Justin42

I trust the people on this site infintely more than what an outsourced Sony sales-droid responds in an email. (no offense to those the sales-droid emailed) Kinda sad, huh, that unofficial sources on stuff like this are usually 100% more reliable than the company itself. (even AFTER it's officially announced/released!!)

This is definitely interesting news. I have an NH1 but have been toying with buying an RH10 for some of the NH1's shortcomings (display, the proprietary cable, no external battery, etc). I knew a 3rd generation, if it was coming, would have to be announced soon, and was waiting to see what it brought... but I am a bit torn if the 3rd generation is 1 model that's just a tweaked NH1. (RH1 seems to imply 'less than RH10' to me??) I would assume things like the new bitrates, lossless support, etc, would be added. But I really would like if some of the NH1's shortcomings would be addressed while still making a really top of the line unit. ("Live recording enhancements" is interesting-- could this be the end of the stupid automatic-track-marks-on-silence?) Hopefully there will be a whole new line, but I do hope the top of the line takes the best aspects of the NH1 + RH10 and makes a killer 3rd gen unit.

Interesting. It was March 1 last year we started seeing information about new models. I hope we aren't just getting colour changes this year.. :/ I do like the silver on the RH910 better than the black, though!

I just noticed that option in SS3.4. Has it always been there? I notice it defaults to on. Evil Sony... yes, I want to copy protect my OWN music that *I* am ripping for my use. Of course since I never noticed it it means all my old tracks can't be moved between my 2 computers (not that I ever was able to.. since I didn't see that or it wasn't there or whatever). At least I never ripped much into ATRAC. I may now, since I see how to do it properly for my needs. (I just want to add, not that it helps anyone in hindsight, that I also just upgraded SS3.3 in place to 3.4 and all of my music played OK. I *did* full uninstall 3.2 to go to 3.3 and that was fine, too... must have been an unfortunate quirk that A440 ran into!)

Is there a table somewhere of what is natively uploadable to HiMD? Now with the DRM restrictions lifted a bit I am curious about getting back to making some ATRAC libraries I can use on different PCs. (all personal units! I just mean to be able to take to work and load up my MD, etc). Do the 1st and 2nd gen HiMD units work with all the same formats, or did Sony add format support for the 2nd gen? (I mean ATRAC3/Plus playback, not like MP3)

Just to be nitpicky, LP2 (and I would assume LP4) recorded onto a HiMD disc using SonicStage DOES re-upload back into SS (even on another machine-- I've tried it pretty extensively). LP2/4 recorded on a normal minidisc with a NetMD recorder or home deck won't.

I have an NH1 and am tempted to buy an RH10. The Australian liquidation had me tempted for a while about getting another NH1, but given the problems I (and others) are having with longer-term recordings, I worry about if it's a bug in the units that pretty much renders them useless? I guess most NH1 users don't see the "randomly turn off after 2-3 hours while recording" problem, but it is big enough for me to almost relegate my NH1 to the "portable player" category. :/ http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=12481 I'm just wondering if it's worth it to return it to Sony to fix or not. It's so random it's hard to describe, unless they know of a batch of defective NH1s and just fix them as they come back... I haven't seen anything similar being reported with the RH10's.

Sony made a portable DVD/CD-RW drive [MPD-AP20U] in 2002 that plays MP3 and WAV on DVD. It's really a spectacular unit, I got lucky and got one for under $100 on clearance; it's not a DVD player per se (it's just a portable computer drive, basically). It's like someone at Sony said "let's throw EVERYTHING in one unit (it also has a Memory Stick slot..!), charge more than most people would ever be willing to pay, and see how it sells!" http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,109120,00.asp To this day, I believe it is the only portable unit of its type (MP3 on DVD). It was marketed as a computer drive and not a portable audio player. If you look at the box you wouldn't even know it could be used as a portable audio unit, typical Sony! Decent battery life, 12+ hours per charge playing MP3s on DVD. WAV playback is closer to the 3-5 hour mark. I love mine, and just wish I had bought a second when they were being cleared out...

Will the radio work in America? Does the digital tuner move FM in .1 or .2 increments? (I ask as all FM radio in America is on "odd" decimal points-- 95.5, 102.7, etc; in the UK I know it's on "even" points.. I don't remember what Australia uses) I know I've tried bringing digital-tuners to the UK and being disappointed when I realised that they couldn't properly tune in since they only allowed the odd numbered stations to come in... I'm definitely interested (even though I should save my money!!!). I'm tempted to cash in my Best Buy extended warranty on my NH1 (that has recording issues) and buy an 800 and another NH1. How would warranty work internationally? Or would there basically be no warranty, for all intents and purposes?

You might want to check out this thread. We're talking about the same issue, although I don't think anyone's used optical recording...

