ZosoIV

That's because of the RH10's issues with MP3, though. All things being equal, the ATRAC file is objectively worse than the source MP3. The question is always one of "can you hear the difference?" In this case, the quality loss from transcoding is far outweighed by the gain in HF content from using the ATRAC decoder on the RH10 and not the flawed MP3 one.

I wouldn't be worried about not being able to get hardware or discs in the future. After all, wax-cylinder players from the 1890's can still be found on eBay, and 8-track tape players/recorders from the mid-70's to early 1980's are easy to come by. Of course, analog formats are simple in nature and therefore easy to fix, whereas a digital format such as MD might not be once the electronics are no longer available.....

Connect files are quite bad, too - I don't consider ATRAC3 132kbps to be a very robust format in terms of SQ, especially compared to newer codecs like AAC. The couple of files I got for free sounded attrocious, with HF ringing, pre-echo, and the typical "grainy" sound of LP2. I'll stick to CD, thanks iTunes, BTW, isn't much better, if at all. The stuff on iTunes was encoded with a very old version of Apple's AAC codec - I once got a giftcard, bought a CD on iTunes, and was horrified by the sound quality. It sounded like a transcoded 112kbps MP3! I then went out and bought the actual CD, and out of curiosity, encoded it to 128kbps AAC with iTunes 6.5.2 (this was a while back, remember), and the files sounded nothing alike - the QT-encoded one was almost identical to the original, save for duller-sounding HF content. In short, though, I've found that no matter the codec or store, you're far better off buying the CD and ripping a lossy and lossless version yourself.

The only way to get halfway listenable encodings with LAME 3.97b at 96kbps is to use -V8 --vbr-new or -V7 --vbr-new, depending on what you are encoding. MP3 has too many format limitations to really sound decent below 128kbps, but the LAME developers have been astounding in their ability to squeeze every last bit of potential from the format. BTW, in the latest hydrogenaudio public test, LAME -V5 --vbr-new (~135kbps VBR setting) was statistically tied with AAC and Vorbis, reaching transparency on about 80% of samples! Pretty impressive for ~135kbps MP3 (though I'll still be using --preset standard myself).

See, I've always thought it's the other way around: iPods are all about looks, whereas MD is more about substance and features. Besides, how often do you see your discs? I don't look at them; I listen

I guess I wouldn't care, personally - they both hold music, right? I'd save those $2 and buy more discs

Interesting - when I click on the link, they say "Sale - $3.99." Maybe I'm just lucky?

A home deck would be lovely - not so sure about a car player, though. CD-R's are so cheap nowadays that if one gets scratched, you burn another. Current decks even play compressed files off CD-R/RW. That, coupled with the high price per MB relative to CD/DVD-R, near-unavailability of 1GB blanks in B&M stores, and lack of consumer interest in MD would ensure that car players never get a foothold. Even for the home market, I wonder how many people still "record" things? Nobody I know (even my age) does much taping anymore with the advent of CD-R, internet radio, and HDD-based/streaming jukeboxes. Audiophiles won't bite, either - their golden ears are "too good" for 16/44.1 LPCM anymore.

I'm actually not sure why they would even bother to block the upload of pre-recorded discs - SonicStage lets you rip Sony-produced CD's, right? You'd think they would extend the same privilege with pre-recorded MD's. If anything, I consider pre-recorded MD to be of lesser value than a pre-recorded CD, seeing as how they are compressed (and most were probably stamped with ATRAC 3.5 or older to boot). The couple I had back in the 90's were pretty awful - I quickly replaced them with MD's made from the actual CD and a Type-R deck.

What exactly are you trying to record to the MD? MP3's or CD's? Are you using a 1GB disc, or a re-formatted std-MD? Please give us some more information as to get a better idea of your problem.

Amen! Besides, being too "trendy" after the age of 25 is seriously creepy; sort of like when I see guys my age (late 20's) wearing Abercrombie and Fitch clothing and those damn yellow bracelet thingys trying to come on to 18 year-old girls. Probably have "My Space" pages and an iPud, too Hell, if not for wanting to digitize my LP's, I'd probably still be using tapes - I had a cassette player in the car until just a year ago, in fact.

Totally agree - if only Sony had understood this circa 2000 or so, they could have capitalized on MD's strengths instead of frankensteining it to be some half-assed "MP3 player" rife with draconian DRM, closed codecs and slow transfer speeds.... MD can still be relevant in 2006, but for it to survive much longer, Sony will have to aggressively market it towards the appropriate demographic. Recordists? Yes. Teenagers wanting a way to listen to their P2P-downloaded crud whilst riding the bus? Not a chance. Hi-MD isn't and will never be trendy; it's way too late for that, so defining what Hi-MD IS good for is going to be crucial to its continued survival. The RH1, with its obvious recordist flourishes, is a nice step in that direction.

