SleepingInRlyeh

If it charges / runs through a standard USB connector, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to hack up a USB connector attached to some kind of battery pack...

One word: w00t!

I had been resisting buying a HiMD unit because I was worried it would be discontinued. But, since Sony is willing to make an effort with DRM to make the customers happy, I'm now willing to buy one and take that risk. So, thanks, Sony! Please keep improving your products, and more people like me will be willing to buy them. Your efforts (good and bad...lol) don't go unnoticed. For my next request, tell SonyBMG to keep their noses out of your consumer electronics business. They're producers, not technologists. If Sony Electronics told SonyBMG to release CDs that only played on Sony equipment, they'd laugh at you. Well, next time they tell you how to do DRM tell them to take a long walk off a short pier. I'll make the cement shoes. W00t! I'm getting a HiMD!

I think the iPod is popular because it's easy to use (and a lot of great marketing on Apple's part). It's a great consumer electronics device. You plug it in, use easy-to-use iTunes software, and you're on your way. Think back to pre-iPod where portable music, as it existed, meant you needed to open folders and drag-and-drop music, and then use some proprietary app, etc. Sony was the ultimate consumer electronics company before. Sony stuff worked with almost anything, but it worked with other Sony stuff flawlessly. The early versions of SonicStage, to be blatantly honest, sucked. The wacky DRM didn't help either. So now Sony has a tougher job - it has to extract Apple's market share which is fairly saturated. Now people are probably buying their 2nd, 3rd, or later portable music device, and if they had the iPod and liked it, they're probably going to buy the iPod again. Sony can do it, but it's going to be hard, and harder still because Sony BMG is, well, a sociopathic paranoid entity. In unrelated news, I just read that Sony cut their Aibo and other robot lines. Not a big surprise because that's low-hanging fruit; I'm wondering where the tougher cuts are going to be applied, though.

Um, I think it's called corporate hypocrisy. I also think the little slap they got for screwing up people's PCs was way too light. The courts should have made an example of them, and charged them $4K per PC like they charge the 12 year olds' parents. Anyhow, it looks like CES is kind of a bust for Sony. There was nothing really exciting from what I've seen except the Sony eBook reader (because I like gadgets), but I'm sure they'll screw that up with some kind of Draconian DRM. Maybe they'll actually fix some of the quality problems in their current stuff, and then innovate like they used to.

You could store both video and music on a disc. Or data files. It would work out nicely with their eReader. Anyhow, just a thought.

This has me on the edge. I'm considering getting a HiMD, but if Sony doesn't introduce anything new, I'm not hopeful for continuation of the series. Even if it's pro stuff, that's fine by me. I just want to see some investment by them in the product line. And clarity. Is it a musician's product? A listener product? It's kind of schizophrenic right now outside of Japan. I was hoping for a clear announcement from them. Recordable UMD would be an OK move as well. I was thinking we would see that at CES, but apparently not. I guess I'll wait to see what Kurisu says like bland suggests.

WRT to MSFT DRM, if you look at what it does, I agree it tries a balancing act. The problem with any DRM is you need an end-to-end solution, which means the same DRM on your PC, devices, etc. so that any file you are licensed for can play on any of your devices. If DRM is going to occur anyhow, this seems to be the least of all evils and approximates "fair use". If you look at iPod, you can only play their stuff on iPods or a PC / Mac. Same with Sony. Their DRM only works on PC/Mac and Sony devices. MSFT licenses its DRM, so you have more choices like iRiver, Creative, etc. The Vista secure path as advertised would be seamless to the user. It means the kernel would be less hackable either by people like Sony/F4I or by hackers looking to circumvent the DRM. Most people aren't going to hack anything. They're going to buy a computer with MacOS, Vista, XP, or whatever. They will never notice a difference between Vista and current DRM like iTunes, Sony, WMedia, etc. But, what they will notice is if they buy a new DVD and they can't play it either because their PC doesn't support the device or they "registered" it on their DVD player and it now won't work on their PC. The saving grace there is that they will hopefully send it the way Divx (the copy-protection technology, not the CODEC) went by refusing to buy it. As long as ears and eyes are analog, piracy will occur. Like the above poster mentioned, it may be with a casette deck and mike (or a video cam on a tripod pointed at a monitor), but the hardcore copiers will still do it. It just makes it harder for them. If DRM is transparent to the user like iTunes or Windows Media, most people won't even notice it. Yeah, you'll get the vocal Linux zealots screaming about it because Linux won't be able to play certain files, but in reality they don't count because the amount of people running Linux on their computers is a negligable market share. The margins are pretty slim on media devices these days, so most companies are only going to support the largest market shares which are Mac and PC. Even Jobs had to support Windows to make iPods the success they are. As a side note, the other thing is companies *love* DRM because it hooks you in. If you have an iPod, you have to buy your online music from iTunes. If you have a MD, you have to buy it from Connect. And if you have a WMedia device, you have to buy it from Napster, etc. So you have the love triangle of Music Vendor - Device Manufacturer - DRM/Format Provider. They all make money off of each other and are dependent on each other. Being more Sony specific, Sony and Apple are kind of alike in this way. Both are the vendor/device maker/DRM-Format provider in one house. The difference is Sony BMG makes Sony DRM-fascist which hurts them against Apple. Apple (Computers) doesn't have a record label, so they're more concerned with making the customer happy with the DRM experience even if it means a few ripped-off songs. In the end, DRM is here to stay. Anyone who does it right (Apple, WindowsMedia) will have success. Anyone who does it wrong (Sony) will pay a price. Vista, Blu-Ray, etc. will be interesting. It will be interesting to see who gets it right and who makes mistakes. I bet Vista gets it right and Blu-Ray etc. are rejected by consumers. That's my hope, anyhow.

