What new features would you want if another Hi-MD unit was released?

[Levanel]

I'd opt for soft "transitions" between songs. That crackle/pop after a song ends and the next one starts gets on my nerves sometimes.

Yeah, trivial solution would be gapless recordings but what about adding a feature that detects gaps and eliminates them without going gapless?

I'm sure there are other more audiophilic wetdream features that people want.. list 'em!

---

(meh, totally didn't see this thread before posting this one.. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=21785)

Edited November 14, 2008 by Levanel

[jpteasy]

My wishlist would be;

A faster reading time as sometimes HiMD discs can take a while to load

Faster transfers

Either a Bluetooth accessory making use of the remote socket or an internal Bluetooth transmitter

An in-car HiMD

A UK HiMD stereo or separate

Otherwise I'm happy with HiMD

[Strungup]

I'd opt for soft "transitions" between songs. That crackle/pop after a song ends and the next one starts gets on my nerves sometimes.

Yeah, trivial solution would be gapless recordings but what about adding a feature that detects gaps and eliminates them without going gapless?

I'm sure there are other more audiophilic wetdream features that people want.. list 'em!

---

(meh, totally didn't see this thread before posting this one.. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=21785)

Hmmmm I havent ever had Pops or crackels between songs ........ ????? I have almost every MD made .

only when I played MP3's on the RH1 , once in a while some oddity .

[tekdroid]

I actually don't wish for another Hi-MD unit to be released IF they make something better to compete. Otherwise, bring any new unit out while the portable audio market remains stagnant and craptastic.

Flash memory is frighteningly cheap (at least SD card and derivatives are), so my wishes would be a half-sized unit with all features of Hi-MD, including removable batteries, removable media, optical in with sync rec, quality line-in, remotes, quality mic input, track editing, SpeedControl, etc. Sony's current flash recorders with similar feature-set to Hi-MD (Ie. PCM-D50 and others) http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/product-PCMD50/ sure seem eager to avoid competing with Hi-MD as far as 'consumer model' aspirations go:

*units not small enough

*no Combine, just Divide

*no title editing

*basic playback modes

Their flash recorders are not really doing double-duty as small Walkmans using a single removable battery, either; they sit firmly entrenched in relatively bulky specialist tools, not really competing with the 'acceptable' portability of Hi-MD. Of course they go beyond Hi-MD in several areas, but not portability and use as a general Walkman.

Back in the heady cassette (and CD) Walkman days, Sony used to compete with Aiwa and Panasonic (and later Sharp, when MiniDisc was released), shaving millimetres and grams off their units and enhancing sound quality and features at a rapid pace. Now it seems they are content with continuing their Hi-MD as a good recording and playback tool (and credit to them for doing so) but there must be engineers in Sony right now eager to put their work in a flash-based portable recording Walkman to reach new miniaturisation (and storage) levels. One that still offers ALL the traditional features of Hi-MD and sells in the same price bracket. Don't count on it happening anytime soon; it seems Panasonic (and everyone else) is not even interested in such a device, so why should they, especially when they have an existing product to milk?

Which makes it all the more special we have Hi-MD, IMO. They are unique portables. But they can go further. They just don't.

As expected Hi-MD is still selling in 2008 (and I would think at least another year, to make it a 5+ year product)... but I think it's time for them to move beyond it and hopefully whatever they come out with will make the recording enthusiast excited to whip out the wallet. They can still segment their more pro-level stuff with 24bit/96KHz recording features, better build quality, integrated mics, etc. but I would love to see more progress in a smaller device targeted at Joe User.

Edited November 16, 2008 by tekdroid

[KJ_Palmer]

I'd like (big hope):

A Sony Hi-MD deck, available in UK

Larger capacity discs (2GB+?)

A 'business' recorder/player with built in mic/speaker, like the MZ-B10 for Hi-MD.

Not too much to ask for is it...

[A440]

I don't want another Hi-MD. I want the same interface--track marking, recording level on a remote--and a quiet mic preamp on a small flash unit that bypasses SonicStage, has 24/96, handles MicroSDHC (16 GB!!!!) and does drag-and-drop. Encryption is SO over.

[tekdroid]

...bypasses SonicStage...

