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lyceemoliere

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Joel Turner idea sounds pretty cool.

Just further to Z's post

I've been told the 2G models will be available in Sept, but knowing Sony they probably have some sort of stuff up so Oct is more accurate.

Now if you guys want the "old school" Hi-Md units its time to act now as Sony have no NH1s left in their warehouse and very slim stock of the NH900. So whatever NH1 is left in the store will be the last of them, I doubt Sony will be getting more NH1.

There are too many NH600 in stock, so Sony may try to push these out and hopefully with a lower price. I imagine if Sony get rid of all the current line as quickly as possible the 2G units will come in quicker.

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Received an e-mail from Sony yesterday, saying they were having another - 'Open Store' showcasing 'Future Products'....

Replied to the e-mail to say I could attend the following day, and was sent a reply e-mail to let me know too many people have said they were interested! and there is a 160 queue waiting list! tongue.gif!

Shows that many people wanted to go...! Hopefully a couple of them we MD fans, who were able to get in! And will be able to talk to Sony reps about upcoming MD models...

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Perhaps those of us with access to digital cameras and editing solutions could make some mockup ads to show those overpaid, lazy, non-caring, retrograde-thinking Sony execs how they should be doing their job. (Shame on them, eh?)

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Joel Turner idea sounds pretty cool.

Just further to Z's post

I've been told the 2G models will be available in Sept, but knowing Sony they probably have some sort of stuff up so Oct is more accurate.

Now if you guys want the "old school" Hi-Md units its time to act now as Sony have no NH1s left in their warehouse and very slim stock of the NH900. So whatever NH1 is left in the store will be the last of them, I doubt Sony will be getting more NH1.

There are too many NH600 in stock, so Sony may try to push these out and hopefully with a lower price. I imagine if Sony get rid of all the current line as quickly as possible the 2G units will come in quicker.

Actually Sefu, this is very interesting. I am assuming you use B Link to order your stock online.. if so do a search for all the MD models. Its showing them all, bar MZNH900/MZNH900BUNDLE as pending... which for everyone else means there is actually no stock at the moment, with no date for when more will be coming, if at all. I didnt know this until today. I will endeavour to find out if there is more stock coming and what the deal is.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I originally posted this topic because I was concerned about the implications of scaling back with MDs in Australia and I know that I subsequently saw another posting about reduced availability in Great Britain. Yesterday, I went to Circuit city which is a big electronics chain in the US and the minidisc players , which had always been available (in fact I bought my first one there) had totally disappeared.

I like the devices for music and I am also using my HIMD to back up files (like photos) that I want to save well into the future. Is this format going to stay with us?

It seems to me that Sony has probably made way too many different minidisc models that are slight variations on a theme. They are always tanking one off the market and releasing another. My experience with Sony tech support for this disc (including the one time I went all the way "to the top" i.e. To Mr Stringers assistant) has been totallay discouraging and I am not sure whether they are committed to this format at all.

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lol, i dont come to this forum fir ages after my joel turner sony hi-md ad idea, and the firum has become bigger and different

i just want sony to get the shipment here asap now that theres selected arrival month!

*jeeze its hard to type with onr hand cos o' my broken wrist*

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Well...

I went to a Sony Central shop Chatswood - Sydney today, and asked a sales rep if they knew anything about "2nd Generation Hi-MD Units?" and the guy looked at me as if I had no idea what I was talking about. unsure.gif

He goes.. are those the MD's on Japanese sites or something? And I go yeh... they are the latest MD's out in Eurpoe.. and he goes yeh, a couple of customers have asked about them, but we have no idea what they are, or if they are coming to Australia :|

WTF!? mad.gif

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I don't know if any of you guys read the T-Boards (I know Sefu does); but if you do you probably know about the HD5 obsession going on there. I bought a red unit one day after its release here in Brisbane (Harvey Norman) for $450. However, the night after hairline cracks appeared in the directional buttons. This problem seems to be very widespread and a UK forum seems to be making progress getting Sony to recognize the issue.

