pre-official announcement petition

[The Low Volta]

just post your setup(s if you have more than one), why/what you use (Hi)MD for and whether there exists any alternative for your use-pattern

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my .02's

• MZ-NH900 + RM-MC40ELK remote + 15 1gb discs
• daily use: listening to music while traveling (standard portable audio player)
• favorite (and frequent) use: recording live shows/live music/ambient noises/.... in high quality (PCM or HiSP)
• professional use: recording lectures/debates/interviews/... for personal use and publication
• alternatives? portable player: yes; high quality recording: none affordable/portable...!!!

so my wish: just keep HiMD alive at least for (semi)pro recording use and develop some higher capacity media

PS: IMHO forget about photo etc... and all other non-vital glamour stuff, just make the best recording tool available (with all recording-options in one good model)... jump in the void DAT left

[sant430_]

Unit: MZ-NH1 + 21 1gb discs (in addition to 6 MD recorders and 4 MD players + 200 Minidiscs)

daily use: listening to music/meetings while on the go (either in the car or on foot)

favorite use: recording live shows, creating various audio 'samples' for music production in PCM and HiSP modes

professional use: Recording business meetings, creating audio 'flash cards' for my students (I run a martial arts facility), utilizing md as a format to record children's reading progression

alternatives? portable player: yes; high quality recording: none afforable/portable...

request: to keep the hi-md thriving by continuing the portable hi-md units as well as hi-md decks

Edited September 30, 2005 by sant430

[Trebor]

Unit: 2x DHC-MD373s, MZ-R500 + 250 Minidiscs

Daily use: listening to music at home and on the go

Favorite use: recording radio shows, recording/archiving CD albums and producing music compilations for friends

Professional use: none

Alternatives? portable player: yes; high quality recording: none afforable/portable (eh?)

Request: to keep (Hi)MD technology alive (with backwards compatibility), re-incorporating digital input ports in new models, increasing public awareness of its advantages (while re-positioning it as an ALTERNATIVE to MP3 technology) and re-introducing (Hi)MD decks (with or without cassette decks)

Edited September 30, 2005 by Trebor

[KrazyIvan]

Units: MZ-NH600D, MZ-E80, MZ-NF610, MZ-R900, JE330 deck

Daily use: listening to music at work connecting to powered speakers. Recording live events every week for my church via R900 line in and line out on mixer. Recording CD's to MD (SP @ 292 kbps) on my deck for use in portable units at work

Favorite use: Recording live sessions then being able to edit on the spot without having to rely on any other gear.

Professional Use: Recording practice sessions

Request: Keep MD/Hi-MD alive and kicking! Future units with line and mic-in. Get rid of the cheesy plastic players! Go for quality build.

[KJ_Palmer]

Units: Portables: MZ-RH10, NH900, NHF800, N910, B10, Decks: MDS-JB980, MXD-D400, MDS-S50. Sheldf unit: CMT-M333NT.

Daily Use: Portable listening (usually NHF800) to and from work. usually listen to deck in the evening. Recording and playback of own music practice sessions (MZ-B10) and radio (via JB980 deck/external timer).

Favourite use: Personal music listening with high quality headphones (sometimes needing line out feed into headphone amplifier) and pitch/speed control to practice recording self (particularly for difficult musical passages). Concert recording, when permitted.

Professional use: Recording seminars/interviews for work using Hi-MD for data transfer between different PCs/laptops.

Alternatives: CD player or cassette player. Both highly inadequate or inconvenient compared to minidisc units

Request: Hi-MD decks and quality shelf units please, as well as metal bodied portables with line out .

Summary: MD is definetely the best, most flexible and convenient system ever invented for music recording and editing. Please keep it alive, there are many enthusiastic existing users who will stay with the format, and as the membership of this and other MD forums shows , many others who will switch to MD having discovered the inadequacies (for them) of other formats..

