Sony MZ-RH1 finally popping up for sale

[Rumz]

Edit:

I just received the Package at 1:32PM, I am so excited to transfer all my old recording to the computer.

An update on my end-- got word back from md-canada and they said canada post basically pointed the finger at US postal system for having delays there.

I did try the tracking number on USPS again today and it did register, looks like it arrived in my city today (whether it gets delivered today or tomorrow I'm not sure), but it's nice to finally see some progress (2 weeks later). I suppose I was just nervous having never dealt with Canada Post or ordered something from Canada.

[Vesuvio]

...I thought we were going to be able to upload digitally all of our old MD recordings to our Macintosh computer with the RH1.

Is this feature only for the PC?

The software that will allow us Mac-ies unrestricted uploads is still in development by Sony. They have promised that it will be out in "Summer 2006," so you'll have to keep checking the Sony support pages (though I'm sure there will be a major announcement at this web site when it is released).

In the meantime, I'm just happy to be able to digitally upload at all. Uh, that is if my recorder ever gets here from MDC (11 days, no tracking #, no delivery, and counting...).

-V.

[reefbeef]

An update on my end-- got word back from md-canada and they said canada post basically pointed the finger at US postal system for having delays there.

I did try the tracking number on USPS again today and it did register, looks like it arrived in my city today (whether it gets delivered today or tomorrow I'm not sure), but it's nice to finally see some progress (2 weeks later). I suppose I was just nervous having never dealt with Canada Post or ordered something from Canada.

Mine says this on the usps site:

Your item left PURO MONTR, CANADA on July 06, 2006. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.

How long did it take for yours to get from Puro Montr, Canada to your city?

thanks...

[Rumz]

Mine says this on the usps site:

Your item left PURO MONTR, CANADA on July 06, 2006. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.

How long did it take for yours to get from Puro Montr, Canada to your city?

thanks...

No idea.

The Canada Post tracking info only has that the post office received it on June 23. The USPS tracking page only says that it arrived at a local post office at about 5:50am this morning. Almost no tracking information about its progress.

Did they send you another one?

[Sparky191]

Well I've just seen a RH1 in local Sony Store in Ireland. €379 which is $485 US. Bargain eh?

Edited July 7, 2006 by Sparky191

[svt218]

Not only you even me I amin Toronto only 5 hrs driving still haven't got the item, here is the tracking report:

2006/07/05 19:46 VALLEYFIELD, QC Item accepted at the Post office

2006/07/04 17:24 ST-LAZARE-DE-VAUDREUIL, QC Item accepted at the Post office

2006/07/04 17:05 PIERREFONDS, QC Shipping details electronically submitted

Expected delivery dat July 05, 2006.

Sent Emails 2 times to MDC no reply, so what we're gonna do now? filling a dispute through paypal?

I live in Montreal and have tried many times to reach these people over the phone thinking I would go in person and pick a unit. To no avail do they anwser the phone...just plain weird. I don't trust these guys I'm anxious to see what people have to say about their service. Let it be know though that postal service was slowed down a bit lately with our holidays (June 24th St-Jean de Baptiste (in Quebec) & July 1st Canada Day. Postal offices were closed on the following Monday (6/26 & 7/3) of each holiday. This might explain why some people haven't got their units yet?

[musicman]

Not need to worry, the tracking system is sucks, like mine just suddenly arrived with no update. I guess you will get it early next week. Good luck.

No idea.

The Canada Post tracking info only has that the post office received it on June 23. The USPS tracking page only says that it arrived at a local post office at about 5:50am this morning. Almost no tracking information about its progress.

Did they send you another one?

If you are in Montreal you can just email them usually they will reply quick especially if you want to buy something, or you can just pop in, you can see the address on their website, right?

I live in Montreal and have tried many times to reach these people over the phone thinking I would go in person and pick a unit. To no avail do they anwser the phone...just plain weird. I don't trust these guys I'm anxious to see what people have to say about their service. Let it be know though that postal service was slowed down a bit lately with our holidays (June 24th St-Jean de Baptiste (in Quebec) & July 1st Canada Day. Postal offices were closed on the following Monday (6/26 & 7/3) of each holiday. This might explain why some people haven't got their units yet?

[reefbeef]

No idea.

The Canada Post tracking info only has that the post office received it on June 23. The USPS tracking page only says that it arrived at a local post office at about 5:50am this morning. Almost no tracking information about its progress.

Did they send you another one?

