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When will the world realize that MD (Hi-MD) is happening?

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mikey c

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I sent this comment to N.Y. Times writer KEN BELSON in response to his article posted today.

Relating to your April 19th article of the Sony Minidisk and its unpopularity here in the US, you failed (as many do) to recognize a very important feature present on 85% of all MD recorders.

 

Many of us for years have been using these cleverly designed devices because of their ability to record live audio through their own built in microphone input. Supply an optional stereo microphone and enjoy the luxury of recording up to 5.3 hours of stereo

on-location recording. A simple 1/8 inch stereo line in is also present to record from any audio source in real time.

 

This device is simply the cassette recorder replacement of the new age (remember how cool and convenient that was)?

 

Yea we know high speed MP3 downloading is an advantage bla, bla, bla…

 

But this device is just plain useful beyond simple comparative explanation. It’s a pity that Sony doesn’t market its potential better.

 

 

 

For musicians like myself, the mic-in feature alone makes MD worth twice the price (anybody remember the Sony portable DAT recorder at $800, microphone extra).

 

Do we (music lovers) need to alert everyone about the new Hi-MD models coming around the corner that will increase the recording time to a measly 30 hours plus (on removable disks by the way) with nearly a half a dozen switchable fidelity options?

 

Even if I possessed the last MD recorder on the planet, I still would have nearly 100 blank reusable disks (non have failed in 6 years) to record with until the MD unit eventually frys.

 

P.S. I may even have the unit placed in my casket (recording in LP4 mode) when I am laid to rest.

Sincerely,

 

Michael Carosello

 

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am I silly to want one of the new models the day it releases even though I already own several?

Am I alone out there?

I don't know about you guys, but I use mine every day for a lot of different things.

---

Has anybody noted the ballpark price of the new coming R700 ?

I'd lean to the 900, except that darn gum battery has me worried; finding it more convenient to use a replaceable/rechargable AA for good reason.

MC

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... :sad:

here in Italy no one have MD, i know only 2 guys(like me) that have it, the other have the standard cd player or a little(128 MB ) mp3 player...

why not?

(i think) 'cause people want to put the cd just buyed into the cd player or to have a little with no function mp3 player, no complication(no advantage)... too complicate? if you call it(an HI-MD) "mp3 player", with 1GB. maybe the people will buy it.... but don't say that is a MD! blink.gif

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i live in England and there are still some people in my school that asked me what i was holding, as they saw me insert a MD into my player

"its a minidisc player" i casually replied

"a what? oh i get it, its a MP3 thingy"

"um..no, it plays minidiscs in Atrac coding"

"huh???! blink.gif"

but now recently, minidisc players have come into fashion along with Mp3 players

a lot of people like that connect to PC thing, and anyhows, MP3 players cost too much, well the good quality ones...

heck, ive even seen some Ipods in my skool, showoffs :grin:

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Is this referring to the article featuring Steve Jobs and his dumba$$ comments on MiniDisc? (I didn't read the article myself because I didn't want to "register" for the lame NY Post website.)

Anyway nice letter Mike, but I fear you may be wasting your breath (or ink or keystrokes :smile: ).

I mean ppl keep telling the media stuff like this over and over and over again, but they continue to produce MD-bashing or MD-ignorant articles. Particularly in the USA...

I mean MDCP's been here and has been going strong for over 10 years now. Every other day someone is talking about how MD is either dead or "failed"/"never was" and really it is all nonsense talk. Obviously MD inventor and front-runner Sony has never given up on MD and it is obviously profitable for them (otherwise they would have given up by now).

