1kyle

I'm not sure where you do your shopping - but even Morrison's supermarket (at least my local branch --Springfield Way near Hull / Anlaby/Haltemprice in E. Yorkshire) has LOADS of MD blanks including the Sony blue 1Gb discs. Never ever seen so many blank MD's in a supermarket before. Remember this format is primarily aimed at people who want to RECORD stuff. For pure playback an Ipod or equivalent might be fine for you --most MP3 compressed format music I listen to is not acceptable --too many artifacts etc etc. Not the Mp3 format per say --just the compression people apply to their music. For a portable recording medium there is still a LOT of life left in MD. DAT is basically dead and there isn't any other format available. Forget the "Great Unwashed". MD isn't aimed anymore for people who simply want to use their portable music device as a playback machine. Cheers -K

Ye'p -- works exactly like the Sony charger -- i.e you get a minutes countdown. Cheers -K

My RH10 has finally GONE --gave it away to a relative. This unit whilst technically not the worst has been the unit that gave me the greatest disappointment. It could have offered so much but ended up IMO being a real DOG. The only positive thing I can say about the unit was that it had a beautiful screen for play back. The rest of horrors this had are really legendary and will probably be used by future marketing / design students as perfect text book examples in how NOT to design a product. Small list of the horrors Unit far too thick. Unit too plasticy so case can scratch and crack fairly easily. Battery latch really too weak. I easily broke one just opening it to change the battery. No Line out so not so good for for playing through high end equipment. Hack needed to get custom equalisation / higher output as there's no line out you really have to carry out the hack - for the average user this is really a No No. Actual sound quality output not as good as N1 or RH1. Let's see what units have disappointed you. Sony did redeem themselves however IMO with the RH1. This has far exceeded my expectations. Cheers -K

Good News for people who travel and want to minimize gear they carry The Motorola charger for those very popular thin Razr V3i type mobile phones work perfectly charging the RH1. The Motorola charger also uses a "Mini USB" type connector. Both the "Official" and Motorola chargers have a 5V output. (Being USB standard I'd expect the output voltage to be the same anyway). An advantage also is that the Car charger for the motorola mobile phone also works as well in charging / powering the RH1. So if you use an RH1 in a car via audio in / Kenwood AUX adapter cable / transmitter or whatever you don't have to worry about power requirements anymore if you have one of these Motorola Razr type mobiles. Cheers -K

Probably are -- but the easiest way around this problem is just to run a Windows Virtual Machine under Parallels either with Linux as the Host OS on a PC or OS X on a Mac as the host OS. This is EXACTLY what Virtual Machines are good at -- just run the software on the OS it was designed for(Windows) and forget the whole problem of Mac incompatability. When you've finished just shut down the Windows VM. Don't forget that even while the Windows VM is running you have total access to your Host OS (Linux / Mac) and you can also cut and paste between the OS'es. I'm actually typing this in on a Windows XP PRO virtual machine running as a guest OS on a MAC just to show that it's 100% windows capable. I'm using IE6 (Prefer Mozilla / Firefox anyway you care to name it) just to show it works. I'm also playing a MD via the USB out -- the Windows VM is running SS as well -- no probs at all here either --and I get to still keep the MAC which I LOVE for any sort of photo processing --pro photography is much better done on a MAC than a Windows machine. Cheers -K

Just purchase a version of Parallels for your mac --then you can run windows to your hearts content --no probs and you don't need to re-boot either. Running Windows XP (home or Pro) or even W2K as a VM on a Mac these days under parallels runs at around 95% native speed. --No probs with running SS on a Windows VM on a mac. http://www.parallels.com Cheers -K

Hi Orion --congrats on the RH1. I have to disagree however about the RH10 -- especially if played into an external amp. Both the NH1 and RH1 have genuine Line out which the RH10 doesn't --and unless you've applied the RH10 hack you won't get the custom equalisation mode on the European RH10 models either. I was actually (apart from the beautiful display) very disappointed with the RH10 --I've now "Disposed" of this unit. My 3 work horses are the RH1 (black model --really nice looking), the NH1 and the legacy N10 --still love that old "tiny" unit --and it's display is OK for standard MD disks. However I'll add that the RH1 far exceeded my expectations and is likely to be with me even if and when Sony finally kill off the Format. I think however a decent stay of execution is now pending as Sony themselves have been totally surprised by the popularity of the RH1 which is selling really well wherever it can be sourced. Cheers -K

