Rumz

It takes them about a day to process and ship your order. From there it depends on what shipping method you chose and if you chose ground it depends on where you live-- Datavis is based in New York.

Their pre-order price apparently is $239: http://www.datavis.com/webapp/commerce/com...9a2746346b20092

I'll second what kurisu says. It's refreshing to see someone get into the codec on their own and form their own opinion-- because when it comes down to it, that's what's important-- what YOU think and how it sounds to you. I'd like to see Hi-MD succeed and improve. It'd be sweet to eventually have a car deck, book shelve, etc-- gotta love that removable media

Haha, no way. Indeed, thanks Kaotic. That's a steal-- $10 more than retail for the NH900!

So they actually do have it in stock. Pricegrabber indicated that Sony had them in stock this morning but when I checked the same site it gave me the pop-up saying they weren't available. Not so now. The wait is officially over, isn't it? All the US models have been released, however limited in quantities they may be.... now lets see some blanks at walmart

Whoah, that's dirt cheap. The other day when I checked datavision I'm almost positive they were going for more than $309.99!!!

I *might* hold out for a Sharp Hi-MD, but not because I expect improved music transfer options. Mostly I'm crossing my fingers that Sharp produces an Auvi Hi-MD unit for me to enjoy Besides that Sharp is usually known to be better for live recording, though I'm not sure how the latest Sonys stack up. They often release their new recorders near the end of the year so I hope they've got something they're keeping secret until it's near ready (unlike Sony's premature Hi-MD announcement. bleh.)

Well if it's anything like the H1xx series, it'll handle 44.1khz 16 bit stereo wave files and it'll have a mic jack similar to MD.

Wait, how much is this and where are you getting the price from? The NHF800 ought to be able to be had for between $200-$250, if I'm not mistaken. Still, I own an iRiver H100 and I don't quite like it as much for live recording as MD, mainly due to the limitations on how long a file can be and the time it takes to save one file and start a new one. Now, if they've fixed this on the H300 series so that you can start a new track without having to wait 10-15 seconds, then it will be a much more viable option for portable recording. It looks hideous, but useful nonetheless. Perhaps they have fixed this, as they're boasting a "autosync" feature (which hopefully is similar to MD's autosync/auto-track mark-- one of my biggest gripes about the H100 was the lack thereof.) As useful as the H300 sounds, it's too early IMO to call Hi-MD a stillborn. For those who need to buy now, perhaps it's not the best option. Down the road though, it remains to be seen what will happen with software and upload capabilities. I suppose it's best to prepare for the worst-- then you'll be less disappointed :laugh:

Yes, that really is the question, isn't it sxc. Tell us, otter-- did it come with Sonic Stage 2.1 or 2.0?

I imagine the disc read time would increase as well with increased disc capacity. It already takes fairly long from turning a Hi-MD player on to actually listening to it... It'll be interesting to see what improvements can be made to the Hi-MD format.

Hi-MD has been available in Japan for a little over a week now. I wonder how it is doing there... Ultimately I think Hi-MD's success in the Japanese market will determine whether or not decks ever become a reality. As others have said, I don't expect them to make it stateside even if they do appear in Japan. At least you can import, eh?

My only guess is that Sonic Stage 2.1 is intended more as a full-blown Hi-MD software package? Because the english user manual for the NH1 specifically mentions the uploading of PCM recordings from Hi-MD to PC on pages 112-113. You *should* be able to upload those PCM recordings. I would guess that this manual is bundled with the same units that will be bundled with 2.1...

Damn, I have been out of the loop for some time I guess. Hi-MD / Sonic Stage 2.0 documentation led me to believe (stated directly) that you could take PCM recordings, upload them, and then download them to other Hi-MD discs-- that they *were* uploadable if only for use on other Hi-MD discs. WTF?

Yeah! Turns out to be much cheaper at audiocubes-- $10 more on the initial price, but shipping is only $15 and they throw in the power converter free!

I don't see it on Hyper Jack's web site-- do you have to call them? How much are they selling it for? EDIT: Nevermind. I see minidisct.com has a link to buy it from hyperjack: $459. How much was shipping from Japan-direct?

Yeah what it means is that new Hi-MD recorders can not only use the old, regular MD media, but it can "reformat" those old 74/80 min discs to allow them to hold double the music-- which I think is awesome.

What jadeclaw said-- the only sound quality difference you will hear will be because of the amp on your portable unit (iPod vs. Hi-MD unit). The main difference is that the Apple lossless compression takes up less space than PCM (roughly half the space I would guess). If you had something similar on Hi-MD, it might make regular 80min discs more usable for PCM recording, and you'd be able to fit 3 hours of lossless music on a 1GB disc. For me, Hi-SP will suit me fine. I have an mp3 player and I would never fill it up with lossless files, simply because they take up so much space and would be more taxing to read off my hard drive. That's just my personal preference, however. I can hear a difference between Hi-SP and lossless, but it's not nearly serious enough for me to be concerned-- Hi-SP sounds excellent to me.

