bug80

The headphone output of my MZ-N510 has a very low output indeed, but with the volume all turned up it gets to an acceptable level for recording on PC. I don't hear any noise or coloration due to impedance differences.

Will the release of bookshelf systems be a sign that Sony really is confident on setting a new standard in audio? I'm pretty sure Hi-MD has the potential of getting popular as long as there's no sign of serious competitors releasing HDD bookshelf systems. And yes, a 19" deck would be great.

Don't panic. I was just being sarcastic

Yes: you can make photos with your DH10p, yes: you can store them on Hi-MD, but no: you can NOT upload them to your PC. When you want to have the photos on your PC, you have to make a photo of the display with another camera. That would be typical Sony style.

Exactly. So, for MDLP player owners it is just a waste of space, unless you want to exchange discs with someone who has an SP-only unit.

It is hard to compare prices, because we're talking about two different kinds of hardware. The 2nd generation Hi-MD units are in the same price range as HDD players (MZ-RH910: €199, iPod mini 4 GB: €199). However, I think MD units have more bang for the buck in terms of: * Sound quality (amplifier) * Storage (virtually unlimited because of discs instead of fixed HD) * Recording possibilities (this is where MD really shines) Lowering the prices on 2nd generation units is a good move from Sony, IMHO.

Ah ok, thanks. Didn't know that.

Nero will support AAC when you install a plugin that you can download from http://neroplugins.cd-rw.org/. I guess the nero > image > simpleburner way is the best way to do it. I definitely don't recommend transcoding from AAC to MP3 to ATRAC. If you don't have Nero I'd suggest foobar for all your encoding/decoding/transcoding needs

though is talking about NetMD discs. I don't know about Hi-MD, but in the case of NetMD, true SP transfers are not possible. If you choose SP as the transfer format, SonicStage converts the file to LP2 and transfers it to your unit as if it was SP. In other words, there is no quality difference between LP2 and SP when using SonicStage, unfortunately. SonicStage has this feature because of compatibility with older units that only support the SP format.

How realistic would OGG and FLAC support be? When 3rd generation will support these formats, Hi-MD can potentially become a great succes amongst audiophiles.

6dB The equation for SPL in acoustics is: SPL = 10*log10(pressure^2) = 20*log10(pressure) So, an increase of 6 dB means multiplying the pressure with 10^(6/20) = 1.995 which is approx. a factor of 2. * EDIT * The equation above holds if you're talking about pressure, of course. But this is the quantity used the most. The pressure is what is stored in a PCM wave file, for instance.

I think nhaigh means, that it's strange that reviewers don't mention the possible benefits of long-play. Also, if I understand it correctly, the quality sound-wise of LP isn't reviewed, whereas this should be as important as how the unit looks.

I don't think it would be very necessary for a perceptual encoder to encode > 16 bits/sample in the range of bitrates ATRAC uses. Although it is possible, in theory.

After you've updated to SP2, I think you should have uninstalled the previous version of SS completely using the instructions in the FAQ and install version 3 afterwards. If I've read it correctly, you didn't try that yet. Good luck! * EDIT * oops, I didn't read it correctly you did the uninstall before upgrading to SP2. I'm sorry, I have no idea what this could be

Transcoding (i.e. from one lossy codec to the other) always leads to quality loss. For instance, transcoding a 128 kbs MP3 to ATRAC3 LP2 gives you most of the original MP3 artifacts plus the ATRAC3 artifacts for free! So, when doing backups this should be avoided. I guess the only way with Hi-MD is recording the original track to PCM. PCM is a lossless format, so no extra artifacts will occur. However, the number of tracks that fits on one disc will decrease, of course. * EDIT * To answer your last question, if you transfer the MP3's to a Hi-MD unit that is capable of playing MP3 natively (2nd generation units), than there will be no quality loss compared with the original Mp3.

Isn't there a light at the end of the tunnel? You could search for a relatively cheap soundcard with optical in. When you have that, you can use the optical out on your player to record the tracks digitally in real-time on your PC (in PCM/WAV, that is). In that case, there's no quality loss, neglecting any jitter effects and the like.

My version of K-lite works fine, with performance comparable to the newest version of ffdshow. I too thinks installing the codecs manually is better. Maybe I'd just do that. I'd say ffdshow is broken too, the issue it has with SonicStage looks like a bug.

Try the K-Lite codec instead. That one has no problems with SonicStage. And upgrade SonicStage to version 3.0, as atrain mentioned.

Another possible ffdshow victim? Do you have ffdshow codecs installed on your system?

I'm sorry, I didn't read your post correctly.

Did you uninstall ffdshow as a whole? Just uninstalling the included codecs might not help.

I'm not going to pay €0.99 (which is actually more than $0.99) for a track that isn't even compressed at a bitrate which is transparent to my ears, if I can get the same track as a PCM for about €1.50 if I buy the CD, considering 12 tracks on an album. Plus, I get a booklet and a shiny disc

My LITEON CD/RW drive is able to read most copy protected CD's without problems. Some CD's out of the early days of copy protection might be a problem. Here in the Netherlands, a lot of CD's contain that copy protection logo also.

You're welcome. And, if you're done listening to music and like to watch a (DivX/XviD/etc) movie, I'd suggest you install the K-lite codec pack instead. Works fine and without the SonicStage problem.