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Will there be a 3rd generation Hi-MD?

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RobA

By RobA,
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jadeclaw Newbie

jadeclaw

Posted
Posted (edited)

There had been rumours, especially regarding the restructuring of Sonys Electronics branch.

But there is nothing definite, except, that a number of low volume markets got their offerings reduced.

(No more MD in Malaysia, Australia).

So, all we can do is sit and wait.

My feeling is, that MD will move towards the professional/prosumer category, as demonstrated with the MZ-M100/M10 series and Mac-upload.

Discs shouldn't be a problem, they're ubiquitous in most western countries and Japan and Sony is known for supplying media for a long time after a product is discontinued.

Edited by jadeclaw
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AMPlitude Newbie

AMPlitude

Posted
Posted

go for the minidisc australia buy then...

hopefully, sony won't leave the md format, as they have spent so much money of the years that it would be simply a waste to just discontinue it completely but if they do, hopefully someone else will pick it up, and hi-md as well

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Dice Newbie

Dice

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Posted

Discs shouldn't be a problem, they're ubiquitous in most western countries and Japan and Sony is known for supplying media for a long time after a product is discontinued.

That's for sure, i was at a Sony store today and i was surprised to see they were selling betamax tapes :lol:

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p4cman Newbie

p4cman

Posted
Posted (edited)

I'd really like it not to be over. I've had my MD playerfor about a year or so and once it really gets out dated, I'd love to look into buying another MD player. I've found all Sony devices to be very reliable and up to my needs.

Edited by p4cman
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MDGB2 Newbie

MDGB2

Posted
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There arn't any other alternatives (Oooo....controversial! :blink: )

MP3 sounds like a cat being strangled, and even though it is supposedly better sound quality, I don't make compilation CDs because they are such a pain in the bum to do on a computer (unless you want loads of albums taking up valuable space!)

Old skool MD deck, just stick a CD in, record, edit, job done!

:D

Edited by MDGB2
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ksandbergfl Newbie

ksandbergfl

Posted
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I have only been using MD for a little over a week. Yet I'm hearing rumors that MD is over. Is this true?

minidisc is quite prevalent in the broadcast radio industry. as long as an adequate # of radio stations still use/desire the format, Sony will be making MD units. Although most likely only high-end "pro" units.

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p4cman Newbie

p4cman

Posted
Posted

minidisc is quite prevalent in the broadcast radio industry. as long as an adequate # of radio stations still use/desire the format, Sony will be making MD units. Although most likely only high-end "pro" units.

That could be quite true, especially since people seem to prefer portal units, that don't use any sort of disks or cards at all. An IPod Mini or Nano will offer as much quality, style and space as a MD player. The number of space is actually even higher then on a Hi-MD.

I guess that's why Sony might start focusing more on other portable MP3 players.

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Susie h Newbie

Susie h

Posted
Posted

Oh yes. A Hi-md deck is very much on my wish/hope/dream list. I wish I'd taken advantage of the cheap MZ-NH1s going in the UK over the summer. They are back up in price again now. I was tempted away by the RH10 as my first HI-MD and although it is a great piece of kit, I think I'd like a NH1 too. I really really hope that there wil be G3 but I'm not holding my breath. In the UK even blank media is becoming really tough to get hold of at any sort of a decent price in small quantities. I can't afford to buy 50 at a time. But if G3 does materialise then I'll be up for a piece of that assuming they have ironed out some of the old issues.

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lecram1971 Newbie

lecram1971

Posted
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I think the best improvement will be a disc of higher capacity, 2gb or more, and better if it´s compatible with 1st and 2nd gen of Hi-Md, I love my MZ-NH700

For 3rd gen a good thing will be the posibility of choose any bit rate for recording.

Also a car stereo with Hi-Md or with a USB conection for the Hi-Md (or other equipments) so you can control it from the Radio reading the information in the radio panel.

