mangizmo

As Sony still market a Hi-Md unit in the UK...and I think there are still units sold in Japan...is it reasonable to assume that support for SS will continue for a few years yet ? I am worried about a future update of windows rendering my equipment useless

Well as a long time Minidisc user and user of Sony MP3/Atrac walkmans, after trying to use Windows Media Player 11 to upload a few audiobooks to a new NWZ-A818 flash walkman all I can say is "come back Sonic Stage...all is forgiven" See...I dont use my portable devices for music very much, I am a huge consumer of audiobooks...It is essential that I can easily create playlists for sometimes a hundred or more tracks on an audiobook...if they get out of the correct order...the book listening experience is ruined SS 4.3 is really good at this for both Minidisc and my battered NW-A1200 Atrac/MP3 walkman, for all the complaints about SS, in the end it evolved into a pretty slick piece of specific sofware that just works pretty well Problem with these new Sony devices is that the Sony hardware is superb, but WMP 11 attempts to work with so many different devices, and it tries to be too clever...I have given up and gone back to my SS compatible devices IMO, the fantastic little Sony NW-A818 walkman is essentially useless for my purposes...I just cant be bothered to struggle with WMP 11 I guess we are never satisfied, everybody complained about SS, but I think its really good now.....now we are stuck with Windows Media Player...I downloaded Sony Media transfer for walkman ver 1.2....its useless, Sonic stage was a sophisticated product in the end that was designed specifically for Sony products.....I like it !!

I bought a piece of software called "sound taxi"..it converted the files no problem The cheapest version is very slow, I bought the next one up which converts 6 tracks at a time...it all worked OK Version 4.3 seems to support m4a...I havent tried it, but I think so

Anyone any tips on how to get M4B files onto minidisc ?? SS unfortunately doesnt seem to handle M4B (M4A only ) I would be OK if somebody could recommend a good (fast) M4B to MP3 converter....any ideas ??

The battery life is totally great, I think this is a lovely unit, at first I didnt like the idea of a gumstick battery and a charging station and a propriotary USB cable, but I find the units just so nicely designed and slick....I think they are brilliant One of the boxes had a sticker on the front which sais "was £199.99...NOW ONLY £99.99"...and I bought it for 19.99 !!! plus £3.50 postage I will use it every day for hours (I drive for several hours per day) ...I listen to audiobooks and some music in the car via an FM transmitter, I find MD very reliable, I like SS and it just works for me...my wife also uses MD extensively, something about removeable discs...she can deal with that, she knows where she is with is ironic that as PCs became more powerful and SS was refined and Hi-Md was introduced....MD works as we always wanted it to...it was discontinued (virtually)....love MD and I love the NH1

Just picked up TWO brand new MZ NH-1 Hi Md units...boxed and complete totally brand new for £19.99 UKP each plus £5.00 postage...ie £45.00 total for two brand new ones !!!.....both with that funky remote as well... I am pretty pleased with that deal ....I love E-Bay, it was a big retailer, and I dont think they knew one md player from another...so sold them off cheap here: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...N:IT&ih=016 despite saying "refurbished"...they are both clearly brand new....bargain !!

Just picked up two MZ NH600s for £60 each (always found the 600 OK for my requirements and it seems reliable enough).....they are definately getting harder to find, I think grabbing another might be a good idea...but who knows ?....I now have 4 Hi-Md units...so I should be OK

I was just thinking of picking up another Hi-Md unit as a spare and was suprised what high prices they are fetching on E-Bay......as they become rarer, the price has gone up it seems...still a demand then

Thanks Avrin...that is all very helpful information, Happy Christmas

Yep I agree, I love SS, but what I mean is the software is soon to be discontinued isnt it ?? So in a not so long time, how are we going to use our Hi Md players ?......I assume that we will have to keep hold of a copy of SS....a free standing installing version as I can see Sony dropping the download option soon also...thats whats worrying me, the latest versions of SS are really good IMO....of course we all have much better PCs these days , so thats another reason why SS seems so much better

Is there a plan to make HiMd drag and drop....or am I dreaming...will we just be ignored ??

I agree with your opinion on the price...£100 less and I would have bought one today....wow, theres one with a MD slot ???....not in the UK though I will bet...same as you, I would buy that unit without hesitation....the system looks good though...I still "may" get one

My local Currys electrical has one of these http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/store/cur_...p;category_oid= similar here: http://uk.gizmodo.com/2006/03/18/sony_nasm...et_jukebox.html The Salesman "claims"...no DRM !!!!, ATRAC and/or MP3 apparently you can upload from flashdrive, minidisc, PC....it cant be true surely ???? Anybody know anything about these devices ????

Yes I guess thats a good point, the 900(I think its called) we have (the one with the AM/FM radio in the remote) seems alot more robust Go on then, can anyone recommend a really robust latest gen Hi-MD (MUST take an AA batt), for me to look out for, the 600 I just bought was only £35.00 with two 1GB discs thrown in which was great....but I agree, even though the 600 works OK...its not that nice a unit to use, and it may not last too long I suppose given the use they get here Thanks again