mmp64

Sony's new MP3 players sound very, very good - very close if not equal to MD. A well-encoded MP3 (LAME, VBR - maybe preset 2 or 3, which ends up being about 175-190k) sounds quite good on the right equipment. What I do still like about MD is the physical media aspect, as you and others have mentioned, the ability to record, and frankly the whole battery issue. This is not necessarily relevant to your unit, but I like the fact that I can use AA batteries on some of my older MD units. No worries about running out of juice, as you can always get AA batteries almost anywhere. And with rechargeable AAs you get the best of both worlds.

Yes, the new Sony's do sound very good - at least the ones, like the A818/816 that have all of the various sound tweaking doodads (and I don't mean "Live," "Hall," etc.). I have the A816 - I've done a lot of comparison between it and my various MDs and the NW-HD1. Granted, it's a bit apples and oranges - but I would definitely put my A816 playing a well-encoded VBR MP3 in the same ballpark with HiSP on the NH1. But that's just me. As far as the Touch, I was basing my comments on things I've been told from people I trust, and reading lots of posts and reviews. I will say that my 1st Gen Nano does not sound bad - I have to run it w/ no EQ because I don't like the Apple EQ - so it sounds very clean, if that makes sense. It certainly does not sound like an AM radio or whatever someone said. It just doesn't sound as good as my Sony's.

I have a lot of iPods, and I have a lot of Sony stuff, and I've never heard an iPod that could touch (no pun intended) any of my Sonys. Except maybe the NW-S23. That didn't sound that great. I don't have a Touch, but from what I've read, they aren't known for great sound.

Is 192 supported?

Nice. Did you get the EH-50 from the guy in China?

That I am not sure of. I hope that is not true, because the option to not HAVE to have a PC-based library is one of the advantages of MD, IMHO.

Well, I think MS is going to support Windows XP until 2013, and Sony has already released an update for SonicStage to work under Windows Vista which should be around well beyond 2013, so I think you are safe for several years. But Sony and Microsoft are kind of a hideous combination when it comes to software, so you never know.

Yes, but I would have expected a comany like Sony to engineer a product such that when the battery is done charging, the device stops trying to charge it. I essentially ruined a $250 machine trying to get the battery out.

Not my auction, but thought some of you might be interested in this. I was surprised to see it. I have one of these, but it had the "battery bulge" problem and will only play plugged in. Great sound though. http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-MZ-NH900-Hi-MD-MI...1QQcmdZViewItem

You may want to consider getting an "older" NetMD unit that uses "AA" batteries. Those units seem studier to me (I own or have owned all of the 1st generation HiMD units along with numerous Net and Standard MD units). You don't have to worry about the expensive and proprietary Sony gumstick batteries, and you can run the off AC power. Or you could consider the MZ-NHF800 which is a HiMD unit with an AM/FM remote that runs off standard "AA" batteries. I just bought a brand new in box MZ-N510 for $80 on eBay. Hard to go wrong with that. You can get MZ-N505s and similar for $30-$40 used. I bought a used MZ-N505 years and years ago and it is still running strong. I think I ripped probably 1000 CDs using that thing. As far as the whole iPod thing - I have all kinds of different music gadgets, including iPods, that I use at various times for various things. I always still come back to my MD units though for the sound, and the media. Good luck!

This is not my auction, but thought someone here might be interested. If legit, new Mz-NH1s don't come around very often. http://cgi.ebay.com/BRAND-NEW-SONY-HI-MD-M...1QQcmdZViewItem

I would caution against thinking that, from a sound quality standpoint, ATRAC is "far superior" to MP3. Maybe a poorly encoded MP3. What is probably far superior is the hardware on which you are listening to ATRAC, and the flavor of encoder you are using to rip MP3. I remember years ago comparing my Creative Zen (listening to a run-of-the-mill 160k MP3) to my MZ-NF610 (listening to LP2) and thinking the Creative sounded like crap. On that basis, for many years I said ATRAC was superior to all other codecs. However, if you listen to say, Lame Preset 3 one of the newer Sony players and compare it to HiSP on a high-end HiMD unit, I think you will be very surprised. On the lower end, compare WMA 64 on a newer Sony unit to HiLP on a HiMD or Hard Drive unit. I think those results will surprise you as well.