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Archivist Newbie

Archivist

Posted
Posted

3rd gen wishlist:

- unit defaults to previous Rec Volume setting after ejecting disc, like Sharp

- unlimited uploads from analogue and digitally recorded material

- MUCH longer battery life for recording

- backwards compatibility with legacy MD record modes

- ability to upload legacy MD recordings

- true drag-and-drop functionality with the unit - probably not possible due to Hi-MD file structure?

~Archivist~

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DATfan Newbie

DATfan

Posted
Posted

3rd gen wishlist:

I want a portable Hi-MD pro unit that does this--

1. Functionality of fast playback (up to 2x or so) with pitch control, operational on MP3 and ATRAC.

2. Display can be toggled to show time and date (DD-MM-YYYY) of recording as on the old pro units.

3. Speaker integrated into unit.

4. Can use AA batteries in a pinch.

And a Hi-MD deck with timer record function. This would get me to replace my E12 finally.

And while I'm dreaming, a car unit. With record/edit capability. Ha!

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garcou Newbie

garcou

Posted
Posted (edited)

wish list for 3rd gen:

1- Direct playback for wma lossless on the unit

2- Car unit

3- Sony ES class deck

4- Real digital still camera/ camcorder with real flash light , 3Mpixels,

MPEG2/MPEG4 video recording (0.5 MB/s allows SQ standard quality MPEG2 used by Sony mini DVDR camcorder: 40 min/1.4GB = 30min/1GB)

5- 4.7 GB capacity using DVD (or MDview alias DATA2) laser frequency

Edited by garcou
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Chris78 Newbie

Chris78

Posted
Posted

When I went to the local Sony store here in Canada, I asked if there was going to be anymore

minidiscs produced since I heard the rumour that they may be replaced in favour of

mp3 units. The guy actually snorted and said yes of course, new units are coming out very soon in

perhaps not the nicest manner.

One of the reasons I hope MD survives is because of the sound quality and also because of the unit itself.

Its large but at least I know its in my pocket unlike smaller units, I love the mz-nh900 control panel, its superior recording ability and its just plain durable compared to other music players.

Only unit thats tempted me is either the Ipod nano (it is damn neat) and the sony 1gig "lighter"... I may still yet buy one but I'll always keep my minidisc :) By the by if you watch "Its All Gone Pete Tong" when he

hands in his recording after going deaf, its on both cd and and a minidisc...neat!

Cheers...

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ObrenMasic Newbie

ObrenMasic

Posted
Posted

Well I sure hope there will be more generations of MD.

I got into the the MD format in '97 and have some 300 discs by now. I'd hate losing the ability to use them just because the old player is worn out and theres no replacement to get.

Particularly now that the MD begins to be usable.

SONY!!! Ditch SonicStage! Give us drag'n drop!!!

With ALL discs. Even the old non HiMD ones too. PLeeeeease.

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rei-gouki Newbie

rei-gouki

Posted
Posted

It's interesting reading suggestions that would require bending, if not breaking the laws of physics up there.

Having a HDD too isn't a bad idea. It would basically reduce MDs to an archival media, though. It WOULD allow for a lot of custom tinkering as there would be space to keep additional codecs for new file types as they appear. This could also be a simple way of separating files that willl have DRM and files that don't. You buy a track via connect and it d/ls to a Hi-MD. You d/l a random DRMless file like an mp3, and it goes to the HDD.

... and edit function in a deck for the car? LOL I can see you going out to the garage every time you need to mess with the TOC.

Allowing drag 'n' drop will likely not kill off SS. The iPod has iTunes, remember? It would be nice to have, though. And yes, upload of recordings of SP/LP2/LP4/Mono would be nice.

Lossless... from my experience, they never have a reasonably predictable file size. Given that Sony seems to like predictable sizes, it probably won't appear at all as a recording format (I can see the implementation... the "RecRemain" keeps dropping at unpredictable rates LOL).

