pata2001

Played back from you PC in SS, they should sound the same, which is the point of lossless. Played back on HiMD, PCM will be better since you cannot transfer AAL to HiMD (you're only getting the compressed/transcoded version). I don't think many can differentiate PCM/AAL with HiSP though.

As far as I know, there is no way in recording SACD digitally, or ripping an SACD. You can only record via analog, and any HiMD units with line-in should do the job, in this case, your NH700. To get the highest quality possible, record in PCM mode, which is uncompressed. Nothing will be better than that, and any HiMD unit can playback PCM. For playback, best bet is to get a unit with an HD amp. If you want a thin one, get the EH1 (unfortunately, it's quite rare now). Next best bet is the EH930, EH70, or EH50, all have HD amp. Or you can get the NH1, which is a recorder also, and has a line-out mode.

There are tons of MD being fatured in anime, since it's quite common anyway in Japan. In Gravitation, they use MD a lot. In NOIR, there'a an MD player during the ending song. Almost everytime a character is listening to a portable audio device in anime, it would probably be MD. NOIR: A more interesting cameo, the NW-E3 was featured in a Chinese movie, Skyline Cruiser, being used by Leon Lai. Well, maybe Neo already had HiMD, so he reformatted the older MD into new HiMD format, capable being used to store data.

Are you encoding straight from the CD? If yes, you also have to consider the ripping time. Some CD drives are just slower than others. Also, encoding to Atrac3 is faster than Atrac3+. Encoding to HiSP is slower than HiLP. Unfortunately, we don't know how Sony optimize the Atrac encoder in Sonicstage (whether it's SSE2/3 optimized, dual core optimized, P4/A64 optimized, etc).

Hmm, I dunno. 48kbps is not something you can say free from artifacts. Although I do admit Atrac3+ 64kbps seems to have improved in SS3.3 compared to earlier versions. "To achieve this, we enlisted Sony Music’s studio engineers to evaluate our compression technologies repeatedly, and have succeeded in achieving a level of sound quality that has convinced even their experienced ears." IMO this is not good enough. I want Sony engineers to compare and do ABX of their Atrac codec to the latest Lame and OGG codec, and see if Atrac is still up to snuff.

Just to add on based on personal experience: -AVG free. Seems to be a good free AV. No problems so far. -Mcaffee. (also norton). Although the regular consumer version has nothing to be desired (system hog, etc), the professional/corporate version is pretty good. I have mcaffee coporate (free from my university), and it's pretty good and quite light on the resource. -Adaware + spybot + MS antispyware. These are my 3 combo now. Regardless of what you pick (those 3 are free, so why not ), make sure to get more than 1 anti-spyware program. 1 program does NOT detect all the spyware out there. Firewall: -Sure, a NAT router is probably good enough to prevent attacks from the outside, but I definitely recommend a software firewall to prevent/detect programs/spyware/trojan contacting out FROM your PC. You'll never know. Besides, sometimes you might not want regular programs like WMP/Quicktime/realplayer, etc connecting to internet for whatever reason, and a software firewall can easily stop that. Oh, and not everyone has the resource/knowledge to built a seperate linux box as a firewall. A software firewall is better than nothing. -Zonealarm, the old favorite, now seems to become a bloatware. WinXP firewall is good enough for most users. Sygate was free and a good one, but not available anymore. I'm using Kerio now, seems to be pretty good, although more annoying than other firewalls sometime. Those with an nForce motherboard might already have a firewall from nVidia. you just need to install a driver from nVidia. Browser: -Definitely use Firefox. I've been using it since it was still phoenix/firebird. Use IE only for windows update. Practise safe browsing habits. Don't download any attachment you see just because. Scan anything you download before running it with an anti-virus. Don't just click on any link you find on google. Be wary of scams and phissing. All the software/hardware mentioned above are just tools, and can easily be disabled/bypassed by ourselves (the user).

Oh, I'm aware allright. That's why this is called a "wish list." I'm probably one of the not so many people who are actually amazed that Sony can pack an MO drive in such a small package, and runs on battery power. Still, actual MO drive technology has moved beyond sub USB 1.1 speed. Sony themselves has made an MO drive that can do 5MB/sec transfer rate.

I'm getting tempted to get this, mainly because of the big buttons. I can easily control the volume/playback without resorting to remote or pulling the unit out of my pocket. Can be a great HiMD "shuffle." The only problem I have is that at Audiocubes, it has the same price as the EH930.

I doubt there will be any future HiMD units outside Japan. My wishlist: -Unicode compliant on software, remote, and unit. -Faster transfer rate -Drop the glossy fingerprints collector surface, and bring back metal finish. -OLED 40ELK remote. Oh, how about a HiMD version of the E10, with an OLED display on the unit?

QUOTE(Liberal_B @ Jan 8 2006, 08:38 PM) ←when i used divx 6's portable profile got a filesize 57.2 MB (resolution 320x240) This is a good size, and 320x240 is stil watchable. See if you can have Ishiyoshi/kurisu to host the file for you. Another great idea is to convert the video to (as Ishi said) PSP compatible MP4, but could alienate those who are not familiar/don't have the software/hardware to play it. It would be hilarious/ironic watching Stringer on a 5G iPod.

Please do. Would be great for us who don't pay attention to TV. You might want to reduce the resolution and bitrate to keep the file-size bearable. The only problem is to find a space to host it.