Probably just us buying from each other...

When you talk about WMP "only going to 192" - is that not because there is no higher bitrate for WMA? If you want to rip to MP3, I guess you'll have to use something else like Easy CD DA Extractor. WMA is a pretty nice codec - I would say 192 WMA is pretty close to transparent for portable music, especially on one of these new Sony units.

WMP, Winamp, Sony Media Manager (for Video).

I agree that Sony has created a mess from a software perspective. Media Manager is wretched. Basically I'm using 2-3 different apps to manage the player, and still not getting ratings or on-the-fly playlists. I understand what they are doing though - as someone pointed out, they are trying to go for mass appeal. Most "normal" people (which we are not, or we wouldn't be reading this) probably don't take advantage of most of the more advanced features of something like iTunes. They just want to put music on their player and listen to it. But when you get into hundreds, or thousands of CDs of music, you really need some of these features. I guess the only answer for Sony at this point is a deeper integration w/ WMP (including video), though I am not a big fan of that app. Sony certainly should not waste any more time trying to create software.

"The only right move for SONY now would be to release a tool that would authenticate the database locally, wihout connecting to their server, and remove any DRM even from files purchased from CONNECT." Totally agree.

SonicStage and ATRAC have been a collosal economic and reputational failure for Sony in the United States. I don't know what their market share was prior to dumping ATRAC, but I"m sure it was less than 10%, and probably more like 5%. The decision to exit was a sound business decision. Supporting two (or more) applications makes no sense. When you say "why can't they just keep SonicStage AND support for Winamp, WMP, etc.)" - you need to understand what that would mean from a software development, testing, support and maintenance perspective - particularly for an international company like Sony. It is unfortunate for those of us who bought into their platform, but it is what it is. They've already lost millions of dollars on this venture and they had no choice but to stop throwing good money after bad.

I'm really not sure that it is ATRAC so much as it is Sony's hardware. Listening to MP3s on my newest Sony, the NWZ-A816, is very similar to listening to ATRAC on my MD and Sony HD units. Listening to MP3s on other, non-Sony DAPs is not. For many years I was convinced that ATRAC was a superior Codec. Now I'm just not so sure. (I use LAME VBR Preset 3 for MP3s).

I basically have my complete library in both formats, but have found myself using my trusty old MZ-NF610 and MZ-N505 more and more. A lot of the reason is battery life - my HiMD units mostly use gumsticks, and I've had a lot of problems with those keeping charges, etc. Plus I love the idea of being able to go into any store and buying a "AA" battery which = 45+ hours! No other DAP past or present provides that flexibility. I'm surprised this is not a bigger issue for people. Of course, being a bit of an old-timer with this, I still get a lot of pleasure from real-time SP recording on my decks.

They don't support ATRAC any more because ATRAC and SonicStage became a distraction - they had developed a cult of irrational hatred amongst the geek press and along w/ MD, were blamed for causing Sony to lose the very industry they created - portable music.

I hate Engadget. Arrogant, anti-Sony punks.

This may sound stupid, but one thing I don't like about the new units (in addition to what everyone else has already mentioned) is that they changed the overall design AGAIN. Can't they find something they like and stick with it? There is nothing wrong with the look of the NWZ-A8xx series - quit wasting time on changing stuff that doesn't need to be changed and give us some new features!

You'll have to delete what's on your device first, then make your playlist(s) in Winamp then transfer the playlists to the device.

You are correct. SS and ATRAC are dead and buried in the US, and I had assumed, Western Europe.