Another one meaning another unit? I haven't gotten anything...I'm lucky I got the tracking number from Darren over the phone. I really doubt they sent one out that got lost. I think it's as someone else said earlier that they didn't have the units or ran out and did what they had to to hold our orders. That in combo with the holidays. I didn't know there were two Canadian holidays (thought only one) in addition to the 4th of July on this end slowing delivery. Maybe in light of that, everything they've said so far is legit. I don't know...just hope it arrives soon.

[The Low Volta]

The software that will allow us Mac-ies unrestricted uploads is still in development by Sony. They have promised that it will be out in "Summer 2006," so you'll have to keep checking the Sony support pages (though I'm sure there will be a major announcement at this web site when it is released).

@ vesuvio: the above isn't really correct...

- the software to allow downloading MP3s from mac -> RH1 is promised by Sony for this summer

- there possiby/probably will not ever be any software for mac that allows uploading legacy recordings (even HiMD recordings made on a non-mac-compatible machine won't upload yet, so SP probably will be very hard to implement or possibly won't be feasible at all), while it already works as a charm on PC (which they did promise)

by promising this stuff, which probably won't happen (as it sure wasn't promised by Sony) you might get the hopes up of the mac-using community. So unless you have any proof of Sony saying this, best not to post such, as it will lead to lots of ppl wrongly blaming Sony again or even blaming MDCF (and its posters) for 'braking promises'.

@ all the mac-ppl (a group which I belong to as well), please, realize that unrestricted uploading of all modes to mac wasn't promised and is probably pretty hard to implement! This might anger you, but please direct that anger correctly! Do not go blaming these 'idiots at Sony' (again, like with all previous releases of HiMD gens and of SS-versions): they NEVER promised legacy uploads for mac, just read the manual correctly and you'll see. So if you should feel he irresitible need to blame someone as you already bought this pretty expensive machine and all you were interested in was legacy uploading to mac, perhaps blame yourself for not doing research for buying as the manual was available months before the RH1 was, you could have known (or perhaps even 'should have'... if the feature means that much to you, you should have researched before buying)!

*edited for clarity

Edited July 9, 2006 by The Low Volta

[Vesuvio]

...do no go 'blaming these idiots at Sony' again... they NEVER promised legacy uploads for mac, just read the manual correctly and you'll see. And as the manual was available months before the RH1 was, you could have known (or perhaps even should have... if the feature means that much to you, you should have researched before buying)

Wow, that bit of information was delivered entirely without condescention . Who said anything about idiots at Sony??

Anyway, for those of you following the MDC/Canada Post issue, I'm now entirely convinced that it's a Canada Post problem (big surprise). I finally got a tracking number, but Canada Post suddenly zapped it from their system, directing me to call their customer service instead. FWIW, MDC has offered me free shipping on my next order to compensate for the delay, so good on them.

-V.

[The Low Volta]

sorry vesuvio (and the rest)... I just had a hard week which made my words come out ever harsher than intended . But these posts I reacted to reminded me of all the posts at the time of the release of HiMD and then again at the release of 2nd gen and at every single release of a new SS-version in which everyone expected Sony to give legacy uploading and/or mac support and when they didn't, ppl blamed the 'idiots at Sony' (even though they never promised anything like it)

now the RH1 has arrived and it does everything it promised: legacy uploads and (also, but separately) mac-uploading compatibility (for PCM and HiMD-modes). The only thing promised but not yet available is mac downloading of MP3s which is promised to arrive this summer... and again it is clear that ppl have taken their own wishes for real as they expected legacy uploading to mac. Sorry, but it was not promised, which everyone would have known if they had done some reading/research, and further it is probably not really possible at this moment (heck, they just learned to upload HiMD tracks recorded with a mac compatible machine only, which is already a leap forward from the mac-compatibly-recorded-PCM-only of the M-models... give them some time)

So again, sorry vesuvio. Don't get me wrong, I did mean to be condescending as I am quite tired of all these 'Sony suck as they didn't yet deliver what I just dreamt up!'-posts... but as you didn't post like that, you do understand I was not being condescending towards you (indeed you never said anything like 'Sony-idots').

but on another level you were soliciting for the 'Sony-idot'-posts by 'promising' (in their place) that the 'unrestricted uploading for mac' would arrive this summer, which won't and which could lead easily to a whole load of 'Sony-idiots'-posts again

but I will edit my original post so it is clearer what I was nagging about and the mods are free to remove/edit this post so it is all harmless (and especially because all of this, just like the (erronous) remarks on mac-uploading, is very much off topic )

PS: sorry to hear about your shipping problems! that sucks. one of the reasons I 'overpaid' my RH1 was so I could just walk home with it. Nothing worse than paying and waiting for something your eager to get your hands on.

