AgentK7

Oh yeah, that's why I said backwards compatibility would be jettisoned. I know Sony has developed hybrid pickups for blu-ray/standard DVD (Blue Laser/Red Laser) but on a minidisc unit this would be completely impractical. I was using Blu-Ray as a general concept for a new approach to MD, not to say the technology will be identical to the previously announced next generation movie format (I hope HD DVD dies in an excruciating fashion). 5 gigs would be a perfect amount to strive for because that seems to be the sweet spot on the market right now. The Playstation Portable discs UMD format seem to use a similar physical format to DVD (1.8 GB capacity would indicate this). Is there any relation to the UMD format to MD? I think introducing a huge leap forward in size format like a 5 gig discs makes more sense than a player that can play two discs. That has clunky and fragile written all over it. All I can envision is the old laserdisc players that had a motor in the back to move the disc reader from one side to the other. (general rant) What's the difference between 1 gig and 2 gigs when you can swap discs in 3 seconds anyway?

The 5gb capacity might have some truth in it. Sony could be using Blu-Ray tech in these new MD devices. If a 5 inch Blu-Ray disc can hold 23 gigs, a smaller MD/Blu Ray hybrid size disc could surely hold 5 gigs. The only cost effective way of doing this would be to throw out HI-MD and MD compatibility. Otherwise these players will be super expensive (they probably would be anyway). A 5 gig SUPER Hi-MD unit would definitely be able to compete with the likes of the ipod mini, especially when marketing could point out changing discs, something you can't do on a mini...(not to mention that hopefully it'll record etc). edit: actually super expensive and competing with the ipod mini would be contradictory. Who knows...I'd def pay US$249 for a 5 gig MD recorder, even if it's a new format....

I know the only reason I'm interested in MD is the concept of portable recording. If you consider a portable MD for play only, you might as well use a regular CD player. 10 years ago it may have made more sense to have a portable MD for play only, but nowadays it's so easy to burn a CD, or even an mp3 CD that a portable MD unit's only advantage is that it's a little smaller (and the Hi-MD discs can 300 more megs). Portable MD recording with disc swapping is something fairly unique. Sure there are portable hard disk and compactflash recorders but they are very expensive and usually much bigger then an NH900 or NH1, not even mentioning the recording quality. I think Sony will definitely focus on this as a strength and hopefully add features that will make the Hi-MD format that much more desirable.

I know it doesn't help you right now, but Sony supposedly knows that its software sucks and they are supposedly making plans to completely overhaul Sonicstage (because itunes is so much easier to use and ipods are outselling and outhyping any of Sony's high end portable audio offerings) Here's an article I dug out of the news section about it: http://www.itworld.com/Tech/4535/041230sonyconnect/

Yes, the lossless would be great for post-recording archiving. It could be a feature built into Sonicstage. Perhaps, _decoding_ could also be built into an MD unit. Decoding is much less cpu intensive and probably would provide that ratio of 2 to 2.5 cds to fit on a HI-MD disc. I use flac for lossless archiving of my CDs. It works great and would be an alternative lossless option for Sonicstage users that convert their Hi-MD audio to WAV format....

I know Sony usually has a 12-18 month cycle for most of their product lines (camcorders, etc). How often have they introduced new MD product lines in the past? I'm thinking that at the very least they will include mp3 support in new players, especially with the revamped Sonicstage software coming....

I've been lurking around on this forum for a couple weeks now. I never cared much about MD until HI-MD expanded the size and provided true PC upload ability. The NHF-900 would be the unit I would buy now if pressed, but I'm really hoping Sony markets HI-MD more aggresively with better featured players. With the ipod doing so well and Sony kicking themselves for not supporting the MP3 format sooner, it seems like something like that could happen. Dream unit: Start off with an NHF-900 (Items listed in my order of importance) - Add true mp3 playback - Slightly increase the depth of the unit to allow true AAA or AA batteries (NiMH recommended of course) - Add recording date/time function - Add a basic mic directly to unit [optional but a fun/convenient bonus] - Include radio functionality of NHF-800 [Optional/Only if it doesn't hinder other features] If you could retail this for under $300 I think it would be an awesome device. An easy selling point would be the no conversion mp3 playback. Reasonably sturdy but very cheap and reasonably large swappable media. Recording "life", making it easy to power device in a pinch (AA/AAA batteries) without the need for an external add-on. Sony has indicated they are revamping Sonic Stage. Most likely this is to make it easier to use and more aesthetically pleasing (ala itunes). With their desire to compete against Apple, they are talking about launching a major rival music service (ala itunes). Right now they are talking about the PSP being the key portable device used, but why not also include a HI-MD line for another market segment? I am really keen on the AAA or AA battery usage. I have a Sony DSC-W1 5mp Digital Camera, and one of it's best selling points was the fact that it used AA batteries. I know the NHF-800 has this ability, but it's recording capabilities are handicapped.... I'll keep dreaming....