Meryl Arbing

These days the terrorists are recruiting from all races. Profiles based on race alone are not going to work. They are going to have to use other characterisitcs to identify potential trouble.

Hi Fergus, I do a lot of live recording of traditional folk and storytellers so I am frequently in places (outside or places where there is no main power) and so I bought the RH910. Battery life is excellent and it has the dry-cell backup power. I have just finished recording one of our local storytellers for a CD she is producing. The 910 was excellent for the job...small, compact, self-contained and produced excellent results. A good microphone is essential of course. It is true that uploading the recorded material does delete the track from the 910 however, I did not find that to be a problem. For one thing, I wanted the material on my computer to clean up the file...remove background noises...clicks, ess sounds and pops etc, and to have be able to burn the CD after I had mastered the material. The 910 was merely temporary storage until I got the tracks onto my computer and, after that, I didn't need them on the MD anymore. What if I wanted to have an MD copy? After I had produced the master CD, I could simply transfer the cleaned up audio back to the MD from the CD. The transfer from CD to MD is very quick with the 910. This is far and away a much easier process than trying to do the same thing with my older netMD 810 which didn't allow any uploads at all (except real-time re-recording). In answer to your last question. If I wanted to get audio off the HiMD 910 onto my netMD 810, THEn I would go from the headphone jack of the 910 to the mic (or Line In?) of the 810. Of course I can also burn the CD I created onto the 810.

I expect that you are free to listen to anything that you want. Personally, I didn't like the thin sound on the iPod...i heard better on my old cassette tape walkman and certainly, I got just as good sound by playing mp3s on my iPaq PDA. Really what we have here is more of a fashion statement than anything else. Apple likes to portray itself as some kind of Robin Hood fighting for the 'little guy' when they are one of the more predatory companies out there. Speaking of PDAs, remember the pBop...which was an iPod emulator on the PocketPC. Apple went ballistic...threatening the developer with lawsuits and effectively crushing the 'little guy'...the thing couldn't play AAC format songs anyway...it was just an iPod-like front-end for an mp3 player...but they crushed it anyway. Yes,it had 10x better sound than the iPod. For me the deal-killer was the pathetic live recording capability of the iPod...in this MD had it beat by a million miles...and even though Apple claims to have 1.5 million tracks on their iTunes site...I didn't find anything that I would waste a dollar on...but then I wouldn't pay a dollar a track to Connect either...nothing there for me.

I remember buying my NF-810CK (NetMD) for over Can$400 while the Hi-MD NF-910s I bought on Friday was only Can$250 so I appreciate that the prices have come down. That may be the result of competition but the iPod and a Hi-MD recorder are not really aimed at the same people. There are people who buy an iPod (no matter what it sounds like) just so that they can impress their friends...it is a fashion thing. Arguments about the technological advantages of one medium over the other aren't going to sway them. There is a joke about a mother and her son going grocery shopping. The mother picks up a package of washing powder and puts it in the cart. The son reads the package and says: "Mom, do you realize that if you buy two of the smaller boxes rather than the one big box you will be getting more and spending less!" "You think you're so smart" says the mother, "I can read labels too and it says right here, 'Large ECONOMY size' so that's what I'm getting!" So, I'm glad that Hi-MD have started to come down in price. It is a major improvement over what I had to do with Net-MD to get analog recordings back into my computer. I bought it for the recording capabilities NOT 'downloading'...never use it...never will.

1. I just got my 910 yesterday so I am still exploring it too but I have discovered that there are 2 Custom settings available for their 6 Band EQ with 7 levels on each band: -10, -6, -3, 0, +3, +6, +10. 2. My first MD unit was the Net-MD 810 which has a charging cradle but the 910 has only an AC adapter. Here is MY question: I was hoping that I could use the 910 connected to my computer as an external 1Gb storage but it appears that I can't have the AC adapter plugged in at the same time as the USB connection since the manual tells me to close off the USB port cover when the charger is connected. Is this correct?

