Tamaritha

...Anybody actually counted the number of clicks involved? Well technically to select the sort by artists option, you do need to use the dial button, so I wouldn't say clicks...

I only touch the MD via the remote - the last time I touched the MD the night before was via the remote, and the day after, I touched it via the remote to find it dead. Last time I checked, that remote had a plastic casing... I would've felt the leap if it indeed discharged, because it takes a certain amount of volts for static electricity to leap towards a possible discharge point. Plus, static electricity doesn't make any sense because I didn't touch the MD till after I touched the small metal gate in front of my house...

oh wait, yes , net-MD does really mean that it can be connected via USB. What the 600 can't do is record directly through a mic input, and naturally, the net-MD capabilities are limited in that you can't transfer said recording back into computer for manipulation... And another sleepy oops: the on-the-fly recording level changes can be made from 700 above, though from what I understand, NH1 is just better at it... EDIT: The playlist matter is a Sonicstage thing rather than the actual MD Player. Relax. The MD comes with an instructions booklet. It's not difficult to use, you don't have to know about it till you get the MD. Personally, I've never bothered with it and preferred to grit my teeth through Sonicstage. No, names of tracks do not appear while sent using USB - while Sonicstage may highlight them and show transfer progress, the MD itself displays "PC-Link".

-- Yes you can use rechargeable Ni-MH batteries with it. I think these last for around 25 hrs (?) with the NH600. -- Yes and No. Technically, you can, by either using the circular dial, or it's a matter of pressing a button which skips a folder where the albums are in through the remote, but I understand most NH600 models aren't sold with a remote. But really, in order to skip by artist or album, you've got to group them into artists/albums or even playlists through Sonicstage, and whether you would like to do that in order to have the joy of skipping is really up to you. Technically you *Can* shuffle things through the MD... but why would anyone who want to skip things at the press of a button go through the bother? -- This I've no idea. The stock headphones won't do anything to boost sound quality though, so must be whatever the unit standard is set at. But really, why would anyone want to follow the footsteps of certain iPod users being run over by public transport because they were too busy admiring their earphone quality? Lots of things, and the tiniest of technicalities separate them via miles. The fact that Sony never kept anything consistent regardless of whether it worked or no in terms of design and certain fundamental functions, it's really difficult to say what one has as opposed to another model, and what makes it vastly better. There are some sub-forums containing reviews and criticisms, it's a good idea to visit and read up. On the surface scheme of things... -- The 700 had NetMD capabilities, which this doesn't have. the 700 also comes in a variety... er well a choice of two colours: blue and silver. -- The F800 has whatever the 700 had, plus an AM/FM radio attachment on the supplied remote, which was really a bitch to use due to its awkward positioning of radio on/off button, and with the tiny holding clip, made it abysmally heavy. Supposedly has better sound than 700. Oh, and did I tell you about how the remote didn't have a backlight? Comes in a bluish-grey plastic colour. -- The 900 had versatility: it used a gumstick as well as an external AA battery case, so that if your gumstick ran flat, you could always carry the cheaper AA batteries as spares. Could twiddle level of recording. Had even better sound than previous models. Comes in aliminium silver. -- The NH1 can do a date/timestamp on the recordings, uses Li-ion battery, which looks like two gumsticks hammered together. It can be charged either through the USB port of your computer or the stand it may/may not come with. The main display was moved to the remote, however the remote is only for the model, and without the unit-specific remote, the grouping/programming/shuffling functions cannot be performed. Better efficiency in using blank Hi-MD discs though - up to 900, you required to connect it to its charger to get down to some heavy transferring/recording. The stock earphones that comes with the remote is of a better quality than the previous ones. Comes in two colours: a dorky scratched magnesium silver and a much nicer champagne gold. .. That's the simplest response to it. Thing is, if you're just a casual user and don't give a damn about the more technical nature of the Hi-MD players (which is why people actually buy them), you might want to look into other areas. Hi-MDs in general have superior recording and playback qualities to most devices, and I've seen many student - professional musicians using it as a low-budget high quality REALLY EXPENSIVE recording device. ... Oh, and if you're planning on using it in the same way as the student-musos, The idea is to get a single head condenser microphone that costs from US $400 upwards - the idea apparently is that the T-bar microphones can't even record up to the average CD player ( which is at 30 000 Hz limit as opposed to say, 15 000 Hz limit of Sony's ECM-D570P). The MDs tend to make mechanical noise while recording...well and generally accessing the disc, so you get a really long connector cable to position it as far away from the MD as possible.

...Which also brings up the question: Apart from Japan Direct, has anyone seen other sites offering the champagne-gold NH1s?

Wouldn't I feel the discharge leaving my fingers though?