You know, I never reported this to Sony because it was so random, and I had never read of any similar stories, I thought it was a fluke. But it's obviously not, so what is the best way for a group of us to contact Sony to make sure they realise this isn't just happening to 1 or 2 people??

I've had this same problem-- multiple times-- with my NH1. Even plugged into AC power, it just seems to randomly decide it doesn't like whatever I am recording and shuts down. I bought my NH1 mid-January 2005. I first noticed it in Mid-February 2005, so it shouldn't have been a bad battery. I've only really used it this way with HiMD discs, but it will do it even on a brand new disc. I can't easily reproduce it, when I try to test to figure out a pattern it'll record 5 hours or more just fine before I have to give up... but when I NEED it, it can die in like 15-20 minutes. It is really annoying. I misread the warranty when I first got it and thought it was a full year parts and labour. I'll probably just send it back with the $70 repair fee (I have a 4 year BB extended warranty, which will be useless in a way since they no longer carry HiMD [i got mine through Customer Fulfillment on the website] so getting my money back means there's nothing new to buy)...

I am fairly certain it can't. USB is a master/slave environment-- usually, the computer is the master and the HiMD unit is the slave. Given that the pictures make it look like the HiMD goes into the exactly same display as it does when hooked to a PC, I think the card reader masquerades as a "master" device-- which couldn't work plugged into a PC (also a master). And the USB cable would be backwards, since the plug you normally put into the computer (from HiMD) goes into the reader. You can get that sort of cable, but they're hardly common. And I am pretty sure I've read it won't work, anyway, as well.

The problem is you're then double encoding. If it's just talk or something, HiLP is fine, but if it was music at all, I would use HiSP. The thing is, the poor signal has already been compressed massively-- doing another compression, using an entirely different codec (ATRAC) is going to really hurt the sound quality. So you want to use the most 'transparent' format available to you to minimize this quality drop. Try it out, if it's music, I bet you will hear a HUGE difference between HiSP and HiLP, even on a 44kbps source.

Can you find out about what types of ports are on each model? Specifically, do any of them use the weird proprietary USB cables like the NH1, or are they all standard mini-USB cables this generation? Can you charge AND transfer at the same time? (i.e., like the NH1 dock, but with AC *and* USB) And/or does it now charge off USB? (not just get power from-- actually recharge the battery) Will these continue to be compatible with the card reader? (MCMDR1) to expand on the "What happens if you put a disc with MP3s in a 1st gen unit" question, can that disc continued to be used in the 1st gen unit? Could you record new tracks (either through the inputs, or through SonicStage)? Or is the disc kind of "off limits"? Can MP3s be used directly from CD/DVDs (I burn discs full of MP3s and do not store them on my PC) or must they be imported into the library on SonicStage for us? I had another one but am blanking now...

oooooh.. imagine the hell to pay if someone's precious vacation photos get wiped by SonicStage the way audio occasionally does... eeeek! Otherwise.. wow... I really want an RH10...

I have no experience with any of the latest Iriver units, unfortunately my experience comes from having a few of their earlier CD-based MP3 players (SlimX, etc, can't remember the specific models right now). I think they're probably the best sounding MP3 playback I've heard from a portable. Best MP3 player I've heard is the Sony MXD-D400 CD/MD deck. It plays MP3 CDs and sounds AWESOME. But it's not portable so that doesn't help much. Best portable is the Creative Nomad Jukebox (the original; I never got around to picking up any of the later models.. but based on listening here and there to newer, it sounds like they've only gotten better). I have an old Nomad II (flash portable) and it's quite good overall. The IRivers have a very clean, crisp sound to me. I think their newer models have only improved overall quality. (at least on paper) I also think the complaints about lower bitrate MD are exaggerated. In my entirely unofficial listening tests, (i.e., "real life" and not using reference headphones in a controlled environment), LP2 compares VERY well to 128kbps MP3. I actually don't even mind HiLP given the right situation (Car, noisy, somewhere that sound quality isn't going to be entirely noticable). It sounds MUCH better than a 64kbps MP3, or most other 64kbps codecs. Much less swishy/swooshy artifacts. I do think SP is noticably better than HiSP, I hear artifacts on HiSP occasionally and I almost never do with good ol' traditional Type-R ATRAC4 from my D400. That's not to say HiSP is horrible, I just wish HiMD included "old" SP.

In my experience, Iriver units sound AWESOME. you don't seem to have a lot of recording needs; as much as this may get me flames, HiMD/MD in general really isn't for you. It's more of a very flexible format that you need to record with to really reach it's true potential. Not to mention we don't know yet how native MP3 playback will be done -- if it still needs SonicStage it's going to be a pain compared to some other MP3 players drag-and-drop abilities. That said, MD units sound VERY VERY nice, especially at their highest quality. LP2 sounds better than MP3 (at 128kbps) to my ears... but that's personal preference. There are many good sounding MP3 players out there that will be better *players* (only) than MD units. I'd look at IRiver and Creative Labs. I don't get all the hype over iPods, mine sounds like crap compared to anything from those 2 brands.

