LJM

Other - I found this place through a friend.

Music Zone have piles of 80 minute blanks in Bolton. I'm not too sure if there were any HiMDs in there though. Might have a look when I next nip down.

3.3, but I had the same problem with 3.2.

On each attempt, SonicStage freezes on 78%, but before hand it's all fine. Could this be an error with the minidisc and not the recorder?

I'll give that a go, cheers, and report back if the problems continue. EDIT: Well, I left the battery out for a few minutes and it's still taking an age to format on the recorder itself. I'll try doing it through SonicStage. EDIT: It's working using SS, and it's initialising successfully. I just pressed Enter a few times on the unit when it said Access error, and SS let me initialise it. Until it failed at about 70%. I'll try again without using the computer while initialising.

Okay, here's the problem peeps: I have an MZ-RH910, and up until last night it was working fine. I was transferring some music onto an MD with about 60MB left on it, when SonicStage froze on the second file transfer. I had to go into Task Manager to quit it, and put the Hi-MD inserted at risk. So I quit it, but the recorder carried on 'recording'. It had froze itself, I guess. So I took out the battery and put it back in. "FORMAT ERROR DISC". I formatted it, which took over half an hour, and the problem remained. Unlucky for myself, I decided to shove another Hi-MD in to initialise it, ready to re-organise my collection (everything was in a random order and it annoyed me). Went into the Menu on the recorder, and selected Format. Again, this took over half an hour and rendered my Hi-MD unusable, in exactly the same way as the first. And it did the same with a third as I stupidly shoved that in and tried initialising through SonicStage. This time there was a format error, and that Hi-MD became one with the other two. The fourth one I was a bit wiser. I inserted it into the recorder, and it recognised it. It could play the file and so on. I attach the USB cable and the drive opens up in Windows Explorer. I clear some documents off it when the REC icon flashes at the top of the screen, even after I closed Windows Explorer.. The recorder had froze again, and that Hi-MD became broken. None of them will format successfully. I went into Service Mode and put the settings back to the European ones. No difference. So, is this a problem with my recorder, or have I bought 4 dodgy Hi-MDs (the crystal blue ones) in a row? I've no other MDs left to try (nor would I want to for fear of breaking them). Also, are the four unusable MDs recoverable, or can I never use them again?

Is this supposed to still appear as SonicStage 3.2 when you download it?

My best guess would be because it is only ATRAC3, and not ATRAC3+. I'll download the new version once I've managed to backup my library.

Those two new models look great, but I'm quite saddened to see they're not that thin. My MZ-RH910 (which is giving me no end of enjoyment) is nigh on 21mm thick, yet the second Hi-MD player displayed is only two or three millimetres thinner. I'd get one if it wasn't for that.

When I've got a printer, I plan to print off labels containing info on what's on the Hi-MD, and label it with a number. Then I can stick that to the inside of the clear case - where the insert usually goes - and write the number onto the Hi-MD. That way, I can't get the Hi-MDs and cases mixed up.

If we do see the end of Hi-MD (which I hope not, it beats the crap out of the Zen Micro I had previously), then I at least hope that Sony capitalise on the UMD format, and release blank UMDs for audio recording. To be honest it would be stupid not to.

Right, so it's suspected Hi-MD is already receiving it's death rites? This is worrying, not only because I've been using the format only very shortly, but because I fear that the Hi-MD media is going to become very hard to find. If it does happen, would I be right in thinking that the prices of blank Hi-MDs will shoot up, or do you think they'll still be manufactured somewhere? Are TDK ever going to make Hi-MDs? Hopefully none of this is true though.

Knocked that up in PSP, and labelled it just for you

I tried this the other day. I recorded a track (Feeling Good - Muse) at Hi-SP, and used my PC speakers to test. I found out that playing the track at full volume, with the EQ turned on and all bars maxed, made the track unbearable to listen to. It was fuzzy and distorted, pretty much. However, it was a LOT louder than it was without the EQ. I tried again, with the same track, but without any EQ (still at full volume, and the same volume on the speakers), and all this disappeared. It sounded fine, so I turned up the volume to see if the EQ was simply amplifying the distortion. It was still fine.

I've had no problems with SS3.2, which is always good to hear. There is something that really confuses me though, and that's the Import CD feature. Use it the first time, and it's fast. However, it slows down through continuous use (without closing the program). It got to the stage where it took me over an hour to burn Hard-Fi's latest album. I let it rest for a few hours, and it's importing at an acceptable speed again. In fact, it works fine if I restart the program.

Having tested, I agree with that. Some tracks sounded fine in HiLP, but others were terrible - especially with the EQ amplifying it (I was imitating a line-out with my PC speakers). Well, I think quality comes over quantity here - I can always get more discs for my music.

They are... off eBay. There's a pretty good seller I used, he owns a business somwhere in the country (Bicester, anyone?). 1GB Blank Hi-MD (Blue)

Thanks, I'll look into that One last question. I've started burning whatever of my collection I have on CD, using MD Simple Burner. Now, if Hi-SP is 256Kb ATRAC3+, what bitrate is Hi-LP? If the quality comparison is negligible, I think I could get a lot more than 8 albums out of a Hi-MD. The quality of Hi-SP is well and truly amazing though.

This seems like a good idea, but there isn't much scope with the new crystal blue Hi-MDs. If my printer worked, I'd try making some to stick inside the plastic cover.

I got two of those blue Hi-MDs, and haven't had any problems recording to them. Much better than the ones in the huge cases,

Having realised half of my stuff was converted into WMA for my Zen Micro, I've had to re-encode pretty much my whole collection. To save space I used 132Kb (or 105Kb, can't remember) ATRAC3, and while there is a very noticeable quality loss with EQing, it's pretty negligible without. Having said that, some of it is perfectly fine when listened to through the standard 'phones (although my ears have ached since ). I'd still like to have as good a quality of music as possible, at a reasonable bitrate (like 132Kb), so it might involve actually buying some of the music in my collection (luckily, the majority of it is legit). It'll be expensive, but it'll certainly be worth it. eBay and Amazon Marketplace, here I come!

Aaah. Forget my other questions, I decided to use some common sense and look in the manual instead.

Sorry about the double post, but this is seriously confusing. Can you not charge the battery from the mains? It seems to work fine through USB, as the indicator is showing that it is charging.

So, if my whole collection consists of MP3s in a variety of bitrates (*ahem* ), it's pretty pointless to convert them into ATRAC? Simple yes or no answer will suffice for the stupid (IE. me).

Well, I finally managed to get hold of a Hi-MD unit today - the RH910. I'm a bit stuck at the moment, because I haven't got any Hi-MDs for it. Anyway, it looks and feels great, and I can't wait to use it properly. I just have a couple of questions though: 1. What are the magnetic clamp things for? And why have I got three of them? 2. Can you only charge the unit with an MD inside it, or is the battery initially fully charged? EDIT: Well, it seems that the battery charges, but the indicator disappears when I plug it into the mains. It reappears when I remove the adapter though.