luck with the sale

You should be able to find answers doing a search here or on the T-board... Quick rundown of your basic options though: -Tape Adapter (no good if you have no tape player in your car, most people don't in this day and age) -FM Transmitter (cheap, easy, but not recommended due to poor sound quality). -FM Modulator (not very expensive these days, but tough to find, requires some installation, better SQ than the transmitter but still not very good). -AUX Input Adpater (available for most factory head units through aftermarket companies, and most aftermarket HUs from their respective companies. Good sound quality especially if you have a line-out mode on your unit, which you actually don't on the NF520D unfortunately. Still better SQ than all the others. Requires some installation and not always possible/available given what HU you have in your car currently). Some car HUs (including recent model factory HUs) even have AUX inputs already on them, where all you need to do is connect up the portable via cable and you're off to the races Hope that helps!

I've mentioned this before on the T-board when a similar article speaking of the "demise" of UMD came up... I see absolutely no "failure" of UMD. I don't think Sony really does either. If they realistically expected UMD to continue on as a standard movie format of some sort they must have been in a dreamland. I think Sony knew from the getgo and intentionally sold it as a gimmick and nothing more. Format is still going to hold PSP games for however long that console lasts--it isn't like they are going to stop making games on UMD now, lol. So UMD didn't exactly "work out" for movies, did anyone including Sony really think it would??? Again, if anyone did, they were living in a dreamland and nothing more. There's no way UMD was going to become some kind of standard movie format--only playable with the PSP? Only playable on the little PSP screen (no video out)? That is going to become widely accepted/used? Dreamland... Definitely. UMD is still doing what it is meant to be doing--providing games content for the PSP. It might even continue with a few movies, particularly from Sony labels, but who cares?

There never will be. Since the RH1 dosn't support it, the original intent to never allow ATRAC1 out of it's "lock and key" status remains and we know for sure Sony will never change their tune on that. But I agree completely... Uploading to PCM is not that bad really. Given, it is a waste, but it is at least the SP MD track as you would hear it played back, only available as a file on your PC. Undoubtedly people will be using ATRAC3plus 256k or 352k to transcode to and I think you'll even be able to do that on-the-fly while uploading as well. There's also ATRAC Advanced Lossless which would probably take up around half the space of PCM, so that's also an option too (though not one supported by any of the portables, unfortunately).

I voted "Yes, but I wouldn't buy it" on both counts... Seems to me Sony should have done this since Hi-MD started, again on both counts. I never got into Hi-MD and though there's a very slim chance of me possibly getting an RH1 when it is released, I probably never will. Therefore neither would be something I would buy. Not making a Hi-MD car unit was actually the worse of the two, I'd say. Because Sony actually released another MD car deck after Hi-MD was released (the MDX-F5800 IIRC) but it didn't have Hi-MD support. Talk about stupid. At least they didn't make another deck after Hi-MD (to my knowledge) that still only supported legacy MD. Now it's a bit "too-little-too-late" for either really, IMO. Perhaps a deck would still be nice and could happen but I seriously doubt they'd release a Hi-MD car HU at this point.

Exactly. I was going to say the same thing. It's unfortunate the original poster had those experiences but there's tons of other people with far more favourable experiences than that, as yours above... I would say that MD units, in general, have indeed decreased in quality to some degree compared to the old skool ones; but prices are way lower for one thing and just because overall build quality seems to have decreased doesn't really mean a given unit won't last years even with moderate-to-high useage. I've known people with N505s that happened to work for years with constant use (one person until it was stolen, lol), and that unit wasn't any kind of build quality marvel either, LOL... I think OP just had a bit of bad luck. Unfortunate but to be honest, it's more the exception than the rule. The F70 was definitely a high build-quality unit. Made in Japan, on par with the R50 really (I think it even uses the same pickup block, either the R50s or the R90s I can't remember now)... Really a good unit the F70 The battery is actually it's one real flaw, I'd say. Not that the battery was bad--it was quite good and battery life better than Aiwa rated it, but impossible to get a replacement as it's different than nearly every other MD battery out there (only a JVC unit or two used the same one and perhaps another Aiwa); and, then at that the add-on AA case is a huge thing with a *wire* to connect it to the unit, taking 3 AAs, LOL. Not exactly portable at all! My F70 never sees any use but the last time I used the battery it was doing over the rated play time still so I put it in storage--drained to 1/3rd capacity and put in the fridge...