[MZ-NH1]

Units: MZ-NH1

Daily use: listen to music on the train to school, during study periods, at home whilst doing jobs round the house, on long car/plane trips interstate or overseas, in my bedroom as background music, whilst I am studying, recording myself or a friend playing their musical instrument, recording the Brass Band I am part of at concert/competitions...

Favourite use: Recording myself, my students, friends and bands I am part of so that we can then listen back to the recording and see where technical/sound mistakes were made, so that we can improve.

Professional Use: Recording practice sessions and Students (Trombone Students)

Request: Echoing what KrazyIvan said - Keep MD/Hi-MD alive and kicking! Get rid of the cheesy plastic players! Go for quality build. Definitely keep the recording Hi-MD's on, without these MD's that can record so well, we wouldn't be able to record at all!, Make larger disc sizes (2-5gb disc), have longer battery life, and allow mp3 files onto MD units!

[mrsoul]

Current MDs:

Daily use: RH910 (at work and in car) with RM-40ELK remote

Daily use: MZ-S1 (walking outdoors/gym)

Recording use: RH10

Please keep moving forward with Hi-MD. Tapers are just getting to know about the format and its advantages. It would be a shame to see it go away with so much untapped potential for Live Recording.

Regardless of the course of your R&D, please continue to produce blank Hi-MDs for those who have the units today and continue to use them. A car deck would also be a very welcomed addition to the Hi-MD lineup.

[littlefox]

Model owned: MZ-NH900

Discs owned: 6 1GB hi-MD discs, 15 80min bianca Minidiscs

Primary uses: Band jam session recording for after-session review; portable music player

I've just been told that Malaysia will not be seeing any new Minidisc player/recorder models by a Sony Style store employee. I hope that this does not remain permanent.

[Breepee2]

Unit: 1x Sharp MD-MT190, 80 Minidiscs

Daily use: Listening to music while in transit and when performing cleaning tasks in the house.

Favorite use: Archiving music.

Professional use: None.

Alternatives? None with removeable storage.

Request: Take the iPod-like approach: write good software, sell just one consumermarket player, make it as small as you can (~10mm thickness for example is very possible), and add a compressed lossless codec (such a codec makes real sense when archiving on MD in this millenium). Try to involve more companies in HiMD, Sharp for example. Get rid of the crippled MP3 playback.

[sebastianbf]

Unit: MZ-NH900 , MZ-R900

Daily Use: Listen music while walking / traveling.

Favorite use: Record interviews and concerts.

Altenatives: None

Request : Focus on the recording quality. Just release 2 or 3 units per generation with a high build quality.

[Pastagaman]

Unit: RH10, 707 and CMT-333NT, 30 minidiscs

Daily use: Listening to music everywhere and when I want

Favorite use: Recording CD in MD ( Sp or Hi-SP)

Professional use: None.

Alternatives: None

Request: Keep HIMD alive please !

Edited October 1, 2005 by Pastagaman

[garcou]

Unit : sony mdsja3es, mdsja20es,mz-rh900,mz-dh10P, mz-rh10, CMT-333NT, Onkyo MD-105FX, JVC MXS6MDR, Alpine MDM7741R ; 60 1gb discs ; 250 300mb discs

Daily use : Listening to music everywhere and when I want ; archive music and important files (my work..);

Favorite use : Recording CD in MD ( pcm or Hi-SP) ; shooting photos with mz-dh10p ; Play guitar and record it in pcm or Hi-sp ; recording radio or live.

Professional use : archive my work's files

Alternatives : None

Request : a Hi-Md car unit ; a full size Hi-Md ES class deck ; a real photo/video with sound camera (1600x1200; VGA MPEG2-SQ quality"500Kbps"; x3 optical zoom ; real flash light ) ; VAIO with pre-installed internal himd ; Himd blanks in cristal jewel cases with normal "5.4 x 3.8 cm" writing screen ; WMA lossless direct playback wiithout converting to atract ( will allows ~ 2 H 30 min pcm quality playback on 1GB disc) .