I decided on MD (first NetMD and very soon Hi-MD) for recording live music (both myself and my friends) rather than simply ripping somebody else's CD or paying some mega-corp 99 cents per track for the privilege of listening. Compared to what the iPod offers as far as recording options goes...it is abysmal! Of course, you will never convince iPod owners of that...they think that everything their little staus symbol does is 'magic'! Have a look at this article gushing about the Voice Recording MAGIC with the iPod Yes, the 'Magic" recording options are MONO...no stereo recording at all. Even if you spend extra for the adapter that allows you to use a better microphone...it still reocrd ONLY in MONO. We won't get into battery issues...mentioning battery problems and the iPod is a bit like kicking somebody when they are down! I won't metion sound quality and the iPod..that would be a cheap shot but let' say that the only other overrated status symbol with WORSE sound than the iPod has GOT to be Satellite Radio! It's amazing what people will listen to! So, for the recording alone, MD is the way to go. All the other advantages are just extra perks.

If I wanted to buy an MP3 player there are hundreds out there produced by every 2-bit electronics knock-off shop in the world. I don't anticipate downloading any MP3 tracks so this announcement is a non-event as far as I'm concerned.

These days, everybody is trying to sell you an 'experience' rather than a 'product'. It is like those tech support centres who have all the 'customer service' scripts but can't fix your problem worth a damn! "I still can't print but I feel really GOOD about my support call experience!" Do you really think that the WalMart 'greeter' gives a @#$% about you...really? So, I am wary of companies like Apple that try to sell me an 'experience'. "I make my own experiences, thank you very much! I don't need you to tell me what I am going to like!" It's like you can't go into Starbucks for a @#$%^ cup of coffee! You get an 'experience'! I guess that's why I never go into a Starbucks and have no interest in an iPod. To me the 'experience' is fabricated and empty...a manipulation based on social psychology 'studies' to get you. I forget how many millions Starbucks paid for the study of what kind of Muzak to play to "enhance the 'Waiting in Line' EXPERIENCE". Hell, that's why I carry my own music...so I don't have to listen to their crap! Selling the 'experience' assumes that the customer is a passive receiver of whatever you decide to give him whereas if you sell the 'utility' or potential of the product to allow people to do things...then you are assuming that your customer is an 'active' USER of the device. When I decided to choose MD as my portable audio format, I didn't evaluate the 'experience' or the 'coolness' factor but MD would allow me to do what I wanted to do. That is 'utility' rather than 'experience'. So, forget the 'experience'! People need to get a 'life' rather than a 'lifestyle'

I have to say that I didn't like how SonicStage saved copies of my audio files on my HD and, even though I have more than 200Gb free, it was still taking up too much space. So, I don't bother with SS anymore. I'm using SimpleBurner now almost exclusively and that has led me to start burning tracks onto CDR prior to transfer to MD. The CDR can be stored away as an archive and I don't have to worry about cluttering up my HD with redundant tracks that I dare not delete. I don't use MP3 but I am currently involved in converting my extensive vinyl collection. Recording from the turntable to the computer as a WAV; cleaning up the audio and separating the tracks; I burn the resulting tracks to CD (as an archive) and then quickly to MD with SimpleBurner. I wonder if you could do the same thing with MP3 files => CD => SimpleBurner => MD.

Anything from 'Real' is the next thing to a virus. I wouldn't have it on my system. Complete spyware. That leaves SonicStage as the only alternative

As a Canadian, I can look from the outside at American politics without having to pick a side. Kerry is a strange guy. Like so many politicians, he seems to change his convictions depending on which way the wind is blowing. Rather than dodge the draft (and come up to Canada), he went over to 'Nam and was all for the war then. When he comes back to the States, he sees the wind is blowing 'Anti-war' and so he sells out his friends and testifies against the war. When the Iraq war was pending, he supported that because the wind was blowing towards 'patriotism'...now he is back wearing his 'anti-war' hat because that is what people want to hear. I think the guy IS a politician who is primarily concerned with getting elected and just mouths the words that are expected of him. Who knows what he really thinks! His music 'career' could have been the same thing. He joined the Rock & Roll band because it was expected of him. Who knows what he really thinks! Sorry for being cynical but I don't trust ANY politicians. They are ALL in it for themselves and the ones that talk the loudest about change are the ones who are going to keep the old corruptions and backroom deals going on just as always!

