Fray Adjacent

I bet there is a way to do it, but Sony doesn't want to support it. We just need some hax0r code wiz to figure out how to find the PCM data on the drive and extract it to .WAV.

It would be too slow to use as a harddrive device, although it has been said to have adequate bandwidth to watch smaller videos and play audio from it. It would be better as a sort of backup device rather than a portable harddrive.

You mean ludicrous? Ludacris is some punk rap/hip hop artist. If you have the music on CDs, it would be much better to rip straight from CDs to ATRAC or directly to MD. If you don't have the CDs (i.e., downloaded the music), then you'll have to go through the process. I guess the music isn't so free, is it?

doubtful. it's simply a mass storage device OR a player. I doubt it will give any more functionality than that. PLUS, what screen are you going to view all that stuff on, anyway???

Compatibility: New players can play old discs Old players CANNOT play new (HiMD) discs, or old discs that have been reformatted and recorded in HiMD mode. Simple enough?

I didn't know CDEX would do that... I haven't looked through the codecs... I just left it on the default MP3. I'll check it when I get home. Harddrive space will be the big limiting factor. I only have a 30gb partition in which I can store stuff. Someday I'll get a couple huge ID drives and mirror them, then do the FLAC idea for archiving.

So what does one use to rip CDs into FLAC? Once they're in FLAC, what does one use to PLAY the files?? I think if/when I get a couple large IDE drives and mirror them, then maybe I'll rerip into something like FLAC.

Well, scrolling down the page, not being able to read kanji/japanese... it looks like it mentions only ATRAC encoding. Sounds like it will still be limited to ATRAC encoded music.

The above is true. You can copy files and MP3s to a minidisc, but can't play them. You can then copy them to another machine. The only thing the player will PLAY is audio that has been recorded BY the unit, or recorded TO it using the SonicStage software. MP3 files would have to be transcoded by said software into ATRAC3 to be played by the unit.

Well, here's my process. I don't use FLAC or any other codecs, I archive my stuff in 320kbps MP3. When I pick up a new CD, I rip it in 320kbps MP3 and store it in my music archive on my server machine. Then I rip it directly to MD using Simple Burner, usually in 256kbps ATRAC3+. (this will become more convenient once HiMD blanks are readily available) So I really rip each CD twice, but I only do it as needed. I don't have a lot of CDs (maybe 110 or so), so it's not a big hassle to re rip everything for me. Doing it twice means no transcoding, and thus I don't have to worry about loss.

You mean just a straight solid connector? I don't think Sony makes one. Since (I'm pretty sure) the connector on the MD player is proprietary, you're stuck with the cable Sony makes. What you COULD do is get another cable, and just leave the cables connected to each computer, then just plug the player into the other machine's cable when transferring files. I believe I saw cables on Minidisco's site. The older NetMD cables are identical. I use my old NetMD cable at home and leave the HiMD cable here at work.

Well, I'll reiterate my opinion about HiMD drives for data only. I think they'd be great. I can live with a slow speed, as I would not use it, nor expect it to perform as some sort of harddrive device. I would use it as a backup device, for archiving things I want to save off of my harddrive. Things like downloaded warez, pictures and video stuff. So what if it's slow, it's a good, reliable media. As the technology becomes popular, maybe it will get faster, then it will likely have more appeal. What I'd really love to see is the higher density MD formats, such as the 48GB MDs. That would provide for a GREAT backup storage device. (I deal with tape drives a lot... and they SUCK)

I would love a HiMD drive for my 'puter. I have a Shuttle XPC box at home, and don't have anything in the FDD bay. A FDD sized HiMD drive would go nicely in there.

Well, here goes my input: 1) I charged a 2100mAh battery (sony brand) and threw it in the 600D, plugged in headphones, and turned on repeat, and let it play overnight. It went about 12 hours, IIRC. Other modes, such as shuffle, and lots of stop and go playing, will of course reduce the battery life much more. Using it as I do at work, with lots of stop and go, I get 6-8 hours of playing time out of one battery, tops. 2) Haven't taken mine apart. Don't need to. 3) It probably uses a mold from another unit's design, thus the bumps and indents. 4) I like the ATRAC3+ in HiSP mode. Sounds pretty good to me. I have not tried the lower bitrate, as I can still fit a heck of a lot of music on one HiMD. 5) in addition to the advantages of the 600D (high capacity removeable media), the higher end models will have line and mic in for recording, and some will have digital HD amps, which are reputed to sound way better than most of the HDD MP3 players.