Dunno, never found any problems with sonicstage 3.3 - it actually does convert and record fairly fast, and so far I've never had any problems with it. I suppose iTunes does make breakfast at the snap of a finger, but it comes with the dreaded hardware of stupidity they call "simple design" - the iPod. And the thing is, didn't we all get MDs to get something other than what iPods offered? Disclaimer: My satisfaction with v3.3 is as opposed to when I had Sonicstage 2.5 - it crashed as soon as it opened

Actually, I've got the email back from minidisc telling me to take it to Sony... They must be crazy. Do they think I would've contacted them if the nearest Sony repair store wasn't at a crazy distance? Here are my options atm: 1. PM Sefu about details on sending it back etc, possibly haggle for an exchange to an NH1. 2. Take a 1 hr 15 min journey to Lane Cove or Miranda after a 1 hr 15 min phone call I am a lazy bitch. I shall proceed to nag Sefu. EDIT: And no, there was no option for static discharge, as the first metallic "object" the MD touched would have been the charge stand , and I tried out the charge stand AFTER I found the MD unresponsive.

This is what happens when I connect to the computer: [attachmentid=1230] This is what happens when I click on it: [attachmentid=1231] For once, I am actually bothering to attempt something that Windows recommends. The world has certainly turned funny...

... I still don't understand why it's dead. Glad to know that it's a freak incident though. Somewhat. I wonder if this is part of the reason for the MD price-flogging. ... I saw my brother this morning, with his permanently borrowed NH800. It bumped against the shoe cabinet three times while he changed shoes. The remote cable got caught on the door and he yanked it free... and I remembered that the reason I got the NH900 was to get my mind off the way the NH800 was being treated lol, how ironic... atrain: I am located in Sydney, Australia. ateletronics: For the record, I've tried pressing all the buttons on the MD one by one, and they don't seem to be stuck. Due to their appearance when depressed, I'd have noticed if they were stuck.

It seems a little silly to post something like this in a forum with discerning members exploring technical difficulties...but if anyone out there has experienced this kind of thing, I'd at least like to know what else I can try with it, and whether this is a common problem with Hi-MDs in general, or just this model, or I'm just a freak case. To make a long story short, my Sony MZ-NH900 died. It worked last night, wasn't tampered with, and it won't work today. To the technically minded, here's the long story... Today, when I pressed play via the remote, I realised there was no beep reaching my ears (I keep the alerts turned on). What the, I thought, pressing play again, which, under normal conditions, would've made it pause, and give a series of beeps telling me it's paused. I check the display. There's nothing on it. No "low battery", no indications it is playing. Nothing. I turn around and walk back into my room, setting it on the charger, flicking the hold switch and pressing the stop/charge button. No indications of charging. No indications of its being turned on. I tried plugging the charger into different outlets. Nothing. I took off the charger (NH900 can charge both through dc and charger) and plugged the dc outlet directly into it. Nothing. I took it off the output, and tried a Ni-MH rechargeable AA battery through the external battery case. Nothing. I opened the battery slot for the gumstick battery, took it out and repeated the above process. Nothing. Tried putting it in this way and that, though since it worked last night under same position, this was perhaps redundant. For the record, Nothing. Set it back up on the charger, and connected via USB to the computer(running on XP). No display on the MD, no indication of there being a PC link, it's not turning on... nothing. The computer can't recognize it, and according to the pop-up bubble, it's "malfunctioned". Sonicstage (v3.3) can't find it at all. Throughout all this, the NH900 is silent. No mechanical noise, no indication in any of the displays (main and remote), nothing. I tried ejecting the disc (what good will that do) and tried putting in another. No mechanical noise, no spinning, no "low battery" or any other kind of indicator. Nothing, in short. ... This was about when I realised how utterly devastating the death of an MD can be. You can't eject the disc and put it in somewhere else. There aren't any particular functions which you could try to troubleshoot. You can't exactly open it up and look inside(without breaching that dreaded tightarse Sony warranty). If I had at least tried to break the warranty, such as getting it wet or sent it tumbling down concrete stairways or attempting to crack into functions or letting it near magnets... I wouldn't be half as annoyed. [in the meantime, the NH800 with a crack down its plastic section next to main display from falling down concrete stairways and a nasty scratch on its remote, and the battery case with a frosting of white from the time a faulty battery leaked, is working in pefect condition. Which makes me more annoyed, because after several months of using it, I permanently lent it to my brother, who went and did all those things.] It's only been two weeks since I got the MD - I've contacted minidisc australia for warranty, and am stil waiting for an approval email to send it back. In the meantime, it's going to be on my desk, looking like a fancy paperweight. I liked my NH900. It had nice features. It got rid of that stupid radio the 800 had. It worked faultlessly... then it died. ... What should I do now?