...and doesn't use MTP / require Windows Media Player, unlike some of Sony's recent non-Mass Storage-capable Walkmans.

...and has greater than 5mW (into 16ohm) per channel headphone outs, please

FLAC playback too.

[1kyle]

Actually I like removable storage media - great for archiving etc -- fixed storage media has the problem of storing it, finding the recording you want etc. etc

The minidisc is just about the perfect size for handling -- perhaps a higer capacity would be OK.

What would be good would be NATIVE FLAC playing and full drag 'n drop via windows etc. No more software like Sonic stage / Simple Burner needed to get your music either loaded to the MD or PC from the MD.

Currently I still have to use Simple Burner on a Windows XP virtual machine to get stuff on to an MD - I use Nero to create an ISO image of my FLAC data to create an audio CD and then burn this with SB. I don't use Sonic stage at all any more and all my audio is held in FLAC format. I like a lot of classical music so lossy 128 kbs MP3's don't cut it for me at all.

Actually --although another issue - Classical Music is still one area where the CD market is still strong -- very few classical music lovers will be satisfied with the quality of ITUNES normal downloads.

Cheers

-K

Edited November 18, 2008 by 1kyle

[sallymae_hogsby]

My "traditional" response would be a HiFi home deck with all the editing features that Sony decks traditionally had on home decks, as well as USB interface. (I have an Onkyo deck, which I'm glad I have, but I wish it would do all that my Sony decks did.)

My "radical" response would be to just have HiMD players be drag-and-drop players of WAV, MP3, ATRAC, FLAC etc files. MDs would just be the removable storage medium. Any special software would be optional. Essentially an alternative to SD or microSD cards. Minidiscs are cheaper, and I "trust" them for long term storage.

[nundra]

I'd opt for soft "transitions" between songs. That crackle/pop after a song ends and the next one starts gets on my nerves sometimes.

Yeah, trivial solution would be gapless recordings but what about adding a feature that detects gaps and eliminates them without going gapless?

I'm sure there are other more audiophilic wetdream features that people want.. list 'em!

---

(meh, totally didn't see this thread before posting this one.. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=21785)

That is a beautiful picture Levanel!

[ShriDurga]

Don't know how it might be done, but true random access would be helpful for long tracks, such as hour-length speeches.

[Syrius]

Backlit LCD display on the unit, but non-OLED.

[jernikfra]

This January Hi-MD will be 5 years old.I think it is high time to release higher capacity discs.You can now buy 16GB storage cards that are the size of a fingernail, so they could fit tons more storage on a Hi-MD disc, we're talking 10 -20 times as much.It would be nice to be able to be able to store lots of Cd's in WAV format on a single disc.I like to store an entire band's discography on 1 disc.This can be done easily with Hi-SP, but WAV would be way better.My entire a-ha studio album collection is all on one Hi-MD disc in Hi-SP, but it's running out of room, especially with their 9th album on the way...A Hi-MD full of albums in WAV would be amazing! It would also be nice to not have to keep importing Japanese domestic decks...

[tekdroid]

Minidiscs are cheaper, and I "trust" them for long term storage.

Take a look at recent SD/MiniSD/MicroSD prices. You might be surprised how much they've gone down. What I'm seeing is 2GB SD at rarely more than USD $8. That's twice the capacity of Hi-MD for such a reasonable cost.

What's extra nice is the price just keeps on dropping (or storage keeps on increasing for similar cost, if you prefer), unlike Hi-MD / MiniDisc media. In Australia, they jacked up the RRP on Hi-MDs, if you can find them at retail, that is.

SD is already better value here. 1GB SD can routinely can be had for AUD $7-$9 in smaller, more competitive computer stores. That's under USD $5 for 1GB.

Don't know how it might be done, but true random access would be helpful for long tracks, such as hour-length speeches.

What do you mean by true random access?

[ShriDurga]

What do you mean by true random access?

Like you find in computer media players. With a mouse click you can jump to any point in a file.

[tekdroid]

Like you find in computer media players. With a mouse click you can jump to any point in a file.

Oh, right.

That can definitely be done. I reckon it's just a matter of priorities whether something like that gets included on a portable. On PC, click to where you want to go in your player's 'progress bar', almost instant, even on longgg tracks via CD.

