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You're absolutely right, I agree. Unfortunately, big business tells you what you need, and we end up with fewer and fewer choices. Did you know that it's getting harder and harder to find a flash mp3 player that doubles as a portable drive for regular file storage? The trend is to move everybody to DRM schemes like Plays For Sure that makes Sonic Stage look like heaven! Well, maybe not that bad, but it's getting there. And one thing is definitely sure: When Hi-MD goes away, so does affordable (<$500), quality pocket recording. Hollywood and RIAA will win, because they know what's good for you. The Nomad JB3 HD recorder is already history. The less functionality you have, the more you need to buy their stuff. If you think Apple will ever make it easy to record on the iPod, dream on! Cheers

Amen, and thanks for the good debate! Cheers

Couldn't make heads or tails of that last post, sorry. But then I'm not too bright. Maybe someone could enlighten me? I did get the point about "comfort zones" - I think - but the power of marketing is still being ignored. People are being deftly steered into these "comfort zones" by clever marketing, where content providers can take more of your money while providing less service. Easy to do, since we're talking about a cartel. By the way, I was addressing why "Best Buy ignores Hi-MD." But don't take my word for it, take a look at: Panel: consumer media electronics held back by content cartel or Media Conglomerates, Mergers, Concentration of Ownership or even The new masters of the universe These links represent just a small fraction of what information is available. The buying public often has no clue that they are so easily being manipulated. That is why Best Buy and others are "ignoring" Hi-MD. It's just good business sense when billions are to be had. Consumer empowerment, such as providing and marketing cheap PCM digital recorders, just doesn't fit the business model when you look at the big picture. It's all about control, not quality. Cheers

That's pretty funny, but oh please. Sound is subjective and relative. Some folks try Hi-LP expecting 64k mp3 sound and are pleasantly surprised at the results, and that's all. Newer technology sometimes works better, ya know! Cheers

My tongue was very firmly in my cheek, sorry about that. I find having a sense of humor, along with a good diet and regular exercise, very beneficial to ones health. Cheers Note: You may notice that I choose my words very deliberately. I like adding qualifiers, and with few exceptions make it very clear that many of my statements are only my opinion. My posts are meant primarily for entertainment purposes unless it is obviously not the case. However, I spare no effort in trying to be accurate. Do some research and judge for yourself.

Aren't you glad you got that off your chest? So am I. *group hug* Other than mangling the entire concept of "Supply and Demand" you seem to be on the right track. I agree that Best Buy ignoring Hi-MD is purely a business decision. However, I believe there is more to this story. The marketing of a high quality, consumer portable media recorder is intolerable to the select few, special people in charge of the media monopolies. You are probably too young to remember the legal problems VCRs had when they were introduced in the US. The abysmal quality of the recordings that these early machines made are ironically what saved them from an early demise. You might not remember the horrible legal problems surrounding DAT 20 years ago. DAT was effectively killed in its infancy as a consumer format precisely due to superior quality. The same pattern seems to be emerging with Hi-MD, another superior quality format in its beginning stages and still in the cradle. They tried to cripple it with some success, but I don't think that will save it in the long run from a purely economical standpoint. When Sony started buying into Hollywood, I presume that they were hoping for more control over enabling consumer technology (such as cheap portable digital recorders) and avoiding past legal entanglements. Unfortunately, we all know what happened next. In one of the greatest corporate ironies, it was Sony itself who got absorbed into the great global US media empire. "Sir Howard" may be, I'm afraid, the final nail in Hi-MDs coffin. Enjoy it (or not) while it lasts. The iPod, and its ilk, is the perfect vehicle for extracting huge returns (money) from people all over the world for very little investment on the part of the media conglomerates, and that is why it is so agressively marketed at Best Buy, Radio Shack (now there's a whopper!), etc. That is why it rules the market. Oh, the amazing genius of it all! Even if you are a musician, it's not your music. It's theirs. Believe it, baby! Besides, most people will eat any crap, as long as it has lots of sugar, salt, and fats. But I wouldn't call it good. Cheers PS Yes, mine is bigger than yours. Trust me.

It's amazing how far I can go with my 85 IQ. I'm still learning... Wow. I never knew that iPods had line out. Oh, you mean headphone out! I'm afraid many here will disagree with you on the relative quality of the iPod headphone amps. See podmed2's post for a recent example. Welcome to the forums, podmed2! Agreed. Now who said that?! *bangs shoe on table* I love my cheeseburgers and fries! Excuse me for a moment while I schedule my triple-bypass surgery... What the...? Oh: Indeed. But shouldn't the "sweeping" lack of functionality mean I get a substantial discount compared to Hi-MD? Or maybe it's just the stupidity tax I keep having to pay. Bingo! I sure hope so... Cheers

Well, I believe that Hi-MD is the antithesis of the iPod. "Fast Food" has the bulk (no pun intended, burger and fries afficionados) of the market; but that in no way translates to superiority. The same applies to "Top 40" vs Mozart, and iPod vs Hi-MD. Just because the masses go for something should have been a warning to me Like I posted before, I'm an Apple Computer fan. But for the prices demanded and functionality provided, I see maximum rip-off vs. versatility being compared. In other words, there is no comparison. I got burned, but that doesn't mean I can't learn. This is the Hi-MD forum - we can bash iPod all we want! Cheers

We're on the same page here, terrific. I just wanted to clarify my stand on 24-bit resolution - of course it often leads to better results, but I should have been clearer and written that it is all too often wasted on recording the distorted output of PA systems. Oops...Cheers