Edited October 4, 2005 by garcou

[Qwakrz]

Units: RH10, NH1, R900, N707, R3 and 503 Deck

Daily Use: Audio player for car & personal use. Mainly personal listening on way to work & between lectures. Recording lectures for archive (Hi-MD). Data drive for Uni work speed does not matter as its only documents.

Fav Use: High Quality Audio Playback and Recording (nothing else comes close)

Requests: Dont kill off (Hi)MD as it is a special device. It is not a HD based player so still works after excessive shock, its not a solid state device so you can swap out the discs quickly when bored with one disc. You dont need a PC to use it (very important). Its small, light & very portable. Market Hi-MD and its advantages and you have a winner. If you dont advertise it you wont sell it, simple.

Edited October 1, 2005 by Qwakrz

[MDGB2]

Units: MZ-F40, MDS-JB920, MZ-NH600, MZ-NH700.

Daily use: listening to compilations made from my own CDs, DAB radio, and other sources.

Favourite use: recording from any music source, real-time recording without having to use a computer, unrivaled editing features compared to ANY exisiting format.

Alternatives: None. Nothing else even comes close for quality or editing features.

Requests: A dedicated Hi-Fi Hi-MD deck, an in-car unit, and an internal or external PC drive that supports drag and drop. NO DRM whatsoever. Stop the ipod chasing game, it is simply foolish.

ADVERTISE HI-MD!

Edited October 1, 2005 by MDGB2

[Keith]

My Unit: MZ-RH10

Daily Use: Listening to music to and from work. Recording my own singing practice sessions.

Favourite use: Recording several choirs in rehearsal and concert (burn to CD & distribute to members). Occasional opera and concert recordings.

Alternatives: HD player for portable listening. Nothing that I can afford for quality recording and nothing so portable and convenient.

[flunx]

Units: MZ-NF810, MZ-RH910, MDS-NT1

Daily use: listening compilations made from CDs, MP3 From P2P & Legal Sources.

Favourite use: recording radio shows & Shoutcast.

Alternatives: My old Dolby S HX Tape Deck, & WM-FX700/S Portable Cassette walkman or My new Creative MuVo Micro N200.

Requests: A Hi-MD IDE/SATA PC Drives, USB 2.0, Drag & Drop MP3/ATRAC Capability, No Digital Rights Management

[mangizmo]

units..3x S2 sports net MD, 1xMZRH910, 2xMZ-NH1, 1xMZ-R410, 1MZ-N510, 1CMT-CP505md microsystem, 1 md multichanger in car

Daily Use....Audio books and educational lectures, recording interviews for club magazine, the recordings are mailed around our group as the media is cheap and durable, also recording radio shows on my MD microsystem which can be played in the car or on any of our many devices

Alternatives...my Sony HD5 HD walkman is o.k but doesnt come near to being a replacement as far as recording is concerned, and it is impossible to share my stuff with non computer users....there are alot

Cassette tape is the only other answer but is obviously a poor alternative

Request....if you need to cut back mindisc please keep a token couple of high quality Hi MD units and a microsystem with the great fast CD to minidisc copy feature....we really want to keep using the format, and I would pay a good price for a higher capacity third gen system and walkman

[altpc]

Units: MZ-N510, MZ-RH910, media: 6 himds, 15 mds.

Daily use: listening to recordings of classes that I am taking, recordings of talk and music shows off of shortwave radio, legal mp3 downloads, compilations of my cds, also as a usb data drive

Favourite use: recording and listening to stuff on the go.

Alternatives: In terms of recording time, battery life, portability? NONE REALLY!

Requests: USB 2.0, Drag & Drop, No DRM. Please keep this product going, the market has no other equal to you.