I guess if I've waited this long I can handle waiting till June. Disappointing but time goes by quickly these days (where did April go?). I had the same thought regarding releasing the units now and 1GB media later, but that would create a problem, I think. Everyone who has MD listed on their site for pre-order or even just as a "coming soon" item has probably listed that one of the accessories included with the units is a 1 GB disc. It's typical for Sony to include a blank for recording on to get people started, and it would be ghetto if they included a blank anything less than 1GB. So to avoid problems with customers I think they'd rather delay Hi-MD than send out units without media. Like Leland said, the 1GB media is one of the major features of this unit (one that makes it more competitive with other popular MP3 players like the mini ipod)-- it would be pretty confusing if the media wasn't available when the units were, and wouldn't make Sony look good. Hey Leland, being in Tokyo, have you heard anything about the Japan release of Hi-MD? I mean, assuming media is ready by June, can you think of any reason why the forecasted June release of Hi-MD in Japan would be delayed? If not, my options for my first Hi-MD unit just increased a great deal, heh.

I'm not sure what the body will be made of. Perhaps magnesium like the NH1? If that information is available on any of the Japanese pages, no one has gleaned it and added it to the product pages for minidisc.org or minidisct.com. I thought about doing the same thing as you and getting a stationary downloader and a high end player, or even just getting an NH3D (hell, I may have to reconsider getting the NH3D as it'll probably be available in Japan by the time Hi-MD is released in the US). Bottom line for me is that I will be able to save money by buying only one unit-- and I also am a feature whore and would hate being stuck with only a downloader, even if I don't do live recording that often. Well, that and I'm sure I'll want to do PCM recordings of music from time to time, which will require a line in. So I'll probably just go with the NH1-- it's only about one mm thicker than the Eh1 and will suit me perfectly as an entry level recorder. (of course there's always this voice nagging me to get the NH3D... and to wait for Sharp's Hi-MD recorder, hehe) And yes-- for the time being the EH1 is a Japan only unit. The only word we've had of the LAM-X1, NH3D, and the EH1 has been through Japanese press releases. Perhaps the EH1 will become available in the US / Europe later on, though it should be easily obtainable through import when it's released in Japan.

Well considering your age it's not surprising that your friends don't know what MD is-- unless, that is, they are otherwise tech savy and MD is the gaping hole in their knowledge. The only reason my dad knows what MD is is that I got into it and he likes a lot of the mixes I make and wanted to have copies himself. He has an MZ-R900 (he just bought the top model one day off etronics.com without even asking me what he should get) and he may have used it to record once or twice, using a mic-- otherwise I've recorded all his music discs for him... might seem like a waste to some people but he really only listens to it at night and on business trips, and does have quite a few discs. Anyways, I'm rambling, but yeah-- a lot of people my age don't even know what MD is nor would they appreciate how versatile it is-- but I have managed to "sell" a lot of people on MD, regardless. Got one of my best friends into it, while another best friend got into it the same time as I. I think NetMD just makes it more user friendly to a lot of people-- the younger generation has not grown up making tapes but burning CDs (I loved recording mix tapes in the 80s and 90s). In any case, what are you talking about with regards to mic inputs? Sure the 400 series NetMD units don't have mic / line inputs-- not even remote outputs. Sony is targeting those people who have smaller budgets or don't care to have live recording capabilities with these units-- they won't even realize the wasted potential their unit has. And yes the NH600D is a downloader as well, but other than that, the rest of the new Hi-MD models have line / mic inputs, do they not? I know the NH800,900, and NH1 have them. I don't think any of these models will rate as "perfect" even with the mic / line in, but I'm sure I'll be satisfied Oh, and with reference to the title of this post--"When will the world realize that MD (Hi-MD) is happening?" -- I think they'll at least realize Hi-MD is happening when Sony finally releases it. Last I heard it has been pushed back until mid to late June 2004 in the US. It may not be so long after we get it that Japan gets theirs afterall.

There is a japanese version of Simple Burner 2.0 so I think it's safe to assume there will be an English version of SB 2.0. But as StrangeByte said, even without SB there is an optiop in Sonic Stage 2.0 to rip from CD to MD (though I'm not sure that it doesn't leave a copy of the hard drive, I'll have to try it). I see no reason why Sonic Stage / Simple Burner 2.0 wouldn't pick up a Nero virtual CD drive, the same technique should work fine.

Agreed. I don't think Sony has really lost money on MD overall. It's very popular in Japan as well as other parts of Asia. Even if MD hasn't sold well in the past in the US, for example, that doesn't mean they've put so much money into MD here that they've lost money. But I do think that Sony is looking to expand MD's market-- obviously they want to make more money. I still can't believe Hi-MD is slated for release in the US before Japan. I'm with the author of this thread-- though I have 4 different portables and a deck, I still can't wait to get my hands on a new Hi-MD unit

Eh? The NH900 should NOT have a bump. I'm saying the 800,700,600 will all likely have bumps as suggested by their dimensions. They have the bumps because they use internal AA batteries. The N900 is thinner because it uses the thinner "gumstick" battery.

The following units will use only AA batteries: NH800, NH700, NH600. They all have the "bump" on the back where the AA battery goes. You can use either the rechargable that's included or a standard alkaline AA battery. As DarkYDK said, the NH900 will take a gumstick sized NiMH battery, so the unit will be flat across the back. For longer battery life, there will be an attachment that you can hook up that takes AA batteries, so you can have both the NiMH and AA at the same time for even longer battery life. The AA battery case just attaches to the end of the unit, making it a bit longer. I also believe that "bump" you see on the back of the NH900 is just a piece of the charging cradle that props the unit up. I doubt they'd put a bump there and still use gumstick shaped NiMH batteries!