KJ_Palmer

Here's the Hi-MD hack. I tried it on my (UK) NH600 and it works fine, though be careful if you try it. You might also/instead try to boost the volume "legitimately" using the custom EQ settings on the NH600, and a pair of efficient or isolating earphones. I find I never need to go highere than about 15/30 with Senn MX550 and a good equaliser setting, so the hack is largely irrelevant. You can use the search facility for some good suggestions...

Hm, the HD5 is much more portable than the pocket, so I generally take that (HD5) out and about these days. I've got a 30GB HD5, so I don't feel too badly off for disk space. I do miss the nice display of the pocket - whenever I show anyone the album coverart they're often pretty knocked out, never got round to doing the lyrics though. Sound quality is pretty similar between the two, the usual Sony signature, though the HD5 has a better, customisable 6 band equaliser. I think eventually, when the battery dies, I'll keep the pocket plugged permanently into the hi-fi via its line out...

I'm not sure you could say 292k ATRAC is really CD quality, though with Type-R encoding it is very good indeed. I'm certainly happy with 320 or 352kbps, though I think the trend may be towards higher capacity media and storage of such higher bitrates as PCM or lossless formats (like lossless ATRAC ), rather than improving lossy compression techniques...

It might sound greedy, but I really need/want more than 40GB. I have 500+ CDs albums (and counting), and I won't use less than 256kbps, and prefer 352k. At that rate you get about 6 albums per 1GB, so I'm really talking about needing 80+GB. I could just about do that on 2 Vaio pockets, but surely we'll see 100+GB DAPs in future, so I think I'll just hang around a while...

I've had my 40GB Vaio pocket for about 3 months now. I love it to bits too - sound-wise and for the great display and capacity, but I'm not at all keen on the G-Pad sensor. It's fiddly, frustrating and ties my fingers and thumbs up in a knot every time I try to use it. I just long for a decent menu system on the thing - the remote control is also pretty poor. I can't say I've had trouble with it (the sensor-Pad) as such, though it does seem to need re-calibrating once every so often. I just don't like it very much...

I've been using ATRAC3+ @ 352kbps for recent music to my HD5 and Hi-MD, both for new stuff and re-doing old recordings. I think I can hear a difference from 256k, especially with good headphones - I hope I'm not fooling myself though...

I checked Dixons (London, Oxford Street) for disks at the weekend, they were still going for £6.99 each. In a way, I hope that they could be bought more cheaply on the high street, though maybe not if that means the end of the line for Hi-MD...

You can't do a direct upload to your PC from your NF-810 as it is a NetMD and not Hi-MD unit. Even with Hi-MD, only the newer formats (Hi-LP, Hi-SP and PCM) recorded via mic/line in can be uploaded digitally via USB. If you want to use MD to upload your recordings you'll have to get a Hi-MD recorder. Hi-MD has many extra functions added to standard or Net MD, but can record on and play back any standard MD disks, as well as the newer 1GB disks (which are not compatible with older MD units). To get your LP4 recordings onto your PC, you have to do it in real time. You can use some freeware software such as Audacity and feed your headphone output into your PC's line in, and record to Wav or MP3. You'll need to turn the MD's volume right up, and cancel any sound settings on the MD unit.

You can also change the Artist Initial to S, by right clicking on the artist name at the left hand side of of the My Library screen (it will have defaulted to D when first import).

The MZ-N910 and N707 are my old Net-MD treasures. I haven't bothered to keep anything pre-MDLP (like my R70), it's just too much of a bother not being able to play so many 'legacy' recordings...

You don;t need to update, but historically speaking, updates to SS have introduced various improvements, in terms of program stability, new codecs and features, and (possibly) improved encoding. For Hi-MD and Sony DAP users (like me) SS 3.3 brought in the new 352kbps codec, which improves quality over the previous best 256k for ATRAC. There's also 'lossless', but that doesn't seem so great...

