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Warning About Buying A Himd Unit

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fredpb

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The fine print in the MZHD600D insert in the package says you cannot use it with any non-manufacturer installed operating system.

It is supposed to work with and factory installed OS (ie, when you buy a store bought Compaq, HP, etc) WIN98SE and above.

If you have a home or custom built computer, this is NOT you.

I don't know about an upgraded system. For instance, if you got your computer with WIN98SE installed and you upgraded to XP. The XP would not be factory installed. Sony is not clear on this.

I have a home built WIN98SE system ( Used complete install WIN98SE CD). Everything for the HiMD did install correctly without errors. But Sonicstage would not work. It would load but would not work correctly with CD (i.e. for ripping). You could not even rip a CD into Music Library. Simple Burner sees CDs ok though. But when you plugged the HiMD unit into the computer any software you are using would freeze (SS or SB).

So..........

Edited by fredpb
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Sony also said that Atrac3+ 64 Kbps sounds just like the first Atrac, which in 92 claimed to sound just like a CD. And that they have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell to lucky users of Connect.com. tongue.gif

Just make sure you aren't using FFDShow filters, keep your system free of spyware, viruses, don't run other programs while SS is up, and try to use CBR MP3s.

Edited by Syrius
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The ironic part to this whole policy is that .. Speaking specifically of home, not business, computers: I have serviced hundreds of computers made by the likes of Compaq, HP, Dell, Gateway, IBM .. you name it.

By far, the most reliable computers have tended to be the homebuilt ones made with quality off-the-shelf parts, with no proprietary motherboards or BIOSes.

Even cheap generic mobos with cheap no-name video and sound cards often work far more reliably than almost ANY home machine I've seen made by the likes of HP et al.

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I'm not sure exactly which parts of their anatomy Sony is covering with this disclaimer. I've tried installing SS on four systems, and it works on an IBM laptop (factory-installed Win98SE) and an aging 300MHz AOpen homebrew (much-patched 98SE), installs but won't work right on a Gateway tower (98SE), and won't even install on a new homebrew (98SE).

The install failure, by the way, seems to have to do with the database portion of the system--the drivers work (the unit shows up as a storage device), but SS itself won't load. And Sony's tech support is pretty spongy, even though I've sent the page fault error message that DASETUP delivers. All they seem to know how to do is send stock responses and finally a suggestion that I phone them. The problem has been consistent with all versions of SS, so it's something pretty fundamental, and probably linked to some missing or damaged component in my OS, and silly me, I thought the support people would know enough about their software's architecture to be able to suggest a troubleshooting path.

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I run a Windows 98SE & XP Professional DUAL-BOOT machine!

(Ooooo, it says nasty things about dual boot's in the system requirements)

Works fine (CDDB does annoy me sometimes).

Most errors are caused by me, not mi software. laugh.giflaugh.giflaugh.gif

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The ironic part to this whole policy is that ..  Speaking specifically of home, not business, computers: I have serviced hundreds of computers made by the likes of Compaq, HP, Dell, Gateway, IBM .. you name it. 

By far, the most reliable computers have tended to be the homebuilt ones made with quality off-the-shelf parts, with no proprietary motherboards or BIOSes. 

Even cheap generic mobos with cheap no-name video and sound cards often work far more reliably than almost ANY home machine I've seen made by the likes of HP et al.

Funny you should mention that. I took a peek at a newer E-Machine at the office, and I think they use off the shelf parts pretty much. Of course, the OS has been reinstalled, as the software that comes preinstalled in the machine causes a lot of headaches to begin with.

Seriously, by the time these computers escapes from the factory, they're confused and mixed up as they come. Also, those who builds their own tends to be more knowledgable about these things, spyware protection, and what not.

Funny thing, used to be the propritary machines from Compaq and such were regarded as best of class. Never had any problems with the machine either, until I accidentally FDISK'd the Hard Disk, but that was at least 10-12 years ago, when I didn't know better. biggrin.gif

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I had two problems with my home built WIN98SE system and the 600D and Sony software. Installation seemed normal. No errors. When drivers were installed, Device Manager showed the 600D as a mass storage device and a USB device, both working normally.