As we proceed into the next generation of MD (Hi-MD) I'm not sure if it will significantly increase in popularity, but you know what? I realised a while ago that while I'd like MD to become a lot more popular (especially here in Canada--if you think it is unpopular in the US, boy...) but it isn't really necessary. So long as people (current users I mean) don't drop MD altogether there is always going to be the same MD community there always was. Sony seems to support us/MD to a good extent and while I can't be 100% sure, I'm pretty sure that Sony is a much larger company than the ever-lame Apple Computer rolleyes.gif

You know thinking of that one quote of Steve Jobs' as displayed on the main page, I'm thinking jeez of all ppl he should know better. I mean where does he think he's going with Macintosh anyway? In terms of personal computers the [iBM] "PC" has long overshadowed the Mac and continues to gain market share every day, in pretty much every application. Despite MDs poor perceived popularity I think that (percentage wise) MD probably has a greater percentage of market share in personal/portable music devices than Macintosh does in the realm of personal/home computers.

Of course he's going to toot his own horn (the Ipod) but c'mon now, really, he should know better. :whatever:

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right now the world's in the stage where if u remember back in Thomas Edison's days when he was experimenting with the light bulb electriciy was was deemed as a very dangerous thing till u know he turned that all around n made the light bulb n showed good uses for electricity..well right now the world don't c the need for MDs...but they soon will..cuz i believe sooner or later that they will b at the level n probably surpass CDs n believe it..look cassettes gone out the way ..now diskettes soon it might be CD's well CD's might go out cuz of DVDs but when it comes to real portable storage..MD's only gotta compete with flash hardrives..which is stil in it's developing stage..n we all know they pretty expensive..so if the makers of MDs start making more uses for them.they stand a very good chance..but if they keep wasting time..then just as in Edison's days..where GE (general electric) took over the light bulb "phanominum" or revolution so will other storage devices or companies do MD.. i mean ppl think outside of the box for a change..

Look at Bill gates..n Martin Luther King..what did they do.....they took the opportunites at the head of the revolutions so they're known by the revolutions for the revolutions..but it was just thinking outside the box.. what i think sony should do to b at the top is higher some of u gurus n have yall give em some priceless ideas.... :smile: ..it won't be free....but yah..give it some thought..

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But this device is just plain useful beyond simple comparative explanation. It?s a pity that Sony doesn?t market its potential better. 

I'll be interested in the lossless recordings on Hi-MD, provided they get a few other things right too, which is looking doubtful. Just can't live with lossy formats for original recordings. I'd rather use DAT.

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I'll be interested in the lossless recordings on Hi-MD, provided they get a few other things right too, which is looking doubtful. Just can't live with lossy formats for original recordings. I'd rather use DAT.

i think you can record in Linear (PCM) for live recordings, and then upload to the pc as PCM, which i think its lossless huh. huh.gif

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I mean MDCP's been here and has been going strong for over 10 years now.  Every other day someone is talking about how MD is either dead or "failed"/"never was" and really it is all nonsense talk.  Obviously MD inventor and front-runner Sony has never given up on MD and it is obviously profitable for them (otherwise they would have given up by now).

You'd think, but that's not the way business works at Sony - the hardware division of Sony has been losing lots of money for a lot of years. They don't specify the profitability of each product they sell, but I think it's reasonable to believe that the MD isn't profitable for Sony, but they keep supporting it for strategetic reasons. This is what Sony did with the Beta video format - and until recently, with their CRT TVs.

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Agreed. I don't think Sony has really lost money on MD overall. It's very popular in Japan as well as other parts of Asia. Even if MD hasn't sold well in the past in the US, for example, that doesn't mean they've put so much money into MD here that they've lost money. But I do think that Sony is looking to expand MD's market-- obviously they want to make more money. I still can't believe Hi-MD is slated for release in the US before Japan.

I'm with the author of this thread-- though I have 4 different portables and a deck, I still can't wait to get my hands on a new Hi-MD unit biggrin.gif

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In the topic of "what were they at Sony Design thinking", why are there no mic/line inputs on these latest models!!!

I can't possibly imagine owning an audio recorder that duh...doesn't record audio (thru line in and mic in).

You can't tell me that everybody uses these for Net-MD downloading and ripping mp3 audio from computer and that it actually works well.

Hell, do an iPod and be done with it. (I am proudly both a Mac and PC user).

You know, I can't tell you the times that someone has seen my very usable mzr 700 and actually hasn't even a clue as to what it is and does.