Having a week now to reflect on this new release, I have to say that I probably will go for another NH1 after all: I like the looks and finish of the NH1 better, the three-line remote can't be beaten, and the newer features of the RH1 (MP3 support, uploading of legacy discs, charging over USB, etc) aren't of enough value for me to shell out twice the cash for the RH1. Who knows, though - maybe if they drop below $200, I might bite... I wonder how "available" these will even be in the states? I have to order everything MD-related online nowadays, so I'm not really expecting the RH1 to show up in my local B&M's or electronics shops. I mean, would it kill them to even carry a few 1GB blanks, let alone recorders?

I could swear that Musician's Friend had them for US $3.99/each on their website. EDIT: Yup, here it is: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Rec...ries?sku=244753

I had to sell my MZ-NH1 to pay for books, but now that my taxes are done, I've decided to get another one (this time for good!). Please PM me if you have an excellent or like-new unit to sell and live in North America. Willing to pay up to $200 US for a unit in great condition.

I still use MD for home dubbing and listening - I tried some alternatives for a short time, but came to the conclusion that an MD deck is still the best option for taping from the radio or LP records. IMO, MD is more trouble than it's worth for portable listening, though; I've used solid-state players for several years now and have been very happy with them.

What is the sampling rate of your MP3's? IIRC, Sony software chokes on anything other than CD-standard 44.1kHz.

The "drop" you see isn't because of the MP3 format, but because of LAME's lowpass settings for 256kbps CBR. There's so little music past 18 or 19kHz that the developers choose to use a lowpass of 19 or 20kHz and save those extra bits for more important signals. To really test to see if the frequency response of MP3 is completely flat, you'd have to use something like "--preset insane -k" or "--preset insane --lowpass 22050." I suspect it is, though.

The "toothpaste method" really only works well for CD's, because one can buff the hell out of it afterwards without regards to how "nice" the polycarbonate finish looks. For devices like MD players, you'll end up scratching the heck out of the finish way before you are able to buff out anything deeper than the most superficial of marks.

It's nice to see MD being covered in a positive light, for a change - do a Google search of "minidisc," click "news," and almost every story listed has something negative/condescending to say about the RH1, Sony, or MD's in general. Either most people just don't "get" Hi-MD, or we're all clinging to a hopelessly outdated and unwanted format I am a bit tired, though, of Hi/MD being portrayed as the ancient predecessor to MP3, or better yet, the buck-toothed, country cousin of iPod. It's a recorder, people!!

Last I checked, none of my local Radio Shack locations were even listed on their site as having 1GB discs in stock - in fact, the two stores in my neighborhood have never had them, period. IIRC, they were listed as being "discontinued." I could be wrong, though - it's worth a double-check. Too bad Wal*Mart doesn't carry them, but then again, I think I'm about the only person who even buys their 80-minute MD's anymore

Yes, I saw that as well: thanks for defending (Hi-)MD. I don't think that the average person realizes that MD is capable of recording sound from any source, and see it only as an ancient and depreciated pre-cursor to newer compressed music players like iPod. While I'm the first to admit that I no longer use MD so much for listening purposes (FLAC/Ogg files and a handful of flash and HDD players fill my current needs better), it still is THE easiest and cheapest way for Joe Public to make high-quality recordings of concerts or analog sources. Flash recorders still aren't that cheap, and the media certainly isn't right now, even with 1GB cards now going for $40. I guess I don't see why people have to be so negative about Hi-MD - if you don't like it, don't use it. Engadget consistently treats it like some buck-toothed, ugly cousin of MP3

Well, not exactly - USB 1.1 is a depreciated standard. USB 1.1 was absorbed into the USB 2.0 standard, so you won't see products listed as being USB 1.1 compatible anymore. USB 2.0 has three modes; "full speed" is analogous to the old USB 1.1 12Mbps standard. Thus, a product can be listed as being "USB 2.0 compatible" and not imply "High Speed" (480Mbps) compatibility. See http://www.everythingusb.com/usb2/faq.htm. Case in point: current Sony products, like their flash players, are listed as being "USB 2.0 compatible," but again, what they mean is USB 2.0 Full Speed, formerly known as USB 1.1. Like you said, though, DWDD (and to some extent, MO technology itself) makes the semantics moot; Hi-MD will likely never reach "real" USB 2.0 speeds.

That's a VERY sharp looking unit! I'm glad Hi-MD still seems to have some life left in it - at least Sony seems to be cognizant of its value to recordists. I don't think I will partake, though - I no longer do any live recording, which is why I hardly ever use MD's anymore. Maybe Sony will fix the MP3 playback flaw on this one? I wouldn't mind the combo of 1GB discs full of LAME --preset standard files and a digital amp PS - When they say "full" USB2.0 support, I wonder if they mean USB 2.0 Full Speed, i.e. 12Mbps; past Sony products have claimed to be USB 2.0 compatible in a similar fashion. They'd have to really tweak the reading/writing process of Hi-MD's to take advantage of USB 2.0 High Speed, considering that current Hi-MD's are so slow in those departments.

16/44.1 PCM isn't 1.44Mbps; it's 1411.2kbps (or 1411.2/1.024=1.378Mbps), giving a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 6.5x.