In Australia, Sony appeared to do 2-3 generations before introducing something new and that new thing was a reaction to something that appeared in the market. mp3s led to LP2/LP4. HDD led to HiMD. I remember hearing a rumour that Sony didn't even conceive that consumers would adopt any higher a compression than SP due to losses.

An external AA adapter should never have been dropped for the NH1.

A small screen should never have been adopted for the NH1.

A colour screen for all/nearly all models in the next generation would be nice. I mean, they have it on most mobile phones now so why not? OLED would be nice.

Either a full switch to Li-ion or return to Ni-MH gumstick. I don't mind either. I just want Li-ion to come down in price if they are sticking with it.

IMO, a new external design is NOT as important as the internals. There were a few good designs in some of the older models and from the look of some of the new ones, they are really scraping the bottom for designs.

I'm not completely certain, but I don't think Bluray is compatible with MO technology. While the energy could be comparable, the frequency is more UV than IR. But I would be curious to know how high a capacity a disc the size of an MD could go if the laser frequency for Hi-MD was taken as the minimum as opposed to the maximum. Any increase in capacity of the medium will likely remove the ability to read normal MDs.

Other things... make the screen a touchscreen and have it cover all of one face of the MD recorder? There's always room for additional buttons on the side and switches the back. A speaker or two would be useful here.

Australia never got premastered MDs. Probably one of the reasons the format didn't really take off. A friend bought a player... and then found he had no way to get music onto the MDs. I did see a stereo by Pioneer that had MD and CD in it around the time of the MZ-70/MZ-90, but generally speaking, an MD player was useless unless you had access to a recorder. Releasing music in MD format would generally remove the need for an invasive DRM program (rootkit, etc) as they could define what their drive can do with the MDs. Given that Hi-MDs could hold 94 min of PCM, a CD could be put on a Hi-MD without converting the file format.

So, yea, there's probably some life left in the Hi-MD. Given the stupidity of the rootkit fiasco, there should really be a budget cut and refocus on electronics such as MD *cough* like that'd happen -.-;;; *cough*

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greenshank Newbie

greenshank

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Posted

IMO, a new external design is NOT as important as the internals. There were a few good designs in some of the older models and from the look of some of the new ones, they are really scraping the bottom for designs.

...

Other things... make the screen a touchscreen and have it cover all of one face of the MD recorder? There's always room for additional buttons on the side and switches the back.

I just happened to look at the pictorial review of the very first MD (MZ-1). Lovely big dedicated buttons all over the place. Why did Sony (and others) become obsessed with tiny controls? Was it a plot to laugh at big ugly fat non-Japanese fingers? When I look at the big touch-sensitive areas on the Creative Zen Micro, I sigh longingly (never mind its others strengths/weaknesses!)

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shione Newbie

shione

Posted
Posted

I just happened to look at the pictorial review of the very first MD (MZ-1). Lovely big dedicated buttons all over the place. Why did Sony (and others) become obsessed with tiny controls? Was it a plot to laugh at big ugly fat non-Japanese fingers? When I look at the big touch-sensitive areas on the Creative Zen Micro, I sigh longingly (never mind its others strengths/weaknesses!)

damn that md portable looks like a sturdy bugger. And I like how the lettering is split over multiple keys. It must make entering title so much easier on the unit.

My wishlist for the flagship 3rd generation md portable is:

ability to record in sp mode on himd discs

user firmware upgradeable

kanji support on all models.

simultenous upload/download on cradle while charging

optical line in and out

mc35elk-like remote

magnesium alloy body

drag and drop file support

support mp3, pcm, ogg audio codecs and all atrac versions

support xvid, divx and the video formats supported by the psp

colour lcd screen

attachment of external battery packs

recording activated by noise level

custom equalizer settings

date and time saving

no restrictions what so ever on user recordings

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AllanH Newbie

AllanH

Posted
Posted

I might as well throw in my wish list.