Hi-MD units can seek through a disc pretty damn fast. I'm quite fond of the audible seeking as you hold down >>| or |<< while playing, too.

[sfbp]

It took me almost a year to discover (duh!) that I can "go fast" with the MZ-RH1 by pausing play and then using the jog lever. I would even go so far as to say that too much pushing on the jog lever in the "audible seeking" mode caused the same problems of glitches that many have complained of here.

Stephen

[alexis]

After having thought a while about it, I think I would like:

for the hardware:

• the group button for units with small displays (see what I mean, Mr. RH1?)
• higher capacity disks if possible, even if it breaks the compatibility with older hardware
• displays based on electronic-paper (reduced power consumption / fantastic readability in high and low light conditions)

for the software:

• a library-less, DRM-less, music conversion and transfer software (à la Hi-MD Music Transfer for Mac), which would transfer .oma files into a Minidisc unit
• Linux support for music transfer software (not necessarily open source)
• a truly multi-level scalable codec

As for the scalable codec, what I mean is I would like to have one file on the Mac/Win/Linux PC containing a recording, say at 64kbps, 128kbps, 256kbps and lossless. Every layer would build up on the previous one (for example, the 128k layer adds details to the already-encoded 64k layer), the lossless layer would then add all the missing details, and all layers would be contained in one file. This would make the management of a music collection much easier, because no converting would be necessary any more, just the extraction at the right level for the desired target device (be it 64kbps for high-capacity Hi-MDs of flash devices, or 256kbps for high-quality "favourites" music collections, or lossless to burn a CD). So there would not be any fuss with quality degradation or loss of gapless playing due to conversion. Atrac Advanced Lossless was kinda such thing, but alas poorly implemented so that it was not really useable.

These features would make music management for Minidiscs or ATRAC*-based players much more practical for everyday use.

Edited November 24, 2008 by storm shadow

[Syrius]

I'd like to see more units that play MP3 *WITHOUT* the deliberate crippling we found in the second generation units , even if they are only downloaders. HD amp is optional, just no crippling.

[BIGHMW]

1) A home deck with Optical output, available for North America

2) A Hi-MD/MD car deck, so I don't have to rely on a Connects2 interface and my MZ-NH700 for Hi-MD use (I would still keep the Connects2 for my NW-HD5)

3) A Professional Studio Hi-MD deck (SCMS-free), so we can archive our own material in an uncompressed format, such as Linear PCM, and with optical out as well as (because it is a pro deck) no restrictions, in or out, regardless of the source.

[bobt]

I would like a portable a little bigger than an NH1 and a bit smaller than an MZ 1, with optical in and out, RCA jacks with proper meters and a less restrictive SS that would let me put and retrieve any music file, and Simple Burner to work with Vista. Linux support would be nice.

A home unit and car unit with a dock for the portable would be icing on the cake.

Bob

[jflaco1]

I adore md for a multitude of reasons, but the deal-sealer is the audio quality. I rip CDs to my mac at 256kbps and then stream my playlists 'live' through an optical cable to my RH1. I realize that this isn't the optimal way to transfer tunes (for quality, and nevermind the time it takes to do it) - compress and then compress again - but I'm delighted with the end-product. Clean and subtle, and I could go on with the adjectives...

But then I think...

I'm here listening to my 'new' champagne NH1 (praise be our master guitar repair artesan), revelling in the sound as usual, but I'm wondering now, five years on from the advent of Hi-MD, whether Sony's engineers might have managed as big a leap in sound quality as they achieved, say, between the E909 era (Type-R) and their last models, the EH930 for example. For me, the jump is truly extraordinary. My ears are now accustomed to the putative excellence of MD as we know it now, but surely it's not perfect (in theory).

This is what I most regret with the demise of minidisc. Sigh. What coulda been...

[Strungup]

I would like a portable a little bigger than an NH1 and a bit smaller than an MZ 1, with optical in and out, RCA jacks with proper meters and a less restrictive SS that would let me put and retrieve any music file, and Simple Burner to work with Vista. Linux support would be nice.

A home unit and car unit with a dock for the portable would be icing on the cake.

Bob

See Titan AE ........ They named a Planet after you !!!

@jflaco ........... awww shux The NH1 is a nice machine isnt it , ( I reaalallllly wanted to keep that one after I listened to it )

[Levanel]

I'd like a mini-docking station..

