tekdroid

I hope Apple gets more market share, so the dinosaurs can rethink things. For instance, I hope crusty Sony management really wakes up and: *actually attempts to use the products the company makes, namely Hi-MD, then ask themselves what sucks and what doesn't and make changes. Doesn't take a genius. *drops SonicStage completely for MD (MD is not for the masses and SonicStage is a liability for much of their target market). *Allow easy copying/back-up of MD-to-MD. *Kill all encryption on the disc. (Then I hope Apple do it)

Note, these are just my opinions good points: 1) no tacky painted-silver plastic (that rubs off with enough wear-n-tear). Hallelujah! (at least I hope those silver buttons are actually what they appear to be: metal) 2) metal body 3) no tacky glossy plastic (fingerprint-prone, easily scratched). The need for kiddie-bling has finally disappeared, it seems. 4) main controls seem to be shaped and sized right for easier use (if what I think the right-part of controls are actually what they are, that is...) 5) seems slim/small, MZ-NH1-style 6) very good display for night/lower-light viewing 7) timestamp/clock seems to be back (maybe) bad points: 1) tiny display like MZ-NH1 - at least 3 line necessary, IMO (but 3-line would be hard to fit on the side, so possibly a reasonable compromise for those benefiting from a display on the edge of the unit). 2) most likely a bad choice of display for full-sun/outdoor applications (or "leave it on the desk and observe from above" viewpoints). Can't win 'em all. 3) no native AA battery support, though probably reasonable compromise given size constraints (but MZ-NH700 spoils me) 4) tiny buttons for some (less-used) functions (I guess they're good to prevent accidental presses, but can be an issue). 5) personally I dislike the way black heats up in the sun. I woulda preferred the more natural lustre of metal with no coloured coating (MZ-NH1 style) Good n bad Overall, some welcome improvements, a few not-so-welcome and some "could-be-good / could-be-not-so-good" changes, depending on how you use it (as is always the case with new units). I hope the remote is good, though 1-line display doesn't inspire confidence. I think Sony tried to contain costs here; they gave us metal and the more expensive display (and timestamp) but had to contain costs in other areas to lower their manufacturing costs (and of course help move older units, lol). Lossless formats Recording to a lossless format like FLAC or Sony's own should be on this unit if it isn't already. Even granny plays with 1GB+ now, and some space-saving lossless format is what's needed on a device of this calibre. Still trying to make sense of DPC: Variable Recording Speed. Hmmmmmmm. Last unit? I am positive this will not be Sony's last Hi-MD unit. Value? Will I buy? Definitely not at the initial asking price. What will make me buy at the asking price? 1) USB On-The-Go functionality to save digital camera pics to while on-the-go (!). 2) Native drag-n-drop for audio recordings (no SonicStage whatsoever) Summary Yum. Reduce the price. Or increase features

That's pretty much what it comes down to - having a device that suits your wants/needs. Flash and HDs have their strengths and weaknesses, but so does MD. It's great to have the choice. There's friction on the magnetic head since it physically touches the disc when recording. Don't know about the nature of materials but I'm sure they're smooth and pretty robust. But it's true the laser itself (that magically heats up the spot right under the magnetic head so the magnetic orientation can be changed) never physically touches the disc (in recording or playback). Frankly, I'm amazed it all works, just thinking about it. Especially in a low-powered portable.

OK. Their intentions are a whole 'nother discussion. Who can tell? But...there were numerous issues with their 'uninstaller' too (and the methods used to get it). Anyway, the details are lost to the masses, generally-speaking. As far as the public are concerned (and I don't blame them) Sony (or Sony-BMG) is directly responsible. And they should be. Simple as that. And changing their buying habits is the best way to express outrage to a corporation. I think it's great. I don't care where Sony-BMG sourced the software from. Management made decisions. They released things on the market. It was illegal, quite apart from the risks (or non-risks) the software posed. That's that. They probably would if it was installed illegally and without user consent while they wanted to play some music. I think Sony got off real lightly. And their 'compensation' package to those that bought these discs was/is pathetic. Hopefully that's the end of the off-topicness.

