Damage

If you get RH10, RH910, or the upcoming RH1, you need to transcode your MP3s. HOWEVER, the RH10s and the RH910s have severly rolled off trebles with regards to MP3s. Therefore, if your MP3 collection is significant, you might do well to grab a cheap MP3 player now (one of those Secure digital MP3 types if you have some extra SD cards lying around) until the RH1 is released. Further plus for the RH1 is the ability to upload your old SP tracks (of which you have a quite a significant amount of) to your PC. From there, you can convert those tracks into MP3s or ATRAC3/plus files, and retransfer them to your HiMDs. One advantage of HiMDs over ordinary MDs (aside from ones I've mentioned thus far) would be that your normal 74 minute discs will have about 260MB capacity and 80 minute discs about 300MB. That roughly translates into almost 2x the normal MD capacity w/ HiSP tracks, about 1.5x with 352kbps ATRAC3plus tracks (or about 4:1 compression ratio). You will reclaim quite a bit of your blanks for more music, or if you do get a HiMD player and get some HiMD blanks, you can consolidate quite a bit of your discs (around 5 or 6 SP discs) into one HiMD. Personally, if you're not interested in reupping your MD collection, your choices are RH10 or RH910 (if MP3 playback, however flawed, is important). Otherwise, bide some time and get the RH1 and a LCD remote.

It sort of reminded me of a very strong and very pasty soy sauce. Probably because of the saltiness. In fact, the hydrolized yeast extract is used in many boullion cubes and seasoning (not sure about the dashi types), so in a pinch, Marmite and other mites can be used to boost the flavor our soups, gravies and such. Hell, they drink the stuff mixed with hot water too. I bet kinda tastes like weak beef broth or something.

This is a bit about the "Random Number Generator" in that they aren't really random at all. This is partly done as a debugging feature (if you need Random Numbers in your program, you can have a set "generated" before hand to make debugging easier). I'm guessing that the shuffle function uses very few (maybe 1 seed based on the disc ID perhaps) seed to do the random functions, and the result is the predictable shuffle. Also, Shuffle isn't really too good for your unit and battery life, as the head moves back and forth. If nothing else, something like it will shorten battery life fairly noticably. It might use something akin to elevator sequence, move the head from right to left, then start over or something.

OT: Bovril - Beef Extract (now no Beef added due to Mad Cow) along the lines of Marmite, never saw it in the US. I'm pissed that people are infringing on my rights to make "Mite" flavored spread comments! I kid. But I don't like this rainy weather one bit.

I don't use shuffle play as much, but for the most part, the Random Number Generator isn't really random (nor does it actually generate a set of random numbers, but that's a long story). You can give this process a bit of a kick in the boot by shuffling your own playback when you start playing your disc.

Must be all that Marmite and Vegemite (I know, how heathen of me) that's affecting my zombie-addled brains. Pissed, not really. Though the weather ain't cooperating for my cold. Does this mean that I can make a drink with cup o' hot water and marmite? And what about that Bovril stuff?

The UCLA Bruins lost in the Championship game. Bollocks!

Also, if you're the clumsy or the unlucky type, you might want to steer clear of importing units. Warranties and Guarantees may save you money if you buy within your own territory (EU models in UK, US models in US, etc) but it may not hold water if you import. Aside from that and the obvious Voltage differences, if you're the reading type, the Manual and the pack in software will be in a different language. But you can find what you need from here.

1. Hardware based, and only possible with MZ-DH710, MZ-DH10P, MZ-RH910, MZ-RH10, MZ-M100, MZ-M10, and the upcoming MZ-RH1. While in the past, units have been hacked to add functionalities such as 6-band EQ and VPF Acoustic Engine functions (think SRS), proper Japanese language support, and volume cap removing, the firmware can't automagically add another codec into the decoding chip. 2. Folder Based, though it's only one level deep. Once you mess with SonicStage, you get the idea. The HiMD units can, however, sort tracks by artists, albums, groups, and individual tracks. This makes navigation less cumbersome. So, really it's a combination of folder based and ID3 search. It is therefore, upto the user to choose how he navigates through a disc; this is a bit of a holdover from the original MD tech, where 80 minutes were the maximum limit (until MDLP and HiMD came along). 3. The jog wheel is for navigation only. On the first gen units, it navigates as if it were a flat list, though the folders must be clicked with the center nub to open. There are separate volume control on the unit and this negates the use of the wheel for volume control. Likewise, when in the menu structure, you can use the jog wheel to navigate through. 4. Yes, SonicStage 3.4 supports all NetMD and HiMD units (other than player only units since they lack any way to connect to the PC), Network Walkmen, and even the dead and buried Clies and Vaio Pockets. Mac support, unfortunately, is nil. If you are fortunate enough to have an Intel Mac, an obvious workaround would be to dual boot w/ Mac and WinXP. And the motto: Never stupid questions, but there are stupid answers.

Think old Stuge was upto something, except for the size thing. -or- Lucky Guess.

Nope. General rule of thumb is that any CD Model that ships with non LCD Remotes can not power LCD functionalities on the remote. The Remote works, just the screen is blank.

