anont

People also said that cassette tapes don't sound very good - and were right. At some point audio quality does matter. If it didn't why would we be spending so much money on digital music players with only 1 GB storage?

The Sony 710 for $130 (off Amazon) is a much better deal, unless you're a collecter or something.

I realize minidisc.org is pro-use, but it's about time the management abandons their "this is great hardware, hamstrung by the Entertainment department" line. There's nothing futuristic or impressive about a 1 gb floppy-sized disk, or transferring via USB 1.1 via Sonic Stage (hoping the software doesn't crash, 3.4 is shit), or the very weak line out, or the weird menu-heavy interface, or the displays being used... The criticism may have sort-of-applied a long time ago, but not now, Crikey.

If there's a replacement to iPods, it's going to be MP3 cellphones. Here in China the Sony Walkman-Ericsson models are way popular, even though they're way too expensive. I don't think MP3 cellphones are quite there yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years they eat into the casual market that the iPod dominates. MD remains the best casual recording option, and this news, along with the useless update of Sonicstage, doesn't change the equation a bit.

Perhaps it's a boring issue, but in point of fact of course it would be possible for Sonic Stage to allow the uploads, if Sony allowed - they just chose not to. The idea that the DRM is so strong that it can't be implemented by computers just doesn't make any sense, it shows a fundamental lack of understanding. Computers can execute any computer algorithm that comes their way, it would be trivial to implement given that Sony has the schematic. Sony allowing this uploading functionality would have been great, I have a stack of old concert recordings. True I bought the unit not expecting to make digital uploads, but it would be a nice bonus to a loyal recording fanbase that is probably the only thing keeping MD going. The minidisc.org headline ("stunning", implying that I would be stunned) got me more excited than the reality. I can transfer digital-link recordings to the computer as a .wav file? I have not once ever been in a situation where I would want to do this, and really I have to strain to imagine situations where you'd want to. For one thing, there's no reason to still be recording via an optical link - maybe in 1998 on my Sharp 722 it was cool, but not now.

What is Sony thinking? Even if the service was just as good as iTunes, I can't see it being popular. Connect would have to be far and away better than iTunes to convince people to both purchase Sony music players, and start using the Sony Connect system. (rest of post edited by kurisu -- please do not make personal insults towards other members)

I really don't think so. PSPs already allow people to read from memory sticks, so recordable UMDs would be redundant and it wouldn't allow your PSP to do anything new.

There will not ever be a significant upgrade to the HiMD format. That's just the way it is. Buy a HiMD based on whether you like the current generation of products. I don't see recordable UMD as very likely. For one thing, what would be the point? 1.4 GB on a relatively big disk is an anachronism for music.

I live in China and would like to trade in-country, but anywhere is OK. I would like to trade an 80 minute SP MD straight-to-disk recording of me free-style rapping. Please let me know if interested! I've never free-style rapped before but I really like "The Pretty Toney Album" and think it should be no problem.

Sony Electronics does make up a big part of the revenue, but it's not nearly as profitable as Sony Entertainment - it only made a small profit last year and would have lost a very large amount of money had it not been for a huge one-time tax refund in its United States operations. I think it's fair to say the Electronics division would be jetissoned far before the Entertainment division, which is why a guy from the American Entertainment division is now running the company.

Ha! After 6 years and far more units sold than MD ever had, I don't think the HD concept can really qualify as a Novelty Factor. It's not Hi-MD and it was way too big, but I had a Sharp 722, and I really like both the slide entry and the huge jog wheel surrounding the display.

Sony doesn't even have a video-out available for the PSP, there's no way to watch UMD on anything but a 2 inch PSP screen. I can't imagine they'll turn around and start pushing the format strong. If they were really interested in a combined device, they could have just had the PSP read HiMDs instead of UMD's. About the same size, and 1 Gig is enough for 99% of video games, or for a MPEG-4 movie you intend to watch on a tiny screen (heck 700 meg MPEG-4 movies look OK, even on a large TV screen).