It's absolutely NO problem these days to copy Non-DRM'ed music to another computer. Even before the RH1 this method works (and still works). Use the Sonic Backup tool to backup your library. Now restore it on the target machine. --Note if you do it this way any library existing on the target machine will be deleted so check first. After restore the music is in the same format as it was on the source machine. There are other ways as well but assuming you are using Windows machines then this method will work and has worked as far back as SS 3.1 Cheers -K

I agree with you about the appalling ignorance of Curry's staff in general. I was looking around for a new Desktop computer --the salesman actually said (I wish I had had my RH1 at the time to have recorded the converstaion) --don't bother with these models --you need the New flat Digital models --pointing me to the laptop section. I'm sure he was really convinced that a desktop computer was actaly an "analog" model. Anyway needless to say I didn't buy ANYTHING from that store. Cheers -K

Can't help you on the RH910 -- but the RH1 has far exceeded my expectations in quality. If you need to upload Old format music (SP) then the RH1 is your only choice but if you aren't bothered then I'm afraid you'll have to decide for yourself. As far as headphones are concerned -- there are plenty of Micro==> full size and Full size===> micro converters available so using a decent pair of phones shouldn't be a problem. I don't know what the output of the RH910 is but even the European version of the RH1 has a 4.5mw O/P which will drive most phones decently. Don't know about the RH910 --but you might be able to "Hack" it if it's volume capped. The Hacks are on this board --just search for it. Cheers -K

I managed to get a unit from the SONY CENTRE in Brussels a few weeks ago -- they had 5 in and regularly receive shipments. Give them a call and they will probably ship you a unit to the UK. I don't know their phone number but you can probably google for it. I had to pay 340 EUR (inc VAT) for the unit so not the cheapest --but at least they had it in stock. This unit according to that store has been selling EXTREMELY WELL -- and I'm not surprised at all. IMO Sony have more than made up for the very nice looking but flawed RH10 unit. Anyway give them a call --you never know your luck. BTW if you visit Brussels the store is easy to find --very near the Grand Place --and if you come by Eurostar you can get tickets from as little as 40 EUR from LONDON to BRUSSELS if you book a few days in advance during July and August. Perversely this is a generally quiet time in Brussels as a lot of people who work in the city such as E.U commission etc are all off on Holiday over this period). Cheers -K

Was just wondering if there was any way to get "Gracenote" type info on to Legacy SP recordings (ripped from CD) (instead of trk1, trk2, trk3 etc). I know the query sent to gracenote has some type of ID number based on the original CD. Is there any way of "poodlefaking" the data so a valid query can be sent. I know the original CD so is it possible to generate the same algorithm as some other programs use. I don't care if I have to get the info from FREEDB either (similar to Gracenote service but works on Linux and generates ID2 tags as well). Any info on this would be appreciated -- I know I can cut and paste via a spreadsheet but it's a pain as I would have to re-insert the original CD each time to submit the query. Cheers -K

Not sure --but it certainly has DSP-TYPE R and DSP-TYPE S which stand for "Digital Signal Processor" . This defintely enhances recording and play back of SP/LP2/LP4. I'm not sure if it's a "True digital amp" in the sense of the RH1 etc. Cerainly if you plug an N10 into a decent sound system and play back a decently recorded SP disc the sound is virtually indistinguishable from the original CD. More than good enough for "On the move". I'd love an "Identical N10" which would be "HD capable". I originally thought the RH10 would have been the player par-excellence --but in practice it turned out to be a bit of a dog. Stick with NH1 or RH1 and you won't go wrong --and if you can find an N10 for legacy stuff it's perfect. As for it sounding like mud -- that's a load of Bovine Scatology. Nearly ALL equipment made in the last 10 or so years will give passable sounds. Problems usually result from bad recording techniques, over compressing the source, bad source, setting the recording level too high, incorrect "normalisation", bad mikes etc etc. Take a decently recorded MD (made via optical out from a Denon CD deck into a JB980 deck MD System) and place it into the N10. Then run the N10 into a decent sound system and you will get very good sound indeed from it. Cheers -K

Just wondered from any of the "MP3" crowd who also have MD units. Anybody using Mobile Phones for MP3 listening --and what's the quality like (Sony Ericsson 810 etc etc.) compared with MP3 on MD's. The screens on these newer mobiles look OK so navigation should be fine. Not sure what the quality of the play back amp is like however and whether the phone would have enough power to drive a decent set of headphones either. I think the SONY models support a maximum of 2GB card together with 0.5GB Internal phone memory. Anybody using these --I'd be interested in some comments from users of these.

