himd_anxiety

People sell remotes cheaply on Ebay all the time. Some sellers get them wholesale. I've bought them; all have worked. I've sold them and have been forced to sell mine cheaply, as the competitors' remotes cost much less.

I'm not persuaded that was why they never released the NW-A series in the U.S. Initially, it seemed that they wanted to eliminate all the heinous bugs before re-entering the huge, Apple-satured market U.S. market. Now, I believe NW-A will never be released in the U.S., as possibly indicated by the price cut. These price cuts are generally seen in the advent of a new player. I'm sure that dense though Sony can be, it knows it cannot simply re-enter this market with only WMA, MP3, and ATRAC 3(plus) capability when Toshiba, Samsung Creativ, and Apple are offering larger storage space; video capability; rich, large, and luminous color screens, downloadable TV shows; image display; downloadable news, and built-in planners. Of course, none of those has a player that does all that (despite that some are close), but collectively, those are there features. Here's Sony with this leaden, HUGE, oddly shaped player with a monochromatic screen and NO video capability. Not as though Americans understood that the NW-A sounded better or had such a luxuriant battery life. Nor do they really care. In short, I think Sony deliberately kept the NW-A out of America to forestall another embarrassment and will release their next player here. It's nothing new really. I don't believe I ever saw the NW-HD5 at a major U.S. retailer. If I did, I might have seen fewer than eight units altogether. I believe the last player I saw at a major retailer was the NW-HD3. Sony USA needs to give in and start marketing its products on television aggressively.

Isn't it ridiculous and ironic that Sony should just now become nervously concerned about MiniDisc marketing in the United States? I'm sure his motivation for suggesting a superior unit for the United States emanated, at the very least, in part from their long history of shafting America with inferior, anemic units. 600D was the only Hi-MD unit to be carried by major retailers here, for instance. Whenever it has come down to flagship and superior units, MD consumers have amost always had to find entrepreneurials and online stores and auctions. If it's not right in reverse, the status quo is just as flawed. I'm not going to be so sensitive as to take it as a personal affront to Americans, though.

I have been to Wal-Mart and can confirm that, indeed, no traces of MiniDisc were present. I honestly have only ever seen two retailers with Hi-MD products in Buffalo, NY, and they were Best Buy and Sears. All they ever had was the MZ-NH600D. Neither ever had the media. In Washington, D.C., I could always find Hi-MD equipment at specialty shops. That remains the case. Circuit City has entirely abandoned MiniDisc and all but done so to Sony, too. Circuit City always seemed the major retailer most interested in selling the format, carrying several units and stocking large quantities of the media. They even sold cases for the unit and the media. I've been into Mini Disc since 1998, and it's been a great ride. I plan on getting another MZ-NFH800 and another player with a better screen some time soon so that I have them at my ready when my current 800 begins to fail. MZ-NHF800 is not as well constructed as it might be, but it's truly a tremendous player. I still get tacken aback at the reality that it sounds distinctly crisper, more pristine, and louder than my HD5, which I expected to sound AT LEAST as good. I actually fluctuate between the two just for the sound at times.

ROFLMAO! AMAZING! He speaks the truth purified.

The impetus of this thread was some advice someone gave in another thread that opposed using Hi-MD as a playback device. "Its benefits are all on the side of recording," the poster said. I posted this to ask whether you agree and, second, to disagree myself. Advising someone to get a cheap flash player instead of a Hi-MD player/recorder or player seems to overlook its inexpensive media relative to flash storage space. Second, ATRAC file compression provides copious extra space. Third, the flash player is likely to have inferior sound and fewer sound options. Fourth, its functionality as a storage device will be minimized due to space constraints, which are less a concern when you have a 1 Gigabyte disk at just $7. Finally, the flash player will likely provide far less search functions and lack the convenient jog dial. I think that even if I owned just a small CD collection, I'd buy the 600D from Sears, where it is on sale for just $68, and put all my CDs on it. You'd never have to change disks since you'd only need one. It would be like a 1 gig flash player. I cannot see why someone would say all Hi-MD's strengths are on the recording side. I do know that that is what gives it its edge over hard-drive players and its decisive edge over other flash media, but I think it's still a very good playback device. I have my NW-HD5, but was listening to my MZ-NHF800 today and still found the sound superior. I'm sure many of you here use Hi-MD as a primary playback device. I did for a year, then switched to my NW-HD5 just because I wanted to carry close to all my music. If I were just around the house or wanted to play a device through a stereo, I'd choose my Hi-MD recorder, though.