Edited October 2, 2005 by altpc

[Noogie]

Units: MZ-NH1, several HI-MDs, Sony Stereo Mikes

Daily use: recording soundeffects (mostly atmos) for computer games

Alternatives: No real alternatives, except the quite pricey ones used by film professionals

Requests: Please keep this product alive. I know of many other game soundfx specialists who rely heavily on MD recording for their daily work.

[SlowMo]

unit: mz-nh900, about 20 HiMds, ~25 "old disks"

use/listening: daily; while walking, jogging, biking, at home, at friends, in cars.

use/recording: weekly; radio shows, field recording,

use/data: weekly-monthly, i'd use it more for data if mp3 was direct drag and dop.

alternatives: none.

request: keep md alive, please.

and drop drm.

[jonny mac]

equipment: NH1, EH1, NH900, E90, N710, G750, aprox. 14 HiMD discs and 120 regular discs

Main use: listening at home and while travelling

Other uses: recording lectures, recording radio, recording my own music and notes for songs etc, use as a high capacity USB drive to store and move files

Alternatives: for listening: only CD or an ATRAC compatible HDD unit but I much prefer MD to both of these. For recording: nothing can compare with MD, it rules

Suggestions: lower the price of the HiMD media and produce good quality (all metal) units that are as small as possible. With advertising HiMD can compete.

MD is the best there is in the world of portable audio but you have to tell people that. They buy iPods because adverts tell them to. Fight back, there's money to be made, I promise you.

[1x3room]

equipment: MZ N505

Main use: music while in transit (car/bus/train/plane/boat/foot) yet to use it on a bike

Other uses: none

Alternatives:solid state mp3 player (but all are limited by storage)

Suggestions: Advertise, drop DRM and ATRAC

[splumer]

Unit: Sharp MS702 portable, Sony JE510 home unit

daily use: I don't use it on a daily basis; see my next entry

favorite use: I use it to record concerts, including the Dave Matthews Band, Phish (though no longer), Widespread Panic, moe., ekoostik Hookah, Blues Traveler, etc., as well as my niece's senior recital at the Cleveland Institute of Music

professional use: I am an audio professional, but the owner of my company, for high-end recording, insists on DAT exclusively.

alternatives? I used to use analog cassettes to record concerts, but the quality difference between cassette and MD was so great, I don't consider cassette to be an alternative. DAT would be my only other option.

request: Increase the sound quality of Hi-MD, and make drives for computers so audio could be ripped from MD's like it can be with CD's.

[alex0365]

Unit: Sony MZN-707R, Kenwood car MD KRC-559R (no LP but still great), ~50 MD discs

Daily use: Listening to music everywhere and when I want it, falling asleep with my MD and earphones on

Favorite use: Recording CD in MD for portable and car use, Live recordings, recording environmental sounds for my music, playing guitar and record it on MD, recording other guitarplayers, recording radio shows, archiving my old tape recordings.

Professional use: I plan to have my work's files allways with me when I go for HiMD (still saving for it

Alternatives: for recording: None

Request: provide metal undestructable cases with decent buttons, stay on a plain AA batteries, make a Hi-Md car unit, make a full size Hi-Md ES class deck, drop DRM its no use and no protection either, FLAC support would be great

[radiofilibuster]

Unit: RH910.

Field Use: Interviews, ambiance, and on-location podcast recording.

Studio Use: Podcasting (fed by an ECM-MS957).

Alternatives: NW-HD3... which is what got me interesting in podcasting. Alas, it doesn't record, which was why I purchased the RH910.

Request: Minidisc has been a favorite among broadcast production and news crews for field use. The niche belongs to you for as long as you want to claim it. Advertise professionally, and get these crews to trade in their remaining Marantz recorders for a Hi-MD solution which allows USB uploadability and larger-capacity archiving.

Build them to last. Replace plastic with metal, and raise the price point to reflect the increased durability. We'll pay. More importantly, advertise. There's more to marketing a Hi-MD than slapping a Walkman logo on it and expecting consumer demographics to gravitate by osmosis.

