tekdroid

Sorry to hear about your troubles. How old is the unit? Can you get it fixed? How is their service? Thanks for sharing your experiences with this unit and comparing it with what we're used to. Often it's hard to find stories from a user perspective out there with all the noise from the manufacturer propaganda machines. Hopefully you get the issues resolved and you don't have further trouble with the unit. There are some glaring weaknesses that you brought up, so thanks. I believe the perfect (affordable) model might be around the corner, but I don't know what the hold up is - and it's any guess as to who'll make it.

Without going into your needs (and precisely what you mean by 'a while'), nobody can answer that. If you wanna stand out from the crowd, then by all means buy one (if you can find one). Sony won't promise you anything and will probably deliver less than they promise, so your choice They haven't announced Hi-MD car units or anything of that nature. What they have announced is discontinuing MD in some markets, like Australia. Recording on the go If you want to record in a small unit unobrusively at good quality, it's a very good choice. (linear PCM recording = no lossy compression). If the unit dies, you did back up all your stuff to CD/DVD, right? PC files If you want to save the odd data file to them on your PC - using them much like a floppy with any USB port (with no additional software required with modern operating systems - just plug-n-go) - it's also a good choice. Don't expect high-speed, though; transfers are very slow compared to flash memory and hard drive-based portables (and virtually everything else). Good enough for smallish files, but the wait can be unbearable for many files (or just larger files). So, HI-MD is useful as a portable back-up even if your audio interests dry up. Around 300MB can be saved on each 'regular' MD formatted to Hi-MD mode, too. Potentially a cheap and convenient (if relatively slow) very portable back-up. Library management & ease-of-use If you want to transfer files and manage your music/recording library easier than someting like iTunes, or if you expect drag-n-drop for audio files that the unit can play away from the computer, it's probably not a good choice. Everything has to be transferred through Sony's software with probably more surprises and 'gotchas' than you'd reasonably expect. Removable Batteries 4) If you like to have a portable unit that's (arguably) more reliable than a HD-based unit and has relatively cheap removable media and that doesn't go cheap on you with internal, non user-replaceable batteries (a la iPod Nano, etc), it's also a good choice; you can carry spares and you can also forget about voiding the warranty - or wrecking your unit by hacking it open - when the battery nears the end of its useful life (as they all do after a few hundred charge cycles).

there's always UDF...

yeh, and CF or SD instead of Memory Stick would be nice, too Apparently, it lets you attach your own mics. Just an example of something I'd like to see get more affordable. I'd take a smaller, less-featured model anyday, but it's a good example of where I'd like to see the investment going. Good, solid, operating noise-free solid-state recorders with killer capabilities.

I think the topic is very relevant 'cause we still haven't seen a quality recorder in MD's price bracket to replace it. Until we do, this will always crop up. If MD really is irrelevant, you'd think at least one or two big-name manufacturers would hit the market with some killer flash recorders targeting MD's price bracket very soon (even if selling without the flash card) and offering potentially more linear pcm recording time (for starters). Yes we've discussed it before, but it's truly perplexing to me. Until that happens, these topics will always come up. Both MD and flash essentially do the same thing and can both do it fast enough for recording and playback, while in other devices, MD's failings are more apparent. So when's the flash invasion on the recording front (and at similar costs to MD)? That is the question on my lips.

sounds like you guys get taxed through the nose up there for blank media, or something. I would be rewriting to the same one at those prices The availability of Hi-MD discs seems to be very rare in real stores in Australia, too, but that's to be expected since we got the Hi-MD axe But you guys are paying double what we are.

good god, those prices are freakin' insane.

The question is: how many did they order?