Oldie but goodie. While visiting a small town for a ropes convention, three ropes walk into a local bar. Upon entering, the bartender points to a sign saying: We do not serve Ropes. The first rope, feeling that today is his lucky day, leaps to the bar and asks for a shot of whiskey on the rocks. The Bartender just points to the sign, and the first rope walks out defeated... or slinks out rather. The second rope, having learned the art of fine conversation and what not, jumps to the bar and, like a fine english gentleman, asks for a gin and tonic. In perfect queen's english. The Bartender, who's now getting mighty pissed, points to the sign and says. "I've got a very sharp pair of scissors, if you get my drift, old chum." The third rope gets a brilliant idea while this is going on, and heads for the little rope's room. He ties himself into a square knot (heaven knows how), frays his top, and casually walks up to the bar. To which, the bartender asks. "Hey, you'a rope, dope?" To which, the frayed rope replies: "I'm a frayed knot." thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the waitress and tip the veal.

Most likely, I forgot. Honestly, though, soundwise, it compares well with the D-NE20. The obvious plus with this unit is the on-unit LCD, though personally, this is somewhat negated by crummy UI (though not as crummy as D-NE20 and its 53EL remote) and somewhat dodgy headphone out (with accompanying noise level, though it seems as though I might be only one that hears it). Generally, given the choice between the D-NE900 and D-NE920, I'd say get the 920 because of the backlit LCD. I'm not sure if the firmware bug exists in D-NE920 that plagued D-NE20. I'll dig up my old review that I did several years ago on the orange board. Oh, Stuge, feel free to review up units that I haven't gotten around to yet. There's plenty of room for everyone to put in their 2 bits, so to speak.

The 7 band spectrum analyzer works during playback. You can see this in action at mdcenter.nl and the video file that MDfreak recorded. Aside from the L/R, Spectrum Analyzer, this unit has another vis mode during playback (Spectrun w/ Circles instead of the bars is the best way I can describe it). I know I'm going to be watching that video lots on my cellphone (w800i)

That's still not quite USB 2.0 in terms of full speed. More to the level of fully saturated USB 1.1, but nowhere near full USB 2.0.

And it looks like a standard mini port vs. the NH1 flat plug that graced the earlier high end units. More and more interesting.

Somehow, if there's enough kvetching and bitching around here, SonicStage 3.5 may automagically allow NetMD uploads too.

The picture suggest RM-MC33/35(K).

Heh, better than Grado. They won't service my SR-40s (old discontinued model) despite me offering money to get it fixed... Bleh

AAC = MP4 = what iTunes uses.

1. Don't bother using SonicStage and Walkman phones together, it doesn't even show up at all on the transfer area. 2. The phones have upgradeable firmware, so this leaves the door open for ATRAC support if at all in the future. 3. Oddly enough, the phone supports MP3 and AAC (MP4, that codec that iPod uses). The Walkman media player interface is rather closer to orange skinned iPod interface than any of the Walkman interfaces (though it lacks quite a bit of organization done by the iPod and is superficially similar to the iPod). However, I think this was rather intentional on the part of Sony-Ericsson (more Ericsson here, since Sony's not made mobile phone in ages) to attract the iPod users. Take in all of those factors, and it at least becomes somewhat understandable why ATRAC didn't make it into the phones, yet (that and perhaps the carriers wanting a piece of the market, but that's another story altogether)... However, the future is decidely open, since there are more cross branding on these excellent phones (cybershot phones and the rumored Playstation branded phones). Bit of a sidenote, but the Walkman phone does come with a sample track by Jem, though i can't quite recall what that track is.

D.Sound DSP = teh total evil. Overly processes MP3s into really bright and harsh mess. In theory, this would be a good idea, but the execution thus far has been less than ideal. And in the current market, where one can have 1GB of built in memory and color display (Samsung, Apple, Sandisk Sansa) for the same price as these... I smell total disaster the likes of which only Sony and replicate. And then some.

There should not be any appreciable difference, though the extra display circuity involved with D-NE900 may (and very distant may at that) add extra noise. If someone has both a 900 and 10 and can verify, this confirmation would be highly appreciated. However, from my personal experience, the amp is rather noisy and you will hear a noticeable hiss during silent passages. Whether or not this bothers you, well, you be the judge of that.

Indeed. Happy Early Birthday, old man.

To note, that tuest is full of garbage, as it compares apples and oranges (pardon the pun). To be sure, you have to use a much more rigorous procedure (though, to be honest, not that much is required other than time and maybe extra units): I don't have the said gear in question, so I can't. However, the way it should work is the following: 1. Reset DAP To initial factory settings. 2. Encode a select set of tracks and download said tracks from many music stores. Note what settings they are encoded. Rip and re-encode same set of tracks without DRM (ie Copy Protection or Copy Control flag). 2a. TO be really fair about this, you need the following three sets for WMA: A. Control group - no DRM B. Normal group - $.99 track you pay to keep (Or DRM'd encoded from your computer using copy control flag) C. Heavy group - Subscription tracks (we'll put their claims to the test that subscription DRM adds an extra layer of crap) 3. Fill a DAP of choice with those tracks from Control Groups A, B, and C. If it is flash based unit, I don't think you'd have to fill up the unit entirely, as access doesn't penalize battery life. However, for HD units, you'd certainly have to fill up the unit entirely as physical access does penalize battery life. Ideally, you should be able to have three units of an identical model to make testing easier. Of course, those units must use the same headphone load (pack-ins to make thing easy), or none at all. 4. Play. Rinse, lather, repeat. You should do this several times to account for anolomies. 5. Review the information. You can certainly to all the fancy 5-tap distribution and such (and you should, but it's been years since I've done the stuff), but a simple average battery life from control group compared to DRM group should suffice. 6. Post your conclusion on the web, preferrably on Damaged Gears. This, I think we all agree, is the most critical step.