Edited October 3, 2005 by Radio Filibuster

[Petter156]

My units:

• ZS-M35 stereo in my room for listening at home

• MZ-RH10 for everyday on-the-move listening. It´s with me all the time, and a great player to carry around

I also had an MZ-E60 which I used daily for years and years without problems. Sold that when I got the RH10, it worked fine and is currently making someone else happy. The ZS-M35 is also pretty old (standrad MD´s only) but it still works perfectly.

I have nearly all the albums I own recorded onto minidisc simply because there wasn´t anything as good as MD when I wanted to replace my portable CD player. MD´s are just more convenient to carry around than CD´s. Minidisc is also a more verstaile format than MP3 and any incarnation of an MP3 player, IMO.

Try to cut costs, reduce the line-up or something - but please Sony, don´t kill minidisc! There simpy isn´t anything to replace it, and not everyone wants music players that can carry around hundreds of hours of music.

Keep MD alive!

Edited October 3, 2005 by Petter156

[surripere]

Equipment: MZN707, MZRH10, MDSJE480

Uses: Portable music player, Home Hi-Fi, Link portable with Sony DAB radio for use around the house,

Professional: Academic research interviews

Alternatives: I have a lot of vinyl which I continue to buy where possible, whilst it is possible to use a cassette deck, the MD provides a better quality more versatile means of recording vinyl for portable listening.

Requests: A Hi MD deck would be great. Please keep supplying the blank media and a small number of portable recorders.

[ethornley]

Units: NF520D, NF610, NH600D, RH910, RC40ELK, Reactive Delta Stereo mic, SP-TFB-2 In-Ear mics

Daily Usage: Listening to CDs on the go (NF520D in LP2). At work I use the FM radio to fake wireless headphone from computer. Listening to audio books (NH600D in 48k).

Favorite usage: Recording DAB from TV set-top box (NF610 in LP2)

Professional Usage: Recording live concerts, worship, practices, original music and anything else I can record live (RH910 in PCM and Hi-SP).

Alternatives: Portable audio – cassette, CD. Digital recording: Fostex HD recorders, Sony CD Recorder, nothing portable.

Wish list: Continue HiMD production with professional deck that can record Standard and HiMD formats, digital optical line in/out. Portable recorder that records in HiMD, plays Standard and HiMD, digital optical line in/out, mic in.

[raintheory]

- Units (SONY): MZ-RH10 - MZ-NH900 - MZ-N707 - MZ-R90 - MZ-1 - MDS-JE470 - MDS-E10

- Units (OTHER): TASCAM MD-350 - YAMAHA MD-4S

- Usage: Various day to day field recordings for use in music projects (birds, streams, trains, rain, thunder, cars, etc.), playback of said recordings for backdrop of live performances, recording band rehearsals/jam sessions, 4-track recording, recordings of live performances, data storage, listening to mp3/atrac/PCM audio files.

- Alternatives:

For high-quality recording on inexpensive removeable media - DAT?

For playback of current MDs... - None.

4-Track recording - A few options. None very appealing to me.

Data Storage - Easily scratched DVD/CD media.

Listening to files - iPod, iRiver, iDon'tCareForThem...

- Requests:

1 - Please do not discontinue a product that was conceived for recording purposes because the market for playback devices has better sales.

2 - Do your best to adhere to the age-old saying "the customer is always right".

3 - Please leave our recordings alone when we are uploading them into your player. We appreciate your concern for people wanting to possibly pirate our materials, but we as the creators should have full access to our own recordings. In other words, don't add/change/delete any info from our HiMD discs when we are uploading.

[Snowb1inD]

* MZ-NH700 + loads of 80min MDs

* daily use: listening to music while traveling (standard portable audio player)

* recording my vinyls onto it im HiSP/PCM in order to have a back-up copy and to be able to listen to it while travelling

* professional use: recording lectures in the university, really useful thing for that.