For me, and probably for many audio enthusiasts, my collection of compressed music is a large number of Gigabytes. Having a $7 disk for every gig of music isn't at all an ideal solution - for one thing, how would I possible organize such a thing? Much more convenient is just to use one disk, and keep a disk of favorite music on the disk, and then replace the music on the disk when I get bored with it. With a relatively small capacity and a slow transfer speed, MD is not nearly as good at this as an HDD player, or even a solid-state memory card. My SD card plugs directly into my computer and it takes a few seconds to delete an album and put on a new one - MD can't even compete!

No Cell phone??? For real??? But the idea with MP3 players is you use them in conjunction with a computer. 0% of MP3 users actually keep their collection on their player. For most people, MDs are the same way. Nobody would be complaining about Sonicstage if people just wanted to build up a closet-full of shiny disks, one disk for every album they might want to listen to. Personally my music collection is large enough, the idea of keeping one disk/album would be expensive, inconvenient, and generally foolish. My hope for the MD is that it continues on like DAT, a niche item for people who want to make recordings. Although to be honest, for purpose as a semi-pro recorder, I don't think the MD format can do all that much better than the RH910. The MD is NOT a good music player. I prefer to use my PDA for playing music, even if it's slightly larger and has lower-quality sound, just because the interface is so much better and copying to an SD card is so much quicker and easier than copying to an MD. The PDA wasn't even designed as a music player, and it's still better than Hi-MD!

Dunnow about that package - who needs 6 HiMD blanks? It makes more sense to upload your recorded music to the computer when you're done, and then delete what you have on the disk. A better deal is the RH910 going for $160, check froogle.com. It might be time to stock up on an extra one! Hi-MD poorly marketed? Sony's marketing is awesome. "Sony" is one of the most well-considered brands, survery after survey confirms this. Let's face it, MD is just is too much of a niche item. For your average person who just wants to listen to some music, there's no reason to go with MD over a normal MP3 player. The best marketing in the world can't get around this. And Sony releasing music players that are even more expensive is a CRAZY idea. Definitely their problem is that they're too expensive already. You can get away with that some when you're considered the premium brand, but iPod is the market leader, and they're cheaper as well.

I think most people have no problems with computers and music working together. Certainly the sort of person to get into an obscure digital music format is generally going to be the sort of person who accepts that computers are now a part of our daily life. And it goes without saying, MDs are basically computers, with an LCD screen and a menuing system all of their own, along with computerized guts. Maybe a CD you can forget that it's all digital, but MDs are a little too tech-ish for that.

A quick look around at solid-state recorders yields the Edirol R-1, which seems like it would be excellent for recording quality (better than an MD), but I wish was just a little smaller and cheaper - it's about 60% bigger and twice as expensive as a Hi-MD, before getting the CF card. Maybe I'll wait for the Edirol R-2. Portable multi-track machines are getting better and better, check out the Mini Pandora Recorder. But in the end I prefer my Hi-MD 2nd generation to either. As for playing music - MD disks are very big (bigger than a iPod Nano) and only hold a gig and transfer with computers at a speed much, much slower than solid state or HD. It seems very off to say consumers are stupid for preferring other music solutions. There really is no reason to prefer MD aside from technology fetishim (yes I realize this is a board for technology fetishism). As far as storage goes - MDs are TERRIBLE at it. It's a nifty little extra to the MD, but you wouldn't want to use it more than occasionally. I don't see any reason to prefer the MD for these purposes.

Too bad to hear about this, if completely expected. I think the MDs problem is that while it's a very good solution for making easy high-quality field/concert recordings, that's too much a niche market. On the other hand, it's not like we have to throw away our MDs if the product gets cancelled. If the product does get cancelled worldwide, it might even be worth getting a backup unit. Some of the solid-state recorders seem really cool (and probably have better audio quality than MD) but are more expensive and won't fit in your pocket. If anybody knows of a solid-state recorder alternative, perhap it's worth bringing up

Well, Minidisc PCM and Cd-Audio are bit-for-bit the same, but one is on a minidisc, and one is on a CD. I would think this obvious??? Anyway my point remains the same. There's really reason for an audiophile to prefer the MD format.

