oivindi

I can confirm that it works fine under VPC. I've done it lots of times. Be patient, however. While the 100x suggested by another poster isn't at all true, I can say that you'll have time for a lot of coffee while you wait...

That is one of the most persistent urban myths in the world of technology. But it is just that: A myth. Here's some reading material ("Why VHS was better than Betamax"): http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/comment/s...,881780,00.html In this article, you also have the point about the "whole product" - which is very interesting, and which shows why people often adopt the kind of the techology that they do: "Let's take a simple example: digital audio tape (Dat). Get someone to compare Dat with a humble C90 compact cassette and they will find Dat to be technologically superior, especially for recording music. However, if you consider "the whole product", Dat is vastly inferior for most people most of the time. This is why people still buy millions of cassettes, while Dat has virtually disappeared from consumer use." If you get this, you will understand why so many people buy iPod instead of for example minidiscs - which may, or may not, sound better than the iPod, but is still inferior in terms of the "whole product" (because of the factors mentioned below). I don't see one single argument *against* the iPod in this paragraph. On the contrary. What I do see, however, is you giving the iPod hands up in terms of storage (significant), cost (significant) and portability (significant) - and the UI (significant). You're being very incoherent, but it seems that what you are saying is that the 20, 40 or 60 gigabyte are worthless because of the 15 hour battery time?! Interesting. The point of having so much storage space is CHOICE, first and foremost. It's very convenient when you are leaving for work in the morning, and don't have to browse through all your CDs or minidiscs to find something to listen to. It's very convenient when you travel, because, as you mentioned above, don't have to bring along dozens and dozens of minidiscs or CDs. It's very convenient if you decide that the first or second or third album you are listening to this morning is not tasty - and so you can switch to something else. It's also very convenient if you want to mix, say, 60 albums together with random play. You may or may not like all of these features, but please don't be so ignorant, arrogant and even stupid as to claim that those who value these features have been tricked or duped. Yes, that's exactly what it does! You are, for some ridiculous reason, using the limited time of 15 hours as an argument against the storage space. That's moronic. Even with a 100 hour battery time you would be able to "argue" the same thing, which makes the this whole thing reductio ad absurdum. According to your twisted logic: At what point would you say that the iPod could be considered worthy of your attention? 30 hour battery time? 60? 120? 300? Would you say that my mobile phone is an inferior product to my telephone at home, because I can only talk for about 3-4 hours on my cell phone? Are cell phone makers "tricking" their customers into buying a product that's inferior, because you can't talk for 10 hours? 20 hours? Or because the standby time is ONLY four or five days, even though you are going on a holiday for 10 days?

I'll give them an hour with my NH1, and ask them to find the backlight on the unit itself. They'll never find it, because it doesn't have one. I'll then ask them to play tracks randomly. That should also take them some time. You can make the light on the iPod turn and and off automatically. It's very easy. That doesn't matter. Gazillions of people have managed to get their head around the iPod in a matter of minutes. It's UI has been praised by reviewers and non-Apple-users all over the world. It's been hailed as an excellent way of making an UI by a LOT of people. Whether or not you didn't come to the same conclusion during your studies is irrelevant. My father bought his first Mac five years ago. An iMac. He was editing videos about fifteen minutes after turning it on. That speaks volumes about Apple's UI design. No, they are a great COMPUTER company. You seem to imply that there's some kind of Orwellian world out there, where people are being tricked into using an inferior product because the company is a "great marketing company". You simply can't trick people into using an inferior product. It's not possible. Maybe for a year or two, but not for ten or twenty. Your claim so far out that it could've been an episode of X-files. Or it could've been made by a Windows user. I would like you to qualify that claim. What, exactly, is inferior about their electronics? You can argue that their machines are priced too high, but please - tell me what's *inferior* about them? Please tell me, also, what's inferior about their operating system? It won't. Live recording is a tiny, tiny part of the entire digital recording/player market, and this move by Sony to finally (after how many years?) make the MD Mac-"compatible" (you can only upload analogue PCM recordings) will have very little effect on the market as a whole - if noticeable at all. People are generally just angry because Sony have decided to introduce two new "Mac-models", instead of making old(er) MDs Mac-compatible. You certainly are delusional. I can guarantee you that Apple's been selling millions of iPods on word of mouth! Here in Norway, there's been very, VERY little marketing of the iPod in terms of ads and such. But it's been talked about, and Norway is one of the countries with the largest number of iPods per capitae in the world. And you can seldom argue with word of mouth, because that means people recommend it to friends and family because they LIKE it - not because they've been "tricked" into it by a clever "marketing company". I wouldn't hold my breath. Sony are notorious for making life difficult in terms of their rigid copy protection schemes, and there is very little evidence that this will change dramatically soon.

I know this is off-topic, but this is getting ridiculous. I'm wondering if some of you have even tried the iPod. I turn on my iPod. I go to Artist, Radiohead, "Kid A". Press Play. Music is playing. Or I can include "Albums" in the main menu. Turn on my iPod. Go to Albums, choose "Kid A", press Play. We're talking seconds. If you are trying to make *that* into a cumbersome feature, please tell me how *you* would organize this particular matter. Are you saying that there is a quicker or more intuitive way to locate a particular album from a particular artist? If so, I'm sure a lot of UI-designers out there would love to find out about it.