bought first MD recorder in 95ish, the MZ-R3. Paid around AU$950 for it. Discs back then were around AU$13 bucks, from memory. Less than a year after I bought it, it was sold. Just wasn't for me, though the editing on disc was unlike anything on the planet. The format was remarkable in that sense. It also made recording easy and portable. I just lost interest in lossy compression. Totally. And I still don't use it to this day. What I miss: the build of the old units. They were simply built to last. Today's units just don't match up (even the MZ-NH1 doesn't come close). CD and DVD recorders: Bought a CD recorder in September '97 (Yamaha 400t - which I still have and still works) for AU$750-ish and a DVD recorder a few years back. No compromises on the linear PCM front, and great open-source lossless formats like FLAC and so on are at my disposal for archival. The rest was history. NetMD/Hi-MD Heard about NetMD when it came out, also heard about the crappy software and what a pain in the arse it was to use (a friend bought one). Ignored all units, but then - all of a sudden - news hits the net that Sony would extend the MD format to a new format called Hi-MD. At last, data storage and linear PCM (yay!) on the same disc. There were delays releasing them. And more delays. Then, they were selling. Waited until people started using them. Heard about all the DRM restrictions and crappy software. No chance in hell I would bite at those restrictions, let alone those prices. Uploading restrictions lifted When DRM restrictions were lifted for uploads in SonicStage 3.2 a few months back, I seriously started to get interested. I simply would not buy one without official DRM upload restrictions lifted. That restriction was one of the most unbelievably arrogant things I've ever seen a corporation get away with, and I was surprised anyone could live with it, even with third-party tools to get around things, they would not get a cent from me for that. So you can imagine how surprised I was they did something about that (quite speechless, I was). Price reductions and pulling out of the market The price reductions here recently just sealed the deal; I returned to MD after a decade's absence (just before they drop it in this country, lol). It's hard to imagine MD kicking butt (even for just recording in linear pcm) in 5 years from now in its current form. I think something better is definitely gonna replace it in short order, even if that something is an enhanced Hi-MD.

http://www.palm-dubai.net/001/2005/10/hynix_nand_flas.html Apparently Hynix is in talks with Apple now. Flash capacity (and investment in flash) is growing rapidly and prices are dropping, and it is used where MDs just cannot be (high-speed writing to cameras, shockproof portables, etc). And it isn't owned solely by a DRM-crazy corporation hell-bent on abusing their customers and their rights Since Sony does a lot of flash and HD work now, they know they can't make MDs the top choice for certain products in certain markets. To compete with some of the uses of flash, MD would need a capacity and/or speed increase pretty soon, at the very least. Flash still has relatively limited writes before it fails (in comparison to MD, which used to claim 1 million rewrites), but considering most things these days are moving so fast that in 2-3years they become basically obsolete, nobody seems to care about relatively limited rewrites; it is "good enough" for Joe User. What they do notice is speed (or lack of it in MD's case) and size of portables, though. ...and for flash to compete with MD for some markets, it needs to become cheaper so discs/cards can easily be shared and duplicated. Considering networks like the internet these days (and lossless and lossy compression), that is less relevant than it used to be. Also, sharing can be had with the more universally-accepted DVD and CD, which are the default choices for offline shares and long-term archival - and both have good speeds and cheap capacity. It wasn't too long ago when 1GB of flash was considered outrageously expensive, yet now it comes standard in many portables. If decent (MD-like) recorders aren't made with flash very soon (and competing head-to-head on price and quality of recordings), I would be very very surprised.

Yes, the portables were made by Matsushita (Panasonic), just as Matsushita made the Philips and Marantz tape transports on their (early) DCC decks (Seagate made the thin-film heads). You might recall Technics (another Matsushita brand) released their own DCC decks and were a visible supporter of Philips' format. Their portables were quite bulky even for back then, but were built like TANKS. Really good build quality. Was *that* close to buying one new when they were out in the stores here. Probably a good thing I didn't tho. I owned both early DCC and MD, so that woulda been a bit too much. Hah. Saw one on ebay selling in Australia for around 40 bucks a while back but decided tape just wasn't for me, let alone lossy compression of DCC Wanted one to admire the build quality and to satisfy my curiosity, mostly, hah...and to use as a really robust tape deck that I could give hell to in case I ever needed it - but I really don't use tape at all and haven't for years, but I love deluding myself that I would when it comes to quality Matsushita hardware

nice shots I remember this model well because I was heavily into MD (and Philips DCC - Digital Compact Cassette) at the time. The general consensus was that they released this model before they wanted to, to take some shine off DCC's release (which was out and selling a bit earlier, as I recall). Anyway, the second MD unit they released was MUCH smaller than this one. Philips DCC was also praised in the hi-fi press for sounding better. But there's no denying the advantages of a disc. Speaking of discs, those grey, non-translucent discs are the best (and I think I still have one lying around here). I still prefer opaque discs above all others (no light getting through). Nice stuff. Brought back some memories when all this lossy audio stuff for the consumer market was new (which I really grew out of quickly)

