Tunster

I must agree with about the iAudio remotes. I have an M3 myself (superb unit!) and the remote is absolutely fantastic. Maybe not for the hard of sight, but for a general user, all the info is nicely placed on that screen. The M3 has no info on the unit (actually, no screen to be correct) and it does very nively. Too many people (including my friends) were slagging it off because it didn't have an "iPod" equivelant screen. Did I need a MP3 player with a LCD screen on it? No. Did the unit justify itself to have one? No. Its what it did that made it worth while. Multiple format playback, radio, recording (line-in), voice recording. I must admit, the only thing it lacked was ID3 tagging and a ID3 database that goes with it. But there wasn't any need for one if you placed the music in an organised fashion. The ID3 database on the iPod is a damn lazy average joe feature. Quite nice, but not really needed. In comparison, the M3 in my eyes is the RH1 equivelant in terms of minidisc. There's alot wrong with the iPod, this is why always heavily critisise it. I have messed around with one as well. As much as the jog dial and easy of use is there for the simpleton average joe, it didn't appeal to me. SQ was crap. I actually dislike the design. Too fragile, not many features for what you pay for, etc etc. I could go on. The huge problem with iTunes + the store + DRM is that its controlling you and what you can do with your music. I don't like that. With a CD purchase, you can do what you like and its yours to keep. Play it anywhere, make back-ups (which is legal if you don't share it). *Getting back on topic* At least Sony has started to realise we want control of our music/recordings but lifting most of the restrictions. SS4.0 is pretty damn good from what I can tell (compared with SS2.0). Doesn't crash, full multi-platform support when ripping. So now I rip my CDs to 320kbps AAC, then convert those to A3+ 192kbps which sounds very nice on my RH1. Just hope Sony continue this trend if they wish to travel on with their HiMD adventure. Maybe even spark off another format (Bigger than 1GB disks?).... Who knows?

From that perspective, it would be logical for Sony to do this. Especially if they want to keep ATRAC compatibility in their products (e.g. PSP + their HD range of players). In terms of the MD hardware/firmware, it would be great to start adding even more features to MD decks/portable recorders to relive their life expectancy. I just don't want programmers doing ugly reverse engineering to MD hardware, and Sony probably eouldn't want this either. Atrain: have you any source of this talk of Sony doing this? Would be nice to read up.

The huge problem is that companies that are trying to rival the iPod aren't willing to put in the millions and millions dollars on advertising. There is no way the iPod is so sucessful based on its technical attributes. It caught onto the idea that mass mesmerising marketing would shove the word iPod into everyones head via TVs and Radio, and its worked. Then this allowed Apple to charge what they liked on their iPods, because they knew people woule buy them regardless on price. It very slowly turned into a fashion accessory and then the death (or slow discintigration) of other MP3 players started. Minidisc has got caught up in this revolution unfortunately, which has seen the steady decline. Before iPod was even a buzz word, I managed to turn a few to minidisc. I'd just get laughed at if I tried now, lol. Maybe one day soon, Sony will make us a groundbreaking piece of audio hardware that is so attractive, everyone will have to buy it, lol. At the end of the day, Sony are the audio experts, not Apple.

I know this post has been laying with no replies since the end of 2005, but I want to put my $0.02 in. After reading that, ATRAC has had a very interest side of closed-sourced development. In their eyes and ears, the 64kbps and 48kbps, its been a great innovation. I will agree with them. You encode a Stereo 48kbps/64kbps MP3 and you get trash out the other end. They've just fined tuned it to be "listenable", which it is. But to the recordist and audiophile, it isn't what they make it out to be. If Sony ever put in the white flag with MD tech, I wouldn't mind them releasing some SDKs of the ATRAC codec and firmware of ALL of their MD units. Would be nice to see some open source coders get a can opener on it and see how much further you can push ATRAC....I reckon some coders definately could push it to AAC standards. That would really turn on the continuity of MD and maybe relive it? I'm being hopeful, but it would be nice to see one day.

