MDfreak

The "magic word" is MZ-RH1.

Yes, that is the same idea. What it does is putting the voltage of the battery-pack on pin 1 of the USB-connector which is the normal 6 Volt DC-in. So just like I said: instead of using the USB-power you use the DC-in (which in case of the NH1 is "hidden" in the special cable). The only problem with those plans is that you destroy your dockingstation and it is not a very "compact" endresult. With a little different approach you would not have to destroy the dockingstation and you will end up with a design like mine except with the special USB-connector in stead of the normal one. If I had to make a batterypack for the NH1 it would end up something like this except for minor changes in the electronics: MZ-NH1 battery-pack "mockup"

Probably not. I tested it with my RH10 and NH700 and they immediately go into "PC --> MD" modus after connecting the USB cable so normal operation is not possible after that. An alternative would be to adapt the batterypack in such a way it uses the normal DC-in. For the NH1 that would result in using another pin of the special connector. So this specific design is for the RH1 because it uses it's the USB also as DC-in. For other models you will need a minor adjustment to the battery-pack to connect it to the normal DC-in and you will need an adjusted output-voltage (with most models 3V, with the NH1 6V)

UPDATE: Dutch DIY-instructions can be found here: http://www.mdcenter.nl/artikelen/mzrh1/batterypack.php (hope for an English translation soon) As promised in our RH1 review I would provide you with an alternative for the dry-battery-case we know from different MD-walkmans but that is absent with the MZ-RH1. Today I got the final components for the prototype and it showed the battery-pack works as expected. Detailed plans on how to build one yourself will be available soon but for now I just want to show you that it is possible to make a simple alternative for the dry-battery-case. Battery-pack "proof of concept". WARNING! Directly connecting 4 non-rechargable AA's or fully charged Ni-MH batteries can produce a too high voltage on the RH1's USB port and can cause permanent damage to the RH1. But because we had to return the RH1 to Sony before finishing the final prototype we carefully tried if the concept works with almost empty Ni-MH batteries. Battery-pack prototype. As you see we added some extra electronics to make the batterypack more safe to use with the RH1 and it also makes it more userfriendly. Furthermore the RH1 is back to Sony so sadly we could not take a final picture of the RH1 connected to the prototype of the batterypack. Estimated batterylife Based upon calculations when using 2500 mAh Ni-MH batteries. - around 33 hours of PCM recording - around 125 hours of Hi-LP playback - around 6,5 full charges of the Li-ION battery Extra features - voltage regulation to regulate battery-voltage. - can be used without the need of a Li-ION in the RH1. - can be used to charge the Li-ION. - can be used to power the RH1 during normal operation (e.g. recording or playback). - on/off switch to turn of the power to the electronics. - power-LED indicating the batterypack is on. - low battery LED indicating the batterypack is almost empty. - adjustable low battery indication: by adjusting the variable resistor you can adjust on which moment the low battery LED will go on allowing you to adjust the time between the LED lighting up and the moment the batteries are fully empty. - can also power other USB-devices that use USB-bus-power like e.g. mp3-players Basically the RH1 will not see the difference between this batterypack and the supplied AC-adapter. So everything you would use your AC-adapter for you can use this battery-pack for. P.s. as said before: detailed plans on how to build one yourself will follow soon. Please do not try to make a batterypack yourself without understanding how it works as it can damage your RH1 so that it will not work anymore.

Please start using SonicStage 3.4 so that you don't have to worry about bugs that may be in older versions. Furthermore: if Lame crashes there is a bigger problem with your PC or Windows installation that only a faulty transfer via SonicStage. If more than one program have problems there is almost surely some other reason why those programs do not work. So the best thing to do: reinstall your PC altogether.

Already working on that one. Did a "proof of concept" about 2 weeks ago. More details and plans probably within a week.

Ok, so the same as with the prototype I tested except for the normalisation that did not seem to work with the prototype so could you please tell some more about that and how it works. Also good to hear you like it. I also found it much better than I had expected.

