SeineSeeker Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Will Hi-MD units be next? Is there any hardware issues that would prevent this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Tires Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 There probably are hardware issues on all the current and older NetMD models. Sony even has to do some sort of upgrade (firmware?) to the NW-HD1 and NW-HD2 hard drive players too. It's be nice to see 1gb of native MP3s on a Hi-MD disc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ksandbergfl Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 Will Hi-MD units be next? Is there any hardware issues that would prevent this?The firmware on the HiMD units would have to be update-able... so that the MP3 decoder software could be added. I haven't seen any posts from anyone who knows if Sony had enough foresight to build an updateable firmware into HiMD. I also doubt that Sony will bring MP3 over to the MD world, anyway. The profit margin on a solid-state or HDD unit (built from cheap, easily available parts) will surely be higher than on the low-volume HiMD (how many HiMD's have been sold so far... 10,000? Sony isn't even mass-producing 1GB media for it yet). I don't see how Sony would benefit financially from moving MP3 to HiMD. If they did it, it would be basically as a favor to their loyal MD community. Do any of you feel that "loved" and "respected" by Sony? ;-) One more observation -- notice (in the press releases) that you still need SonicStage to put an MP3 on a Sony device. You will not be able to use Windows Explorer to "drag-and-drop" an MP3 file onto the "USB Mass Storage" portion of a HiMD and have it play, like the iPod or any other standard MP3 player. Sony will surely wrap the MP3 file with their DRM keys to prevent file sharing, just like they inexplicibly wrap LPCM songs that you record yourself from the audio in! On a HiMD, the MP3 file will get parsed and inserted into the HMA files, same as the ATRAC songs. Certainly you won't be able to upload the MP3 to any other PC, either. Just my two cents... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obsideo Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 What a deranged and masochistic bunch we have here (myself included)... Teetering on the edge of killer music technology - peering just over the horizon at "what could be", for years and years.... I don't get it. Sony, I don't understand. Evidentally I'm not supposed to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wundoo Posted December 1, 2004 Report Share Posted December 1, 2004 I know what you mean. I keep holding off upgrading my Net MD in the hope of a HiMD that has: 56 hour battery life (or thereabouts) for LP playback Ability to play different compression formats Readily available 1Gb blank discs Better software to produce playlists and easier navigation. That said I am pretty happy to stick with Atrac as I rate it better than other formats and the copyright protection has not bugged me so far. So I'd probably settle for more readily available discs and a better battery life. To be honest, the main reason I want MP3 support for Minidisc is so that more people buy into it ensuring the survival of the format. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobgoblin Posted December 3, 2004 Report Share Posted December 3, 2004 i have a feel that if hi-md got native mp3 playback (hopefully with non-SS upload) the number of units sold would skyrocket. the size of player and storage media can rival most other units outside of the ipod mini. and the fact that you have a virtual limitless storage capasity (as long as you have a handy supply of hi-md media) will make its very flexible. allso, rember that its companys like TDK that do bulk production of storage media. and have they started to produce hi-md media yet? we still have to see if hi-md is picked up by the likes of sharp or the other companys that make md players right now on licence to... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeineSeeker Posted December 3, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2004 It's amazing isn't it (and typical of Sony) that they have this incredible product that just doesn't quite hit the mark. They could blow iPods out of the water, with reusable, interchangeable 1GB low cost disks in a portable player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobgoblin Posted December 3, 2004 Report Share Posted December 3, 2004 the problem i guess, comes from the fact that sony is so many things. and like all manyheaded things they cant fully make up their mind. allso, isnt the minidisk system under the part of sony that handles home entertainment in the form of music and video/dvd devices? i have a feel that if it was from the part that deals with computer parts it would not be a problem at all... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted December 3, 2004 Report Share Posted December 3, 2004 I know what you mean. I keep holding off upgrading my Net MD in the hope of a HiMD that has: 56 hour battery life (or thereabouts) for LP playbackWe won't see anything like that for at least another two or three years at best, and it'll probably be from Panasonic with a low-mW playback only unit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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