Now that you mention USA release plans, I am beginning to wonder whether Sony has retained any interest in hard drive MP3 players stateside. The NW-HD5, whose battery had less than half the listed time capability for me, was deleted some time ago. There is still no mention of the NW-A3000 or the NW-A1000 in the US. It's almost as though the US marketed was conceded to Apple. The NW-A3000 has been out in the rest of the world since November. Either Sony has some sort of amazing covert project that will be released in the US soon, or it is really missing the boat. The boat-load of customized iPOD products burgeons daily, with little or no incentive to render accessories for Sony products. I suppose it doesn't help that Sony seems to make its hard drive players BIGGER and HEAVIER over time, that the latest one went from magnesium to what looks like plastic, and that Sony has an unstated aversion to color screens. Any hard-drive MP3 player must have a color screen and be able to play video to compete with today's iPOD. Hell, before Sony chases Apple, it actually has to catch Creativ first. Perhaps Sony should swallow the medicine in one nasty gulp and make its products compatible with I-Tunes. Of course, that also comes with the undeniable NEED to open up ATRAC. It has no future at all as a proprietary ball and chain.

For me, that much is undeniable. There is little intrinsically good about offering just one model of a type of technology. When MiniDisc and Discman were at their respective heights, the trademark, highly successful marketing strategy was to offer several models that differed primarily in appearance. I agree that it becomes confusing when the technology is already unfamiliar, which is certainly the case with today's Hi-MD. I, however, relished the different looks. I detest the uniformity in today's iPODS. They all would be designed identically, but for the different colors. It makes it less interesting, less aesthetic and more monolithic. Sony has emulated Apple's penchant for unformity with variable colors in its Network Walkman lines, its MP3 bean players, and the small MP3 player with the OLED display and the FM radio. It becomes boring. Nothing sexy about it at all. It makes me reminisce about the days when "Sony Style" was indeed true, distinctive, and could be regarded as an extension of individual personality. It used to catch my eye when someone had a different player than mine. It was beautiful because not only were the players different, but some models had more than one finish. It integrated the color variations of today with diverse designs.

You sound just as conflicted as Sony. lol For people not already invested in MiniDisc, this is flatly a better deal than the R-H1. Clearly, they are not going to benefit from the new upload capability that mainly favors people who recorded on previous generations. Further, the mic is bundled with these players, which is not the case for the R-H1.

Jaylen, if you see the thread about the new MD player's confirmed release date, you will see someone asked a question about the spelling of "disk" specifically in regards to American English. I forgot that it was not in this thread. Frankly, I couldn't care less. Someone else did, however, and I certainly wasn't the only one to respond. I would never presume to restrict people to American English, nor would I be foolish enough to think everyone on this site was from the United States.

I cannot but feel people are rushing to buy this thing for the same reason people have pledged allegiance to Ipod, except that this is even more a sensation of form over function. The damned thing doesn't record via line-in or microphone. The only substantive additional feature it has over your current player/recorders is a low-quality camera. The bulk of you probably have these in your cellphones, which you will continue to carry, anyway. Yes, it looks great. The idea of having a camera in your minidisc player is fabulous. Totally stylish and gnarly. And it stops right there. I'm a journalist; and while I use mindisc to listen to music, I generally use my NW-HD5 for that purpose. I use my MZ-NHF800 primarily for recording; however, if I just wanted to use a minidisc player for enjoying music, I'd simply use that and retain my option to record wherever I go. For low-quality pictures, I will whip out my cellphone. For high-quality pics, I will take my legitimate digital camera with me. By the way, there is no fixed way of using disk in American English, though it is more commonly spelled with a "c" to describe compact disks. It's interchangeable, and the "k" is also more common in referring to disks used in sports. I prefer the "k." I will say I have NEVER seen hard disk with a "c." The "k" is also far more common in referring to disks in the body. Ultimately, though, it's like the difference between "gray" and "grey."

I personally have the first-generation Hi-MD player/recorder that came with the AM/FM remote and an NW-HD5.(The NW-HD5 was sent out for repair because audio was only coming through the left headphone when the headphones were fully inserted into the jack.) When I had both in my possession, I used both fairly frequently. If I am walking without my messenger bag, I am likelier to take my NW-HD5 in order to save space. As a journalist, however, I am still very much attached to minidisc, which I use to record all my interviews and the events I cover. (I want to get a new, affordable mic, though. Any suggestions?0 Crazy as I am about the FM tuner feature, I must confess I rarely use it. When I want richer bass, I play my Mini Disc player. It's louder, has richer bass, has a fuller sound in general, and the surround presets are better. So, for me, I can see the "insane" obsession with having an HDD unit. My NW-HD5, thanks to Ebay, cost me just $215. NOT "$500." No one wants to wear a toolbelt every day. While the MD player is only thick relative to MP3 players and HDD players, carrying 5 discs in your pocket is a bit much. All depends on the day. My NW-HD5 sounds 100% better than an Ipod; and since I like to keep my entire SonicStage library in ATRAC, I can add a hell of a lot more music on it than on an Ipod. I am nearing 5,000 songs already. I'd need to switch to a higher-capacity Ipod if I were daft enough to do Mac products. Both products satisfy me.