mmp64

So... what do you think? I have an HD1 and like it, though compared to my Nomad Zen it is relatively featureless. It does, however, rule supreme in terms of sound quality and battery life, as well as form factor. Plus I get to use my very expensive three-line remote.

Some people were able to get theirs to work by putting a piece of tape over the "copy protection" holes on the bottom of the MD (directly under the sliding copy protection tab). That did not work for me. I guess the problem is that the copy protection sensors in the MD unti itself (2 little metal prongs) are not reaching the actual MD to sense that copy protection is off, so it thinks everything is copy protected. I've heard of enough people having this problem, specifically with the 900, to believe that this is a manufacturing defect. Yours may be under warranty still. If I had more time in my life, perhaps I'd organize a class-action lawsuit.

Is this a new unit? I have that problem w/ my unit which is about a year old.

My friend has a NW-E107 - I have a NW-S23. On mine, I can downsample to all of the new bitrates - he can only downsample to 192 (which is just like my NW-HD1). I noticed that mine shows up in SS as a Network Walkman device, while the NW-E107 shows up as an ATRAC Audio Device (just like the NW-HD1). Does anyone know anything about this... why would an older unit (the S23) have more functionality than the newer E107? And is there some way to force how a unit is recognized by SS? Thanks.

Actually, it looks like Sony is re-positioning it as a tool for musicians and audiophiles, rather than a mass-market item like their flash and HDD players. In the immortal words of Spinal Tap, the audience for MD has not gotten smaller, it has just become "more selective."

Would it be reasonable to assume that this is why the older HiMD discs have all but disappeared from the shelves...

For recording, I still like the idea of having cheap, removeable media on which to store stuff - one MD for each session, or gig, or t.v. show, or whatever. With HD recorders - everything is all in one place - even if you back it up. True, you could burn to CD, but that seems like a lot of work.

I have all sorts of portable music devices that serve different purposes - flash, HDD, MD - so I would say that I don't think a shuffle is a "replacement" for an MD - at least for me. I use a flash when I cut the grass, for example. A plus for the shuffle is iTunes vs. SonicStage. Another is the size. Another is loading speed. However, MD would have it beat in terms of battery life, expandability, LCD, and for most models, the ability to play off AC (if you are using it at work or something). Also - I would suspect that MD is capable of better sound than the shuffle, but I could be wrong.

Yes - if I'm not mistaken, they seem to have changed the focus of the description of the HiMD units on sale on SonyStyle - they are targeting them exactly as you describe. It starts out "Perfect for a musician or a hardcore audiophile..." Certainly that's new verbiage. Very interesting indeed. http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP....isc_HiMDWalkman

Is that a chain? And if so, in how many states. Just curious.

No new HiMD models w/ AM/FM - only the new flash players. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...e&s=pc&n=507846 I don't even think they are still making the NetMD models with radio, though they are still available from Minidisco and on eBay. I wonder if the reason they stopped making them is reliability issues - lots of people have had the same problem with both the HiMD and NetMD models (including myself). Actually - the flash players don't have AM - only FM. Probably because AM reception on the little remotes wasn't very good.

True in some cases, not all. Have you ever seen HiMD blanks sold in any other store in the States? In fact, that is kind of my point - I think Sony has to make "Joe Six-Pack" understand MD in the States, or the economy of scale won't be there.

Not necessarily - I would not, for instance, buy a home theater system there (maybe a secondary one). But they have become a reasonable source of low-medium end audio gadgets in recent years, and the only bricks & mortar place I've ever seen HiMD blanks (outside of the Sony store in Las Vegas). There are just so ubiquitous here (there must be at least 20 in Pittsburgh and environs). RE: The Memorex Flash Player - agreed. I believe Radio Shack sells them - no doubt he got it at a discount.

Yes - I had the exact same experience as you - I purchased a replacement unit a few weeks ago on Ebay.