I just realized when I got my RH1 that it was slim on the amount of accessories included.

I'd like a dock that interconnects all the I/O's as well as USB for easy cable management. Or have an "addon" that fits snuggly with the unit itself to serve as an external battery pack/power supply. I know this is totally ambitious but I'm somewhat confident that it would attract alot of attention, seeing how we're all in the semi-professional audio together here..

[Korakios]

Not much staff:

1. Having both microSD and MD drive

2. Record at 24bit and better true limiter(above 44.1 is useless due to limitation of the preamps)

3. Mp3-flac support(record-playback)

4. No more Sonicstage...just drug and drop...

5. build-in enhancer/exciter and 'truebass' function(especially for lower bitrates)

6. a stereo quility mic would be nice

7. wirelees remote would be also nice

8. waterproof bug...and a rubber-protection case for field-recordind...

9. improve the (already good) audio quality

All at the size of the rh-1(not with the mic!) and 10. below 300€...(...with the mic)

Also a piece of paper with Sony people explaining why they killed md-format and what they where thinking when they released net-md's and could not upload through usb our own recordings....!

Not to forget an online site for true tech support(firmware, software, drivers....)

[Strungup]

Not much staff: ...................... Yes they are cutting jobs left and right

4...just drug and drop... We have that in the US , it is called Date Rape

8. waterproof bug..... We also have that in the US , they are called cockroaches

All at the size of the rh-1(not with the mic!) and 10. below 300€...(...with the mic)............... Would be nice

Also a piece of paper with Sony people explaining why they killed md-format and what they where thinking when they released net-md's and could not upload through usb our own recordings....!....................... Seriously wishful thinking !!!!

Not to forget an online site for true tech support(firmware, software, drivers....)............Asking for miracles indeed...!!!

Edited December 13, 2008 by Guitarfxr

[Sony_Fan]

The next Hi-MD unit should include:

-large color touch screen

-minidiscs that can playback video and hold 5GB of music/data/video

-SonicStage software that can compress movies or other video and transferred to Hi-MD

-super bass, mega bass or x-bass

-should be called the MZ-RHV

This is not impossible, but Sony, who is losing money on every PS3 they sell, are in no position to even consider a Hi-MD unit to compete with the Apple iPod Touch.

But there is no denying, I have described the ultimate minidisc unit.

Edited December 13, 2008 by Chris G

[amniceguy]

I agree with Chris G. If you wanna compete against I-pod you have to have your hire guns. If you combine video into the mix with portable disc you can beat I-Pod. When you compress your music on a player sounds horrible thats why apple has to keep making newer versions on gig-bites. If Sony comes out with a flash memory gig-byte mini disc player you have the option of putting your music on the player itself or the disc and still have plenty of room for videos on the player itself. You could have docks for these new players and touchscreen plus music and movies video to watch. There would be a lot of sour apples out there and more mini disc to choose from.

The next Hi-MD unit should include:

-large color touch screen

-minidiscs that can playback video and hold 5GB of music/data/video

-SonicStage software that can compress movies or other video and transferred to Hi-MD

-super bass, mega bass or x-bass

-should be called the MZ-RHV

This is not impossible, but Sony, who is losing money on every PS3 they sell, are in no position to even consider a Hi-MD unit to compete with the Apple iPod Touch.

But there is no denying, I have described the ultimate minidisc unit.

[MDGB2]

Just a standalone deck. That's all I want.

Or it wouldn't hurt Sony to make a docking station as others have suggested so that my lil portable units can be properly connected to hi-fi. (Optical IN on any docking station would be nice to allow connection to an external DAC).

I don't know what Sony are doing. What tickles me is that they are still making tape Walkmans! Surely they could keep producing a couple of MD units for us.

In fact, judging by the amount of suggestions decks, pro equipment gets on this forum if produced they would sell like hot-cakes! C'mon Sony!

[Sony_Fan]

NO! I described the ultimate Hi-MD unit and it is possible to produce. But Sony won't take our ideas, because they think we're stupid for using minidisc in the first place.

[tekdroid]

NO! I described the ultimate Hi-MD unit and it is possible to produce. But Sony won't take our ideas, because they think we're stupid for using minidisc in the first place.