I've been doing something similar with my 600D. I have four 2100mAh batteries, and a slow charger. When using my player at work, it will kill a battery in two days, so I usually bring one spare battery. When one dies, I swap them out, then put that discharged battery on the charger. When it's charged, I put it with the other three, and grab one of the ones I haven't used, and rotate it in to the mix. Repeat ad infinitum. I suppose if I upgrade to the 900 in a few months, I'll just slap it on the charger every evening, and maybe leave the AA battery pack thing here at work.

Or with SS2 that comes with your HiMD device. I prefer using Simple Burner when ripping straight from CD to HiMD, tho. Quick and easy.

Ripping in PCM mode is gonna take up up to 700MB per CD. I'm not sure if SS2 even allows 'recording' (ripping from CD to your SS2 database) in PCM. If you're going to only use your HiMD for playing music, or SS2 for playing 'recorded' music from your computer, then I would 'record' your CDs to computer in the highest bitrate (PCM if it allows, or HiSP [256kbps ATRAC3+]) Personally, since I already had a lot of stuff in MP3 on my machine, and my use of HiMD will be for travel and listening to some stuff at work via the player plugged into my computer's line in, my music 'database' at home consists of MP3s on my server, and my SS2 database on my workstation. My CD collection is relatively small, but I have not ripped everything to MP3 on my server. My process when I get a new CD is: Take it home, rip it into 320kbps MP3 and save to my server. Rip to MD (HiMD) directly from CD using Simple Burner, in Hi-SP. Copy MP3s to CD for use in my car MP3 player. So, my primary music database is MP3. Since I rip directly from CD to MD for newer music, my SS2 database stays pretty small. Hope that at least helps you formulate a plan of attack for your database

Battery life... If you're using the 600D, it will be probably much lower than the numbers you've posted. I have a 600MD playing some music right now. On a charged 2100mAh NiMH battery, I get about 6-10 hours of Hi-SP play. However, I do set it to shuffle, and I have to stop it frequently due to interruptions in the course of my job. I did set it to repeat and let it play through on a fresh battery one night... it went for about 14 hours before dying. SO, I always carry a spare AA.

Spare, I hear ya, but you're thinking portable music player... whereas I'm thinking data drive. Like I mentioned, I work on servers, and take buttloads of calls on faulty tape devices. A high capacity MD media would be a GREAT replacement for ancient tape technology. As for portable players, I think 48GB on one disc would be too much. I would only be able to fill up maybe ONE disc at that capacity if I were able to record ALL of my CDs in a PCM format. I think right now, for a portable music player, HiMD will be just fine.

Well, I personally think, if media like this comes to fruition, it will probably be more of a storage device, rather than a music player. Sony should pursue HDMD as a media for storage. I work on servers, and see SO many backup devices fail, as most are tape based. I think it's time to move away from tape, to MO. A 48GB capacity MD sized disc would work GREAT for that, as long as the write speeds aren't too slow.

But someone mentioned they found that you will not be able to record in PCM using the Mic In on HiMD units.... We will need to verify this as soon as someone gets their hands on a recording unit....

We're still waiting on them! Just keep your eyes peeled and check here, I'm sure the day someone spies blanks for sale, the word will go out!

What? No PCM recording from the Mic in? Only the Optical? Wouldn't that only serve to make it easier to make lossless copies of other audio sources? Sony's logic never ceases to amaze.

One answer about the batteries... ANY rechargeable battery will eventually lose it's capacity to hold a charge. I would figure since the gumstick batteries are NiMH, their degradation will be commensurate with NiMH AA cells.

Madduck, I think what you're seeing is the OS reacting to the DISC not having a label. It's the DISC's label that is going to give the device a name. And the one file and one folder are put on the disc by the player when you insert a blank disc.