Right. As a follow-up - I wanted to add that I don't think a format can survive long-term as simply a niche thing for enthusiasts... which seems to be their strategy, if you can call it that. Maybe they should hire some trendy band like Green Day or something, and produce a bunch of cool TV commercials -

To amuse myself, I've been going to random Radio Shacks in Western PA (and today in Central PA) and seeing what kind of MD/HiMD gear they have. Inevitably, I'll end up buying their last HiMD blank. They appear to no longer sell units of any kind - not even NetMDs. Last week the clerk said "I wondered who the heck was going to buy this." Today was particularly amusing - I was in Harrisburg, PA and bought the last HiMD blank in stock (after the clerk, who seemed like a pretty intense gadget geek assured me that they did not carry blank HiMD discs). When I pointed out the disc hanging behind him, he said "I'll be darned - didn't even know we had it. Let me check something... yep - that's the last one we're scheduled to get. We've had it in stock for 6 months. You see, most people like to use Flash or SD cards for their cameras." When I explained that with one exception, MD units were for playing music, he seemed confused. He then pulled out his little Memorex Flash Player. I've been using the format for 7 years or so, and I have to say, my gut feeling is that it's over - at least for hope for anything other than a "cult" item for audio enthusiasts. No advertising, no discs, no units in stores (except maybe those horrible "Psych" NetMD units). What I don't understand is why Sony went to all of the trouble of bringing out the 2nd generation units, and then did nothing to promote or support them. Why? I could go on but this is already too long.

This isn't going to help you - but I'm having the same exact problem on my 900 - it is 14 months (?) old or so. It seems others have had this problem, so I assume it is some kind of design weakness. One suggestion was to put tape over the tab, or at least the two holes on the bottom of the disc. There are two little things that sense the protection setting - you can seem them if you look in your device. Someone suggested making sure they are not bent - which mine weren't - but maybe yours are. I'm pretty mad, since this was an expensive unit.

IMHO - if you are OK w/ HiLP (64k) - then you would probably be OK just downsampling on-the-fly from LP2 (132k). I wouldn't bother re-ripping. But I would suggest doing some tests - downsampled vs. re-ripped, etc.

Thanks - I gave that a shot but it didn't work. The pins seem to be OK - but I will keep messing around with that approach. I appreciate your input.

My MZ-NH900, approximately one year old and lovingly cared for, suddenly thinks all discs are write-protected. At first I thought this was a SonicStage glitch, but then I tried going into edit mode on a disc directly on the unit and was unable to do so. Have tried numerous discs - and confirmed that SS is OK because my 600D is still working fine. I assume there is some kind of sensor somewhere in the unit that has gone haywire - but it seems that my only option is to "exchange" the unit for a refurbished one at a cost of $168. Has anyone else ever experienced this, and if so - were you able to work through it on your own. Thanks in advance.

True. I hadn't noticed how they added that word in this response. Their previous responses, and the web site, said "MP3 Playback."

Unbelievably, here is their latest response: "Thank you for contacting Sony Style with your inquiry regarding the MDS-JE480 Sony Minidisk Player/Recorder. The MDS-JE480 Sony Minidisk player/recorder supports MP3 playback. New Hi-MD Walkmans like MZ-RH910 support MP3 playback. To view and place an order for the MDS-JE480 Sony Minidisk player/recorder online, please click on the link given below:" It is almost enough to make me go over to the dark side...

Yeah, you're probably right. Come to think of it - I can't remember the last time their tech support got something right. These are the same people who said it was "not posssible" to play tracks shuffled by genre on the NW-HD1.

I finally couldn't stand seeing "MP3 Playback" as part of the description of the MDS-JE480 deck on Sony's site - so I emailed them on it. http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP....TabName=feature (Click on the "Specifications" tab) This was their reply: "The MDS-JE480 Sony Minidisk player/recorder is capable of playing back MP3s that are stored on Minidisks. Hence this feature is specified in the web page for the MDS-JE480 Sony Minidisk player/recorder. " My reply was that Minidiscs of that era, i.e., NetMDs, are not capable of storing MP3s and must first convert them to ATRAC - something which can only be done via SonicStage on a PC. I'm not crazy, am I?

All I can say is - MD ain't dead yet... still plenty of life left.