aeriyn

Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, DVD-A, SACD, all the high-rez stuff is nothing but another form of copy protection. They can't be ripped easily (some can't be ripped at all, except real-time analog recordings). I see high-rez as just another last-ditch RIAA ploy to try and keep us from doing what we want with the music we pay for. Audiophiles who actually have the equipment to benefit from the higher resolution recordings aren't going to be enough to keep the formats alive. In order to beat the almighty Compact Disc, these formats will have to become more convenient than a CD, which is unlikely since they are all in the very same formfactor as a CD. If the convenience isn't significantly greater, they won't win, IMO. And btw, if you want high-resolution audio, go vinyl.

High-rez formats will always fall to the mighty Redbook Audio CD.

It was a Gary Fisher Mamba medium-frame with front suspension (shocks). It was not a street bike, but it was probably not any type of special use mountain bike. Hell, the guy who owned the bike shop I bought it from, has a carbon-fiber, dual suspension mountain bike that's even lighter than mine. It felt like lifting nothing almost!

I have the best cell phone ever. None.

I've owned a DS8 and I own an iPod Mini right now. I can tell you right now the differences in sonic quality is minimal. They are both excellent sounding portables. The Sharp MD players are to be praised for their digital amp, which enables them to sound nearly as good as the much more powerful iPod heaphone output, but using far less current/voltage. Kudos to Sharp for a great design that prolongs battery life without disregarding sound quality. Sonically, I'd say the iPod is a bit more airy and neutral (good soundstage, even with canalphones) while my DS8 was just a bit more dark, with recessed mids. I prefer the sound of my iPod; the inability of the DS8 to work with inefficient headphones caused me to have the volume set around 25/30, which tells the DSP to roll off the bass to prevent distortion. This wouldn't be a problem, except that both the Auvi 1-bit units and iPods have output coupling capacitors (to eliminate DC offset voltage that could possibly damage headphones). The output caps are already rolling off the bass (coupled with the input impedance of the internal amplifier, forming a high-pass filter) so you end up with... no bass. (Well, with MD33s anyhow.) Fortunately the EQ on most of the Auvi units is very good and you can generally fix any issues relative to headphones, output power and whether the player is rolling off the bass or not. For just listening, there's not much to be desired in terms of the iPod's sound quality in addition to all of its other strengths: ease of use (designed for one handed operation in fact), durability, overall build quality, iTunes (yes, that's a reason all by itself lol) and looks. I actually don't find the big pods to be that attractive, but I do love my sleek little pink Mini. This is not saying that Sharp doesn't design good DAPs. They do. I seriously wish they would turn their attention to the HDD player market and crank out something suitably awesome. Perhaps it would be the "iPod Killer" that actually kills the iPod.

That's your opinion. "Better" is utterly subjective. One man's trash is another man's treasure. And personally, I think that the iPod/iPod Mini and the Rio Karma/Rio Carbon blow the pants off of the iRiver and Creative Labs units.

And another initiate joins the fold. Seriously. If you don't have any interest in recording, MD is not for you. Those who already have a substantial investment into the format (early adopters of the original MD and whatnot) do not apply to this statement. I don't think any person looking for a DAP should buy an MD unit unless they need recording capabilities. Of course, if Sony would either integrate with iTunes or get the company that made Notmad Explorer to make a third-party manager, Hi-MD might not be so bad. Edit: Btw, ditch your stock iPod buds. Get a Total Airhead from http://www.headphone.com or a Meier Audio Porta Corda MkII from http://www.meier-audio.de. Then, cruise around for a good pair of cans; even the KSC-75s work well amped. I recommend the Etymotic ER-4P/S (if you like your music detailed & bright) or the Shure E3c/E5c (if you like your music fun!) especially if you get an amp.

The NH1 has some build quality issues; I personally think the NH900 is a much more sturdy, well made unit. It looks like it could withstand a pretty good drop, and I would be pretty afraid for an NH1 if I had one. ... well, if I didn't get out the hammer first.

The iRiver iHP series has issues with recording. It freezes, locks up, errors out, you get popping, distorted sound, it has trouble with tracks longer than 30 minutes. Not worth it, really. Even the iRiver fanboys know that it can't record worth a damn.

Well... the buttons are on the side. And on the back. How am I supposed to push the buttons on the back, without taking the remote off my shirt? The scroll wheel is oriented in a weird spot. The display is not wide enough to display more than one word at a time unlike the iRiver and iAudio M3 remote. And yes I used one, one that was connected to a friend's HD3. I find the stick remotes easier to use. They don't display enough either unless you get the Japanese-only 2-line ones.

