slobjones

Thanks for that information. What is the recording quality of the original minidisc format (pre-dating HiMD)? You know, the format where someone other than Sony actually manufactured units.

What sort of compression does the Zen Nano Plus use for voice recording? To judge the quality I can expect, I'd like to know the bit rate at which this unit saves voice recordings. For example, does it save at 64kbps, 128k or higher? How would this compare to voice recording with minidisc?

[Yep. Why not the ability to just plug the unit in as an external device, then drag an drop audio files through explorer?] It's so obvious, and yet manufacturers like Sony jump through hoops NOT to provide essential features to users. Sony isn't selling products to the RIAA, it's selling to consumers -- US. You screw your customers, you don't get any customers. Absent this feature, I don't buy Hi-MD. I'll get a $60 flash media combo MP3 player/disk drive/voice recorder.

[My feeling is, that MD will move towards the professional/prosumer category, as demonstrated with the MZ-M100/M10 series and Mac-upload.] No way if you're expecting professionals to follow the industry to Hi-MD. Not with Sony as the only manufacturer and ABSOLUTELY NOT with proprietary software that limits your ability to transfer audio files quickly back and forth from disc to PC. I've been using my Sharp MD for several years to capture audio (occasionally for radio), and I'd love to move up to an all-digital unit that lets me record 16-bit uncompressed audio and transfer files quickly to PC for archiving. I thought Hi-MD would be great -- until I starting reading about the SonicStage software. I don't care how bad or good the software may be. If I need a proprietary program to transfer my files -- and I've read that SonicStage gives you only one shot to transfer an audio file before it locks that file out -- then forget about it. I'll use some other technology. Screw Sony -- I bought a Sharp because Sony players were overpriced, lacked features and were unreliable. I don't want a Sony Hi-MD.