jadeclaw

It's simple: Support means, that you have a means to convert existing soundfiles into something the player actually plays. That the hardware can't handle MP3s doesn't matter, the software can convert it and that's your support... Easy, isn't it?

Ok, Den, a collective answer: First, you can order from Germany, current price mentioned at Directshopper.de is 306 Euros plus about 28 Euros for Shipping & Handling. http://www.directshopper.de/static_versand_info_en Second, don't compare Hi-MD directly to CD, as MDs generally have a higher reliability than CDs and you can record on them even when you're away from home. Not possible with CD. And, for good CD-R discs, you still pay more than a euro per disc. And Hi-MD won't stay long at 7 euros per disc... Oh, and did I mention, that CDs scratch easily? Btw, you do know, how much a 1 GB USB-Stick costs? 200 Euros. And that's just the stick, it doesn't even play music. The NH900 replaces that as well. If you are worried about the soundquality, just wait until the first members here have the NH900 and can testify about the quality of the HD-Digital amp.

Well, mid of August in the rest of the world? Atleast according to The Inquirer. For 400 bucks. Read on: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=16941 Machine Translation of the japanese article: http://babelfish.altavista.com/babelfish/t...701%2F&lp=ja_en

Yep. Four MD-jackets or a stack of six MD's without jacket... It's roughly the same as the R500 at the bulge. Don't forget, an AA-cell has a diameter of about 15 millimeters...

EU crippled? If Senator Orrin Hatch has his go, then the US will be crippled... See here: http://www.publicknowledge.org/content/pre...release-6-23-04 the bill is here(pdf): http://www.publicknowledge.org/content/leg...-act/attachment Act now! Write to your Senator to block that. --------------------------------------------- @Kurisu: I suggest, that this is posted on the minidisc.org front page.

I need two... I think, we'll better wait for the next CeBit in Hanover in 2005.

But not without a computer... Check this table, http://www.archos.com/compatibility/compat...modules.html?en the Cardreaders are on the left, the hdd-players are on the top, take note the players that are marked, then hop to http://www.archos.com/ to find the right one. Most likely, it is one of these: http://www.archos.com/products/photo_video...oduct_list.html Or check out the reviews on Steve's Digicams : http://www.steves-digicams.com/digi_access...es.html#storage

In addition, the price for the 1GB discs won't stay at 7 bucks. WalMart was already cheaper, however, I would never buy anything at WalMart, but that's a different topic...

Hmm, it seems, that Japan only get's the expensive models... And speaking of the 25th anniversary, I still have my first Walkman, a TPS-L2 from the first series. It still runs fine, is only in need of some new belts...

Certain price category = certain quality level. I know, that a small portable recorder can not reach the sonic performance of a home deck, the output driver alone isn't capable of that because of the low supply voltage. But, whatever the limitations, for 300 Euros ( 600 AUD) I can expect a decent quality. Btw, I've sold my r500 because of the playback side. Recordings were as good as when they would have been made on a home deck. And when recording from Digital in, there shouldn't be a difference between home deck and portable recorder, as the signal is already in the digital domain. It can, it can be something different, it can be frequency response, it can be phase shift throughout its frequency range, it can be slow output amps - there are a lot of factors affecting the result. Even the supply regulators for the output stage affects the sound - that is even a science of its own. Oh, and never use tantalum capacitors in audio circuits, you definitely hear them. Hmm, over 90%? On which type and size of surface defect? If you treat your cds like I do (they still look like new), then you should reach 100% success on C1 already. And if C1 is successful, you have no interpolation, you have a bit-true result, regardless if you rip or play back through optical out of a regular cd-player. In addition, C2 is never employed, when reading audio cds digitally in a cd-rom drive. It is only used in realtime playback in audio mode, but that never delivers data via IDE, only via audio out/SP-DIF. Finally, the reason why the developers of the cd-audio format went for interpolation, instead of a stronger physical correction was the additional space( read: playing time ) necessary for error correction data. Today it sounds silly in view of DVD and multi gigabyte harddisks, but in 1982 it was quite different. If nothing is stable in a cheap cd-player, the clock is. Jitter is never a problem with quartz crystals, frequency drift is. But that is quite slow and usually less than 0.1 % over the full temperature range. Even with chinese 10 cent crystals... However, insufficient power supplies lead to different and audible problems. (See further up) It's 1.4 million pulses per second, btw. Nevertheless, output buffers are already designed into the chipset, so that is not a problem. In addition, the most used Toslink transmitter, the TOTX178 has a dedicated driver for the LED included, so the LED is never driven directly by the players chipset. If the signal has deteriorated that far, most digital devices will refuse to lock on. Not if you use Hi-MD in Linear PCM-mode. Only as long as any data reduction is used. (Atrac) Use Hi-MD with Linear PCM and you'll get identical results. Data reduction can never be bit-true, but that should be clear, considering that 80% of the data is thrown away.