[Vesuvio]

sorry vesuvio (and the rest)... I just had a hard week which made my words come out ever harsher than intended

Don't sweat it, Volta, deep offense has not been taken! I have read some of your many other contributions to these forums, and I accept that your intentions are genuine .

I can't speak for kpayson, but for myself, the lack of 100% legacy uploads for Mac is not an issue at all. I stuck with MD over iPod even when I was restricted to analog uploads and digital/optical downloads in real time, so in a way, I feel like Sony has finally rewarded my loyalty to the format. My one complaint about the RH1 is the lack of an external AA battery pack for long recording sessions, but there's already some do-it-yourself prototypes popping up on the Web.

Of course, all my comments are limited and theoretical until I actually get my hands on the d*mn thing...

-V.

[Riccardo]

Another source: I bought mine for $319 from B&H in NYC.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com

[reefbeef]

If I had known MDC would take this long, I would've waited for the NYC retailers to start shipping.

But, B&H says out of stock...

[Sparky191]

How accurate is B&H in NYC stock indicators. I want to buy a camera off them but its out of stock.

[reefbeef]

MDC Update:

Just got RH1. Date shipped was July 4, 2006. So, it actually got here pretty quickly from when it was sent. But, the order was placed June 21, 2006.

Also, got an email from MDC apologizing for the delay in shipment and offered 2 free Hi-MD's on next order. It said they were looking for an alternative to Canada Post/USPS for USA orders.

At work and only have 1.5 hrs left, so will wait to charge full 3 hrs at home...

As for B&H out of stock, I'd call them. But from what I hear, they run a tight ship so it probably is out of stock.

[Vesuvio]

MDC Update:

...Just got RH1. Date shipped was July 4, 2006. So, it actually got here pretty quickly from when it was sent.

Mine arrived too, on the West Coast of B.C., shipped the same day as yours (but ordered June 26). Everything looks good. I wouldn't want to drop this one, though-- it doesn't feel like it would survive, as my MZ-N510 has survived two drops, one on concrete. A quick run through all the basic functions without reading the manual proved that it's all pretty intuitive. I wish my fingers were smaller, though...

--V

Edited July 10, 2006 by Vesuvio

[condenser]

mmmmm....

battery life is VERY short for this model

That's very uncool...

[The Low Volta]

@ vesuvio and reefbeef: great news, welcome to the RH1-club

@ condenser: hm, what do you consider 'very short'? did you charge it properly? (through the mains connector, not from a computer) and fully? (the indicated time is only for 80%, for the further 20% you need to leave it another 2 hours to trickle charge)

I easily get through a day for playback and just charge it in the evening (or overnight) and also for recording I haven't ran into trouble yet (but for the festivals I guess a spare battery wouldn't hurt)

[Sparky191]

It has proper USB charging too. Which is a feature I use a lot at work.

[Riccardo]

If I had known MDC would take this long, I would've waited for the NYC retailers to start shipping.

But, B&H says out of stock...

Sorry, I checked just before I posted the note, and they were still in stock then. They must've just run out. Wouldn't hurt to contact them via email. I wrote them back in early June, asking whether they were planning to stock the MZ-RH1 at all and they responded promptly. Wouldn't hurt to let them know there's still keen interest in the product.

[Sparky191]

...Wouldn't hurt to let them know there's still keen interest in the product.

Good point...

[kpayson]

Pardon me for making the assumption that the following quote from many rh1 reviews applies to the mac.

""Here are the good news features on this third generation unit:

Those with older format discs can upload their SP and MDLP live recordings via USB.""

I have been thrilled with the ability of my MZM-100 to upload my live pcm recordings through

usb to my mac powerbook. I have thought, based on the above quote (seen on several sites),

that the RH1 was going to do this for the Mac too.

Hopefully, with the new Intelmacs (which I intend to get this year), I'll be able to run Windows

and take advantage of these features.

I too feel happy that Sony rewarded my MD loyalty with the MZM 100.

I have no need for the MP3 dowload feature, as my main use of this format is

for live recording of myself and assorted combos.

MDMX4

MZ R50

MZM100

[Riccardo]

I just checked the B&H web site, and I see the MZ-RH1 is listed as being back in stock.

I also notice that J&R (from whom I have always bought my minidisc units and accessories in the past) isn't listing the MZ-RH1 at all, and both the MZ-RH10 and 910 are "temporarily out of stock." That's disappointing.