zerodB

Yes, you can transcode your tracks to LP4, but you certainly can't rip in LP4 format directly. You mean the ATRAC3 ACM codec? Sorry, but it's not the genuine article - This audio codec was assembled from publicly available bits on the Web and hence may not represent the ATRAC3 codec Sony currently supplies with their MDLP and MemoryStick audio devices. As for the PC SP codec, I'll believe it when I see it.

Perhaps some wireless headphones? The cord won't dangle in the water!

The HD amp doesn't make any real difference in SQ. The bass is slightly inflated (ie. punchier, but perhaps not as tight), and the highs are a tiny bit crisper, but any real difference between the standard digital amp is minimal at best. What you do get out of the HD amp, is a noticably lower sound floor. For this reason alone it's worthwhile. The deck you use shouldn't effect the sound quality. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong (perhaps these high-end decks use better quality DACs) but what really matters at the end of the day is the encoder. ATRAC Type-R is the best you are gonna get on standard MD. With HiMD you can get uncompressed PCM, or 352kbps ATRAC3plus, which, although compressed, is still better (I assume, as I have no HiMD myself) than ATRAC Type-R (which, although good, is only at 292kbps).

I have the 333NT driver. It may work since the units are essentially identical.

It works like this: For more info, hit http://www.sony.net/Products/ATRAC3/tech/aal.html

LP4 is perhaps still useful for podcasts and audiobooks. I've never used it personally, I'm just interested.

Right. So there was no DRM on the device/media itself, the tracks were just protected from edits/erasure. Ah ha. Thanks. Thanks for your input, dex, but hey, I dunno. I still use cassette tapes on a fairly regular basis so I guess that makes me sufficently old-skool. As for Sony wasting their money, well - it's not always about products I believe. Companies should invest in maintanig the loyalty of their user base - it's not only great PR, but provides a vital opportunity to gauge the state of the market and road-test new technologies. Though perhaps I'm being a tad idealistic. Quite a bit probably. Sony certainly aren't microsoft or others, who do that kind of thing on a daily basis. (edit: I'm sure every man and his dog has an opinion about MS & etc, but let's just not go there for the moment!) I agree whole-heartedly with you on the marketing aspects of HiMD - there certainly is a niche to be filled in that regard. But while we are on the topic of NetMD, would anyone like to offer some insight as to why LP4 support was virtually dropped in SonicStage from v3.2 onwards?

Dex, I'm pretty sure the NetMD units used some form of OpenMG data protection - in the early days, you could only transfer an OpenMG (ATRAC3 - MDLP) track to your NetMD unit a total of 3 times. You could "transfer/check-in" your music back to your PC, but all this meant was that the track was erased from the disc, and the transfer count on the PC increased by one. The point is that when tracks were downloaded from PC to disc, you could not edit or erase the tracks directly on the disc (to preserve the check-out counter information I presume) - nor could you "check-in" your tracks to a computer that they were not originaly downloaded from. I know this not DRM encryption in the strictest sense of the term, but it's some form of digital copy protection. That all said, I am baffled as to why Sony did not allow SP-mode downloads with NetMD to begin with - if it is possible for the unit to decode ATRAC3 data to ATRAC (SP), then why did Sony not include SP mode downloads from day one? I'm not 100% clued in on the technology, but I would believe it to be possible in current NetMD units simply with a software/firmware upgrade - especially given the capacity of some of the NetMD bookshelf units to rip CDs into SP mode at high speed (4x). Why Sony did not allow this is beyond me. Perhaps you could speak to your contact with Sony, chris, to see if anything more can be gleaned on this issue. I have a theory - it's just speculation - but I would say it may have something to do with the licencing issue with Dolby over the original SP codec - perhaps this is what prevented the commercial development of a software SP codec. And as for the hardware uploading issue, yes, it certainly would be possible. I believe it would certainly be a worthwhile endevour for Sony to invest in making these changes to NetMD hardware. Of course, I don't think it will happen, but I feel it would pay off for the company in the long run - given the saturation of standard MD in the Japanese market, and the wide use of MD in semi-pro recording and broadcasting. This would increase the company's standing with their user base, as well as rejuvinating interest for HiMD in a declining market. It would be a worthwhile investment for minidisc's future. Don't forget, that currently standard MD media offers some advantages over their HiMD counterparts. While HiMD remains infinatley more versatile, MD currently offers faster seek times, with smaller, less battery hungry portables. There is the wide range of MD portables available (in Japan), and of course, those all important decks.

