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Where will you go when Hi-MD is gone?

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unignal

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that's a tricky and - pardon my french - slightly 'too hypothetical for its own good' question IMHO...

I, like lots of ppl here on these forums I guess, am not really addicted to the technology of (Hi)MD, but to what that technology allows me to do: recording. I'm with HiMD right now because at this moment it simply is the best (affordable) recording tool there is. If there was an equal or better choice half of the ppl here would be using that. As there isn't, we're still here :lol:

What I'm saying is that until there is an affordable equal alternative there is no use in asking this question as every step forward would be a step backward... and once there is an affordable equal alternative there is again no use in asking this question as there wouldn't be anything lost if (HiMD) disappears

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hmhm..

Haha. I was attracted to MD not because of the recording, but rather the fact that the batteries and the memory media is replacement. Also MD is reknown for its Hi-Quality sound! Soo.. here I am.

Wondering where I should go one day when my DH10P and NH900 died. That will be hard for me. I even use MDs to backup my programming source codes!

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I'm with Volta, for the most part. ;)

As a side-note though, as far as new affordable recorders being introduced, they would also have to be as reliable as a technology that is now more than 10 years running. That's alot of time, and personally I'm not sure I'd be willing to make a jump to a new technology until I know that they have been around long enough to know what they are doing, espescially with the way most portable (and non-portable) electronics are being built these days. My MZ-1 still functions perfectly, after over 12 years! I can't say the same for many, way too many products that have been introduced in the past 5 years or so.... Though I will say out of all of my gadgets, almost all of my MD recorders have held up well and outlived plenty of other things.

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What if one day you woke up and found out that the last of your md unit is dead, and sony had stopped selling MDs.

What will you do?

I would build a time machine and set it for 2005 and buy a bunch of DH10Ps... and lots of batteries... never mind going to the FUTURE and getting some music brain implant... go HiMD!!

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THAT is a funny question because there will ALWAYS be md units! millions have been made! there will always be repaired or refirbuished units available. i am 33 years old and expect i will be able to find them somewhere for at least the next 40 years. the best part is you dont need sonic stage or a computer to use most of them. i have 200+ disks. i will keep them forever! LONG LIVE MD!

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What if one day you woke up and found out that the last of your md unit is dead, and sony had stopped selling MDs.

What will you do?

by that point, we'll all be living in a virtual world a la the matrix. except us few renegades. i'll be hanging out in that hot underground dance lounge, no longer concerned about primitive personal listening devices.

if i'm wrong about this, i'd either get no replacement (for a field recording device) or get whatever low cost flash recorder is on the market. i wouldn't be surprised if i did that anyway if that market matures in a few years.

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I have the iAudio X5 and I can tell you that it is one fine device. But I still love all 5 of my MD units!

I also have an X5L (and Cowon A2) and love the thing. It is built like a tank and handles day-to-day listening very well. It is too bad it doesn't record in PCM/WAVE/AIFF. Nor does it have an optical in, but the line-in recordings a very nice.

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Have you noticed no one has said "iPod" yet? :lol:

I'm not afraid to say it. If MD is gone, then I'd use my 5G iPod more and probably invest in something by iAudio. Not that I think Hi-MD/MD will be completely outtro, of course, because eBay is still littered with tons of units (although some not in the best shape, but still working). I don't use my MD/Hi-MD units for any live recording right now, so I wouldn't be "hurting" as much as some people who rely on the MD format out in the field.

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As I also use Himd for data and archiving, I need back compatibility...so I could go to a 68mm shell protected 20GB blue-ray disc with MD playin ability!!

Or I'll go for repairing even if the garantee is over! I will pay!

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When HiMD is gone, I'll be using iPod with rockbox, since for now, that is the only other alternative for gapless playback on a currently selling device, not a discontinued/no-longer-available device. Oh, I forgot about the PSP, but it's too big. :)

Edited by pata2001
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Interesting to see most will be going for iaudio.

How does the sound compare to MD?

I do know that iaudio products pack tonnes of audio enhancing features. My friend owned a G3.

The sound quality is excellent (especially with Wave and OGG. FLAC I think as well?, as is the build quality. The X5L has an aluminum body and the Cowon (iAudio) A2 has a thick, heavy plastic body. No creaking when held. The X5L is extremely scratch resistant due to the powder coating.

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If MD was gone, I'd get a player that supported gapless playback, As mentioned earlier that means I'd have to use a Rockbox'd iPod or iAudio device if all MD/HiMD was gone. However, by the time No MD gear was available anymore we'd all have 500gb+ flash players that support as as yet unnamed codec with lossless and gapless support, plus video and who nows what other features.

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If it was now, I'd probably go back to an iPod. If we are talking about the future, in a couple of years when MiniDisc has died, I would try to find some equipment supporting gapless playing, removable media, state-of-the-art DRM-free codec and computerless (realtime) recording. At this time, there certainly will be some codec capable of CD-quality playing at 32kbps, and small flash-memory (or some new technology) removable media, for 1$ a Gig... However, the recording may be an issue, as I am afraid that manufacturers will try to remove analog and unencrypted digital output (S/P-DIF) from their equipments.

Maybe sometime they will implant a chip in your brain that will force you to pay each time you hear music.

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It's probably at least 5 years down the line before all my MDs pack up, realistically a lot longer. I'm basically happy with Sony/Sonicstage, so unless things get radically worse or the competition much better the replacement will most likely be a Sony DAP. Although who can tell...

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Theres actually not that many HiMD units on eBay. Losts of older MD and Net MD and loads of disks, but hardly any HiMD.

Hardly any? I can name 3 eBay sellers who have the NH700, NHF800, and NH900 (all brand new) and have been selling them regularly since last year. There are 2 sellers who consistently have the RH910. And there are a lot of used/new 600D and new M100 around, some DH10P scattered here and there. Heck, even the RH1 (both silver and black) has made it to eBay. Sure, not as many as standard MD units, but enough to not make me panic and buy every Hi-MD unit that I see. eBay is a "revolving door" kind of "store," so what's on the block yesterday could be significantly different from today. Buy-it-now items can be snatched up right away and may not even be seen by the time you log on. It's all about the timing.

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I never considered looking for new units. Certainly looking specifically looking for those model numbers finds a few. In fact more than when I search by HiMD did! Might pick up a cheap 2nd unit myself!

Yeah, here's a hint for Ebay searches; try a few different spellings or versions of what you are looking for... you'd be surprised how much stuff you find searching for minidisk versus minidisc for example.

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Buy-it-now items can be snatched up right away and may not even be seen by the time you log on. It's all about the timing.

...not to mentione the "under-the-table" deals that people engage in that cause sellers to end their auctions prematurely. I'm even guilty of one or two of these transacations :unsure:

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...not to mentione the "under-the-table" deals that people engage in that cause sellers to end their auctions prematurely. I'm even guilty of one or two of these transacations :unsure:

Go directly to jail. Do not pass Go. :P (lol)

Hey, at least you're not one of those eBayers who's selling printouts of the FREE pdf files of MD units' user manuals.

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-MZ-NH1-Portable-M...1QQcmdZViewItem

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