Well actually, True SP and PCM offer no audiophile advantage over standard CD-audio, and a number of disadvantages. At this point, I think the only people who follow the MD format are the stubborn!

The ATRAC/MP3 codec aren't severely outdated. That would imply there are other modern codecs which inarguably sound & function better. However, MP3 is still arguably the best-sounding lossey audio codec, and the other commonly used codecs are about the same. On the other hand, 15 year old lossey video codecs are wildly outdated, and you wouldn't contemplate building a video system around them. Maximizing a codec for battery efficiency? There's two components to this that relate to the codec - how much data has to be read, and how much power the D/A computation takes. But MP3 is relatively simple in computation. I don't know how MD works with MP3, but most MP3 decoders use specialized, low-power, commodity-priced chips, so it's safe to assume MD either uses these chips or an equivalent process. As far as having to read data, the different codecs are essentially equal at equal bitrates, so that's not really a factor. MD wasn't designed just to replace the audio cassette, was it? I recall it initially being marketed as a replacement for the CD as well, so the intent was to be the only consumer audio format. Regardless, it's obviously been re-designed over the years. Complaining about the original design of MD being for lower quality sound, when the MD now supports PCM or 320kbps MP3, seems kind of irrelevant. And the battery comment is off. MD is much more battery efficient than a HD based player like the iPod, particularly with the player only models. If the MD recorders and iPods both have about the same running time between charges (about 10 hours), it's because Sony and Apple both realize 10 hours is considered the minimum acceptable number. Apple has to dedicate space and weight to their player, to support the extra batteries - if an iPod could run on a single AA, it would be smaller and lighter and cheaper and better, but the battery would last maybe 10 minutes and that's not a realistic option. I think the only valid complaints about the current MD is that software is terrible and the the storage format is low-density. Although that's enough to make the MD not a good option for most people. But if Hi-MD was released in (say) a 5GB version, and the software was improved, what would there be to not like?

As a frequent traveler to Tokyo who also loves to make MD recordings of bands (Kazumi Nikaidoh roXors!), I dunnow about the Oxygen comparison. MD is more popular in Japan but it's certainly not to the level that everybody has one, and iPods are much more popular. People will know what MD is, but most likely not have the player to play it. However perhaps it's a good chance to evangelize the format? CDs are tough to break! I only know because I've deliberately tried a few times. Also I only buy my CDs used, through the Internet. I sell them the same way. Never had a problem. Anybody familiar with the USPS knows that's no small feat.

For mixes on regular MDs, CD-Rs are cheaper and easier and and more commonplace and sound better than a MD. If you love the MD format enough to use them for mixes regardless, great! I'm just pointing out, for most people MDs are a very poor way to do it. The boards won't be used (and haven't been used). This is a case where saying it the way it is comes off as negative. DVD-Rs are more useful for trading mass amounts of music. But as I collect old Hawaiian music that has been out of print for quite some time, I enjoy the ease with which one can trade collections. Perhaps that wasn't the best comparison to a mix (and I do have mixes on artofthemix.org, and used to participate in an indie mix swap). I just brought DVD-Rs up because there's a Hi-MD trading forum. Out of curiosity, Bland, all your students have MD machines? Wouldn't CD-R be much more appropriate and easier for this? I teach music as a side-job/hobby, and burn CDs for students to learn the songs. I can't imagine going through the huge bother of burning MDs instead, and then having to confirm that they have an MD machine (which honestly, probably none of them do).

MD is particularly ill-suited for making mixes. If you want to trade a mixtape with people (which is becoming less and less common due to iTunes, bittorrent, and the like) there's no reason to trade a $6 Hi-MD with 1 GB & heavy DRM, when you can trade a $.50 DVD-R with 4.5 GB and no DRM (or a $.10 burnt CD that plays on any CD player, and sounds just as good as the $6 Hi-MD). The forums might as well be deleted, as obviously they're going to be unused. MD has its definite strengths as a format, but suitability for mixtapes isn't one of them.

Get a life, Kurisu.