I installed the pre-release CD that they sent me and the full update came through last night. There have been no problems but since I already was using Norton for Firewall, Anti-Virus and anti-SPAM I didn't need to have the Microsoft security features. I knew that, while a hardware and software Firewalls can coexist happily, two software firewalls can conflict. I found that the Microsoft Firewall opened a port that Norton had stealthed. Turning off the MS Firewall in favour of Norton solved the problem in a few minutes and now all my ports are stealthed again. I wasn't upset by this because I knew it was a beta release. There have been no problems with the full release. I haven't had many problems with Microsoft products since I have been using them since DOS 2.0 and through all the version of Windows up to the present. The security issues, that prompted this Service Pack has little to do with any inherent flaws in MS products. What we have to remember is that Microsoft is a 'Big target' and there are legions of little creeps who want to make a name for themselves by bringing MS down. When you have that many people looking for ways to break in, it is no surprise that they uncover ingenious ways to cause trouble. It is like an elephant being swarmed by ants...there are always a few that can bite a vulnerable part! If Linux was given the same unfriendly attention as Windows gets, there would be thousands of 'security' issues uncovered by people wanting to cause trouble and they would take a lot longer to fix. It doesn't take any real brains to poke a stick at the big targets...there are lots of them. Microsoft, of course, but, if you look at the digital camera sites you will see that there is a generalized prejudice against Sony... NOT because Sony produces a bad product but because it is a 'Big target'...easy to hit for those with minimal skills.

As you have heard, it isn't any fun trying to get a minidisc receiver for your car in Canada. If I knew back in February (when my ancient cassette player died) what I know now I would have simply got a CD receiver and an MD changer...but that was then. As you have seen, North American salespeople are not always the most knowledgeable about minidisc BUT, I finally found a Canadian dealer who was finally able to get the MDX-F5800 MD receiver for me....BUT it was HELL!!!! I won't mention the name...but it is a major Toronto audio dealer. I called them first in April asking if they could look into getting me one. They said they would get back to me. After a month, nobody had called back. In May, I went into the store. They had never heard of a MD receiver BUT they took down my name and address in a little notebook and said they would get back to me. I should have been suspicious when they didn't ask for my phone number so I gave it to them and they wrote it down. As soon as I left the store, I am sure that they totally forgot about my request and me because nobody ever phoned me back! In June, I went back into the store again and talked to a DIFFERENT person. This guy was willing to take a $100 deposit and to write up an order. "No problem. I'll order it on Tuesday; be here on Thursday!" I asked, "Can we setup a date for instalation because I might have to take time off work?" "No", he said, "I like to wait until I have the unit in my hands. We'll call you when it's in!"...fair enough. Thursday came and went...no call. Two weeks later, I called them. "Don't call us...we'll call you!" In the end of June, I went into the store again and talked to a 4th person. Nobody had any heard of any order for an MD receiver...I had a piece of paper though! They'll call me when it comes in...right! In the first week of July I GOT a call!!! Were they telling me that my MD receiver was in? No. "We were wondering if you were still interested in the MD receiver that we have here because we have a REALLY GOOD customer who wants one and, if it is OK with you, we would like to install THIS one and we will get you another one for next week!" I called them back and (because it wasn't possible for me to have the install done that weeken) I said that it was OK to take the unit. BIG MISTAKE! As soon as I hung up the phone, they forgot all about ordering a replacement unit for me. I called them a week later after hearing nothing and, after a lot of stammering, said that "The unit HAS been ordered but hasn't come in yet! But we WILL have it for installation by July 31!!" Somehow, I doubt that it was ordered at all! On July 31st, I took time off work and went in to have the unit installed. After a lot of stammering, they said that the unit was ordered but hasn't come in yet. I lost it! I am sure everyone in the store heard my tale and how they have p*ss poor service and no concern for their customers. I was assured that they would call me without fail on Tuesday to confirm when the unit would be installed. Tuesday came and went! No call! On Thursday, I got a call. The unit WAS in and ready for installation. I called to book the time. I had to bring it in on the following Saturday at 9 am and LEAVE the car until 4 pm (SEVEN HOURS!!!). A bit long for a standard install I thought. When I brought the car in, I asked why they just didn't tell me to have the car there by 3 if they knew they had installs booked ahead of me? No answer. In the end, the install was done and I have the unit in my car. It sounds great but getting it was HELL!!!