Yes, arcane menu-structure, indeed. Built like a tree, with branches going out from the trunk. Like most other operating systems in the world, including Windows and Unix and what-not. That certainly is arcane. You get a list of artists, and following each artist you get a list of their albums. Then the tracks on a particular album. How anyone can label anything as simple and intuitive as that for "arcane" is certainly worth thinking about for a minute or two. Sure, nothing beats the menu-structure of my Sony NH1. You have umpteen different menus, and Sony has even chosen not to remember certain settings every time you turn the thing off. I have had an iPod for a long time, and I have had the NH1 for while. Nothing beats the iPod in terms of menu structure. It's brilliantly simple, but please tell me exactly what you find so "arcane" about it. I really want to know, especially when considering that all the people who have picked up my iPod for the last two years have basically figured it out within seconds. Perhaps my people are just too damn clever? And bad sound quality, like someone said? Please. You can put AIFF-files on the thing, and with a pair of Sennheiser HD280s on your ears the sound is crispy, dynamic and clear. I have even tried some pretty demanding electroacoustic stuff on it (Jonty Harrison), and for a thing that costs not so much, but offers 60GB of storage, you'd have to be a grumpy Sony fanboy to diss it - and quite the purist, to be honest. Sony has SO much to learn from Apple. That much I know after using SonicStage and the NH1 (for field recording) for the last six months.

Well, it DOES work - on Virtual PC. I have a Sony Hi-MD, and I have no problems transferring files digitally to SS 3.0 running within Virtual PC 7 - running Windows XP (puh!). Sure, it isn't native, and, sure - it takes some extra time. But it works...and that's good enoug for me!

I posted some info about this before forums crashed and an old backup had to be installed (shouldn't a, eh, daily backup routine be in order for such a large forum?). Anyways, the short version is: This actually works! Here's the post I posted earlier, with a few modifications: Transferring files from the Hi-MD to the Mac using Virtual PC actually works. I've just recorded some sounds on my brand new Sony MZ-NH1 using my WL183 mics, connected it to my Dual G5 Mac with Virtual PC running Windows XP and SonicStage 3.0, connected the NH1 to the Mac, and then transferred the two recordings to SonicStage. I chose to import the files as WAV, saved them on my Virtual PC/Windows XP desktop, and then dragged them straight from VPC to the Mac desktop. Opened them in Peak...and things are looking mighty find indeed. Things take a bit of time, but not as much as I initially feared. I've only tested this a couple of times, but I think the speed seems to be about 1:1 for Hi-SP-recordings made in Hi-MD-mode, and as slow as 1:3 for PCM-recordings (i.e. ten minutes recorded material would take roughly 30+ minutes to transfer and convert to WAV etc.). However, I will try to install Windows 98 on another VPC-partition. I think maybe Windows XP is a bit too heavy for emulation, so maybe 98 SE will free up some resources that can be used for the transfer process. But, in short: This is brilliant. Digital transfer of recordings from minidisc has been on the agenda for a while for me, and now that I can transfer my field recordings in PCM-format digitally to my Mac things are certainly looking up. My Mac is running OS X 10.3.8, the latest version of VPC, and has 1GB RAM installed. The Hi-MD was immediately recognized by Virtual PC, and transfer(s) went without a hitch. I've tried this a few times now, and haven't had any problems (no crashes etc.). Feel free to ask if you have any questions. Things may become problematic if you are using a slow(ish) machine, but, in theory, I guess this should work on most, if not all, current Macs. Ø.

Do any of the current Hi-MD models allow for recording to be initiated via the LCD Remote? In other words, can I start recording directly from the remote? Thanks.

Can anyone confirm (or not) that this new Wave Converter will work on Virtual PC on a Mac? Will SonicStage work on Virtual PC? Glitch free? Anyone?

So, to summarize (partly): If I were to buy a Hi-MD, record some sounds using a microphone/mic in in PCM-format, mount the Hi-MD on my desktop, access the folders...I would only get access to a copy protected file that Sony´s own software (for the PC) can read?

The Sharp IM-DR580H has backlit remote which shows everything, including rec level. And it bl**dy well has to, since the main unit has no display whatsoever. :rasp: It´s Sharp´s top unit. Very nice.

OK, this is a strange one. Turns out the 16KHz spike is being produced by my television set! My 29" Sony seems to be emitting a hi freq signal that´s being picked up by my microphone cable... I just tried monitoring the signal with and without my tv on - and the "spike" disappears when it´s off. Wow. You learn something new everyday. I guess my follow-up question is: How can I isolate the mic cable better? It´s the one that came with my Sony ECM-MS957S. Should I buy a new one (that´s better isolated)? Or? /Ø/

I´ve just been through hell and back to get both my dealer and Sharp Sweden to refund the money I paid for a Sharp DR-420H (faulty mic input; too much static, particularly in right channel). I got a discounted DR580, and thought that would be a good deal. But, no... I´ve just found that when recording via the microphone input there´s a nasty, constant "spike" at about 16KHz - a frequency that becomes particularly noticeable when I pitch down (etc.) the recordings. I have tried with two different mics (three if you count my headphones used with the mic input), namely a Sony ECM-MS957S and a Shure BG 4.1 - and the 580 shows the spike with both of them. Here´s a graphical representation (produced by the Firium plug-in on OS X) of the output of the both the Sony and the Shure: http://home.broadpark.no/~oidso/Sharp_SonyECM957S.jpg http://home.broadpark.no/~oidso/sharp_and_...d_ShureBG41.jpg Am I experiencing *another* faulty device? I´m sort of going mad... :wacky: anyone got any experience with this?

And it´s not a good one. Sent an email to Sony Norway, simply asking whether or not the Hi-MD format/players would be Mac-compatible. I got this reply: "Hi-MD will not be compatible with Mac." So, that´s it then. God damn it.

There´s a price difference in Norway of about $100 between the two, with the MD-DR470HS, of couse, being the most expensive. Is it worth the extra money? I will primarily/only be using the MD for field recording w/stereo mic, recordings that will then be further manipulated/treated/mangled on my Mac. Anyone? /Øivind/