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"Sony-performs-vasectomy-on-CDs" http://news.softpedia.com/news/Sony-perfor...-CDs-2466.shtml ...and PCs, and, given the way the company is managing the PR, Sony may just pull off a pretty darn good self-vasectomy too.

Here's the link to the NPR story audio file. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4989260 Yes, Hesse actually says what eWeek quotes him as saying.

There are interesting comments collected from various sources on Bruce Schneier's Security Blog: http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005...cretly_i_1.html If you follow the links you'll find a company collecting information in prepartion for a lawsuit but it looks like lawsuits might start appearing like daffoldils in spring (see McCullagh story on CNet): http://www.classcounsel.com/ And just to add to the fun, Declan McCullagh on CNet (follow link on Schneier's Blog page) observes: "In a bizarre twist, though, it's not only Sony that could be facing a legal migraine. So could anyone who tries to rid their computer of Sony's hidden anticopying program. That's because of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which bans the "circumvention" of anticopying technology." Also here's a a response from a Sony exec that just leaves one speechless (this comes from a news story on eWeek, see link below): "Most people don't know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it," Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's global digital business, said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday." Elsewhere in the same eWeek story: "CA is adding detection for the First 4 cloaking technology to an update of its PestPatrol anti-spyware product on Nov. 12, and will label the program a "rootkit," Curry said. Customers should be able to play Sony CDs using their preferred media player, not one dictated by the music company, Curry said. "Customers bought [music] content, not software …They're not bargaining on their $2,000 PC being turned into a media extension for their $20 CD," he said." http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1883820,00.asp Some serious legal analysis here: http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2005/...onys_drm_sp.htm

From InfoWorld: http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/11/02/...neakydrm_1.html " Ironically, the invasiveness of the XCP software punishes users who pay for their music, said Fred von Lohmann, staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights advocacy organization based in San Francisco. "They are installing software in a way that makes it very difficult for you to know what was installed and makes it very difficult to uninstall it. And, worst of all, the software is not very well written," he said. "I think most computer users will find that to be very outrageous." Lawyers might also be interested in the software, von Lohmann said. The EFF attorney said a lawsuit was conceivable. "Sony is using a piece of your computer in a way that you didn't expect or authorize," he said. "Depending on how clearly this was disclosed, some consumers may be able to make an argument that this is actually an unauthorized intrusion," he said. "It's not beyond the realm of possibility that Sony BMG could be liable for this.""

Sony out did themselves on this one! As Russinovich notes: underhanded and sloppy. They don't deserve customers. This is probably another good reason for running under a non-admin account. And if it don't run under non-admin; don't run it. More information and instructions on how to uninstall here: http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/

If you are going to spend that sort of money the new Nagra is supposedly under a $1000. http://www.nagraaudio.com/pro/index.php. And for $2400 you can have a Sound Devices 722. And that Razor thingee, Olympus does low-end solid state voice recorders better and cheaper. http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/...alrecorders.asp A lot of the newer Olympus gear records using 44.1KHz stereo WMA at 64kbps or 128kbps with frequency sensitivty up to 17kHz. In their gear Sony uses all sorts of weird much more compressed formats with low sample rates. LPEC, TRS, ICS? Ugh.

Core Sound sells the M-Audio for $369 although I'd wait until M-audio get the bugs worked out of the firmware. If you are on a tight budget MD is still hard to beat. What will drive Sony, however, is the fact that they are losing a decent-sized chunk of their market for MD recorders to solid state recorders. There is a huge market for recorders to record meetings, conferences, legal proceedings, interviews for broadcast, interviews for educational/research purposes etc. A lot of those people used to use MD but many have been moving onto the Marantz and simliar gear for a while now. No one wants to mess with DRM and Sonicstage when they need to get the audio transferred so it can be transcribed, edited, etc. A few years ago it was either $200 for MD, $700 for DAT (also Sony) or $1400 for the cheapest solid state recorders (or if you were into kludges, stuff like the JB3). But the price difference is now trivial for most of these users and easily made up elsewhere. There are at least three widely available solid state recorders that can be bought for well under $500. The Sony MZ-M100, their Hi-MD recorder for "broadcast and business" users, is $400. Even if you add in cost for CF cards etc. the difference isn't significant.

Yeah, but maybe this is them entering the solid state recorder market in a splashy way (take a look at the pics). I think we'll see other products at cheaper price points. In the last year this market really heated up. They are competing with other solid state (and HD) recorders from Marantz, HHB, Nagra, Tascam, M-Audio, Edirol, Sound Devices, and a few others besides that hit a variety of different price/feature/quality price points between sub $400 all the way up to several thousand. If nothing else this is an acknowledgement by Sony that this is where the action is now.

Sony is showing a professional solid state recorder at AES. They are late to the game and it is expensive.

Ah, a touch of reality. Thank you Sparky!