From our contacts @ Sony we know the following: It is UNDESIDED if there will be a next MD-model. It is totally depending on the succes of the RH1. If it is a succes we might see future models. If it is a flop it was the last model. Very logical I would say.

Circuit + description: http://www.mdcenter.nl/artikelen/mics/portablephantom.php Oh, I also built the circuit in a box not long ago: p.s. I used 2x 9V blocks in series to have about 18V. Otherwise you will get close to limit on which most mics don't work anymore. Also it is better to have a higher voltage when your mic has to deal with higher pressure-levels.

Yes, even with "rehearsal-mode" which means the RH1 let's you hear the point of division before actually inserting a trackmark (so you can fine-tune the point of division).

As the M100 is almost idential to the RH10 I used to compare the RH1 with, see for yourself.

Just added to this topic what you requested. Also note that with the RH10 the characteristic of the PCM and ATRAC is also not totally flat (slightly more volume at the highs). Probably the difference between Digtal Amp and HD Digital Amp? p.s. just in time to do this analysis via a sweep. Got to return the RH1 tomorrow :-p (and I don't want that)

Indeed I will keep that in mind for future reviews. So you mean this: MZ-RH1 MZ-RH10 With: - green: PCM - red: Mp3 @ 256 kbps. - purple: ATRAC @ 256 kbps.

Just testing with normal music is maybe because we are lazy? No, because you have to do with all kinds of codecs and they all have their own characteristics and behaviour it is the easiest to take a "real life" piece of music. Furthermore I used the same music to determine by listening if the difference was audible. With a sweep it would be very difficult to hear the difference.

A bit strange to supply the device with a software-package that will not work with the unit...

Yes they are: first = RH1, second & third = RH10 with the third in logaritmic scale to see clearly that the drop-off starts at 1 KHz.

Done testing is but still enjoying it!

Thursday is the official release in Japan so we try to get in online tomorrow of wednesday. The Dutch version is already finished but we wait untill the English version is also ready. Otherwise I know a lot of people will try to read it via a Babelfish-translation and those translations are so bad that they only lead to confusion so that will not be very helpful.

My MD's and equipment past several times true such X-ray scanners on airports and they NEVER messed up any of my electronical equipment. If that would be possible they would warn you to put in no equipment because damage could occur. So from my experience: no problem at all!

One year ago, FM-radio and blue. Probably this one: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-NHF800.html

Like already said in other topics: the articles on the European Sony sites (NL, DE, UK etc.) are based on "old" information from the time the RH1 was still being developed. That's why there are a number of errors in it: - picture on first page implies the button on the right of the RH1 is a microphone: it isn't a microphone, it is the jog-lever. - they talk about a search-button on the RH1: there is no search-button. - they talk about a jog-dial (seen on the left on the old "photoshopped" picture): there is no jog-dial, there is a jog-lever and it is on the right. On the left the RH1 has the eject-button. - they talk about running it on a AA battery: there is no dry-battery-case available and no place on the RH1 to connect it too so the only source of power is the internal Li-ION battery. I already sent Sony these comments but as it is a big organisation it will probably take some time before these "mistakes" are corrected. What I can confirm is that the MAC-software will be able to download from MAC to MD.

But still I find it so much better than my RH10, N10 and N1.

Yes. But I operate my RH10 always by using the remote that has no jog-dial but also some kind of jog-lever and I never use more that 10 seconds to find a particular track. And if you realy want the jog-dial you can always buy a RM-MC40ELK.

And what those units have to look like? Do they have to be even higher-end or lower? Remeber, Sony stopped marketing MD as an mp3-player-alternative so you will not see any "budget" models anymore that lack microphone inputs and such because they realy don't sell that good. They now (finally) start marketing MD as a live-recording medium or a high-end player. In that there is no place for alternatives of the RH1 that are cheaper and lack vital functions. So as for me: better one very good model then 10 models that are not up to their task (and thus don't sell).

If you all dump the tracks in the root of the disc it might be some work but via remote you have the possibility to find tracks according to the titel, artist, group and album so all kinds of options for easy finding a track without having to scroll true all tracks.