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Breaking News: Prototype Hi-MD Unit(s) Displayed @ CES


Christopher

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From av-watch:

user posted image

[i have made the above image brighter to reveal the goodies]

user posted image

The article has stated that there is no release date, but according to my contacts at Sony we would probably see new Hi-MD units in Febuary or March. Expect these units to probably have features that were never present before in any MD generation.

I'll try and find out more! wink.gif

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The suspense is dangerous, but I find the severe lack of bling-bling on these next gen units quite dissapointing (I also realise that they are mockups as of now).

The long stick thingy on the upper left looks like their Memory Vault line of USB Key drives. I'm thinking it's like the Sandisk model where you stick in said key drives and use the memory as storage for music.

The upper corner round circular puck thing? S2 line of Flash players?

And I guess they're still pushing netMD with PSYC line, but could those be HiMD units as well? Sub $150 HiMD Units? Interesting.

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And I guess they're still pushing netMD with PSYC line, but could those be HiMD units as well?  Sub $150 HiMD Units?  Interesting.

I only paid $129.95 US for my 600D, and that included an arm band case and a box of 5 80minute MDs. (As well as a 1GB and the typical accessories)

They were all packaged together that way at Sam's Club.

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The article has stated that there is no release date, but according to my contacts at Sony we would probably see new Hi-MD units in Febuary or March. Expect these units to probably have features that were never present before in any MD generation.

I'll try and find out more! wink.gif

I'm drooling over these mystical features...

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thats a damn good deal you found there!

Some stores still have them... In the Dallas area, only one store did, but that store (Grapevine, TX) had over a hundred of them...

If you search on item 282866 on the Sam's Club web site, it still comes up, and you can check from there which stores have it locally.

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If only that close up had "MP3" written on it smile.gif

My feature for the day is a big fat chunk of RAM (possibly non-volatile like flash stuff) which is at least 1GB, you can then do quick transfers from computer to the unit, and then without being connected to a computer, the unit will slowly transfer stuff from RAM to the disc. The disc will never need to be read in the same spot twice, and there will generally be lots of cool smile.gif

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If only that close up had "MP3" written on it smile.gif

My feature for the day is a big fat chunk of RAM (possibly non-volatile like flash stuff) which is at least 1GB, you can then do quick transfers from computer to the unit, and then without being connected to a computer, the unit will slowly transfer stuff from RAM to the disc. The disc will never need to be read in the same spot twice, and there will generally be lots of cool smile.gif

This will kill the battery, and make the device extreme expensive.

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The cosmetics reminds me of just about all other mp3 players out there ,YUK! Did anybody happen to notice that there isn't a single remote shown in this picture. This scares me alot I think Sony may just ditch remotes for these units, that would be a major set back to me.Hopefully they will still have a jack for them though.POE

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So, what would you folk like to see in the second generation?

24-bit/96kHz recording (pipe dream)

optical out

a component deck

the ability to seek to a specific point in time instead of slowly fast-forwarding through a long track.

better/more editing options on the unit itself

a spectrum analyzer on the remote during playback

a wee bit faster read/write speed, maybe 1Mbyte per second instead of 500-700Kbytes

atrac3+ 96kbps

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OMG! Sony are 'set to release a new type of walkman' - correct? those circular ones? they must be UMD players! the UMD is used in the upcoming PSP and apparently stores audio in ATRAC3+

what does this mean for Hi-MD??

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So, what would you folk like to see in the second generation?

Lower priced models with mic inputs and remote capability. More Hi-MD discs available. Headunits for the car. Decks. 24bit capability. Back lighting (if no remotes). Multiple band EQ. Incredibly small and sexy bodies (aluminum or magnesium). Digital amps similar to Sharp Auvi... I could go on forever tongue.gif

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Lower priced models with mic inputs and remote capability.  More Hi-MD discs available.  Headunits for the car.  Decks.  24bit capability.  Back lighting (if no remotes).  Multiple band EQ.  Incredibly small and sexy bodies (aluminum or magnesium).  Digital amps similar to Sharp Auvi...  I could go on forever  tongue.gif

All this, and extreme battery life (100+ hours like some older units)

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^ ka-ching!

seriously though, i would really like to see a backlit display on the unit, every other portable music player has one, why can't a minidisc recorder? definatly a deck also. the only think i dont understand it why can decks have an optical out but a portible unit can"t?

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^ ka-ching!

seriously though, i would really like to see a backlit display on the unit, every other portable music player has one, why can't a minidisc recorder?  definatly a deck also.  the only think i dont understand it why can decks have an optical out but a portible unit can"t?

portable CD players from Sony all do

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So, what would you folk like to see in the second generation?

- the ability to read MD-Data old disk format and read+transfer the multitrack recorder files on it to pc... rolleyes.gif

- an infrared or (better) bluetooth serial port for file transfer biggrin.gif

- an "overdub" mode, i.e. kind of multitrack recording

1st recording: one minute of music

2nd recording over the 1st: vocals

the unit can mix them, or you can listen/edit/delete the single track

Edited by borealand
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If only that close up had "MP3" written on it smile.gif

I spoke to one Sharon Blair--a Sony rep to retail @ my work and she attended the portable audio section of CES for her job requirement. She told me every new Sony product is MP3 native. I got excited and asked "Even the new Hi-MDs?!" and she nodded and said "Yes, even the new Hi-MDs."

I guess we know what one of the mythical features are now.

The reason it probably doesn't say "MP3" on the case of the black Hi-MD is because it was made before they switched over to this philosophy. Which isn't entirely crazy to assume--their CD players @ my work don't say "MP3 Playback" on the actual unit but their is a new black sticker with yellow writing that says "MP3 Playback" on the packaging. They probably didn't feel like repainting the cases they had already produced for the CD player line and just threw the decoder board in there.

But, Sharon might simply just be mistaken. But I'm not inclined to believe so.

~a.i.h.

Edited by alieninhead
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I wonder if the new mp3 manager will work with the himd units smile.gif

My wish list is either gives Mac Support, or drop and play native MP3 support. If they do that, then sonicstage becomes irrelevant; my Mac recognizes my HiMD already as an extra drive, so I cold drag and drop my MP3s and then listen to my music. I will be in heaven if they do that. :-)

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