* alternatives? no. no MP3s, no HDDs.

[garyc]

Units: MZ-E33, MZ-E10, MZ-R90, MZ-N10. MDS-JE510, CMT-100MD, 2x JVC KD-MX2900R cd/md single slot headunits. Discs: 300 full, 56 Prerecorded

Daily Usage: In the car on the way to & from work SP MD's all the way, don't even bother with the radio. At home (N10 & E10) listening to music no one else in the house likes, then the CMT-100MD for communal listening & partys!

Favourite Use I use it it archive my vinyl, love the editability of the recordings, nothing else out there offers me that!

Alternatives nothing comes close

Requests Hi-MD Home Decks & Car Head Units. Metal construction on portables please. Get rid of Sonic Stage. Full MP3/USB compatability would be a great boost for the format... and just for me: Bring back Prerecorded!

[Cornholio]

* Sony MZ-R70 and MZ-NH700, five years worth of discs.

* Daily use: NH700 connected to car stereo. Hi-MD is a great in-car format. The discs are small and robust - much more ‘car friendly’ than CDs.

* Favourite (and frequent) use: In-car jukebox, recording radio transmissions via line-in, recording concerts via microphone.

* Professional use: Recording of band rehearsals.

* Alternatives?: None really. I greatly value the PCM recording mode of Hi-MD and the fact that I can have separate physical discs for different events. Also, I archive all my photographs to both CD and Hi-MD, in case one format proves to be more reliable in the long-term.

Dear Sony, please continue to support MiniDisc. I’d love a Hi-MD head unit for my Volvo...

[MDrocks]

Units: Sony MZ-NH900, Sony MZ-N1, Sharp MD-MT15, Sony MDS-JE640 deck

Discs: approx. 270 MDs mostly with live concerts recorded from the radio and recordings from my

band, 6 HiMDs, approx. 50 prerecorded MDs

daily use: listening to music at home and in the car (portable with adapter cassette), recording from radio, computer data transfer

professional use: beneath my studies I work as a dancing teacher and thus need to be able to "cut" and modulate music quickly on the set without a computer. MD does an excellent job!

favourite use: recording live music at home (radio) and on the go (my and other bands with permission)

alternatives: not really.. I prefer to have music in my bookshelf and not on PC (an I do already have a big collection). Spontaneous radio recording not possible with PC, the same true for dancing lessons and band recording on the go (see above)

request: high quali-portis with mic in, line out, enlightened display and solid case (metal),

a HiMD-deck (PLEASE!) !!

a Hi-MD car unit (welcome, but not absolutely necessary)

I will keep the faith to MD and am looking forward to my requested products ;-)

Keep it alive!

[smkranz]

Unit: MZ-NH900

Recording Uses: Recording my kids' concerts (high school and college) from the audience, then uploading & transferring them to CD for family & other band parents; recording myself @ practice (banjo); recording my kids' audition pieces; outdoor bluegrass festivals; casual jam sessions with friends while camping; recording/archiving LPs & cassettes and uploading/transferring them to CD.

Primary Playback Use: For playing my personal tunes while on bus/train/air travel.

Alternatives: For all of my recording uses, I have no obvious single & affordable alternative. If Hi-MD is indeed to be relegated to the trash bin, I will probably buy a new RH10 for use (can't resist the allure of that display!), keep the NH900 as a backup, get a couple of extra gumsticks, and stock up on some discs.

For playing music on road trips, I would probably buy an i-Pod because my kids have them, so i-Tunes is already on my PC. I *can* put hours worth of tunes on my Palm T5...sound & function are satisfactory with Aeroplayer (Realplayer for Palm sucks), but audio playback chews up battery life and I NEED that battery for playing games :-D

Request: As it is right now, even with the clunky SonicStage software, the Hi-MD format has everything I need and want it to do. I suppose it would be *nice* to have hardware that would be easier to record with, such as not having to go through so many menus to set up manual recording (AND HAVE IT REMEMBER THAT AS A DEFAULT) rather than having to go through it every time. But that's a small thing in the big picture.