Hell, when I plug in the mic, they really get confused.

I'm actually tired of explaining it. Are my friends that ignorant, or is the MD just not advertised as it should be.

Try this...pay a visit to Target,Walmart, Best Buy, or Circuit City and pull a unit off the shelf and take it to the clerk at the counter and start asking questions. You will invariably get nothing from them and in most cases they will appear to be clueless. Pity.

Hell, sometimes at night before bed, I load up the cd changer and fill my MD while I sleep. No computer ripping needed. It really doesn't get any simpler than that. (anybody remember cassette recording as a child of the late 60's)?

And as a musician for over 30 years, this thing goes with me everywhere either checking out tunes (5.33 hours per disk), or recording our gigs and shows easily.

Are we to expect that Sony considers leaving off uesful features a good thing?

You can't tell me that they didn't "think" of these things during R & D.

1) why no mic or even in some cases line inputs? This is very dissapointing!!!

2) poor advertising and promotion. I'll bet half the worlds' musicians and/ or music loving consumers either could use one, or want one. Sony just doesn't explain enough of what these MD's can do.

3) and I almost forgot to mention, why no vcr like timer recording feature which would be incredibly useful. Hell, it's even on the ICD-B10 recorder (by the way they took off the timer start and stop feature on the newer 10 hour recording models...Jesus)!!!

Am I (we) gonna have to look to another manufacturer to get what we want?

Why do I seem to find Sony always building an almost perfect machine?

Am I to picky?

Mikey C

P.S.

I was one of the lucky ones that aquired a new mzr 700 (my backup model) discovered from Target being blown out at $62 back some time ago in 2002. I couldn't believe my luck as I only stopped in for shampoo and toothpaste. Of course, again, the clerk didn't know what it was, but I never the less snatched it from her (them) and excitedly went about my way confident of my good deal.

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Well considering your age it's not surprising that your friends don't know what MD is-- unless, that is, they are otherwise tech savy and MD is the gaping hole in their knowledge. The only reason my dad knows what MD is is that I got into it and he likes a lot of the mixes I make and wanted to have copies himself. He has an MZ-R900 (he just bought the top model one day off etronics.com without even asking me what he should get) and he may have used it to record once or twice, using a mic-- otherwise I've recorded all his music discs for him... might seem like a waste to some people but he really only listens to it at night and on business trips, and does have quite a few discs. Anyways, I'm rambling, but yeah-- a lot of people my age don't even know what MD is nor would they appreciate how versatile it is-- but I have managed to "sell" a lot of people on MD, regardless. Got one of my best friends into it, while another best friend got into it the same time as I. I think NetMD just makes it more user friendly to a lot of people-- the younger generation has not grown up making tapes but burning CDs (I loved recording mix tapes in the 80s and 90s).

In any case, what are you talking about with regards to mic inputs? Sure the 400 series NetMD units don't have mic / line inputs-- not even remote outputs. Sony is targeting those people who have smaller budgets or don't care to have live recording capabilities with these units-- they won't even realize the wasted potential their unit has. And yes the NH600D is a downloader as well, but other than that, the rest of the new Hi-MD models have line / mic inputs, do they not? I know the NH800,900, and NH1 have them. I don't think any of these models will rate as "perfect" even with the mic / line in, but I'm sure I'll be satisfied biggrin.gif

Oh, and with reference to the title of this post--"When will the world realize that MD (Hi-MD) is happening?" -- I think they'll at least realize Hi-MD is happening when Sony finally releases it. Last I heard it has been pushed back until mid to late June 2004 in the US. It may not be so long after we get it that Japan gets theirs afterall.

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  • 2 weeks later...

MDs not popular in the us huh...ok..well wait for Sony's PSP which i think might b using MDs (well a form of minidisc) i read that these MDs will be holing PS2 or compatible games..how is that possible huh i mean a game like GT4..u make the call...thought MDs was just up to 1 gig...PS2 games take up more than that...oh 4 those who don't know psp is some new console by sony have a look http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/e3-sony-ps...pecs-016102.php

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