I dunno, I would hope not. You have to be pretty cracked out to buy one. Same thing as the NH600 (not the NH600D available in the US though). The NH600 is available for less than $100 US, even in the UK right now. Buying the exact same unit except with the name "Buffalo" on it is definitely not worth an extra $159 US, LOL. Unless it does something the NH600 doesn't which I'm not aware of; but still it'd have to be something magical to warrant that price difference!

I'm thinking along the same lines. Once the unit is officially released in the US I'm thinking it will be available for $250 US or less. I don't think that is wishful thinking either--as long as it gets released in the US that is.

This one had been covered a long time ago... What kind of battery are you using in the player? If you're using an alkaline AA, that's part of the problem. If you're not even using an alkaline then that's likely the entire problem, lol. Best type of battery to use is an NiMH AA, preferrably rated 2000mAh or higher and a MIJ (Made in Japan) cell. Reason being NiMH rechargeables are much better at delivering higher currents (i.e. they perform much better than alkaline under higher loads). If you're already using NiMH and you're having problems with a good and fully charged one then your problem may lie elsewhere. You don't really need a deck either, as they are relatively harder to come by and usually a lot more expensive. You can just get a unit with a DC input and an AC adapter (which the N420D does not have). A unit like the N510 would fit the bill, and they are relatively cheap; but you could always go Hi-MD as well--I think an NH700 goes for around $150 US with a bunch of bundled accessories... But if anything, try using NiMH AA cells first as you'll probably find that it will solve your problems.

Yep they sure do, most have 4 ports though, so if you need more wired ports you'd have to use your existing router/hub as well, but that's as simple as plugging that into the other router or vice versa. There are wireless "routers" that do not have wired ethernet ports but they are called Access Points and funny enough (since routers are so popular) access points are actually far harder to find and usually more expensive!

That isn't actually the part number but rather the model number... 141730421 is the part number you're looking for and it unfortunately is a lofty $63 US from Sony DAPC USA. Hopefully you can find one on eBay for cheaper--perhaps from a user that had a broken/lost/stolen N10 just selling their accessories off or something.

Pretty cool, are these using bluetooth technology (or some other standard) or are they just proprietary wireless?

No C means neither current or coloumb... It has to do with load vs. the capacity. It is a strange thing because it kinda hatches the chicken/egg syndrome if you ask me. "C" is a rate of discharge really. Say a battery has a capacity of 2500mAh, then 1C would be a load of 2.5A. But what doesn't make sense is with batteries like alkalines, they usually have their capacity rated at like very low current meaning that a typical alkaline AA has a capacity of 2800mAh, if it is drained at like 25mA constant current. But that is only .001C really. If you increase the discharge current the capacity becomes much less, in the case of an alkaline. So what I don't get is which comes first the C rating for a battery or the capacity rating??? An NiMH cell that has say 2100mAh discharged at 420mA would be considered a .2C discharge. And most are rated at such a discharge; but with NiMH you could increase that current to 2.0A and you'd get the battery still showing 2100mAh capacity. So I'm not 100% sure how it works but that's the gist of it. If you have a battery with a rated capacity of 2500mAh, 1C is 2.5A current draw; .5C would be 1.25A current draw; and so on. Here is a better explanation, if you need it: http://www.buchmann.ca/chap5-page1.asp

Yeah there have been a couple in the past; there should also be a current model from Sony. However, note that there are no Hi-MD car decks and it does not appear that Sony will make one either. Where are you located? Models that are (or have been) available vary from country to country...

Well the thing is every CD or MD player will utilise some sort of digital filter in its output stage... The thing is with the JB930, yours is variable, so you can change it. If you set it to "standard" that is probably the best match for the CD player's digital filter (i.e. it probably uses the same type of coefficient filter or something very similar).

I was born in London, England; moved to Toronto, Canada when I was about 2yrs old and lived here ever since (though I've lived in different areas of Ontario for a few years at a time, while I was going to school)... My background is West Indian though, both my parents were born in Guyana.