clarkeda

I'm not really cross with Sony of course, but it's a pity that they couldn't have shipped function on OS X that was similar to that on Win32 with Sonicstage. In a declining and/or niche market I think I'd be shipping anything that would keep users using the hardware.

Just for kicks I tried this with my 1G MZ-NH1. It displays the tracks and folders, reporting the free space correctly. Oddly enough the "delete" function works. When I click the "import" function nothing happens. This is as advertized of course, but frustrating none the less. I'm very close to mothballing the MZ-NH1 and getting an iriver H10 20GB instead. Shame on you Sony for not considering us 1st Gen Hi-MD owners. Sniff.

Can't you just use the headphone out in this case (it's switchable between line out and headphone out on the device menu, as I'm sure you know) ? The volume (signal ?) is lower, but still seems to work OK for me. I've used it this way into the AUX input of a Tivoli DAB Radio.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately most of the recordings I make are longer than 94 minutes. I'm not sure it's a reception issue - with the freeview box you can see the "signal strength" from the engineering part of the OSD and this is always very good. I guess I'll just have to live with this and combine the MP3s at a later point. Thanks again for replying.

I'm recording 192kbps DAB radio output optically as PCM from a Sony Freeview box to an MZ-NH1 at 256kbps. Infrequently I'm seeing "dropouts" and an unexpected track mark. I'm wondering if this is the "2 seconds of no sound" mentioned in the manual (although it's hard to say with the recording, which was instrumental - Piano). What's the best way to combine the tracks ? If I try to delete the track mark on the recorder I get "NO EDIT", and Sonicstage 3.1 doesn't seem to offer any way to do this. I suppose I could convert to MP3 and then stitch them together, but that seems a bit longwinded. Any ideas MD gurus :-) ?

Sony could do with improving the manual. The diagram showing the battery insertion on page 17 only just about makes it clear how it should be done. Like you I inserted it incorrectly the first time.

I think Sony have missed a trick with taking so long from the Hi-MD announcement in Jan to the GA of the machines. It gives people like me too much time to consider the other options :-) You get the sense that this is a continuing development from Apple, and that your investment in an iPod will not be wasted. I was impressed with the Airtunes hardware annoucement for example. This shows a level of innovation that Sony just don't seem to be able to match these days. Hi-MD just feels too much like a "last throw of the dice", which should have happened two years ago. Any sound quality advantage Sony might claim is going to be hit by the increasing use of lossless encoding in the years to come, as HDD capacties increase.

I emailed Sony in the UK, but despite their "we'll get back to you in 24 hours" I haven't had response. Based on what the sales folks in my local Sony shop and Dixons told me, I'd say it looks like mid-July for the 700 thru NH1 and maybe mid-June for the 600. Amazon have tentative dates of 5th August for the 600/800/NH1, but not for the 700/900 which look to me like the bestsellers of the initial range. The high street people are expecting brisk trade initially. I'll post again if I hear anything more concrete.

It's a good question of course. The thing that has always put me off minidisc in the past was (what I considered to be) the awkward nature of the time limits per disc. for recording classical music concerts. What's finally won me over is the additional capacity of the new disks. At ATRAC3+ 256kbps I'm reckoning on 3/4 concerts per disc or the capacity to record (say) 2 longish operas. With 64kbps I guess I'm looking at upwards of 15 concerts. Since I'm starting completely from scratch I don't plan on buying the older technology. The ability to make the odd backup of data from work/home will also come in useful, since I'll probably always have the device with me. I did think about the iRiver iHP-140, but there is something about the ability to keep on buying disks as required that appeals to me... call me old fashioned....

Well I certainly hope so, it does seem a pity not to make the best use of the technology, especially when FM technology could result in very good quality transmissions at times. My tastes are pretty catholic really, I like most things on Radio3 with the possible exception of modern Jazz. The minidisc is primarily so I can record a lot of the upcoming Proms, since I always seem to be otherwise engaged at 7.30. I'm just hoping that the devices actually go on sale before 16th July :-) cheers, Dave.

Thanks Kevin. It's great to get feedback from someone in the same position. It's Radio 3 I'm interested in as well. As an aside, it's a pity that the BBC and the broadcast authorities in the UK couldn't have managed to let classical music be broadcast at 256kbps, as it is in some countries (Estonia for example !). It's good to get a subjective view of the audio quality, so I think I'll follow your advice and make the initial recordings at the higher bitrate. Thanks again.

Newbie question. I'm completely new to minidisc, attracted in by the higher capacity on offer with Hi-MD and the ability to use it as a USB storage device. I intend to get the MZ-NH900 when it becomes available in the UK. My principle usage will be recording from the radio. I've got a Sony "freeview" box which receives DAB broadcasts. I want to record from a radio channel which is broadcast in MP2 at about 192kbps, via the SP/DIF optical out to the MZ-NH900. My question is -- does it make any sense to record in ATRAC3+ 256kbps, or is the broadcast quality only sufficient to make it worthwhile using ATRAC3+ 64 kpbs ? Thanks for any thoughts. <corrected typos>