Actually, the way I heard it, the 'hype' was centred around the possiblility of third parties making an exploit for their rootkit. Which happened, btw. I can't imagine things much more serious than that so it perplexes me how you can call it hype and BS. Agreed. And of course, to flip the same coin, there are lots that people don't know are being abused because they don't have a software firewall monitoring outgoing connections (same with trojans). I see it all the time. But I know exactly what you're saying. Privacy was eroded long ago (and continues to be). However, the point is there is still potential for the average user to say no. I was going to mention google, ISPs, IPs, etc but really didn't want to get it into a whole big discussion. Too late Microsoft makes so many acquisitions each year, and they are in the Search and ISP business, too. The potential for data-sharing among new businesses and acquisitions is high, too. Sony does the same thing. Their purchase of Sonic Foundry's assets a prime example. All their software customers now belong to Sony (something which I expect a certain percentage of their customers dislike). Again, the potential for one arm of the company to market and target users (and share user and content data, monitor trends without your consent to help build new businesses and without your knowledge) is high, too. EULA or not. Anywhere a buck can be made, basically. You may not care, or you may be concerned. Some are and some aren't. Some use anonymous proxies everywhere they surf, too. Is it necessary? It may not be. It may. Depends... But some don't like making it too easy to be tracked and monitored everywhere they go. And they have every right to be. Doesn't mean they are up to no good. It's basic privacy. Microsoft have been busted for sending user-identifiable data from machines, and of course "what you're watching/listening to" content-identifiable privacy-invading 'features'. Multiple times. Sony have been busted for rootkits, draconian DRM without regard for the userbase etc., anyway, you know it all. The potential for Sony (and many other 'anti-consumer' companies) to do the same (again), and change any policies regarding 'privacy' (which are all a farce to appease consumers and get them to hand over their cash anyway) is routine. Hotmail, for instance, once changed their policy to state that they literally OWNED everything going through their system. Your content, OWNED by Microsoft's Hotmail. The outrage over the net 'caused them to backtrack and rewrite their EULA, or whatever they called it. Can you believe that? You better, because it happened. Similarly, the potential for Sony's SonicStage to do something it didn't originally in the next update can be considered high (or not). The point is, simple precautions are good to take to keep the morsels of data we don't wish to send. And who knows if that was even videot's intent. He probably just got pissed off with the web connection? If we wanna talk privacy-invasion, we can look almost everywhere. For instance, who knows what agreement Sony has with Gracenote? We don't know. The point is, we don't know the back-room deals, and we don't know how our data is shared behind closed doors. We will never know the full story in all situations. Some might not like anyone making money off their data, even if not user-identifiable. Even though one person out of millions is statistically insignificant. Good on 'em, I say. The potential to match this databases with others (for example, marrying fixed IP records with a new ISP acquisition by Microsoft to target and understand potential customers far better. Or to simply sell this data to another organisation (as is done routinely). The potential to share private data that you thought was given in confidence (or not given at all) but is, instead, taken and shared with other parties, is always high, IMO. And personally, I feel it's bloody immoral. There are some valid concerns about privacy invasions (as well as some unfounded), but the point is we should be aware of it and, again, it should be our choice. Anyway... Back to this topic, videot simply wanted a version of SonicStage that didn't connect to the web. Easily done (with some penalties that may or may not be relevant to everyday use for some people). Regarding CDDB, who knows if videot was talking about that. Some might have a preference to deal with another company besides Gracenote for CDDB access simply because of a user's dislike for Sony (or Gracenote) and perhaps even Sony's possible shonky backroom dealings with Gracenote and others. Or hey, it could be just a general distaste and distrust of Sony in general. Or you can always type your titles in manually. Or you could never even transfer from CDs and do only your own recordings and not need web access at all, or it could be you are relying on the few CD-Text discs you have for automatic CD-Text in other apps. Could be many reasons. Or it could be just that connecting online was just very annoying. Whatever it is, I don't think it's wise to put too much trust in your 'data being in safe hands'. It has been proven time and time again they will do what they can get away with for as long as they can get away with it. At least that's my opinion on things. In summary: There are often valuable reasons for a program to connect online, but it's up to us to decide what's needed and what can (and should) be blocked. Most aren't even aware of their outgoing connections. They probably should be (IMO).

This thread is all nonsense. We all know the best way to destroy an MD is to add DRM In which case we're very very secure. Who would load SonicStage just to get to our encrypted recordings? Nobody, that's who.