One of my favorite MD units of all time --the tiny N10 Net MD unit --had one even back then (it certainly had support for both DSP-TYPE R and DSP-TYPE S which enhances playback quality of legacy recording modes). I still use this unit from time to time for legacy / Net MD stuff. The only disadvantage was the "built in " batterry but there is an external battery adapter and it's quite easy to change the built in battery if you have to --haven't needed it yet. My biggest disappointment was the RH10 apart from the nice screen --the case really cheap and can crack easily and you have to be really careful if you open the battery door as the hinges can EASILY break. The quality of play back also isn't as good as the RH1 (perfect), NH1 (also pretty fautless) and for legacy stuff the N10 is also pretty good --also all these models have a LINE OUT as well. I've relegated the RH10 to "rarely use" catagory. -- In fact grandson might get a little "prezzie". The RH10 could have offered a lot but it was let down by rather poor (el cheapo construction) and lack of a proper line out. --As other people have pointed out for pure playback there are a lot of other options out there now. My "Working equipment" -- used frequently both for work and recreational purposes is now RH1, NH1 and N10. My old NHF 800 is also destined for some poor unsuspecting soul as well. The old R90 (SP only) had that nice "Retro" look -- It still works but didn't have a digital amp. Interestingly it uses the same battery as the RH10. This was also a small unit built like a battleship. It had a passable display so you didn't need to use a remote (mind you with a max of 80 mins on a disc navigation isn't normally a problem). Cheers -K

Finally some sense here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5203146.stm Hopefully we might get some more open access on ATRAC as well now. As this snippet shows the writing's finally on the wall for DRM'ed music. Cheers -K

Hi Sparky -- I think you only even SEE the lossy Atrac files on your computer once you've transferred music to MD from SS. You can easily check this out by just transferring 1 track for which no "lossy" file exists. You'll then see the same track has both an ATRAC Lossless (the original uploaded file) and and an ATRAC 352 file which is what actually gets written to your MD. If you transfer to WAV I don't think it will use the Lossy file --it can't in any case if the lossy file doesn't exist. Incidently a 1GB disc holds around 5 1/2 - 6 hrs of music @ 352 compared with about 7 1/2 @ 256. I think using the highe bit rate is well worth it (especially with decent headphones). If you are just using cheap ear-buds then I don't think you'll notice any difference between 256 and 352. Cheers -K

One shouldn't get too bogged down in the actual "Numbers" here. Over the years since SP came out advances in mathematics and physics have led to better and more efficient compression algorithms. This means you can in theory get better quality than you could have got before even though the file is smaller and more compression has been applied. For its day SP was absolutely top dog -- Mp3 /Flac/others hadn't been even thought of then so it was either full CD WAV or ATRAC. Most computers --if you could even get your hands on one back then were pretty terrible and not used for any sort of domestic music recording / editing / manipulation. The best you could get was a CD with an optical out which you recorded to your MD in real time. A few combo type units (with both a CD and an MD) existed which would allow you to dub your CD ==>MD at usually 2X or rarely 4X. Whilst there's no question whatever that SP is superior to LP2/LP4 I doubt whether it is better than HI-SP @ 256 or 352. A decent blind test should determine this pretty quickly. I usually save my music in ATRAC Lossless (@352) since this compresses (losslesslly) on the computer fairly efficiently --and if I want to convert to flac or whatever I can convert idividual files back to WAV (again losslessly) and then do my editing. I only tend to store music on a computer as a backup -- I rarely use a computer for actually listening to music --got a nice deck for that purpose. Now another possible issue that might "Obfuscate" the above conclusion is that the amplifier in the RH1 is pretty good --so recording in SP might be better than recording in SP with older equipment --however this could then equally apply to all the other modes of recording so the differential(assuming there was any) would still be maintained. I doubt that a decent SP recording however would disappoint. Cheers -K