Hopefully you won't end up like this guy: Arrested for Bootlegging<P>

Reviewers don't exist in a vacuum where they can evaluate products on purely objective criteria. They are subject to the same subjective irrationalities as the rest of us. Those who have heavily bought into or invested in the MP3 format have a vested interest in promoting it over any and all competing technologies whether it is the 'best' or not. Personally, I don't think much of the substandard audio quality of MP3s so I have absolutely zero investment in MP3 format music. I suppose if I had 370,000 purloined tracks I would want to protect that but I don't...so I don't care. Considering the quality loss, it would be a waste of my time to consider converting my music to MP3 and sound technologies that include MP3 as an option do not influence my buying decisions. In fact, I reject sound technologies that allow ONLY MP3. I could play MP3s on my Ipaq but, why bother? We have here, a reviewer who has bought into MP3 technology and, as a matter of course, rejects anything that doesn't include that. The people that read him have also bought into MP3...they get validation of their choice by a (supposed) authority. I expect that, if you drink Instant Coffee long enough, then the taste of fresh perked coffee is too strong for you...once your standards have fallen it is hard to raise them since it would mean scrapping all of the substandard examples you have accumulated.

Today the same store published its newspaper adverts and showed (what looked like) a Sony 710(?) player with the caption "MP3/CD player, $199". It even comes with 'music management software'. There is no doubt that it is an MD player since there is even a picture.

I wanted an MDLP MD receiver for my car. (A lost cause here in Canada but I didn't know that at the time!) The first place I went was FurtureShop since they were a Sony dealer; had a large car audio secton and could do the installation. After loitering around the car audio section for some time, a sales person finally noticed me. (It helps if you boost the volume up to ear splitting levels as your are pushing buttons!) I said that I was looking for a MiniDisc receiver for my car..preferably the Sony MDX-F5800. "A What-kind-of receiver?" he asked. "Minidisc" I answered and, moving over to another counter where there was a display of entry level MD players, "Like these!" "OH", a light had come on, "MP3!!" and then the light went out! He proceeded to give his pitch about all the various MP3 compatible receivers that they offered. "You just download your tunes onto a CDR..." "No," I interrupted, "not CD...Minidisc...MD!" "What does it look like?" he asked. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my 810 and removed the disc. "You sell them here", I said, pointing to the MD blanks hanging on hooks across the aisle. "Mini-CDRs? I don't know of any CD receiver that takes those!" "No, these are different from mini-CDR...these are minidiscs" He called over some other salespeople but nobody knew anything about them until finally the manager (I suppose) of the department arrived! "Finally, I'm going to get somewhere!", I thought....WRONG! "Oh yeah", he said, handing the MD back, "They only have these over in Japan but you can't get them here!" I took one more shot! "I have the Sony Canada model number and the SKU for the receiver that I want...can you order it for me?" He went over to the computer. "No, it's not on our system! We can only order things that are on the system!" Needless to say, I fled...sadder and wiser. What other horror stories do other people have?

...so much as I am at the music downloaders who are the cause of all the limitations put on MD recorders. These little weasels are the reason I can't upload my own music (...music that I play myself...on instruments) on to my own computer! I don't know where they got the idea that they had some kind of God-given right to 'FREE' music and that musicians were under some moral obligation to entertain them for nothing! Their actions caused the problem and now we have to live with Sony's RE-actions.

...you can easily get 2-3 MDs in each pocket. I easily have 14 MDs in the LowePro wallet.

I'm sure that everybody has discovered that there are lots of wallets out there for CD users but next to nothing (in the stores) to protect your MDs while out in the world. Fortunately, my other hobby is photography, so it was natural to combine the two. I have found that wallets for photographic filters fit MDs quite well and are quite cheap. I am using the LowePro "FilterPocket' and, while it only holds 6 MDs (with sleeve) it serves the purpose and was only about Can$14. LowePro Filter Pocket