That and a better MiniDisc. I have no doubts that Sony have a bigger, better MD up their sleeves. They know what they have to do to push the format to the next level and 1GB just ain't cutting it. They know what the market realities are for the format and I think they have a lot of room to enhance the format and extend the investment they have made in it. These questions (or answers) seem a tad vague to me given that I don't know what the distinction is between USB Player and Flash-based Player, and why Flash Player wasn't mentioned in the first answer yet it was in the second. Seems a bit hard to believe nobody polled owns a flash-based player. Their distinction between USB and flash-based player would be nice to know, too. All in all, it seems MD has a troubled road ahead as far as consumer perception goes for playback. A few things contributing to this, IMO. Size (of units) Many flash-based units out there are a lot smaller than MD and far more 'sexy' and unobtrusive. Size (media capacity) 1GB is quickly becoming 'old hat' (for an MD-sized unit, people expect more capacity, largely due to HD-based units). They are happy to live with a far smaller unit with less or the same capacity, though. Speed (transferring songs) MiniDisc/Hi-MD transfers are WELL UNDER 1MB/s. Unacceptable. Ease-of-use (of software, DRM included) Sony has a long way to go here.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000017066416/ You're right. Odd...

Hmm, I dunno about that *heavy discounting in Australia and around the world (they only discount what needs to move) *concerns about MD's future *low visibility or no visibility in stores/catalogues *low mindshare in the general population (What's a MiniDisc? What's Hi-MD?) http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/2005/index.html ...and an annual report that mentions: Sales of headphone stereos declined as a result of a significant decrease in the unit shipments of both CD format and MD format devices due to a shift in demand towards hard disc- and flash-based memory players. Worldwide shipments of CD format devices decreased by approximately 3.68 million units to approximately 7.28 million units and worldwide shipments of MD format devices decreased by approximately 1.44 million units to 1.92 million units. Sales of home audio declined primarily due to a contraction of the market. On the other hand, overall sales of car audio increased slightly due to strong sales in the European market and Other Areas. CD and MD have been hurt pretty badly, unit-wise. Remember these sales are for Sony only, and for all MD units. The trends would be similar in any other company with similar products, though. Considering Sony makes Hi-MD with virtually no competition, I don't think the market is very huge to split between several companies. It's unlikely others would even be interested too much given current trends; the focus is clearly on HD and flash for portable playback. There could be an upswing for Sony and MD, but it will take some marketing and more user-friendly software - at the very least. A better product in both software and hardware would be welcomed. It won't matter too much if the focus is gonna be pro use - it is the best recorder for the money - but the least they could do is make the marketing reflect that fact. It's clear not many of the masses are interested. I tried to get several people to buy into MD at the discounted prices in Australia, but they refuse...and I cringe when thinking of SonicStage and having to explain that to them). Seriously.

I thought I made that quite clear when I said: ILoveMinidisc said the sources were always mp3, so in any case they would certainly benefit from not going through 2 lossy conversions (mp3 and then ATRAC on top of that) with Hi-MD. Of course the odd double album could still be compressed that way. I would also buy 1st gen, and my mind was easily made with minidisc.com.au's killer pricing on the units. I was initially gonna just wait for Generation 3 to pop out, but there's no point at these prices. Go Generation 1, I say.

Yeh, a cable is essential to avoid motor noise with this mic (and something over the top of the ECM-DS70P to stop the wind noise when outdoors, too). The 3.5mm-stereo-plug-to-3.5mm-stereo-socket extension cables are pretty cheap to get separate in any half-decent electronics store, too. I have at least a couple of them that are 3 metres long that I got for a few bucks. Comes in real handy for a nice extension cord so you don't have to reach the back of the computer to plug anything into the MIC and LINE IN and LINE OUT, too.

It would be interesting to know how many factories there are producing MD blanks, I think. With the CD and DVD market, there's a lot of branding going on but not many real manufacturers, for instance. I wonder if that holds true for standard MD (or if there was a way to find out on the PC like there is with CD/DVD). It would be nice to see more from other manufacturers if it brought the cost down and/or availability up. Otherwise, I'm not too fussed.