[FezzFest]

Units: MZ-RH710, MZ-N710

Discs: 89 MDs, 5 HiMDs

Daily use: playing songs on bus/bike/train/....

Recording Uses: archiving old lp's

Alternatives: My old discman for playback, line-in of my soundcard for recording lp's.

Request: Keep the format alive, improve the building-quality of the units. Thank you

Edited October 4, 2005 by FezzFest

[sallymae_hogsby]

Units: 1 "classic" deck, 2 MDLP decks, (I'd buy a Sony Hi-MD deck if it existed, with a digital out), 1 "classic" portable player, 3 MDLP portable players, 1 Hi-MD player.

Daily Use: copying tracks from my CDs onto MD compilations for commuting. (I have several hundred made already, that I cycle thru, as the years pass.) Because I commute in a relatively noisy environment, I run the music thru a compressor before recording it. Straightforward downloading/ripping

can't do this.

Favorite Use: Making and Listening to the compilations mentioned above.

Professional Use: I am a home musician, and create all my album masters onto MD. (I enjoy the ease of MD editing to insert/shorten/lengthen pauses, as well as adjust the volume of individual pieces, and then burn it to a CD master from the digtal out.) I was very much looking forward to a rackmount or home deck version of the MZ-M10 or MZ-M100 to upload to my Mac, and hope the plans for MD as a DAT replacement won't be dropped.

Alternatives: I don't like any of the present alternatives to MD. With PCM, it had finally evolved to the point where it was more useful than ever.

Request: If you must abandon MD as a consumer model, PLEASE continue developing it as a DAT replacement.

[maxthrusters]

Units: Portable MZ-NH1, Deck MDS-JE480, Mics ECM-MS907, ECM-719, about twenty Hi-MDs, and about fifty 80min MDs.

Daily Use: Listening to HI-MD at home with headphones, or line out to portable speakers

Recording Uses: Internet radio, CD compilations, live recording, making SP and LP2 recordings for my deck

Alternatives: NW-MS70D flash/memory stick duo player for exercising/noisy places, Clié PEG-UX50 for MP3 (ATRAC3 was never made compatible with Memory Stick Pro...shame), D-CJ01 CD/MP3 Discman, for listening in bedroom or computer room, PSP, and a fancy Sony home theatre setup in living room

Requests:

1) Hi-MD DECKS please. Portables are fun toys but my living room needs a deck. Why in the world do Canadian SonyStores no longer sell any MD decks, yet still carry obsolete cassette tape decks

2) Get rid of all DRM, including SCMI. Sony already makes tape-to-tape and CD-to-CD decks: what is the big deal? If people want to be pirates they will no matter what, DRM just annoys customers.

3) Make ALL memory sticks formats compatible with Sonicstage/ATRAC3/ATRAC3plus/MP3 (My Clié is an amazing toy but swapping out sticks for music just won't do, same for my MS70D. Why must both be limited to 128mb sticks??)

4) Add a Hi-MD drive to all VAIO computers, but let it also play/record music

5) ADVERTISE (print/televison/billboards) MD/HiMD. In a world dominated by iPod you can't expect new products to sell on their own.

6) Train your North American SonyStore employees about MD/HiMD/ATRAC/Sonicstage. Some of them are clueless, at least where I live

7) Most important: Don't give up on MD/HiMD recorders!

[wildsound]

Unit: MZ-RH10 + eight 1gb discs

daily use: listening to language lessons, recording ambient sound for background use in film productions, making voice notations

favorite use: recording wild sync dialogue and ambient sound for Super 8 and 16mm film production in PCM mode

professional use: none

alternatives: Marantz PMD670, 1/4 inch tape, DAT, etc. for recording and film production use, but at much higher cost, bulk, and complexity than HiMD

request: professional grade cable connections, dual XLR mic support with 48v phantom power via a companion mixer unit designed to couple securely to the MD device, improved battery life, line-level output, improved A/D conversion, metal enclosure, studier build, improved menu logic, no DRM.