Whilst this is great stuff I'd suggest any MAC user running Parallels could run Windows XP as a VM (Virtual Machine)--then all the SS facilities are available to you. Note however that Parallels still does Virtualisation of USB at 1.1 so don't expect lightning fast transfer when you are using an RH1. Parallels on OS X runs Windows XP fine -- no dual booting etc etc. Bootcamp is another method but you have to dual boot which is a hassle. OK I know a lot of people won't bother with "Virtualisation" but sometimes it is extremely useful. You can build for example a Windows VM and only have a single APP (say SS) installed keeping the VM really small. You can have a number of these all optimised for specific purposes and you only have to bring up the VM you need. Once these VM's are booted you can "SUSPEND" and "RESUME" them at will so no boot / reboot sequences needed. VM's can be "cloned" so no extra "Activations" needed --Windows essentally thinks its running on the same hardware. Vmware and Parallels both have "Virtual Network" support as well allowing you to share files seamlessly between Windows VM's (Guest OS'es) or whatever OS you are running in your VM and the Host system (OS X / Tiger / panther). You can also use (on your Windows VM) the sound output so you can use SS to play files from your library / minidisc without problem. Both Parallels and Vmware "virtualize" the sound hardware based on the omnipresent Sound Blaster type of cards so pretty compatable with almost every known sound card on the planet. -- Doesn't matter what actual physical sound card you have on your MAC -- the VM thinks it's seeing a Sound Blaster card and works fine. Just one word of warning -- while you can mix and match any sort of hardware and "Real" machines on your network only Parallels will allow a Virtual Machine to run on OS X. The resulting virtual machine (if it's windows) however will be seen as a "bog standard" windows machine on the rest of the network --this will also allow data from the VM to be shared / accessed across your network. This makes manipulating and sharing Music Libraries a lot easier. The only major multi-media problem currently on VM's (running on VMWARE or PARALLELS) is that video streaming isn't yet implemented so if you want to play DVD's then you'll have to do this from the HOST machine and not the VM. I use this method a lot when I have to run Windows Apps that MAC doesn't have the equivalent of. Cheers -K

Probably the same category of people who said cars wouldn't start or planes would drop out of the sky on 1 Jan 2000 (remember the Y2K nonsense --probably the biggest waste of money and most futile effort spent in the whole history of computing). A RH1 will PLAY BACK all legacy formats (you don't have to specify whether disk is HI-md / md) and will record in all published recording formats. It will (as others have also pointed out) play back some other bit rates such as 352 --although you have to transfer via SS. (Hint to Sony here --how about an update to Simple Burner to transfer CD===>MD @ 352). Cheers -K

What exactly does this model offer over the RH1 -- in fact why is it even CALLED a different model as IMO it looks exactly likr an RH1 -- and you can always buy your own mikes to work with these products. (Or is it just to nudge the price upwards and confuse the customer). I notice MAC software will be available --but in any case MAC software should be available for the RH1. Cheers -K

Certainly in Linux -- you can create a file system on it with mke2fs or other formatting tools --no RAM driver needed. In Windows FAT32 for DVD-RAM comes "Out of the Box". For UDF you probably need the panasonic RAM driver --but both INCD and NERO work fine. -- INCD creates a file system so you can use the device as a 4.7GB disk, and basic NERO means you can create a DVD-ROM disk on your DVD-RAM device. Cheers -K It's not the picture per se -- once you've got it into .PSD format .ready for print with all the layers etc and a large print size then this is what takes the space. A RAW image from the top of the range Canon 1Ds Mk 2 is around 16 MB but this will easily expand to 250 MB when it's ready for printing at 20 X 32 or larger. One often stores the .PSD (Photoshop) file in case a client wants re-prints --it saves you re-processing a photo which in a commercial environment can take A LOT OF TIME. Cheers -K

If you are a Pro photographer -- say using a top of the range DSLR (Canon 5D/1DS2/1D2) your RAW pics will be around 10 - 16 MB per photo. Once you've "Photoshopped" these with some layering etc etc you are EASILY talking about 250 MB per pic here. I don't think a 1GB MD (or any other 1GB device for that matter) will be sufficient for storing this type of data. Cheers -K

This is definitely a device that's passed its time. If you need to use MD as a data device then just plug your unit in --works fine in "Data Mode". However there are many many better options for this now such as Card readers, Camera / solid state cards. A CF card can (currently) hold up to 8GB of data. USB sticks etc are also pretty universal, small and cheap and more convenient especially for laptop users. Newer computers also allow direct booting in any case from the USB, and some desktops are fitted with "Multi Format" card readers in place of the old floppy drive. MD has a great deal of life left in it yet -- but computer data storage is not one of its potential applications. (slightly OT but with regard to DVD-RAM -- you can get faster disks now (5X) and one of the great advantages of these in Video recording is you can actually play back the disk while recording on a different part of the disk AT THE SAME TIME. -- Great for watching a movie previously recorded while AT THE SAME TIME and on the same disk recording another one. For archiving and long term storage DVD-RAM is still tops -- and you CAN format it in any way you want. Works with NERO, Linux EXT2/3/REISERFS/FAT32 etc etc.) Cheers -K

I'm very curious as to why it took 15 - 30 mins to import a CD into SS. Even running a slowish laptop operating a Windows Virtual Machine using VMWARE under SUSE 10.0 a typical CD (approx 50 - 65 mins CD) only took 3 mins. If it takes 30 mins to import a CD something is seriously wrong - especially if you are running in Native Mode (which most people are). Until that is fixed I doubt whether the other figures are maningful. Cheers -K