greenshank

Actively using portable CD, mini disc (duh ) and VCR. In the past year I've also used dial-up, portable cassette and Polaroid (or something closely resembling it). How can they possibly claim that VCR eventually lost ground to DVD by 2000? Recording TV programs to DVD has surely only become realistically affordable in the past 5 years (a long time after 2000 in consumer electronics terms). As for "Most people attribute the increased popularity of compact discs, and (re)writable compact discs as a reason for the MiniDisc’s lack of success", pah, we all know it was all Sony management's fault. How long before analogue TV starts popping up in such lists? Any other suggestions for moribund technologies?

Oh? Pricks up ears. How did they manage that? I would love to fix my NH900 but daren't go exploring its innards until I have a backup unit and some idea of what to look for.

That's ok, I had to check. I knew it wasn't Alanis but I would have guessed Britney! Not quite my cup of tea. This is on Windows I suppose? (Or does SS run on Linux these days? Wouldn't that be nice.) You just have to follow any normal method of seeing a remote share. Assuming for example that your server is called myServer and the share is called myShare, I would have thought that running Windows Explorer, selecting Tools -> Map Network Drive and typing in \\myServer\myShare as an address would get you there, since after that you should be able to see it if you navigate to My Computer in SS's Import Files dialog. If you're a CLI junkie like me then "net use Z: \\myServer\myShare /persistent:yes" would do the same thing (using Z: just as an example drive letter there). Alternatively (and this may not have the same persistence; I haven't tried it) you can bring up SS's Import Files dialog and simply type \\myServer\myShare into the File Name box; this should then show you everything in the share's top directory. Does this make sense? Try it out.

FWIW... Actually that was Shania Not sure why you think that. I just happily (ok, ****ing slowly, but it was very remote) imported a file using SS 3.4 across a network from a remote computer. In fact SS did tell me that it was not a local file and did I want to copy it to be local and then import it, so it seems to understand the concept. Maybe not practical, depending on the network, but possible. What happened when you tried?

Don't get your hopes up. Speaking as the "previous buyer" (unless I'm confused) I would say we have a done deal. Well I hope so! Or maybe Syrius wants us to start a bidding war

I've PMed you.

Hmm well, First-Class Mail Packages (Small Packets) up to 1 lb is USD 10.30 to Australia, although Registered Air Mail is another 10.80 on top of that with an indemnity limit of 45.51! What a rip-off! At least a Return Receipt is only 2.20.

A quick battle with DHL's web site suggests shipping will come in at around 100 USD, turning a very reasonable price into something much less attractive Is there a cheaper way to ship it? (I've never had to ship anything internationally so I have no idea what's best.)

Are you still desperate? Suggest a price to Australia.

(Pricks up ears) Oh yes? How much? And shipping to Australia? (Hmm, I suppose I would need to find a voltage adapter as well.)

In fact a very little digging unearths their shipping costs page: http://www.minidisc-canada.com/shippingprices.asp. 10 discs in slip cases weigh 285 g, so double that for packaging (?) and they would charge CAD 52 (that's up to 1kg). Even their lowest rate is still CAD 49 (up to 500g). Add that to the cost of the discs themselves (CAD 35) and you're looking at around AUD 9 or 10 per disc, which is close to what minidisc.com.au are charging (AUD 12). Shame.

I wouldn't mind getting a few more myself, especially at AUD 3.70 equivalent (per-disc 10-pack price) or less. I remember buying ones at AUD 5 from minidisc.com.au ages ago. We could split the postage cost if it's reasonable. (I'm in Melbourne.)

I expect this arises mostly from all those crappy downloads (I expect mostly illegal, but that's an unfounded generalisation, ahem). Going back over this thread (and others) I think that most (not all) people know better than to indulge in the afore-mentioned prejudice. It's a funny thing... trying to listen really critically to my 64k recordings, every time I hear something that sounds like an artefact, I go back to the the original CD, and there it is too! So it's either a poor recording, a poor pressing (hmmm there's an anachronistic term) or poor equipment. So far I haven't found anything that I can definitely pin down to a low bit-rate. (Cabirio, I'll get round to your samples soon, honest!)

I wasn't talking about DAPs in general. I'll say it again: I imagine that most people's car stereos can't handle MP3s, either on CD or via USB. Judging by the age of many of the cars round here, I would expect that many of them can't even handle CDs! (Maybe I should do a survey... prowl round carparks staring in at dashboards. Hmmm, maybe not )

Yes, as I and others have said, poor marketing kills MD. My beef with MS is that it isn't a good product, it's an average (and often unreliable) product that wins only because people don't get offered any choice. I hate and loathe having to suffer it every minute of my working day just because the people with clout say it's a standard. Happily I didn't say that. Universal support is a good thing. I was just pointing out that (a) MP3 support is not universal (99%(?) of car stereos; heck, most people are driving round with no better recordings than cassettes to listen to, and not even chrome or metal ones at that (the younger generation will no idea what I'm rabbitting on about!)) and ( universal support in itself doesn't make for a good product.