I was quite impressed with the carrying pouch. It really is quite good, and just the right size if you ask me. Probably 'cause I wasn't expecting much, but it's a must-have, too. The bundle's a good deal on top of an already good deal. Ideal for wayward travels

Are you feeling a bit geekish? If not, stop reading (I will not be responsible for any damage and blah blah blah) If you don't mind some manual work after getting your files downloaded, like: *extracting the zip files *opening up a command prompt and typing some stuff (for just some of the files - some of them you can just double click) ...then read on There's a very easy way to get all files and keep them so you never have to download them again. If you're so inclined, look here: http://www.aii.co.jp/contents/sonic/_data/...DlFileSetup.ini That is the setup file for the web installer for SonicStage 3.3, showing all download locations for all files and the order in which they are installed from the web installer. Any special command switches are listed next to execution = . Most files can be double clicked, though (those without any special / following their file names) Each file is listed under headings in this ini file (along with a lot of other info underneath it). The first 4 headings and their meanings: Msi MSI installer Dx DirectX 9.0c Wmf Windows Media Format 9 Series Runtime Setup Mdac Microsoft Data Access Component They files are normally found on Windows systems but you can install them again just in case you don't have them (or don't know if you do). The web installer automatically determines if you have these or not and only starts downloading the Microsoft files you need. After that comes the Sony files: MSC which is the Music Server Controller ...and so on, all the way down the list. You normally only need to download the actual Sony zip files (the ones from the MSC heading onwards) but it doesn't hurt to get them all and install them again just to be sure your system has them. Alternatively, if curious about what your system actually needs, you can just start the web installer to begin installing, and the file it starts downloading from will tell you which files you need to start downloading from. Then you can cancel the web installer and get your files manually. Anyway, going down the list we see more: SsSetup is the actual SonicStage 3.3 SsAddon is the CDDB/Connect component add-on for SonicStage For SsSetup and SsAddon, just download your specific language. You'll notice in each section there's an execution = line. If there are additional switches after the exe file here, you'll need to open up a command window and go to the directory you extracted the zip file to and execute the file with those switches listed in the ini file. At least that's what I did to be certain things would work fine. The result I installed SonicStage 3.3 on Windows 2000 and Windows XP without any troubles - without the annoying web installer and without downloading twice. Both installs were clean installs after cleaning up all traces of SonicStage 3.2 listed in the FAQ here: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=8071 Again, you do everything at your own risk and blah blah blah. If you're reasonably confident around the computer, it's a no-risk operation and it frees you from the web installer (and allows you to install easily on multiple computers). Have fun! (and just say no to web installers)

Yeh, meant to say Hi-MD, but it just doesn't roll off the tongue as easily, so to speak The lossless news alone makes me drool. Will be testing a little later.. Very nice find, richyhu.

ATRAC Advanced Lossless sneaks in like this and is compatible with current ATRAC devices. Good lord, does this mean 2 lossless albums-worth on 1 MD, on average? The suspense kills me. Only one way to find out...

---------- Samsung Electronics, Korea’s biggest digital products maker, aims to duplicate its dominance in memory chips to MP3 players by forging a digital media player application like iTunes of Apple Computer. Samsung president Choi Gee-sung, who is in charge of the firm’s digital media division, made the remarks during a press conference late last week. "We are now in talks with our partners to debut a service program like iTunes of Apple. Our No. 1 priority is to help customers use our products with ease,’’ the 54-year-old said. More here --------- Curious that this article didn't mention that Samsung was behind iPod Nano's success (by supplying the NAND flash for the units, along with reported heavy discounts to Apple). Interesting news to me, nonetheless. Samsung iChoonz

Better sound You mentioned better sound several times. If you use MP3 as sources, converting the mp3s to WAV before transfering them on Hi-MD (without ATRAC, uncompressed) would keep the original sound quality you have from the mp3 - so you're not losing any more quality than you have to (you said you don't wanna put many albums on one disc, anyway - so it suits you). As you may have heard, second-generation Hi-MD has crippled MP3 playback (sounds duller). So why even bother with half-arsed mp3 implementations? NetMD vs Hi-MD You like NetMD a lot. To me, linear PCM playback & recording (and data capability) are very compelling reasons to get Hi-MD and forget about NetMD. Doesn't this excite you? From my perspective, NetMD is offers very little, regardless of whether Hi-MD gets popular or not. Plus you need to start collecting Hi-MD blanks, right? So it's time for a Hi-MD model.

Does it have to be HD? Hi-MD is likely the best for the money. But is not without its faults. Mostly preventable, but I digress. Of course I'm just waiting for something like Sony's PCM-D1 to reach semi-affordability. It's due in December: http://aes.harmony-central.com/119AES/Cont.../PR/PCM-D1.html This is what I'm talkin' bout. Except - say - 1500 dollars cheaper Now excuse me while I wipe the drool from the keyboard..