*logs out* *logs back in* Ahh, yes. Now I see it. I'm just an old shortsighted dinosaur... :rasp:

Would be great, if the login/logout-button reflects the state, if I'm logged in or not as it was with the text-link.

Since that data isn't given, we have to rely on hearing tests. Joe Sixpack maybe not, definitely not in the back of a bus... However, for the next 9 to 12 months, portables are the only Hi-MD units available. And for 300 Euros, I can expect a decent sound quality at a good home system. While I do not claim to have the 'Absolute' ear, my hearing works well enough to hear the difference between different CD-players. It doesn't, that's right. CIRC=Checksum. C1 = physical error correction level, quite weak btw. C2 = psychoacoustical error correction, for that to work, atleast one sector must be cached, modern CD-players store up to 128 sectors to use for interpolation. Cheap cd-players have problems in this area, as good algorithms need a lot of optimizing and that cost time and money. Certain copyprotected cds deliberately contain errors, pushing the cd-player into the C2-level to prevent ripping in data-drives, reducing the soundquality as well. And the cache is the reason, why jitter is no problem here and in fact doesn't appear at the digital output. The data goes into the cache at a variable rate and is read at a constant rate. I do understand, and I don't claim, that they do it for prestige alone. Remember C2 from above. It's one of the reasons. What these ripping programs call jitter is in reality the failure of the C1 correction, leaving you with some nice soundeffects. There are multiple strategies to get the data finally off the disc and the EAC authors found strategies, that are the most successful for most CD-ROM-drives. However, optical devices don't have these problems either, when the CD is formatted as a data-disc. Then you have a C1 correction stronger than the one used in a harddisk, eliminating all the problems you have with the CD-Audio format. Drawback: you have less space on the disc. Roughly 15% less. All digital playback-devices are buffered, as the DA-Converter needs a constant data-stream, any gap will be directly audible. The same is necessary for the digital output on home equipment. Negligible. The receiving circuit locks on the datastream with a PLL and recovers the clock from that. Any jitter is filtered out by the Loop-filter. The DA-Converter receives a constant jitter-free bitclock. Each data word is latched and then clocked out absolutely synchronous with that bitclock. Since everything is edge-triggered, the synchronicity is necessary for the whole thing just to work right. In that case, the output is muted and 'Din Unlock' appears in the display. Happens only with defective cables or when a digital radio receiver or a DVB-box loses reception. Track marks are start points only, if they are set to late, the first few frames are missing from the song, after that, it has nothing to do with soundquality. Track marks are always set synchronous with frames. Btw, a cd has 75 frames per second, MD has 60 frames per second, and that each step on the jog dial on rehearsal mode moves the track mark a frame forward or backwards. Professional CD-players can define startpoints and these can be moved framewise as well. Sure, but that is only the time needed to push the data through the whole system. It has nothing to do with the datarate as everything is locked onto a fixed clock source. Remember, it takes a day to build a car, but every three minutes a car comes off the assembly line...

Be careful, don't compare semiconductor distortion with tube distortion. The difference lies here in the resulting frequency spectrum. That's the reason, why the 3% for that tube amp is far less dramatic than it looks. However, the difference between 0.5% and 0.05% in a semiconductor based amp is clearly audible. You do know, that, except for the US version of the NH600, all Hi-MD-units have digital in? You do know, that every MD-player, Hi-MD or old MD, buffers the data in RAM, from where it is converted using a quartz stabilised clock. No jitter here.

