Hungerdunger

Also, any prospective purchasers should be aware that the Onkyo decks don't have a timer facility. I was thinking of buying one myself, but as I do a lot of timed recordings from the radio I decided I could not do without this feature.

I've always used Fellowes WriteRight screen protectors for Pocket PCs. I put one on my RH10 as soon as I got it out of the box, and I also use them to cover the displays on all other MDs (I'd hate to spoil the display on the RH1) and also on my remotes, as well as the screen on my mobile phone. You have to be careful when applying them to avoid air bubbles, but even if it takes a couple of attempts to get it right it's still worth it.

I was thinking a couple of days ago about the changes we have seen in recent years. It doesn't seem that long ago that I downloaded my first mp3 (Woke up this morning by the Alabama Three IIRC). Using a 56k modem this took something like 20 minutes. I then recorded it in real time to my R55 and I remember feeling pretty clever about the whole thing. Earlier this week I downloaded about three hours of podcasts in less time than that mp3 took, imported them into SonicStage and transferred them to my RH1 in less than 5 minutes.

According to the manual for my RH1, this message occurs when "You tried to enter more than 200 letters to label a single track; you tried to enter a total of more than approximately 55,000 letters (Hi-MD)or 1,700 letters (MD mode)for titles" While these amounts sound pretty generous, as you say it happens only with one disc, is there any chance you already have tracks on the disc which have used up your allocation? If the disc was "blank" when you started recording, have you tried formatting it?

The way I see it is: if it's brand new then it should be under warranty and the worst thing that could happen is that you'll be without it for a few weeks. If you try to fix it yourself and something goes wrong, you'll void your warranty and possibly be without it for ever. Mind you, I never was any good with anything electrical

I think you're ignoring the obvious explanation that the engineers have designed the Hi-MD discs so that if one is inserted into a non-Hi-MD machine it will provide that machine with sufficient data for it to give that message. It happens even with my old JB-940 deck which pre-dates Hi-MD by several years. Perhaps someone with better technical knowledge than me can give a better explanation.

There's no point in getting a hi-MD just for data storage, but if you want one for recording and playing anyway, then the additional feature of being able to store 1Gb of data for less than 5 UKP is quite attractive, if like me, you want to be able to move data around from one location to another. (and if you're not in too much of a hurry!)

You don't give up, do you?

I've been doing some rather dusty outdoor work recently. I don't know if it's because of that, but when I looked at the display on my RM-MC40ELK remote yesterday I noticed that there is some dust on the inside of the display. Three questions: 1) Has anyone else had this happen to them? 2) Has anyone disassembled and reassembled this remote? 3) If so, is it likely that I'll be able to get it back without any major problems? (Normally me and small objects don't get on together, and when I take the cover off they'll shoot a couple of small parts into a dark corner of the room just to annoy me).

I don't have the rh910, but from my very limited experience recording with the RH10, I'm wondering whether you have selected manual or automatic recording level. If you have chosen manual, then you won't be able to change the sensitivity options; they only work with the automatic setting.

I can't speak for anyone else, but one of the main reasons for me buying the RH1 was to get the music off several legacy discs, complete with titles and in faster-than-real-time, and get them all onto just one Hi-MD disc. I'm not planning on abandoning the format, in fact I'll also be buying Sony's new Hi-MD deck just as soon as they get round to building it.

It does! And after waiting for so long there's something really satisfying about finally getting my old legacy recordings onto the PC and then back onto Hi-MD discs.

I think I may have an answer to my own question. I forgot to mention that the recording levels vary quite a bit on the legacy recordings. AFAIAW there is no way to normalise these recordings during the SonicStage transfer process, but presumably I could normalise the WAV files first, hopefully without any loss of quality. Am I right about this? If so, can anyone recommend a good program for WAV normalising?

I've just transferred a load of old 292kbps recordings to my computer using my new RH1. I want to get them back onto one Hi-MD disc, but this means I'm going to have to convert them to 192kbps as I transfer them. Now my hearing isn't too discerning, but I'd be interested to know whether there should be, either theoretically or practically, any difference in the quality of the finished transfer if I use either the 292 file or the WAV file as my source.

Drat - picked mine up from Baker Street Sony Centre yesterday but had to pay the full 250UKP. Never mind - at least I've got one (and very nice it is too!!!). The only trouble is my girlfriend can't understand why I need another one when I've already got three other models. That's women for you.

I tried them today and they said it had gone. However the Baker Street branch has one left. By chance I have to go to London tomorrow so they have reserved it for me. So tomorrow night I will be 250UKP poorer but one MD richer, and will finally be able to start messing about with my legacy recordings. [Apologies - I should have included the quote from GQ Smooth, not Norick. Obviously the excitement of getting an RH1 is too much for me.]

Well that's one more than most of the other Sony Centres in the UK. I really can't understand this. Why did they launch the product when stocks are so tight? Even if they have underestimated the interest, I can't believe they didn't build up stocks first. At the end of the day they are only going to hurt themselves, but I guess Sony are pretty good at doing that anyway!

Does anyone know whether the new EX90s also use the same tips? The reason I'm asking is that I'd always had trouble getting the EX71s to stay in my ears until I discovered that the tips for Etymotic ER6s fit them perfectly. They stay in my ears much better and i think they give me better sound isolation.

Well, as the Recommended retail price is 250 pounds, it isn't really a bargain, and several on-line retailers are offering better prices. However, you now own one which is more than most of us. None of the Sony Centres within 100 miles of me have one in stock, and neither do any of the on-line retailers I've tried. So overall I think you've done pretty well.

I've just phoned them and they do NOT have stock at present. He's hoping to have some in within two weeks.

There's no point in asking an assistant in Dixons anything. A while back I went into Currys (their sister shop) to buy a pair of EX71 earphones. There were none on display so I asked an assistant if they had any. She said they had some according to their computer so she spent about 15 minutes searching for them in the stockroom. She came back and said the computer must be wrong. I asked if she could order them for me and she said she couldn't as the computer ordered all their stock. I did point out to her that the computer might conceivably never order EX71s again as it would always believe they were in stock, but i don't think she could really grasp what I was getting at.

The issue is no longer to do with copyright protection. With the latest version of SonicStage I can move music from one computer to another via my Hi-MD with no problem, as long as it was a Hi-MD recording to start with. But to transfer "legacy" recordings you will have to wait for the RH1 model.

Just because the exchange rate gives you that figure, it doesn't follow that that is how much they will cost in the UK. Historically MD has been more expensive in the UK than it should be compared to US prices. Maybe I'm being a bit pessamistic, but I doubt whether you will see it anywhere for less than 200UKP.

Firstly, many thanks to both of you for such a detailed review. Just one question for now: You refer to the "Pitch Control"; does this just speed up (or slow down) the playback while the actual pitch remains the same (this is what happens with the NH1), or does it mean that on a fast playback, the speaker ends up sounding like the Chipmunks? (which used to happen on an older machine [the N1???])

That sounds like a good price. I've just checked with my local Sony Centre and they are quoting 249.99 UKP. Did Gultronics give you any indication how much they would be selling the UK models for?