In case this is referring to my thread about my NH1 locking up a couple days ago, I just wanted to clarify I did indeed have the AC adapter plugged in. So that wasn't the issue.

How do you set it to queue next without stopping the current song? At least on my NH1, I can be navigating, but if I actually select a song, it immediately goes to it... I love the RM-MC40ELK, personally, but I haven't figured that one out yet!

Well, this is strange... I had been following that bad HiMD thread so I was wondering if the HiMD disc was bad, or if it was the NH1. (I didn't want to try a different disc yet before I could see if this was repeatable and under what conditions)... After the problems, I reformatted the disc with the unit, filled it to the brim with data, and verified everything using WinDiff -- everything was fine. I then reformatted again, and have set it off recording off the radio with a fairly similar setup as what caused the problem (Except no automatic levels; I wouldn't normally use them except today, as I was in a hurry to get recording going).. it's been recording for over 2 hours now with no problems at all. Strange.. I don't want to chalk it up to a fluke just yet, but it seems weird with the same disc and almost exactly the same setup everything is going fine (at least, so far so good). I'm in LA, maybe some of the weird weather we're having did something goofy... everything's on surge protectors but maybe voltage dipped for a second with a lightning strike or something...

I hope this is in the right forum; I see a software support forum but no hardware support... please move (or let me know where to repost) if not correct.. I have an MZ-NH1 that I've had for about a month. Today something was coming on the radio I really wanted to record, so I hooked up a line-out to the NH1's line in and recorded it. I was placing track marks occasionally and all seemed to be going well. I had the NH1 in the charging cradle, plugged in (to insure proper power as I wasn't sure how long it had been since I last charged it). I had it on automatic levels; mainly because I had to start recording before I could properly calibrate the levels, but I figured auto would be "good enough" (it was something I wanted but didn't need to be perfect). After about 1.5 hours, I walked over and noticed the unit had shut off. I tried to turn it back on using the Record button on the unit; it woke up and said "REC LINE IN" or the like, but after a second spit up with "NO DISC" (despite there being a disc in the unit). I noticed the unit was acting like it was partially frozen. I took it out of the cradle to get a better look at the display and the charge light stayed lit, and the battery-animation was still moving (the "charging" animation). I had to take the battery out to get its attention (HOLD was not on). After I put the battery back in, it said "READ ERROR" and back to "NO DISC". So basically I lost the 1.5 hours I had already done. Can anyone think of any reason this happened? Bad disc? Should it not have been in the cradle? Should I take it in to Sony for repairs ASAP? (I had an issue earlier in the day that SonicStage crashed on me while trying to load up a disc with a bunch of LP2 format music I encoded on my computer; however, I am using a different disc than that). It seems like I've had a few unexplainable crashes, I'm just wondering if my unit is a tiny bit screwed up. help!! I'm a bit upset about the loss of the recording and don't want to do it again! (I should add, once I finally got the unit settled down, it just went back to "NO TRACK" and won't see anything on the disc. I'm trying to fill it up now via the computer to see if everything seems OK with the disc itself)

Depending on price, I will probably be getting an RH10 or 910. If the $299 price point is correct, it'll probably be the RH10. I definitely would like MP3 support; most of my music for portable use is in MP3 (I've had various portable MP3 players since 98!) and I really like the minidisc format. If it is correctly implemented (HOPEFULLY drag and drop, but at least EASY in SonicStage; many of my MP3s are on CDs or DVDs so I can't really have them in a "library") I can finally switch to minidisc for pretty much all portable music needs. Support for the older 74/80min MDs (with MP3s) would be nice, as well. Since I have an NH1, I need to see what these units offer in real life. If the 910 has a AA pack and standard USB (and the RH10 doesn't), I'd go with a 910.. I want to try to find a unit that complements my NH1, not entirely replaces (since I just got the bugger!). And I'd HATE to be stuck in the same boat of having to worry about $25 extra cables to take my NH1 to work, no spare battery, etc. But I really want to see the RH10's display in action.. So, probably 90% chance I'd get SOMETHING eventually. Maybe even right at first availability, depending on what reports come in (I assume the US won't be first to get these models..)

Wow, the RH10 is very pretty! I don't know if I can justify the price difference over the 910 since it looks like exactly the same model except for the display, but it's pretty. Definitely not quite the revolutionary machines we have been dreaming about; nice new features and it's GREAT MP3 is finally native... not sure what else I was expecting... I'll probably end up with a 910 unless I just go crazy and have to get a drool-worthy one...

Are MDs really susceptible to magnetic fields? I thought MO was pretty OK with them, due to the whole Curie-point thing (as long as they weren't superheated you couldn't change the magnetism)? Here I've been telling my dad it's OK (for now) to store his MDs on his tower speakers while he's working on stuff...