The massive UK thread: http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread....923#post1748923

I emailed Sony twice; didn't get a reply for the first message although the reply they sent me after the second claimed they sent me a reply to my first email. They didn't say anything about the crack issue at all; even though I outlined the problem in great detail and included URLs to many threads discussing the problem. The next day I returned the HD5 for a full refund; because I could not live with spending $450 on a very poorly engineered device.

This really reinforces my previous opinion that Sony Australia needs to lift their game. I suspect even if a recall is initiated in the UK/US for the HD5 it wouldn't happen here in Australia.

I think the second-gen HiMD units will be released here in Australia. I reckon the RH10 will be priced the same as the HD5; which is $479. Good price in my opinion; and you can probably haggle it down to about $440. However the 2nd gen units aren't my cup of tea, they seem to lack the unique-ness of MD portables and looks and feels more like a MP3 player. Those long-time MD users might know what I'm talking about. tongue.gif

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Man that sucks!

I just saw the pictures posted on Page 1... that is shit!

I recon this http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=10645&hl=VAIO, would have sold pretty well in Australia!

Hehehe, but imagine the markup Sony Australia would have put on it... It was released in the US for $450 USD I believe. Although Sony has reduced it to $299 USD.

I'm tossing between that and a iAudio X5...

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I just bought a NH900 and a 1GB disc for $400 AUS and if Im luck I can claim some GST coz im going overseas. Thatll make it about $360 which im pretty happy with.

I was actually going to get one from minidisc.com.au and I had it on the page where I add it to my cart. I come back like an hour later and refreshed it and it was gone, out of stock. I was dissapointed at first but then scored a deal I reckon.

It didnt have the bundle though, however I already have the mic and a pouch and some discs so I didnt really need it.

I couldnt believe how light and flimsy it felt compared to my R909 and they are probably gonna get worse too !

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Just a small update guys, all of the HIMDs are now out of stock in the Sydney wharehouse, so thats it.'

Sony are still deciding which models will be released, and it will be dependent on what price can be arranged for them as to which will be released.

Do you mean Sony are deciding which 2nd Gen models to bring out? Or which 1st Gen Hi-MD units they are thinking of re-releasing to Sydney dealers?

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I thought it worth mentioning that every day at work I still hear "Its not happening" (as in no more minidisc in Australia) and then other days I hear "could be 2 or 3 models"... its just so indicative of the lack of faith and confidence that Sony have shown Minidisc.

I dont believe they have ever really given it a good go, although traditionally sales have been quite good. Sigh.

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Well the HD walkmans are a great product for listening and do the important things (size, battery-life, looks, storage efficiency w/ ATRAC) better than the competition but not many people know about it. Sony do have to repair a lot of the PR damage done through the reluctant release of the HD1 as an atrac-only device (even if atrac is all I use now and feel a right idiot for not considering it earlier).

Anyway, in this thread a Teac discman with an HDD has been mentioned. I googled and browsed a bit but haven't seen it. Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction...? Thanks.

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just one quick question Zathura, in some of the news posts their is the suggestion that sony may drop the minidisc line,

could sony australias unwillingness to import the 2nd generation minidisc be something to do with the fact that sony won't be selling minidsics at all sometime in the near future

cheeers

stephen

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Well the HD walkmans are a great product for listening and do the important things (size, battery-life, looks, storage efficiency w/ ATRAC) better than the competition but not many people know about it.  Sony do have to repair a lot of the PR damage done through the reluctant release of the HD1 as an atrac-only device (even if atrac is all I use now and feel a right idiot for not considering it earlier).

Anyway, in this thread a Teac discman with an HDD has been mentioned.  I googled and browsed a bit but haven't seen it.  Would anyone be able to point me in the right direction...?  Thanks.

where do you find these news posts?-- just on the sony website?

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We sold our last Hi-MD unit today.

Now its a bit strange that minidisc.com.au has no MDs to sell tongue.gif

Interestingly the newly openned Sony Central Store at World Square has a complete range of 1st gen Hi-MDs on display while the dedicated Sony shop in Townhall Station (Sydney) has next to none.