[mikehend]

Portable Units I own: 2- MZNH1's, 2- MZN1's, MZN707, MZR700, MZR70.

Decks: MXDD40, MDSJE430. I am going to buy a car MD deck this month.

Uses/listening: I listen every day as I coomute 30 minutes to work. I love books on tape, transferred to MD at the LP4 rate, giving me LOTS of time on each MD. I can usually get a complete audio book on 2 MDs.

Uses/recording: I am an audio professional and have been doing digital recordings since 1992. I presently use MD to backup my DAT recordings (using both ATRAC and PCM), and lately have MASTERED with MD (PCM). My only issue is that I prefer the Macintosh and boought my two NH1's without hope of being able to download to my Mac. Now that this is available I will likely buy one of the new units that download to the Mac as well. I would be very grateful if someone were to provide a way to download original recordings from the NH1's to the Macintosh!

Uses/data: My HiMD units assist me carrying data to and from work, and backup up important information. WONDERFUL!!

Alternatives: I have an iPod that was given to me to repair. (What can I say, I am a Mac user!) It does what it does well, but requires iTunes to put playable music on it. This is fine, but I need to RECORD too. Battery life is also an issue with the iPod. I use it as a hard disc too, but my HiMD unit does more because it will do EVERYTHING I need the portable unit for. I also bought one of the original CREATIVE JukeBoxes with a 6 gig HD. What a waste for a portable unit, battery life is terrible. It records, but there is no metering on the unit, A to D converters could be better. Finding tunes on it and assembling playlists is very awkward at best. The interface is USB1, so it is very slow. It has been in a box for months. My MDs always sound GREAT and I can monitor levels in rehearsal before the recording and set them correctly. (I look forward to using one of the newer units that allow changes of input volume without stopping the recorder.)

Requests: I would purchase a HiMD deck if one became available. Please do not abandon the higher-end users, as we would be willing to part with more of our hard-earned monies for 3rd generation units that would fill-in the gap left by the absence of DAT.

[dex Otaku]

Unit: MZ-NH700; MZ-RH10; SP-TFB-2 mics; various other mics; 1 X 1GB disc, 30+ MD80s

daily use: as portable player

favorite use: soundmarking/environmental recording; documentary recording

professional use: as above, also for other location recording, 'wild' foley work

alternatives?

portable player: PCDP, MP3-CD player, cassette

recorder: R-37 MD [friend's]; Nagra 1/4" 1/2-track mono open-reel [friend's]; VHS AFM; Hi8 AFM; miniDV PCM; notebook computer with M-Audio preamp / A/D [friend's]; other pro video equipment of many formats [loans/rentals]

request: forget completely about trying to compete with iPod and other HDPs; retask HiMD's marketing, keeping the product alive but aiming it specifically at amateur and professional recordists [to elaborate: market it as a portable recording format, don't even mention playback features at all]; make media more available [1GB discs still not available where I live, though order-able at $14CAD each]; design future units as ultimate recording devices, with playback features as they are but more of a 'bonus feature' than a main purpose; dispose of player-only units completely; make at least one decent home component unit; release data recovery software for HiMD; re-include backward-compatibility; make all units Mac-compatible; make "manual levels with limiting" an available recording mode; include date/timestamping in all models; make simpler software meant for uploading recordings directly to .WAV only [as on Mac]; make Sonicstage or equivalent capable of using any audio format supported by system with directshow filters; intergrate FLAC or WavPack encoding including for recording; develop higher-capacity discs, and offer 24-bit 96kHz recording;

WORST CASE SCENARIO for the format: design HDR with flash capabilites as well, 24-bit 96kHz recording, decent mic preamps, and offer MD/HiMD owners the units at cost