Ultimate is subjective.

Sony obviously see the market in Hi-MD; they still offer them. Perhaps not for long, but I don't think it's a case of 'thinking we're stupid' at all. Sony is a business looking to make money. They will go where the money is. That's what it's about.

Stupidity doesn't even come into the equation; demand does.

5GB in a spinning disc is pretty laughable at this point, let alone 1GB, given all the competition and dropping prices and super-small form-factor with MicroSD and equivalents. A touchsccreen PMP-type device, to the average recording user, I feel, is a sub-niche (PMP use) within a niche (Hi-MD use).

Then there's the issue of:

1) unit thickness / size. Keep in mind other PMPs don't need a relatively huge mechanism and space for a disc in there.

2) is the average Hi-MD user demanding PMP, or even has a latent desire for it? I doubt it. Different types of users, IMO.

3) the nail in the coffin: price and cost to Sony to offer this, promote this, fill retail channels with a puny 5GB disc, etc. I don't see huge popularity with that to begin with, let alone in 2 years+ as they support it with new units, etc.

Short-term, at best. Totally not worth the r&d making a new format like that, IMO. Just release a unit that does what Hi-MD does using flash memory and be done with it. Enjoy slimmer form-factors, rapidly dropping prices on storage, etc. Go nuts.

[kino170878]

Sony obviously see the market in Hi-MD; they still offer them. Perhaps not for long, but I don't think it's a case of 'thinking we're stupid' at all. Sony is a business looking to make money. They will go where the money is. That's what it's about.

Just release a unit that does what Hi-MD does using flash memory and be done with it. Enjoy slimmer form-factors, rapidly dropping prices on storage, etc. Go nuts.

By that logic Sony should release this super cool flash memory unit with Hi-MD features, but they have not yet done so. Therefore it can't all be about money. I think you need to accept the fact that Sony is too afraid of giving the people a high quality audio device incorporating the useful features of MD.

[Strungup]

By that logic Sony should release this super cool flash memory unit with Hi-MD features, but they have not yet done so. Therefore it can't all be about money. I think you need to accept the fact that Sony is too afraid of giving the people a high quality audio device incorporating the useful features of MD.

yes they did , PCM-D50 , all the same features , plus Optical output

[kino170878]

I was referring more to the editing features, titling dividing combining rearranging....

Although it may be unfair to make such a judgement since Flash isn't supposed to do any of those things I don't think.

Edited December 17, 2008 by kino170878

[tekdroid]

I think you need to accept the fact that Sony is too afraid of giving the people a high quality audio device incorporating the useful features of MD.

Oh I have accepted that

They are still milking the Hi-MD thing. I've stated several times in the past they can release a super-cool thing, they cannn reduce the price of flash recorders, they cannn release them without integrated mics, they cannn release them with Combine as well as Divide, better playback modes, titling, etc... they just don't; they are (in my mind) clearly milking the investment and are careful not to give flash recorders feature and form parity with Hi-MD. They like keeping them segmented.

As a business, I'd be doing the exact same thing. The heavy investment they have put into MD/Hi-MD over the years deserves payback, and good payback.

But that milking is getting a bit long in the tooth, IMO. And since there really aren't many of their competitors interested in the recording niche Hi-MD/MD fills, they don't really have to kill Hi-MD too soon, really. It still serves its purpose and does it pretty well. I just think that future investment in yet another spinning disc is a bit short-term with the rate of storage change going on. Unless they can offer some really compelling price (and storage) advantages, not to mention smaller disc size.

[Silly35]

I'm agree with some people.

It' possible to use a flash memory based player with the Hi-MD capabilities such like divide, combine...) and Sony should have use the ATRAC3/3+ format (or a new version (ATRAC4??) that shoub be retro-compatible) and a free drag'n'drop for import/export with PC.

I like to use MiniDisc for their ergonomics use. I never use this MP3/MP4 player that have 4 or 5 buttons and you don't know how to enter in the menu how to modify volume easily without reading the documentation.

If I find a device like I describe it above as ergonomic as MD and can record in WAV, OGG, FLAC or other format that is not so degradable as MP3, I surely buy it!!

But I like the ATRAC format wich (for me) is better as MP3.