I was going to watch Brokeback Mountain, but then when I saw the preview, I have the feeling that it's not going to be what I expected. It seems to be just another "gay is taboo, so the main characters decided not to be together" kinda movie. Not really exciting IMO. I dunno, I don't think the movie is that big of a deal. Seems to be more fun to watch yaoi anime. What surprised me is that Ang Lee is the director. Maybe I'll just wait for the DVD. I don't get it with some of the public response (especially late night talk shows). "oooohhh, gay cowboy movie..." Woop deee dooo. I guess it IS a big deal for a country that censored Cardcaptor Sakura, Pokemon, and Sailormoon (yeah, why don't we get to see Sailor Stars? ). For those that think this/gay stuff is already controversial, go watch Koi Kaze. Yeah, gotta love Japanese anime.

"Minidisc vs MP3," a classic misconception. MP3 is an audio codec like Atrac, WMA, etc. Minidisc (MD) is a medium/hardware, in comparison to hard-drives, flash memory, etc. For live recordings, HiMD units with mic-in are the preffered choice. Classic NetMD units don't have the capability to upload via USB. As for MP3 DAPs, most (if not all) consumer DAPs out there don't have mic-in. Only expensive pro devices do. Some MP3 DAPs do have built-in mic (Zen micro, many flash based MP3 players), but the quality won't be as good as an external mic.

That is valid for the RH910 and RH10, which for some odd reason, Sony chose to disable full 3 line support on the 40ELK (considering that the LCD on the unit itself is multi-line). The DH710 and 1st gen HiMD units, however, can utilize the 3 line fully, meaning one of the display option is to display artist, album, and song title, each in its own line. Also note the poor brightness on the 40ELK, one of the complaints against it when it first released with the NH1.

The US DH710 DOES have a remote jack. It is fully functional with the 33EL, 35ELK, and 40ELK. AC jack is not really critical since the unit is USB powered when connected to a PC. The unit would be classified as a downloader. It is not a plyer only unit since you can still transfer music to it via USB. My small review: http://www.audiotstation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28812

Another reason why I try to use Simpleburner exclusively to transfer music to MD. Speaking of advance technology, the 5G iPod can decode H.264 video (in comparison, sub 1GHz PCs cannot even playback H.264, my 1GHz celeron chokes on plain DIVX videos), yet cannot do gapless.

Another ignorant comment. Fairplay DRM is propietary. Atrac is propietary. WMA IS propietary, of Microsoft. iTunes forces users to use Apple only products because Apple refuses to license its Fairplay DRM. So, tracks from iTunes are only playable on iPods, tracks from connect are only playable on Sony devices. What's the difference? Yahoo and napster tracks only playable on DRM WMA supporting DAPs. Napster and yahoo subscription services only playable on "play for sure" devices. All are the same. All are propietary. All DRMed legal music download services are propietary, unless they use OGG and ditch DRM.

1st gen HiMD units can only record to real SP mode MD in real-time via optical (1 to 1). Definitely NOT 2-3 minutes a CD.

What is the source of the songs? MP3s? If the source is any other than AudioCD, then you will have gaps since the gap is in the source material. Just converting to Atrac won't magically give you gapless. If your source is the actual audioCD, then try ripping both tracks selected at one shot. Sometimes if you rip tracks individually, you will have gaps.

To MP3 directly, no. To AudioCD, if the tracks are self-ripped, yes. Just click on the transfer to screen, and on the drop down list there should be an option to transfer to audioCD. But I don't see the reason if you have the original auioCDs. If the tracks are bought from connect.com, depends. You have to check the rights info of the track. Some allow burning to AudioCD, some do not.

That's why you don't see many player only units outside Japan. The Japanese are used to the MD format so much, that people know the difference between player only units and recorders/downloaders. I can see your scenario if Sony sells the player only units in the US, where people will bash Sony and the format even further, and there will be major complaints and lawsuits against the retailers and Sony.

It's just bad. Dont' bother. The only good use for it is probably voice recording. If you want, you can encode your own with SS2.x and up.

Although I think they should, it won't go anywhere if Sony doesn't open the format, or at least eliminate the stupid regioning on the movies AND music. Regioning on music UMDs is the dumbest thing I've ever encounter.

No. Again, these are EH series, which means playback only. Recorders will have RH prefix, USB downloaders will have DH prefix.

The idea of most HDD DAPs is that the user has the exact duplicate (original) of the library in their PCs. So even if the DAP got screwed, all they need to do is re-transfer the library from their PCs. With USB2.0, music transfer is amazingly fast, especially for some of us who are used to the sub USB1.1 speed of NetMD. MD/HiMD is removable, and that is an advantage as it can serve as a reliable media by itself. However, the content is impossible to back up unless you have all copies of your music on your PC with Sonicstage. It's amazing that many people are still using PCDPs. I hope Sony wil reconsider in axing the PCDP line, but looking at the "purchase intent," it's clear that flash/HDD DAPs are what people want. Now if only a manufacture would consider the use of DVD, even the next gen optical media like blu-ray/HD-DVD. Imagine a portable blu-ray disc player, with 20GB per disc. Even a 60GB DAP will be a laughing stock since you can simply bring 3 blu-ray discs to equal that. Size is probably the only drawback, but hey, 5 discs and you get 100GB!