Actually, regardless of what they use it for, it's being collected and databases are being kept. And it's of tremendous financial gain to those involved. Microsoft's connections to sa.windows.com, even when doing a basic LOCAL search on your hard drive. Why? Why indeed. We don't have to tolerate any of it if we don't want to, regardless of whether or not we (or our kids) read a long-winded EULA that could put insomniacs to sleep. There are simple steps to stop at least some of those shenanigans and personally I feel we should be the ones making those decisions. It's our data and our computer. At the very least, people should be aware of them and aware of the track record of companies involved, the financial incentives of detailed demographics data and at the very least take simple precautions to safeguard their data (if they feel uncomfortable with these activities). Microsoft, for instance, has been busted several times for privacy-invading features. Sending file data back to homebase with Windows Media Player, never actually deleting content from IE and Outlook Express (even after the user - quite rightly - thinks they're gone), among others (which still exists to this day, btw). Why? Why indeed. We make the decisions about our data. Not them.

1) use a software firewall like Sygate Personal Firewall and you'll always get notified each time an application from an anti-consumer company like Sony and Microsoft connects to the net (Microsoft Windows XP connects to the net every time you do a search on your computer, for example, among others). Must be great for them to collect all types of demographics data on their customers without their knowledge. 2) if you install the application manually, you can choose not to install the Connect store part ([ssAddon] is the name of the component) and the application itself will work fine, but you will miss out on CDDB-related CD-ripping things. This is no guarantee SonicStage will not look for updates, though (I really haven't tried it except for a short time). Of course, you can just rip in another application, like CDex, Exact Audio Copy, iTunes, and so on. Personally I'd install a software-based firewall as a very basic first step. You'd be surprised at how many programs "phone home" without user consent.

I use PCM exclusively, even for just listening to transfers from CD. I thought I was the only freak that did this. Transfer the same track ATRAC and PCM on the same unit back-to-back. Play them (particularly tracks with striking transients). It's easy to spot the difference, even on Sony's stock earphones. I am never completely satisfied unless it's linear PCM.

Use it until it meets your needs best. If other units or technology take that place, use them instead. It really is that simple. April announcements? Dunno. New models normally come out every year, so that sounds about right.

Seems to me this is the root of the problem. The first-gen has some notable bugs which I can't seem to recall coz I never edit the discs on the unit after a recording. Second-generation units, I think some (all?) of those bugs were fixed by Sony. As for the disc formatting. Did it do it itself or did you format it?

A tad off-topic, but... At least Apple has third-parties making better software for their hardware ml_ipod (if your brother uses Winamp) SharePod to install on the iPod itself Both will allow transferring of files TO and FROM the unit (unlike Crapple iTunes for dopi) If Sony had that level of support, nobody would use SonicStage. So, Apple dopi fans still have it good.

US version http://www.aii.co.jp/contents/sonic/_data/...DlFileSetup.ini Asia-Pacific version http://www.aii.co.jp/contents/sonic/_data/...DlFileSetup.ini Europe version http://www.aii.co.jp/contents/sonic/_data/...DlFileSetup.ini Inside each ini file (above) are listed all the files the installer is requested to download (if your system needs them) and the order in which files must be installed (fronm top to bottom). They are listed next to the path = bit. Stick those files into your download manager or whatever. Sony files start from the Music Server Controller (listed in the ini file as the [Msc] section) and go on to the end. The files before that are essential Windows files (such as directx, etc) that need to be on your system before installation. After downloading, unzip the ZIP files. Any commands needed for each file are listed next to each file's execution section in the ini file. Most can be double-clicked, but those with a forward slash / somewhere in their execution section should be installed with those commandline switches. For example: setup.exe /v"OMGCOREINI=OmgCore_GA.ini" That involves navigating to the directory you extracted the zip files in and putting that in the command line. Where there are multiple language choices listed in the ini file, install only the language you want (and obviously download only the language you want). If that is too complex, wait for the full installer which should be available on this site before too long.

No, you have a broken unit. Would you accept $10 for it? One disadvantage of MD is that it's relatively slow. Still, it's better than realtime

Do you have some more details on how you tested this? Equipment used, mp3 encoder type, etc.