As an outdoor field recordist, I'd like:

- switchable phantom 48V microphone power supplies

- XLRs

- better metering: bigger display, more segments

- limiters

- selectable low cut filtering

- a pre-record buffer while in record/pause. 5 sec would be nice

- drag and drop file transfer

- bigger controls

In fact, the HHB Portadisc upgraded to Hi MD!

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  • 1 month later...
Embio Newbie

Embio

Posted
Posted

hmmm...

- 2 FAT 'Drives' on one Hi-MD so we can get 2.5GB (ish)

- DECENT BUILD QUALITY

- as big as the NH1

- as light as the NH1

- Li-Ion

- 2 External AA attachments, one for 2 batterys - how easy would it be for sony to claim higher battery life then?

- remote similiar to the iRiver LCDs

- OLED

did I miss anything out?

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  • 2 weeks later...
tekdroid Newbie

tekdroid

Posted
Posted

A colour screen for all/nearly all models in the next generation would be nice. I mean, they have it on most mobile phones now so why not? OLED would be nice.

The problem with colour screens: often they are hard to see in bright sunlight. The MZ-NH1's remote, for instance, is superb in the sun (largely due to goold ol' 'primitive' LCD technology ;).

*Regular oldskool LCD visibility in the day.

*Adequate visibility at night with backlight.

Best of both worlds, and I hope that doesn't change.

IMO, a new external design is NOT as important as the internals. There were a few good designs in some of the older models and from the look of some of the new ones, they are really scraping the bottom for designs.

Indeed. And cheapness of materials...

Other things... make the screen a touchscreen and have it cover all of one face of the MD recorder? There's always room for additional buttons on the side and switches the back.

Personally I feel a touchscreen would be superfluous and horrible not to receive real tactile feel. And costly. A good remote would be far more worthwhile.

Australia never got premastered MDs. Probably one of the reasons the format didn't really take off.

Actually we did, but they never took off here. You could buy them in the early years of MD's release. But who wants to pay CD prices (and more) for lossy ATRAC and tiny artwork? Not I. I would suspect not the masses as a whole. I'd rather record it to a blank from a quality CD.

So, yea, there's probably some life left in the Hi-MD. Given the stupidity of the rootkit fiasco, there should really be a budget cut and refocus on electronics such as MD *cough* like that'd happen -.-;;; *cough*

Hah, exactly.

I have only been using MD for a little over a week. Yet I'm hearing rumors that MD is over. Is this true?

Personally, I doubt it. Though in some markets (such as Australia) it's apparently true that they won't be selling the units any more. Which is really a shame if Sony are to be believed on this and they aren't just saying that to move stock ;)

Last financial year Sony sold:

1.92 million MD units (of all kinds, apparently)

The year before:

3.36 million

People have found other devices easier to live with for listening to their music on the go.

As you can see, a big drop. CD portables experienced similar sales declines year-on-year, but still not as high as MD's drop, percentage-wise.

It's still a significant market for them, though. And lets not forget the selling of blanks is a market not to be sneezed at, too. What we're probably seeing here is the recording market sticking to MD, but most poeple who just transfer/playback moving away. At least that's what I think I'm seeing.

I think Sony got caught by lower-than-expected demand for Hi-MD due to people switching their preferences to HD and flash-based units for listening on the go, and that's part of the reason why we can still see so much Generation-1 Hi-MD stuff in the channel (and finding some sweet deals on them, too)

I think we'll see Generation 3 for sure. Question is, where and when? If they can sell featureless players in Japan, they oughta be able to sell recorders. Somewhere.

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greenmachine Newbie

greenmachine

Posted
Posted

The problem with colour screens: often they are hard to see in bright sunlight. The MZ-NH1's remote, for instance, is superb in the sun (largely due to goold ol' 'primitive' LCD technology ;).

*Regular oldskool LCD visibility in the day.

*Adequate visibility at night with backlight.

Best of both worlds, and I hope that doesn't change.

Don't forget the power consumption. I guess the DH-10P doesn't perform too impressively in that field.

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