Hungerdunger

I believe the only units are as follows: 1) RH10, RH910, RH710, DH10P. These were the first generation with the capability to play MP3 files without conversion, and most people found the quality to be unsatisfactory. Without adjusting the equaliser settings, they tend to sound rather dull. 2) RH1, M200. I've played mp3s on my RH1 and am very happy with the results. Yes, you do have to use SonicStage.

You get a microphone with the M200, but the machine itself is identical to the RH1

When it became very bad, I squirted some isopropyl alcohol around the jog wheel, and gave it a really good "work-out". It still misbehaves sometimes, but I think it's better than it was before. However it may just be coincidence, so try it at your own risk.

I remember hearing on a radio programme that a couple of hundred years ago (or maybe more), pink was the colour for boys to wear.

You're right - it's not documented in a couple of my manuals. However I did find a mention in my British manual for the R90 / R91 on page 10. But it's easy to miss.

I hate to say this, but that has been a feature of every portable I've owned - I'd have been lost without it. Just out of interest, have you compared an analogue recording of FM radio direct to your NH600 to your method of doing a digital recording? My ears aren't all that good, but I can't tell the difference, and if you'd gone for analogue you'd have no problems with track marks.

When I'm working outside, my RH1 or NH1 is always in a pouch and usually under my overalls. If I want to make a track mark, it would be far easier if I could do it from the remote.

Do you have any other problems with the buttons on the unit? I've owned two NH900s, and both have malfunctioned. Each time the "Stop" button has become very temperamental, and one one of them has stopped working altogether. The other one I can get to work about half the time. With mine, their other favourite trick is when you press stop, they just go back to the beginning of the track and start again -- do you get this?

It doesn't.

I do like the RH1 for its ability to play mp3 files without conversion to HiMD, but I love my NH1 too. So small and beautiful. I've also had bad luck with malfunctioning buttons on several recent units including the NH900 and the RH1, but my NH1, which gets a lot of use, has had no problems at all. (And if it does, I've got a spare one in the drawer!)

BRILLIANT!!! Thank you very much. I wish I'd asked the question three or four years ago!

That brilliant! Out of interest what is the battery life like? I've read that the Li-Ion batteries only last for three or four years whether they are used or not, and these must be getting near to the end of their natural lives. If they're still ok, it's even better because you'd have had to spend around £40 just on two new batteries, so in effect you've got the machines for nothing.

OK, suppose I've got the mp3 files of six albums, complete with their CD track numbers, in My Library. The track numbers for each album are completely jumbled (as I described above). If I try to sort by track number I'll get all the first tracks from each album at the top followed by all the No2 tracks etc. I can't drag individual tracks up or down in MY Library. It's not the end of the world, but I DO find it annoying, and as I said above I'm mainly curious as to why SonicStage doesn't list the tracks in any discernible order.

When I drag an album of MP3 tracks from Explorer into the SonicStage Library they appear there in a completely different and apparently random order. If I understand things correctly, I have a choice of creating a playlist for the new tracks and sorting by Track Number, or transferring the files in their new random order to the MD and then re-sorting them manually. I'm just curious to know if there is a reason why this happens. Is there actually some pattern there that I'm too stupid to notice? Is there any other way to work around the problem? (Apologies if this has come up before)

This link will give you contact details for the Manchester city and Trafford Sony Centres.

If your only problem is the length of the lead, have you considered using these?

You obviously haven't visited the Sony Centres in the UK!

I've always used Nero or Winamp to burn CDs, but out of interest I tried to burn an MP3 CD yesterday using SonicStage 4.2. It seems to recognise the D: drive as being the CD burner and gives me a message: "Please insert a recordable disc". I put a blank CD-R in and still get the same message. I can confirm that the disc and the drive are OK, as I then used them with another program; so does anyone have an idea what is wrong and whether I can correct it?

Might be useful if you told us where you live (although I suspect that because you haven't mentioned it, it must be the US, as this is the centre of the civilised world).

I've had the "FF" problem myself, but unfortunately not until the unit was out of warranty. I'm certain it's a fault - you're not doing anything wrong. I suggest you establish when you purchased it and if it's still under warrantee, get it fixed or replaced. otherwise, try to use the remote instead.

I recently bought an MZ-NHF800 on ebay. the machine itself is fine; in fact it's in pristine condition. However I'm disappointed with the FM reception (which was the reason I bought it in the first place). Where I live, although an ordinary radio picks up the signal pretty well, the remote gets very poor reception. Often there's nothing there at all, and at best the there's a lot of hiss and the sound fades in and out as I move around. Is there any kind of "signal booster" which I can put between the remote and my earphones to improve the situation? Any ideas welcome.

OK here too. (in both directions) In any case, if you've been getting your automatic updates regularly, you've probably got most of Service Pack 3 already - Microsoft say there are no major changes.

If you saw pictures of a Sony Hi-MD deck, you were either dreaming, or looking at doctored photos by someone who thought it would be fun to wind you up.

Am I being stupid - I can't get it to work. When you say you turn one disc upside-down, do they end up face-to-face or back-to-back? Does it work with all brands?

The Sony Corporate Dictionary doesn't have any entry for the word "loyal".