Now you have to understand the RH1 is the dream unit for the recordists point of view. And damn right it is, because Sony know they have lost the playback battle. All this negative nonsense with the RH1 is crap. I've made the RH1 into a very good useful playback unit, which it is in its own right. They havent made the grave stone decision, is more like reserrected from the grave because of its popularity. They tried that already with the MZ-EH1 and Sony MZ-NH3D for example (only with Li-Ion batteries, AA battery units make it clunky and horrible!). Maybe they didn't go down as well and have scraped the idea. With the thing you said about scrolling through them quickly, maybe MD isn't for you. I don't whether you have odd songs on their or full albums. The RH1 is more than fine for albums with the group function. If you're a more a few songs per band, maybe you should be using an iPod or equivalent player.

Not really, why do you need AAC DRM? Once MP3 starts to fade and people see the benefits of AAC; lots of non-DRM files will start flying about and people will encode in AAC. I'm at the moment testing AAC encoders (especially Nero's newest release) and it has far better benefits than MP3 in terms of quality/space. I must agree, HE-AAC would be a huge bonus and would be neccessary to be sucessful.

Definately! From a music fans point of view, wanting a device to play AAC would seem very attractive. If Sony would be willing to offer firmware upgrades in the future, I think we would all stay on MD for a very long time . If not, surely, someone one day will be able to reverse engineer the MD devices to give us something different .

I miss agree with Low Volta on this one. The MD community is still very strong and the release of this RH1 has pulled together the enthusiasts, but really has seen a stink out of one or two negative people that are driving the RH1 down. Sony have done extremely well to serve us with a product that has tingled our senses. The RH1 has brought me back to MD for good. As much as each unit has its pros/cons, the RH1 out weighs Pro's like the weight of an elephant to the stupid little mouse type cons (like the display). I love the display on unit! It tells you as much as you need from a recorders perspective, then Sony sensibly put in the remote to give you the extra titling info. Why do I want 3 lines? Its not like I want to read the text on the screen all day. Its just aids finding what you want from the disc you've recorded. Whats the point of being negative about SONY? They've dished out the best they can serve from the RH1 format, and I hope there's more to come (which I'm sure there is from the instant popularity of the format!). Just hope Sony gets into gear and gets loads of RH1s sent out.

Just to help people out..... http://www.0-one.co.uk/sonymzrh1-p-47382.html?ref=9f567r2 (They have 2 in stock at time of writing) http://www.pcwb.com/catalogue/item/SONCA55...le&lead=froogle (14 days - if you're really desperate!) http://www.macwarehouse.co.uk/catalogue/it...koo&lead=kelkoo (14 days as well) http://www.empiredirect.co.uk/content/prod...e~make~Sony.htm (7 - 10days at just under £200 - cheapest I've seen) Having searched the internet, if anyone is in need of one in the UK, all these sites are the last I can find. Try the top link first or ring up the others as well.

If Sony believes the RH1 has gone down as a hit (which I think it has), maybe we might see some lower-end units to come. I wouldn't get my hopes up though. The only reason to see any more development with the MD format is making the discs hole more capacity (+1GB). But, this may require Sony to detach its backward compatibility to MD (at least) and HiMD. Would this be a bad thing?

Being new to HiMD (not purchased since I got my first NetMD unit 3/4 years ago), A3+ was going to be interesting at the lower bitrates (48/64). I tried direct recording last night and 64kbps proved to be testing to my ears. There was one side of me saying, this is pretty damn good for 64kbps, but the other saying, its artifacts do wear on me. There are the majority of sound that I want my ears to hear in 64kbps, so I could probably stand listening to it. But I don't think its worth encoding my stuff to it, unless I want to cram as much as possible onto it. 256kbps A3+ is very good! transparent and very on par with ATRAC SP. I would definately use this as my minimum for music recording in real-time. I haven't had a chance to try 192kbps yet with SS4.0. If that proves to be very good, then this will be my likely choice for my 80min discs in HiMD mode.

I haven't tried this out yet. This is because there are no drivers for Windows XP x64 and I cannot modify them to work. I will however set it up on my laptop which now has SS4. Are you using USB 2.0 ports? If you're still using USB 1.1, you will get far slower transfer rates. I'll give it a go on my laptop (which is USB 1.1) and tell you how it goes.