1) Sonicstage (supplied on CDROM and update from net) did not work with my DVD writers/CDROMS. Eventually it would see the tracks, but could not get the data off the disks to use with CDDB. Simpleburner would see the CD's no problem. Funny, one of the drives is a SONY.

2) Whenever I plugged in the 600D, Sonicstage would freeze. Same with Simpleburner.

I have been a devotee of minidisc for many years, since my EP11 and 310 home deck.

But I returned the 600D. After some thought, I have gotten my old PIII 550Mhz HP out of mothballs and it is running fine. Guess I might try HiMD on that. I don't use it for anything else now.

But I would appreciate any suggestions on how to get this stuff working on my homebuilt.

The homebuilt:

Antec case and power supply.

AMD XP2000+ processor.

ASUS motherboard.

764mb memory (runs fine).

Sony DRU500A DVD writer.

LG DVD writer.

60gb Western Digital C: drive.

120gb Wester Digital D: drive.

Integrated LAN with DSL.

USB1.0.

USB 1.0 hub.

USB 2.0 PCI card

USB 2.0 hub.

600d did not like USB 2.0 stuff.

Tried it on direct connect to motherboards USB1.0 and hub. Seemed to connect.

When I plugged in 600D the usual windows driver install messages came up.

I can live without SOnicstage. Simpleburner worked ok except for the freezing when 600D connected. An old regular NetMD player worked fine with this Simpleburner.

I tried two cables to the 600D.

Edited by fredpb
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I like Windows 98SE. I built the computer primarily for gaming. It was the preferred OS for the game I play (Mechwarrior:Mercenaries) online. I eventually moved all functions from my old computer (networked too new) to the new computer. My WIN98SE is very stable. I rarely get any blue screen or problem. I am quite happy with it.

Well, I cleaned up and backed up my old PIII. Downloaded the new version of the software and installed it on the old machine (WIN98SE factory loaded by HP). It works!!!! I had to have my HiMD so I went out and got another 600D. It works!

Studied the manual. The manual specifically states it will only work with factory installed OS's. NO UPDATED OS's (i.e. WIN98SE to XP). And it specifically mentions it will not work on home built PC's! So if yours does work, you are lucky, as my home built did not work.

I am very happy with the sound at HiLP. I love the 600D. For $150 I can't see buying any of the standard MD units now.

Now I need a cheap source of HiMD 1gb disks? Minidisco?

Thank you for all comments and support!

Fred

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My WIN98SE is very stable.  I rarely get any blue screen or problem.  I am quite happy with it.

Studied the manual.  The manual specifically states it will only work with factory installed OS's.  NO UPDATED OS's (i.e. WIN98SE to XP).  And it specifically mentions it will not work on home built PC's!  So if yours does work, you are lucky, as my home built did not work.

Although I don't agree with you about 98 being stable, I also have it on a dual boot on my laptop when configuring car alarms and anything else with primitive software that needs to have direct access to the comms ports (be it serial or parallel). Otherwise, win2k is the preferred system on my lappy.

As for the factory installed os thing, I don't think it's a case of your custom-PC being the problem in terms of OS but rather just the way the hardware is functioning with the MD unit. Either an additional USB card (or perhaps even a change of mobo?) or in worst case scenario, a bit of a software clean-up (even a fresh install if you must) is probably all it needs. My MZ-NH1 doesn't have a problem with my old P3-667 custom-PC and when I upgrade PC's, I'll just be using the same HD's anyway so there won't be any OS upgrades/installs going on. I won't be surprised if it doesn't work but that would point to a hardware issue rather than software, as I believe it would be in your case too.

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Putting aside for the moment discussions of relative stability of OS generations, it still seems to me that Sony is needlessly coy about exactly which factors one needs to watch out for with the SS/Hi-MD system. I spent a lot of years building my own computers, reviewing products, and writing user manuals, so I am pretty impatient with a company that won't break down the possible problem areas on something as basic as installation failure. Blanket disclaimers say to me that they don't want to dedicate support resources to real-world customers who might have something beyond a vanilla turnkey system. If there were another Hi-MD vendor, that would send me to them.

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