You know, Sony entertainment isn't bad. I like a lot of their music and pictures. What they need to do is fire the people running it. Software has dealt with piracy for years without suing everyone who uses the internet and tanking people's machines. There's no reason that Sony couldn't do the same. You can still make a profit. I submit Sony should hire a software exec to run Sony Entertainment. Look at what Jobs did with the iPod and iTunes. There is a way to make a boatload of money off of digital media without being a paranoid psychopath towards your customers. They just need a different business model.

I severly dislike Philips products. With most of their electronics, they seem to drop support completely after the product is out of production. And I haven't been impressed with their quality. For non-MD, look at Creative, iRiver, and COWON. And of course Sony iPods are pretty cool, especially if you want to buy lots of accessories, but personally I think they're overpriced. Rio used to be highly regarded, but I think the company is having some kind of financial issues. As far as MD goes, I only have the regular MD, not the Hi. I got mine when HiMD came out and the prices dropped. My plan is to upgrade soon. But since you're in the shipping range of minidisc.au, I'd get the HiMD because that's a great deal.

I was on the fence about getting a Hi-MD, but I can't resist these prices. Even if all MD production and support were to stop tomorrow, these would be an awesome deal because they would be useful for a bunch of years. I just feel bad for our AU friends who won't be able to get them locally anymore - kind of a lousy way to get a good deal. Hopefully the US won't be next. Thanks for sharing the opportunity with us Sefu! I'm definitely watching for when you'll open the international flood gates.

Hey all, I lurk around occaisionally reading, but the rumored doom of MD has caused me to post some random thoughts The comment about only people in Japan would buy playback-only MDs is interesting. But, what would you do if you were Sony? Huge market in Japan, minimal market in the US. Who are you going to cater to? I have an MZ-N10 that I bought to record some audio, but I also use it to listen to stuff. Mostly I use my Creative Zen for music. The reason is the stupid MagicGate. Sony screwed up with this. It's not like MD is going to be the preferred choice of pirates. If I can send MP3s or lossless files over the net, why would I bother trading MDs with someone? The amount of piracy stopped by MG: I would say near zero. It just makes the format hard to use. Where MD shines, IMO, is for recording. If you record on a MD and transfer it to your computer (uh, with the newer ones that actually allow it), you have a backup on the original MD and the file on the computer. The swappable media makes it a natural for situations like this. A flash recorder by nature doesn't give you a backup. Generally the files are on there temporarily and then moved to the computer. I think Sony missed the boat by not pushing this advantage and by not allowing self-recordings to be uploaded pre-HiMD. Anyhow, I'll get to my general point. If I were Sony, I would converge UMD and HiMD. People do want portable video. The problem is that until the PSP and UMD came around, you have to sync everything with your PC. If they converge HiMD and UMD, you could both buy pre-recorded movies and sync with online purchases and/or your homemade video. Also, car players are becoming popular. MD is a really durable format for the car unlike DVD (which my kids destroy). The marketplace is really missing a durable usable portable video format. I think Sony can fill the niche here. To succeed, they need > 1GB format. So, I'm thinking the next thing we will see is a converged UMD/HiMD with like 5GB capacity and players with video playback. I think this will actually put them in a position to compete against the video iPod. Unless they blow it with stupid MG restrictions again or do the licensing nightmare like BetaMax/MemoryStick - they need to affordably license the format so multiple companies make things for it. Anyhow, that's kind of my forward look. The EH products are definitely for Japan, but who can blame Sony for producing for their biggest market? To break in the US, they should ride the PSP/UMD success (relatively speaking) and fill the niche for a removable, recordable, and durable portable video format. What do you guys think? BTW, if this belongs in its own thread, please move.