This is getting off topic, but I'm so glad you asked! Aside from the definition of data-reduction, I agree with everything you say. Let me explain. I'm well aware of the distinct difference between lossy software/hardware implemented data compression schemes and digitally sampling an analog signal stream. However, both (in the audio domain) make use of limitations in human perception. "Throwing data out" or "filtering" is, in my opinion, really just two sides of the same coin. The bottom line is that no matter how high you make your sample rate and your bit-resolution, all you are doing is changing the characteristics of your low pass (or actually band pass) filter. Once you are in the digital domain, I agree of course, if you don't have to resample, what goes in must exactly come out. But in my book, this is a serial bit-stream copy process, almost like copying files on a hard drive, and has nothing specifically to do with an actual format such as PCM. So is the "watermarking" audible? Not to me, it isn't. I'm unequivocally against DRM. But if I can't hear any audible degradation, even more, if I subjectively determine that the DRM crippled device actually sounds better than it's unfettered siblings (like Hi-MD vs MT), I'm not going to let DRM stop me, especially if there exist splendid workarounds such as HiMDRenderer. Hopefully nobody got offended by my opinions - I can't help but chuckle when I read about and hear the results of some expensive equipment recording the distortion blasted out by PA systems...and the discussion about how 24-bits sound better. It's just priceless, this taper scene mentality will not fit in my little brain, that's for sure. Cheers

Try my suggestion first before some shop does damage...

I wouldn't worry about it too much - this "taper mentality" will remain a mystery to me, at least. Digital sampling in general (yes, even 24-bit) always throws away data coming in from analog sources such as live performances. The key here is can the human ear (your ear in particular) detect the difference? Watermarking should only be worrisome to me if I were doing something illegal - it's as meaningless as debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin... But then I'm a mental midget. To me, the mics used make all the difference Cheers

*puts thinking cap on* Now this is a tough one. Let's get the easy stuff out of the way first. Sonic Stage 3.3 is out and I believe it is the least buggy of the bunch, even better than 3.2. So I would start with that as a baseline. Next, for converting recordings made from optical-in to WAV, you will need the excellent HIMDRenderer program from MarCNet 2 I'm not sure the program is bit-accurate, you'll need to check with the author on this. But it should be worlds better than using the Total Recorder kludge. What kind of hardware do you use to feed the MT (coax) vs. the Hi-MD recorder (optical)? Lunatec? Help, I'm stumped... Cheers

Carefully wiping 1/4" and 1/8" plugs with a clean cloth before gentle insertion (headphone, line, and mic) keeps the jacks clean and is a good habit to get into. Try doing this several times (wipe, insert, wipe, insert...) for that mic jack and you might be lucky and not need to take the little deck in to a repair shop... Cheers

Anyway, I agree, for classical music these recorders are most definitely microphone limited. With a great set of mics and good placement I've discovered that you can get professional results even using Hi-SP.

The local Fry's here charges US$6.99 - pricey, but not so painful. For the MZ-RH910, a great recorder, US$199.99. There's nothing else out there tech-wise that can compete for those low prices. Cheers

That may be, but to be honest I fear that the concept of MD/Hi-MD is way over too many people's heads.

Sparky191, HD are not archive or backup media by any stretch of the imagination. Properly stored tape and optical media are used for backups by organizations that care about their data. Old tech, but tried and true. More modern MO media such as Hi-MD, though relatively slow, are even more durable, long term storage solutions. The trouble is finding drives to read them 50 years down the road, but that is true with any current format. Back to the topic, I've noticed better sound quality coming out of Hi-MD machines than any "mp3 player" but that is just my opinion. Cheers

I can't say I'm surprised. My ears tell me that especially ATRAC3plus is so much better than mp3 at similar bit rates it's not even funny... Cheers

Fiddled with the new video iPod at Fry's the other day. Recording is really not supported (and why should it be). Apple knows better than to interfere with the content industry racket.

Yes, the M100 adds Mac OS X upload functionality.

Dan Dugan's test report Cheers

A couple of thoughts, hopefully helpful to you, the symptoms sound familiar - MD recorders are very sensitive to vibration and movement during recording. They can skip if moved during the burn. The same applies to CD burners to an even greater extent. That said, we haven't noticed this problem with our RH910s and RH10s.We've found that a new machine needs to be broken in by recording PCM (silence is ok) and filling a Hi-MD disc, then uploading via Sonic Stage. This distributes the lubricants - should have been done at the factory, IMHO. After this, our units perform flawlessly and with greater reliability than our DAT decks, just as expected.You could also have a defective unit. On average, most "ears" we've asked put the recording quality and mic preamp of the RH(9)10s very close to rigs costing well over $1k, so we believe that, barring defects, they represent a very good investment.

This is a software/hardware remote control package utilizing the parallel port (sound transfer is analog only, as far as I can tell) for obsolete MD models. It is incompatible with Hi-MD units, where you want to use digital transfers anyway. That's the whole point of Hi-MD. As a side note, for me, Sonic Stage 3.2 works flawlessly, and is clearly much more ergonomic and polished than the WMP10/MTP horror our poor flash player friends have to put up with. "Plays for sure" yep, sure, uhuh. In fact, I feel more comfortable and less restricted with the versatile SS than iTunes. I can do many more things with my Hi-MD recorder than anything else out there right now, and looking at the market, for a long time to come. Cheers

This is the funniest thread I've seen here in a long time "Hiding" data on a Hi-MD probably is effective at deterring casual thieves. I wouldn't leave anything confidential just laying around on my desk either, though. If the thief is determined or skilled, well...