tekdroid

all I can say is thank goodness Sony finally got linear PCM on their feature list for Hi-MD. It's no longer a toy (I hope).

hmmm, drag-n-drop on a 1GB disc at very slow speeds with expensive media and drives? No thanks. If you want something with drag-n-drop ease that's reliable, check out DVD-RAM (the least popular, most expensive of the DVD formats, but by far the most most reliable). Personally I see an almost non-existent market for MiniDisc on the PC. There is simply too much competition with other formats. MiniDisc has great portability, though. Not to say I would be totally uninterested at the right price. Would have to be at least half the cost of a DVD-RAM drive and at least 1/3rd the cost for media to be considered competition, IMO.

So true. I think they'll be called Crashpods in 2-3 years (as will many of their competition building HD-based units). I bet there'll be a far higher ratio of perfectly functioning 2004 model Hi-MDs than current iPods by then. Sony does need to go way beyond 1GB pretty quickly though. Hi-MD will be their interim format to milk some economies of scale they developed with MiniDisc before switching over to something a fair bit more advanced, IMO (which is no doubt being worked on as we speak). 1GB just doesn't have the same appeal it would have had 3 years ago, especially considering the reduced time recording losslessly. Sony's (big) advantage is their ability to build robust removable optical media, which most of their competition can never hope to manufacture, let alone market successfully. Until HDs are replaced with something a hell of a lot more reliable, I don't think anyone can underestimate Sony's advantage here, especially when/if they increase storage densities and speeds...

Hi-MD simply 'cause I wouldn't trust a hard drive to my data any further than I could throw it Your priorities may vary.

amen. Been doing that already with DVD with several albums ripped (losslessly) to each DVD disc for use on the PC. Would be nice to see it in a compact portable..

storage is moving so fast, anything is possible. Sony *will* be left in the dust if they don't move to higher capacities and speeds more akin to those computer users are used to. The market is simply moving that way and expects that sort of usability, so I see a competitor really making them rethink their MiniDisc strategy (as they already have, to some extent) or the format falling into irrelevance. In short, yes there will be enhancements to capacity for sure. I doubt it will be before 2 years tho.

:wacky: lol, could this actually be true? If so, I'm ready to pronounce it dead :laugh: This has gotta be the guy from Sony not knowing what the hell he's talking about, I hope...

Isn't MiniDisc rated has having 1 million write/rewrite cycles? I'm assuming Hi-MD would be similar? While DVD-RW/DVD+RW and CDRW around 1,000 (if you're lucky) ? And DVD-RAM around 100,000 writes/rewrites. I think that gives us some idea of the reliability of rewrites, even if they are manufacturer-quoted "way out of whack" figures. For the record, I have CD-Rs since 1997 still kicking here, all stored in a Caselogic case. Rewritable formats like CDRW/DVD-RW I personally wouldn't trust to archive data to for anything other than short-term(ish) stuff...

yeh. The units I can understand being expensive. In fact, both the units and the discs I can understand being overpriced at release. It's a new product, things always go that way. I'm sure they will drop in price by a lot in time, so no biggie. I just wouldn't want to be buying too many Hi-MDs at 7 bux a pop, that's all Still, I remember when MD came out the discs were far higher than that and I bought them, but a lot has changed since then on the storage front. I guess I'm spoiled by using DVD+RW as a reference point for price-for-capacity. Not entirely fair since MDs are smaller and likely a lot more reliable on the rewrites..

I dunno if I'd call $7 US per disc reasonable, but sure looks like a bargain compared to flashmedia. But doesn't everything

Hi-MD will offer an option for linear PCM recording. ie. lossless 44.1, 16bit recording (CD-like). Meaning no crappy space-saving "u can't perceive it anyway" algorithm between you and your recordings. How they implement it will be another story, tho. ie. restrictions and so on.

They have lossless in the bag this time, they say. Still waiting on reports of Sony's real-world implementation, though.

I'll be interested in the lossless recordings on Hi-MD, provided they get a few other things right too, which is looking doubtful. Just can't live with lossy formats for original recordings. I'd rather use DAT.

the markets will be split, just like they are now, IMO. Solid-state technology won't stay still. Neither will MiniDisc. Neither will the the compressed or lossless formats we record in, for that matter. I don't think there will be a clear 'winner'. I don't think there has to be. They each have strengths and weaknesses. Some are technological, usability and cost-related, while others are political. But it's good there's choice. In an ideal world, a device with no moving parts, unlimited rewrites, almost unlimited capacity, flexible recording formats, ease-of-use, insane transfer speed, excellent data and video capabilities, low cost, wireless compatibility & universal slots for interfacing with everything from phones to video cameras to music players to computers to whatever would be highly preferable. So there's always room for improvement in so many areas for any format (or product) out there now. There is no format that's ideal in every area, that's is why we have so many, and plenty more to come as technology progresses. In 5 years a lot can happen. In 10 who knows what things will look like? I could get my dream of terabytes on a grain of rice, ultra-reliable and interfacing wirelessly with almost every device on earth at insane speeds and offering me lossless multichannel audio and high definition video recording in the palm of my hand, making physical formats themselves seem highly antiquated. You never know what breakthroughs are around the corner This is just the latest in a long line of endless technological improvements, IMO. They might keep it for another 5-10 years, before offering the Next Big Thing. Technology marches on. No clear 'winner' if u ask me.

tapes are already antiques. CD recorders (for computers at least) are dirt cheap. Wouldn't surprise me to see USB slots on boomboxes soon, allowing you to attach your little USB stick for quick playback and recording. I'd see that happening far sooner on cheap boomboxes than MiniDisc.

you know something's wrong with the world when a Real solution is preferred over another

I prefer removable formats simply because things can be shared easily without hooking up the actual unit to another device. I also dislike hard drive technology in general. I have had my fair share of HDs die on me, and the last thing I want is all my music on a HD, even though they do have compelling advantages over optical discs, namely capacity and speed.