Well, I think my JB980 deck beats my HD5 through line out into hi-fi amp/stereo speakers, that's all. Through headphones they're pretty much the same at similar bit rates, both are excellent sounding in other words. And all in all, 292kbps legacy MD recorded on a high quality MD deck is pretty near perfect as you get (IMO).

Yep, been in the HD5 club for a few weeks now, and I'm loving it, I must say. I bought the 30GB version in London fior £190 - couldnt resist it... :-P MD still rules at home - for timed recording from DAB radio (cant do that with a DAP), and MD's played through the deck sound much better than the HD5 through line out. For portable use, the HD5 is much easier to use than switching MD's. I've got a ton of albums on it and still used less than 10GB!. So, there's a place for everything..

Since I got my HD5, my MD units have been getting less use outdoors, but I still use them at home a lot, and for any recording I have to do.

I've been using 352k quite a bit lately, but the vast majority is still in 256k (Hi-SP) or normal SP. I don't see any great reason to change that. I don't go below 256k, though.

Absolutely - I picked up a NH600 quite cheaply (£80), and it does the bulk of heavy transferring from PC, and the occasional upload, while the RH10 is used out and about as an everyday player and occasional live recorder. I would imagine transferring is harder on units than playback, judging by all the whirring and grinding that goes on during transfer, and the fact that recording (which is essentially what transferring is), is much more costly on battery life than playback..

Yes, I dont use any EQ on my home systems when I listen through headphones or speakers. That includes MD or CD decks or bookshelf system. Only portable units seem to need or benefit from EQ when listening though headphones. Even through portables 'line out' and a home amp I never need to use anything other than a flat response...

^ That's very symmetric at least, Chris... (Actually, can you go up to 4?) It varies, but right now my HD5 is set at +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +2 (Custom EQ1) +2 +3 +2 +2 +3 +3 (Custom EQ2) Earphones: Sennheiser MX550 Strange that no-one seems to use go into the negative range...

352k is an ATRAC3plus codec. It should come under the OpenMG Audio (ATRAC3plus) option in the convert file format menu. At least it does in my version of SS3.3.

The screen of the the RH10 is fairly easily scratchable, so it's worth covering with a small square of PDA screen protector. I do that, and the unit has been scratch free for 3 months. Other than that, I'd go for the RH10 (or 910) rather than the NH1 in terms of battery life and options. The NH1 battery is not easily available, and it can't take an external AA attachment. Sound wise I expect they're all pretty similar...

1. You can only convert to this bitrate, not rip it directly from CD etc. Once you have it in my Library, you can highlight track(s), right click and convert to 352k. Obviously its only worthwhile converting Wav files... 2. Not sure about this, but you get slightly smaller file sizes for the same bitrate than the 'raw' version. Only playable on the PC at this time. 3. The normal/high quality settings refers to the speed of ripping into Sonicstage. Slower=high quality will lead to fewer data conversion errors. Normal = faster ripping but potentially more errors=worse quality.

You must be using LP2 or LP4 mode. Your R70 can only play SP (normal stereo) mode recordings, as it's so old. You can use sonicstage (but not simpleburner) to export 'fake' SP that will play on your R70. Note that fake SP is only LP2 (132kbps) dressed up as SP.

RH10, though my NHF800 gets much more actual use (because of the radio).

How about simply: 352k. It's as short as (most) other offerings and easy enough to remember. Anyway, that's how I labelled my first 352k disc and recordings, so I'm (probably) not going to change now...

Hi Greg . I use my JB980 for timed recording of DAB radio mostly, and playing back my legacy SP recordings collection. I don't bother too much making legacy SP MDs now, but I make LP2 recordings at the same time as Hi-SP discs, both on 80 min blanks. These sound almost as good as SP with Type S playback on the deck anyway, and if I want the best quality I can use my CD deck instead. Actually, I'm not sure I really 'need' a hi-MD deck at all, the portables are great for portable use, and I have other gear for playing at PCM quality on the home hifi...