You are so sure of the "roots" of the problem. Do you mean the modern troubles (i.e. since the late 1960s) or earlier in the 20th century, or are we going back to The Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the "Glorious Revolution", the Battle of the Boyne in the 17th C., or even further back? Seems reasonable to go back to at least the 17th C. given that "King Billy" continues to play such a huge symbolic role in the current conflicts and what happened then had such a huge impact on the modern political relationships of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Much of this stuff is mythologized by the various parties to the conflict to justify current positions. Read any histories of the conflicts in the 17th C. and you realize that the inter-related conflicts then were rather complex and the alignments of different sides rather different. Ask ten people party to the current conflict about the roots of the problem and you'll get ten different answers.

Ah, you are on to me! I was planted by MI5 to infiltrate the minidisc discussion boards! Ha, ha. We're everywhere. You have no idea what you are talking about. To say this conflict has nothing to do with religion is ludicrous. That's like saying race has no bearing on American politics. Forget about Ireland for a second. Religion and politics are throughly intertwined in English and Scottish politics. Read some history. Why do you think the Founding Fathers in this country separated Church and State? Your personal anecdote's hold no general significance. Want another one? There's another nice wee town in Northern Ireland where Catholics and Protestants get along called Enniskillen and guess what the Provos did to them? Want to test your theory that religion has nothing to do with this. Take a walk down the Shankill Road shouting "I love the Pope" or wander around West Belfast in an orange T-shirt and see how long you last before some paramilitary thug pushes you into a car and drives you off somewhere quite and shoots your knee caps off. Hell, they might just do it right there on the street. Sounds like a new good idea for a reality T show. Clueless Americans discover sectarianism. They could do an episode at an "Old Firm" game in Glasgow and a few other places besides. The money. Yeah, the North is exteremly wealthy and the Brits are making a mint. It's one of the most depressed economic areas in Western Europe. The Republic is a different matter. It's booming. And it wasn't just money that was coming from Americans. Bloody hell, Whitey Bulger and company were shipping arms out of South Boston. Or maybe the British infiltrated the Boston Globe, the Federal courts, and the local FBI? Harland and Wolfe? The days of building the Titanic are long gone. They don't do much any more and what they do do could be moved elsewhere. They hardly have any employees. You're living in a paranoid fantasy land. There is no discussion worth having on this matter. You'll believe what you want to believe.

There's decades to go yet on reolving these issues. If you want to get an education on this stuff, here's a site with lots of links to different perspectives on the events and issues: http://www.sluggerotoole.com/ And here's an intersting take on the Sinn Fein and the Provos from the Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform: http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story...imit=1105592400

I grew up a short distance from Belfast and have relatives there. The British haven't exactly distinguished themselves over the years in Ireland but the history and relationships in this part of the world are complex. There are plenty of attrocities to go around. Selective memory--a practice engaged in by all parties to the conflict--has never helped. Irish-American gullibility backed with money have been a big part of the modern problem in this regard. Gerry loves you lot. Americans have a big responsibility. Funny how the tune changed on terrorism when people started blowing up buildings in American cities. The current conflict is at heart a sectarian one. The majority of the population in Northern Ireland is Protestant, mostly Presbyterian. Many of those were of Scottish origin but have been there for a long time. They are Irish. (People have been moving back and forth between Scotland and Ireland for a couple of thousand years at least.) The Presbyterians want to remain British; not because they have any great love for the mainland Brits (they don't, in fact, they fear, probably rightly, that many mainland Brits would be more than happy to be rid of them and the whole "Irish Problem") but because they don't want to be a Protestant minority in a united Ireland. Until a democratic majority in the North decides to merge with the Republic, Northern Ireland remains part of Britian. IRA? Freedom fighters against Britsih oppression? As often or not they are killing people in their own community who interfere in their various criminal enterprises. And if you think people in Dublin would just love a united Ireland, think again. Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley; the IRA and the UVF? I bet they just can't wait to get into bed with that lot. Don't be so naive.

I'll grant that the "RIP" in the subject line was a little over-dramatic. Here's the broader point (note that my point is about recorders; not players): Three or four years ago solid state recorders consisted of either cheap voice recorders made by Olympus, Sony and others that had very low audio specs or professional machines that cost $1000+. Minidisc didn't really have any competition in the quality but afforable portable recording market (unless you allow Nomad JB3 kludges and the like). Two years ago Marantz came out with the PMD670, cost $600-$700. They sold a lot of these to broadcasters, legal users, business users, government, educational users, etc. (i.e. the users that make up the bulk of the portable recording market and value unrestricted transfer to PC). In the last 6 months Edirol, Marantz and now M-audio have all come out with new, smaller CF recorders, cost $370 to $500. They have pro recording features not available on any recorders available in this price range. Are they perfect? No. At this price point there are compromises. If you want super clean preamps you have to spend money (e.g. Sound Devices) but for a large section of the portable audio recording market machines like the PMD660 are a good compromise. A lot of users who used to use minidisc are now buying these machines. We'll see more of these machines in the future. The cost may come down further and features will be improved. The cost of CF cards is also falling rapidly. Interestingly some of the cheap voice recorders are also getting much better in terms of audio quality (e.g. check out specs of Olympus DS-2). Basically the minidisc recording market is getting squeezed at the low end and the high end and the pressure will only increase. My guess is that Sony is being driven by competition to loosen some of the restrictions --especially upload to computer--that it previously imposed on MD. A little late I think. Their postion would have been much better if they responded to user demands three or four years ago. This is what happens, I guess when you have an electronics company merged with a content company. See http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.02/sony.html (which was referenced by Mindisc.org--see News Archive). Also interesting that Minidisco is now listing both the R-1 and M-Audio machine or their site...I don't remember them selling anything but MD recorders.