In addition, 600 would be impossible. Maximum number of tracks is 255 for Standard/NetMD. It is definitely a misprint. Sidenote: 600 x 5 min = 50 hours, more than even a Hi-MD-Disc can take.

Let's make it short: Storage space: MuVo: Too expensive for too little. If this thing is full, you're stuck, unless you can access a computer again. Zen: Harddisks are sensitive. If anything goes wrong, everything is gone. Plus, you need a computer to change the contents. And again, if it's full, you start deleting. NH900 : unlimited. Pop a new disc in and off you go... Sound quality: MuVo and Zen: Analog amp limited by supply voltage. 0.1 % distortion isn't really that good. Better portable radios achieved that in the seventies... NH900: HD-Digital amp. Sharps Auvi is an eye opener. Sony's HD-Digital is expected to play in the same class. Usability: Zen & MuVo: Doesn't record from Line-In/Digital. MuVo uses ADPCM, which sounds terrible. Think first Soundcards from beginning 1990... And add another fifty bucks for the radio remote to be able to record anything at all. NH900: Records full HiFi, so you can add music to your collection without a computer. Remote: NH900: Included. MuVo&Zen: Fifty bucks extra. See further up. Ok, it got a radio, quality of that is unknown to me. The only real advantage of the MuVo is the size. But that's about it. So, after adding all up, the NH900 is my recommendation. It's just more versatile.

1.) You get a USB-data drive. You get a recorder, so you can record off a radio/cd-player/microphone, so you don't need a computer to add music to your collection. 2.) Expect July, maybe August. 3.) 128kMP3 sounds better. When transferring onto MD, use LP2@132k or Hi-SP, then you're fine. However, the same is true for Sony's Atrac-CD-player.

Projected date is July/August here as well and 400 Euros is possible for the remote parts of Europe... However, noone hinders you from ordering in Germany, Directshopper.de has it listed for 305 Euros including Salestax. Add 28 Euros postage to that and they will send it to Finland. You have to pay in advance, no C.O.D. So, for 333 Euros, you can have it. Note: It says 7-10 days on the catalog page, that is wrong! the NH900 is not yet available. The shipping info: http://www.directshopper.de/static_versand_info_en

Well, that is something one has to try out. Since Hi-MD is driverless like a USB-Stick, I guess it should work. However, booting via USB is usually limited to Computers younger than one year. I've had to replace my old Mainboard after only one year of use and that one had no USB-Boot, my new one has a wide range of choices.

Both is possible. You know, how it went with the NH600. I stop guessing and wait for the real hardware to appear.

Upload is possible for all recordings done with a Hi-MD recorder done in Hi-MD mode done via Mic/Line/Digital In. Hi-MD mode means LinearPCM/Hi-SP/Hi-LP. Of course, you have to use a Hi-MD unit for upload as well. Old NetMD-Recorders cannot upload. Recordings done on old equipment or made in NetMD-mode cannot be uploaded. The NetMD-mode creates discs compatible to old equipment. Uploading can be done in two ways: Playback via USB and rerecording with a wave-recording software (Realtime) or via the supplied SonicStage software (Much faster).

The NH900 is to be preferred because of the AA-box. Second, it is possible to recharge a half depleted NiMH-battery, but it shouldn't be done constantly. You should run down the battery atleast every fifth cycle. Third, you don't need your computer to recharge, a charge stand and a wall wart are included.

I don't think so. A better amp will reveal more artefacts, so the difference will be more audible. The only hope I still have, that the encoder in the recorders is better than SonicStage. But that means, realtime recording. Until that is out, I suggest to stick with LP2@132k or better. In addition, you can use that in Hi-MD mode as well, which in itself nearly doubles the playing time per disc.

Nope. It is LineIn/Optical digital in. When you look closely, you see that the display is a piece of plastic glued in. The person that made this mock-up didn't manage to glue that one right in... The production units surely will have the correct designation on the connectors.

Now you can choose: Remote or Audio input... Obviously, 'Sony' is a synonym for 'Not thinking'. Oh, well...