If you're not going to record live shows (i.e. music) and recording voice is going to be the least of the unit's use, the iPod makes more sense. If recording is your primary use of the device, Hi-MD is the only way to go. The iTalk recording add-on is a voice recorder, not suited for recording music. But it'll work for voice, lectures, etc. For regular listening, the only MD unit that even approaches the iPod's sound quality are Sharp's Auvi 1-bit units (which are not Hi-MD), and some of the older high-power Aiwa MD recorders (the 10 and 15mW ones). The feature set of the iPod is much greater than that of the NHF800 (as a portable audio player). The iPod does everything the NHF800 does, and does it better--except recording. That's the only advantage the NHF800 has over the iPod other than battery life (and maybe price, but that's not really the point of this reply). It comes down to which one you want most. The iPod is an impressive device with very clean, detailed sound reproduction and a beefy 30mW headphone output that allows you to use phones with lower efficiency (and a lot of the best ones aren't the most efficient). Also, the iPod's line-out is the closest to a "true" line-out out of all other DAPs; paired with a good portable amp (MINT, Xin SuperMacro, Porta Corda MkII, Emmeline SR-71, etc) and a set of headphones or IEMs that really shines amped (i.e. Etymotic ER-4S, Westone UM-2) the iPod's sound quality is almost impossible to beat. The NHF800 doesn't have the output power to handle power-hungry headphones and it doesn't provide nearly as good a line level signal to a portable amp. But if you're going to need CD-quality recording, Hi-MD is the only game in town. And with careful equipment choices, it can sound quite good, but still an order of magnitude below the iPod (or Rio Karma, or even iRiver iHP series, even though I don't personally care for their colored sound). Bottom line is, decide which player fills your needs the best, then make the purchase. If you're not satisfied with it, you can always return it and get something that fits your needs better. Edit: Good mics aren't terribly expensive. You can get a decent pair of binaurals from Reactive Sounds for around $100 US.

I actually never weighed it... but it was so light I could pick it up with one hand and it barely felt like I was lifting anything. It certainly did not feel like 20 pounds, let alone 40...

Wow, forty pound bikes? My bike barely weighed over eight pounds.

The 40ELK actually has terrible ergonomics. It's difficult to use with one hand, it's difficult to use with two hands unless you have tiny hands. It may have 3 lines of display, but they don't display enough at a time. The other remotes (RM-MC33EL and RM-MC38ELK) are much better in ergonomics, ease of use with one hand and looks (sexy little silvered cylinders). But I guess for recording use, the 40ELK would really be your only logical choice.

My current equipment was accumulated over a period of about 4 months maybe, but that was relatively fast because I knew what I wanted to get to replace what I already had (which I gathered over about a year). Yes, I've heard of Klipsch, they're not too shabby. I've got my eye on SI Tripath amp + Energy bookshelves though...

MZ-R900/R700... 50-80 dollars these days since Hi-MD is the thing to have now if you're a minidisc user. Go with the R700 if you're only using this for recording; the gumstick batteries might be a disadvantage to you if you aren't concerned about smallest size. Next step, get a chaintech AV710 sound card which is 25-30 dollars. This will allow you to have a line input and you can fake a line output on your MD by turning off all DSP effects and cranking the volume to 2 notches below max (max volume will likely distort). Sound Professionals has a basic binaural mic setup for 100. Also, if you can find one used, the Sony mid/side stereo mic that I can't recall the model number of (it's pretty popular amongst the MD tapers) also works well. All of this should be around 200 dollars US.

Online media stores are stupid anyhow. What kind of moron is going to pay almost real CD price for crap 128kbps encoded tracks? Yeah, AAC isn't bad at low bitrates but if I'm paying real money, it better be fscking lossless or uncompressed PCM.

While I like Monster House/Monster Garage as much as the next girl, I really find myself missing the old Discovery Channel programming... documentaries on various things, which now only seem to pop up on the History channel. Thusly I watch the History channel a good deal more. Plus, it's got Mail Call and Mail Call rawks.

UselessStage. Because, well, it's useless.

But I get no headache as it is. =P No, it doesn't monofi it, but the effects of crossfeed just don't turn me on.

and you really need to get rid of those triports.

AIM: Aeriyn Leishai MSN: aeriyn at mail dot com ICQ: 45017542 Yahoo: aeriynleishai (but I never use it)

I once had a Gary Fisher Mabma (medium frame, which is 16" I believe, before you start flipping out recall that I am nearly six feet tall and I have very long legs) and it used to get so much street time as opposed to trail time; it was my main method of transportation. Used to ride it to Clear Creek on hot summer days in my swimsuit; that drew some looks. Ultimately I'm much happier now that I don't have to use a bike to get everywhere though. Back then I was strong and had good enurance but I was so skinny that I just looked horrible especially with my height. At least I think so; the boys never seemed to notice. I haven't ridden in over a year and that toned tummy I once had is gone, there's a bit of a bulge there, but my face is so much more filled out, rounded and feminine. My hips and bottom have grown to a more normal proportiion. Unfortunately, ah, other specific feminine attributes have yet to reach proportionate size with the rest of me.

I don't like that site. >.>; They're not anime girls. Btw, the AKG girl is so me right now, except I've got my DT440s on, not K271s. I am a huge nerd. But it's fun so what do I care?

Best idea for Sony? Advertisement, as Syrius said. But not for listeners; it's really hard to beat hard drive players for portable listening, and Apple has too much of that market already. But there is another, as of yet untapped market... Advertise to TAPERS. Garage bands, linguists, security folks, steath tapers, bird watchers, private investigators, everyone who wants to record high quality audio. Pimp the abilities of the MD for recording and the competition's CF recorders that are many times more expensive. Drag and drop file transferring with no software required. Unencrypted linear PCM recording. Bundle MD recorders with that sony M/S stereo mic. Stop trying to market MD in the portable audio market; the one market that has no use for its one major strength--the ability to record portably! I can seriously see professionals using Hi-MD rather than CF recorders when the media holds just as much, is just as strong but is a hell of a lot cheaper. Sony = Japanese for "shortsighted."