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i was in sony central in sydney yesterday, they still have 1st gens on display, along with the hd5 & hd1. they will have new viao & the rest of the new nw range soon according to the sales staff, about the onlyb thing i mentioned they'd heard of.

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about the onlyb thing i mentioned they'd heard of.

Yeh I recon ey! They seem to have no idea about anything that Sony shop!

You ask them... and they are like... Haven't heard what that is... is that the thing on a Japanese web site or something other customers have been talking about?

Ridiculous! mad.gif

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It is hard to imagine what the problem is at Sony Australia. It is not a secret that there are 2nd Gen Hi-MD units for sale around the world and anybody with an interest in them would be aware by using the internet. There are no major Hi-MD competitors either so what is the big deal !

Sony Aust just says that there is no details available on the release of this product and to keep checking their website (which has to be one of the slowest around). Why to the Sony staff appear to have so little knowledge of what they sell is it just an act or lack of interest. Some staff in other shops eg JBL-HiFi seem to go to Sony product information sessions.

The sooner they release 2nd Gen HiMDs in Australia the sooner people will start buying them. Or are they intending to release the PSP, NWE405/7 & NWE505/7s all at the same time ?

It feels like Sony actually goes out of its way to frustrate its customers (and dealers).

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^^^^ I couldn't agree more... their lack of knowledge about soem products just amazes me, whilst others know everything about products.

Whenever I go to Sony Central in Chatswood I always end up talking to the same guy about Minidiscs tongue.gif and He never really knows anything about them tongue.gif

I know that the staff can't no everything about every product, but this guy kept saying "is that the MD on Japanese web sites?" and saying others had also asked about it. Wouldn't you think they might talk to Sony shippers... or suppliers to ask what this '2nd Gen MD' is? and to see when they might be getting it in!?

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i was in sony central in sydney yesterday, they still have 1st gens on display, along with the hd5 & hd1. they will have new viao & the rest of the new nw range soon according to the sales staff, about the onlyb thing i mentioned they'd heard of.

do you mean the vaio pocket?

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Sony have no idea.

I found the Flash players on the web in Europe. A week late I email Sony Aus- When are we getting them?

"We don't know of any plans" they say. Sony Execs need to get their arrogant heads out of their preverbial backsides and start getting products out here instead of treating us like a thrid world stopover and with decent prices.

Sefu I understand what you are saying about pricng however OLEDisplays aren't new, neither are MP3s neiher is much of ATRAC except for a little more compression over genrations- the pricing for a bit of anaodised metal is rediculaous compared to O/S prices. Even the flash players are over priced since their release- Sony can't even get enough of them out there either.

A week or two later- they appear in the Herald Sun and A Week later the signs are up in stores and my Pulse Mag has 'em?

Get up with it Sony- I want a replacment for my MZR 505- 2nd Gen.

This notion of which market gets what from Sony is a frustrating process. Australia has so many nationalities you'll get the best proving ground by relasing them here just as early as you do in the US or Europe.

there are still stores selling 505s 510s even MZ1s out theri at dearer prices than the HiMD models- even the braniacs at Retravision. The fact is Sony hasn't educated most of the selllers out there. They ask me 'why do you like minidiscs. A guys with 20 units in a cash converters asked why MD ahead of iPod- he had no idea that a crappy unit outsells everything purley becasue of image and marketing.

You can either-

Sell a few at an exhorbitant price- now (Sony)

Or you can sell lots at a better price.

Either way as a manufacturer you make your money.

(p.s.- Iprefer my black headphones too!)

Edited by Stretcher Bearer
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To grab some of the other things mentioned.

Megamart will close soon- as it IS losing too much.

Most other big branders have no Hi-MD stock but are still selling pre-HiMD models for ridiculous prices.

MZNH600 for $199 700 for $299 and 800 for $399.

MZNH1 for $499 MZNH900 $459.

You used to pay a fortune for Japanese made equipment= Panasonic marketed this well. My old man has an original 160's portable panasonic transistor twin speaker mulitband radio and I have an orginal 1970's Sony amp. Givne that many SOny products are made in Malaysia and Indonesia, why do they still have to cost like an orignal Japanese product?

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