Why is pointing out the fact that Sony hasn't got it's "act together" and has been struggling to compete in the consumer electronics for some time flamebait? Sony is currently trying to turn the company around, new CEO, restructuring, etc. Get some coffee and go visit the corporate information section of their web site. And what's all that sarcasm about?

Many of the large pro audio retailers have sold truck loads of PMD670s over the last 2 years and I presume will sell even more PMD660s. Here's what Doug Oade says about Marantz PMD660 and Edirol R1: R1: "If you use low output mics (like all dynamic mics), you must use a very high grade preamp or you get a good bit of hiss. The R1's mic input and internal mics were designed to be used by musicians not for professional broadcast work. They do not meet the basic standards for radio broadcast, especially if a compressor is used in the signal path. The R1's all analog signal path to the A/D chip is pretty good at any price and very good given the price of the machine." PMD660: "The PMD660 is a much better choice for broadcast work. When used with a high output condenser it will reach broadcast standards. It is as easy to use in the field and during post, sounds better via the mic preamp and only cost a little more than the R1. Look for a mic with a spec of 10 mv/pa for a stock 660...and you will get good results."

Sony just posted an earnings loss and cut its annual profit forecast by 88 percent. The company is widely seen as being troubled and has been for a long time. Maybe they'll get their act together. Who knows. Somehow I think MD isn't the product that's going to rescue them.

MD is the battery life champ but the Marantz isn't as bad as you make out. The data sheet says 4hrs for alkaline. In actual use it gets 6.5 to 8 hours on NiMH. So it's not that far away for your Hi-MD numbers for PCM. It is really a non-issue if you are using AA NiMH. They are cheap and it's easy to have several sets.

Standard Alkaline/NiMH AA batteries would have been my preferance. We have to wait for more details on this unit's power supply. There is a lot that is unknown. Until a few people have units and report of their performance we won't know how well it compares to other recorders in the same price bracket. The Marantz PMD660 uses AA and gets good battery life on a set of NiMH. It also has sophisticated editing features. It's larger althought not huge. With size comes better ergonomics etc. but depends what you are doing. Some people need tiny; some don't.

Yes, the cells don't last forever but several hundred thousand read/write cycles should last a few years don't you think? The controllers also balance out usage across cells and mark out bad cells. See http://www.compactflash.org/info/cfinfo.htm. They are pretty durable. People have done all sorts of crazy things to them and still not lost their data. I'd take a CF card over MD any day.

I don't propose; this is the way I work now. I don't think about transfer. It's a non-issue. Drag and drop and the files are there. No waiting. No messing around. There is nothing to stop you using your MD discs in the same way except you have to use Sonicstage and it's so sloooooooooooooooooow.

Your cost calculation, 1 CF card = 9 HiMD or whatever is irrelevant because you are assuming that one saves stuff on the original media. If you use solid state storage you work quite differently. You record, you download (drag n' drop via USB2, Firewire or whatever to hard disc on MAC or PC), you burn copies to CDR, DVD or whatever media you want to use. It is very similar to the way people already manage digital photos. There is no mystery. If you look at the way people actually use solid state media you'd understand that there is no cost disadvantage and hasn't been for some time. And flash memory is used in a huge and expanding range of goods. It is not a boutique media like MD. For this reason the price of CF cards is falling *at least* 30% a year. In a year 1GB CF cards will be under $30. In another year... And flash media is exteremly fast and reliable. === Note also that this and other CF recorders also support microdrives as well as flash memory. Microdrives come in sizes from of 2 to 6GB at the moment and run about $40/GB.

US$129? Where are you shopping? Meritline has 1GB 80x card for $69. Newegg is selling a 45x Transcend 1GB card for $54. And prices are falling...

If you were shooting digital images with a professional camera that was capable of getting about the same resolution as a Kodachrome you might only be getting around 36 photos to a 1GB card if they were saved uncompressed. You don't have the option of higher resolution audio with MD so what's your point? You are stuck with 1GB capacity for 16bit/44.1kHz audio but flash memory sizes are increasing and prices are falling all the time.