What a revolution this MD device is! All I could of wanted on a HiMD Recorder/Player. Since I owned the MZ-N510 (my first model and it was a damn good entry one too!), the RH1 is only my second model. I've been with a DAP Player for the last couple of years, and I have been happy....... not as happy now I own a RH1 . I won't be embaressed to take it out with me because its so good lookin! If Sony completely sell out, surely they've now got the hint a comeback could be possible. If they can further the MD technology past 1GB, they may be onto a winner if there's development on the ATRAC side. Maybe they could buy out a license to include AAC? at 64kbps-PS, MD players would be in heaven . I am only speculating here and probably will never happen. All I need to do is wait for my 1GB Hi-MD discs to arrive and I'll be off. Once thing I'm very impressived with so far is both Hi-LP and Hi-SP. Especially Hi-SP on a normal 80Min Disc! Definately being on par with legacy SP, I can fit 2hr 10min at a similiar bitrate! 4 or 5 quality albums on one disc, thats enough for me .

Consider askdirect.co.uk at £204. From the sound of things, you'd have to wait for their next batch.

Why panic when you can easily purchase MD/Hi-MD discs on eBay? Regardless of shops taking them off the shelves. Continue your legacy into MD; why not when its the most unique format in the universe?

What f***ing amazing device! So sleek and sexy, it is unbelievable. Shame I haven't got any 1GB discs yet to hand yet. But from what I can tell, I don't think I'm gonna go back to my MP3 player for a while .

Its not a problem. I did find out interestingly that the trade price of these RH1s are £200. I found this out when going into a Sony Centre store 3 weeks ago. Whether this is the price that shops buy it out as (then excluding VAT to the £200), then AskDirect have done us a good deal at their expense .

They don't understand our crave for technology, lol. Like they are for chocolate I suppose. My unit has arrived, but I'm still at work . Only 1 hour to go and I'll be playing with it all afternoon .

Nope. All he said to me is that they had some in stock and could dispatch it out to me. Give them a call and see how many they have. Surely they'll have more than one. www.askdirect.co.uk I am so pleased because I was on the verge of seeing if my local Sony Centre had some, and if they did, pay the extra £50 and cancel the AskDirect order. But talking of the devil, the AskDirect man called me up after I said that.

I am so happpppppy!!! :D :D Just had a call from AskDirect and they've now got them in stock at £204! Just confirmed my order over the phone and they're dispatching it today, so hopefully I'll recieve mine tomorrow or friday! Now I need to order some Hi-MD discs.

Was that AskDirect?

Its not that the RH10 is worse at recording, the big difference is that the RH10 cannot record in the legacy MD formats (SP, LP2, LP4). Have a peek at the equipment browser and reviews of these players/recorders, and then you can form the best opinion .

The RH10 is not the best player and the RH1 is certainly NOT the worst player. A 1 line display is more than enough; RobA: are you obsessed with looking at it the tracks titles all the time or something? You don't need a 3 line remote the to get the most out of it. I know this maybe your preference, but you're putting a bad emphasis on the RH1 when you don't need to. The RH1 is the top of the pile in terms of MD portables. You won't just use the RH1 for recording. It has far better MP3 support, and why spend less on the RH10 to not get the extra features like Legacy Recording, unrestricted upload for all tracks (except for NetMD downloaded tracks), and a nice snazzy sexy player.

There are "some" online retailers that have managed to get stock in before Sony. I've ordered off askdirect.co.uk *as I said in my previous post*, but having rung them up a couple of times, they still don't know when they're getting their stock to send out.

Why on earth would you want to keep getting your RH1 out of your pocket and risk damaging it (e.g. dropping it). I get annoyed when people say (oh, it hasn't got a screen on the unit or cannot display the titles). I would hate to have an iPod or eqivalent player and had to get the unit out every time I wanted to change an album/track! It looks all nancy fancy, but I don't mind the RH1s lack of this feature. The MP3 player I have at the moment has no screen on the unit and came with a really funky remote with a perfectly sized screen. The company went for more formats and quality in the software (iAudio M3 - www.iaudio.com) and amazed me. As much as they've now brought out players with nice screens, I haven't bothered to upgrade and now I am looking forward to getting the RH1 (which I have pre-ordered for £200 ). I know some people want the screen, so if the RH10 or DH10P is what you want, go for it. You'll just miss out on the uploading capabilities of legacy MD formats that the RH1 will have.