Not to sure whether it is good to have your MD in continual record-pause mode as this powers up the recording mechanism, but like you said, you'll certainly save a buck.

That info applies only to std-MD. HiMD is different as it uses a FAT data structure.

Would love to see some stats on how members actually use the forums - ie what percentage of members are regular posters, paid-up members, members who join to post a few questions and then don't stick around, and members who join exclusivley to access the downloads section.

Sony makes it quite clear in the SonicStage help Documentation that you should backup your files using the SonicStage Backup Tool in order to restore your data as the contents are encrypted to provent unauthorised copying, blah, blah, blah... I have done several hard drive reformats in the past, backing and restoring my SonicStage library without flaw using the SonicStage backup/restore program. You did do use this program, didn't you?

This page may help: http://www.esrac.ele.tue.nl/~leon/minidisc/remote/ The remote is for an older unit though. I'm sure there are detailed specs for more recent remote on minidisc.org. Do a search.

Don't worry if you can't speak English all that well - those pictures say a thousand words! Welcome to the forums, hope you stick around!

I very much doubt that Sony will listen to any petitions. At the moment, Hi-MD is very much a niche market - designed primarily for the portable recording enthusiasts. MD, on the other hand is different - there is still a market for MD decks, and car units because of the saturation of the devices and media in the Japanese market. Sure, MD use is in decline in Japan, but a sizable market still remains. As for a HiMD deck from Sony, sure, it's more than possible - but even still there are some things, you can't do on a HiMD - Scale Factor Edit for example - it's a very usefull feature indeed but on HiMD it's technically not possible. And the nature of file-system structure of HiMD makes fragmentation more likely (if you are using discs for file storage as well). I'm sure a HiMD deck would be well recieved - the advantages of PC uploadable Linear PCM recording on small, cheap, removable media has the potential for a whole host of professional applications (studio recording, broadcasting), but I'm afraid to say I feel Sony just don't seem to see a viable market for such devices. In addition, we are beggining to see the advances of Home Theatre PCs (for the home markets) and other professional devices for the industry. In the mean time, you still have the Onkyo Decks, and the bookshelf units from Sony. Side Note: Traditionally, markets are created by demand, and not supply. However, in the world of consumer goods, it is far more economical for corporations to turn traditional market-driven economics on its head, since consumers can't be relied upon to create markets. It works like this: 1) Manufacturers (ie Sony) decide what consumers want. 2) They then tell consumers that they want their product (through public relations and advertising). 3) Consumers purchase the particular manufacturer's products. All of the above works on the assumption that, consumers are stupid, don't know they want and therfore will buy whatever anyone tells them to. The recent abysmal failure and subsequent folding of HiMD in the Australian market suggests that these kind of narrow assumptions, in particular when dealing with a niche market such as MD, are completley false. Sony should listen to their customers instead, but I don't believe it will happen. (edit - spelling)

I'm not too sure, but I've opted for WMA Lossless in the past - as you pointed out it's definatley more "software friendly", place nice with SonicStage and a whole host of other applications. FLAC support is somewhat limited. Though I hear that FLAC decoding is somewhat less resource-intensive.

Great blog, bookmarked! The "It's a big ad!" Carton Draught commerical was screened on TV over here, I nearly pissed myself laughing the first time I saw it...

Read the technical specs and info for Hi-MD. I wouldn't know myself, but I do recall a few users stating that it would be possible for Sony to produce 2GB Hi-MD discs within the current hardware specifications/limitations.

Yes that's ridiculous, considering a standard MD can only hold a fraction of the data of a CD-R/RW, when you're talking MB for MB.

If it wasn't for that smiley, I would give you an electronic slap! You still need IE to access sites which depend on ActiveX - like Windows/Office Update. If you have SP2, IE will at least warn you prior to installing/viewing potentially insecure software.

http://www.audiocubes.com/category/Audio+P...isc_remote.html

Nice. How do you like the sound?

Thanks for the tip, currently using Trend-Micro PC-cillin in conjunction with MS Antispyware, but I may give NOD32 a spin as well. A properly configured hardware router in conjunction with the built in Windows Firewall in XP SP2 should be sufficient for normal home use, right?

It's only a corporate press release really, the term "development policy" is a bit of a misnomer. Still, it's better than nothing.

I was browsing Sony's ATRAC Web Site, and thought I would share: It seems like the ATRAC site has been updated recently - there's some basic info on the technical improvments of ATRAC3plus over the ATRAC3 codecs, and some info about the recently adopted ATRAC Advanced Lossless.