Sparky191

Another point about the Sony HD DAPS is they one of the very few to do gapless, same as HiMD. Most HD DAPs can't do gapless. Personally I don't mind the gaps.

Nope they'll do nothing. You don't use it as a player so its not really a problem. for band recording its perfect.

Wish you'd all drop the HD vs MD discussion its been done to death. Re: SQ The hiss problem is well documented on the web. For me personally while the HD5 is nice format physically, I prefer the older HD1/3. Though I'd avoid them all due to the hissing issue, and the HD5 suffers from the buttons cracking, also reported widely. I only use SS for transfers to and from HiMD and its fine for that. But to manage a 20GB+ library I find it lacking. All in all I wouldn't get one. Taking everything (SQ, accessories, support, features etc) into account the 5G iPod is one of the best HD DAPs around, and the SQ is up there with the rest. Re: SQ, My HiMD sounds better then pre 5G ipods and many other devices including discman. But its not as good as my iPod Shuffle, Zen Micro or a 5G. IMO of course since everything it's based on personal subjective opinion.

Definately.

I guess they figured everyone would be looking not listening.

Its seems to be completely random. I had a few hotmail (many years old) accounts that were working with OE and just suddenly stopped working one day. Hotmail gets a lot of spam though. I switched to Gmail for my web email, as its just a much better interface.

I can't see a 1GB SD card coming down to less then $8 a gig.

Its not. Outlook Express is installed but not Outlook. Thats part of Office or as a standalone application. I use web clients a lot when I'm away from my main PC. I use outlook otherwise mainly to archive/backup mails in PST files.

I only tried with my classical and rock stuff. Maybe I'd change my mind with more testing. I culdn't use SP anymore, its too awkward for me.

I think 352kps sounds a tiny bit better than SP or HiSP. You'd need good speakers/Headphones to really notice it.

While I think SP is slightly better than HiSP. I find HiSP good enough. Its an awful lot easier to use HiSP over SP or 352kps.

Just for the heck I encoded a lot of albums from CD>WAV>HiLP and while it doesn't sound good, it is impressive how listenable it is. Better than a lot of 128kps MP3's for sure. I don't think I could use it myself though. You lose too much detail and some airiness from the sound. But if you were stuck you could use it. I generally stick to HiSP or 192-320kps for my MP3's.

The whole MP3 VS ATRAC, MD VS Everything else debate is a bit old now. Anyone thats gone to MP3 doesn't care, anyone thats "here" has a MD already.

My understanding is that it should full signal strength. Whereas the headphone out has a volume on it, and perhaps some EQ circuitry. So in theory the lineout should a "cleaner" more powerful signal. However a lot of modern devices use the same circuitry for both. So you have to check.

We're all human...no ones perfect...etc

Sorry, thats transcoding. Thats a different subject completely.

Fixing ATRAC Lossless and providing seamless encoding from other lossless formats to ATRAC would be a big improvement. Then it wouldn't matter what HiMD supported.

I don't think I've seen a MD ad other than the very first ones.

1kyle - I'd assume people who prefer their MD Decks are using the same amp and speakers with their HiMD to do the comparision. Otherwise it would be meaningless.

I ask the question because so many express the opinion that their old decks sound better.

I'd prefer filetree drag and drop to just drag and drop myself.

Most of the features are minimal cost. Its simply that the masses don't need those feature.

Looks? TBH theres no real details on this unit. The details are a bit ambiguious. We're all waiting to find out the nitty gritty.

Many people comment on how their SP deck sounds better than their HiMD amped. Why is this? I would have expected the later codecs and especially if you use higher bitrates on the HiMD to sound better. SP at 292kps is a good bit rate and should be transparent to CD. In fact personally I think prefer the ATRAC SP over the CD sometimes. But what else are factor in why MD decks sound so good? (I don't have one, and have never heard one myself).

Ok sorry.