I think it depends on the application. Portable Recording I think the portable recording market would respond to total unit cost, mostly. Hardware and media. It's not so critical of this market to buy more media, but: 1) longer uninterrupted recording times than MD can offer 2) completely silent operation and 3) potentially smaller units (due to the use of smaller-sized flash) 4) shockability & rugged reliability would be big benefits and would win the day for portable recording, I think. Often after recording, things are mostly dumped to PC for editing or archival onto (cheaper) disc. Or with USB On-The-Go these days, backing up to portable devices is possible, too. Potentially leaving the main recording unit as small and unobtrusive as possible. Multi-purpose, multi-device flash The benefit of flash is that those that already have flash media in a decent capacity won't have to buy twice if they buy a portable recorder that uses the same cards. They can simply use the card when the other device is not being used. So that's potentially a real cost-cutter for flash devices, too. Flash readers (for the PC) are dirt cheap, too - so that offsets the higher-cost-per-MB a fair bit as well. Building a music library For building up a (portable) music collection, it's hard to go past Hi-MD, and optical discs in general. Optical media is obviously far cheaper than building up collections on flash. But if not requiring very small discs there are cheaper ways of doing things, obviously. It's also very easy for many to archive their collection on DVDs and use a HD-based portable player for everyday access. Playback The market is demanding 2GB+ flash players now and the slimmer form-factor is very appealing and these things are 100% jogging-proof and more reliable than mechanical devices (as far as daily use and knocks and dust are concerned). So it's unlikely people will move to something bulkier and heavier and slower for data (like MD) in future unless it offers something to them that's special (like decent recording and/or greater capacity and/or video, or just lower price). Personally, I think Hi-MD's future for the next 1-3 years is certain, particularly for recording audio on the go, but after that, who knows. Things are changing fast and perceptions of what's 'small' and 'fast' are changing quickly. MD can't keep up in these areas, so its niche will increasingly be recording and creating portable music collections and any other tasks Sony want to give it. I think Sony will want to (continue to) price the units higher than perhaps they should be to reflect their niche in these fields (sales in Australia notwithstanding) and I think we'll see some more interesting innovations in upcoming Hi-MD hardware to entice the buyer. Personally I'd love the ability to directly connect a Hi-MD walkman to a digital camera's USB port and save pics to it. Little things like that would extend the life of MD and make it more multi-purpose and just a more useful device outside of the more conservative audio world. And that, to me, is one of the more needed applications for digital camera people with the never-enough limited flash in their cameras. If your walkman can double as data storage on-the-go, why buy another device? Get the Hi-MD walkman instead. At least that's the plan

Yes, the dotted H represents ATRAC compression Or possibly the less treble you get from MP3s on second-generation units. Ahh, now the thread has truly taken a turn for the worse.

Since we're being pedantic and naggy, actually it's Hi-MD

Sony's "cutting the treble" doesn't save any space. It's just there to show the..uhm...superiority of ATRAC, and give the misguided souls (that would be us) - a guiding hand and some gentle prodding to GO FORTH AND SPREAD THE GOOD WORD by choosing it And it's not gonna work in a million years for them. If anything, it's just pissing people off.

if the track is already in your library when you attempt transfer, it will do a quick "delete-the-track-on-MD-and-refresh-MD-tracklist" action. In which case you'll of course get one less song on your MD. (Stupid Sony). Aside from that, I don't know.

It may be a sign from [insert deity of choice] that downloading DRM'd lossy content is wrong, wrong, wrong. I've never tried it so can't actually help, sorry As I understand it, it uses Internet Explorer's code, so might look into some Windows Updates, perhaps?

Sonistage perfect?! Confucius say: *Seek inspiration from drag-n-drop. *Do not encrypt private recordings. *Find simpler GUI. *allow users to seek harmony without library if they don't need it *do not delete files that exist in 2 places like a rude intruder

Actually they can. And far more quickly and easily with simple third-party tools that require no software to be installed on the computer itself. (software which, of course, is not supplied by Apple but available on the net for free, right now. Legally free..)

FLAC has different levels of compression, depending on your needs. If you use the official FLAC front-end (or even if you encode from the command-line) you can specify the level of compression. Just in case you didn't try that. Personally, I find FLAC techically the best, overall. It's also truly multi-platform and open-source, like Ogg Vorbis (which, incidentally, also has growing hardware support). I prefer saving stuff to open formats rather than relying on one vendor's format on one vendor's platform (Windows).