I just talked to sony-online-support, perhaps you wanna have a look:
Donald: Hi, my name is Donald. How may I help you?
You: Hi, I have a question about the new Hi-MD devices
You: Will it be possible to play mp3 files directly from the Hi-MDs?
Donald: Please give me a moment while I get this information for you.
Donald: Christian, the Hi-MD Walkmans also supports the internet audio formats like MP3, WMA and WAV formats with the supplied Sonic Stage 2 software.
Donald: These models are not yet released and will be available in this April. So you can expect this product launch at any time.
Donald: If released, you can view the details of this model at the following website.
URL Received: http://www.sonystyle.com
Donald: Is there anything else that I can help you with?
You: I know that Sonic Stage 2 supports mp3, but if you would integrate the feature to play mp3 files without converting it to ATRAC (when the Hi-MD is used as storage), Minidisc will be untopable!
Donald: Thanks for your suggestions and interest showned on the MD Walkmans, but I am afraid currently this portable MD Walkmans doesn't play the MP3 files directly.
Donald: It transforms the music files into ATRAC3 plus format and playbacks them.
Donald: Please click on the following link to view the details of it.
URL Received: http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/4270
Donald: Is there anything else that I can help you with?
Donald: Are you there
You: Ok, thank you very much, but, although atrac is a very good format, I think you should integrate direct mp3 support, it would make Hi-MD a lot more attractive, i think.
Donald: Christian, Are you with me?
Donald: Thanks for your valuable suggestions.
You: cya
Donald: Thank you for visiting SonyStyle.com. Please feel free to contact us for further assistance.
Donald Has Disconnected
no great news