Christopher Posted July 21, 2004 Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 I was looking over av watch's page about the 25th anniversary of the Walkman [here], when I noticed this little gem: Now, as you can see this unit clearly has the text "Hi-MD audio", and then under that I am making out "Memory card reader for Hi-MD". Pictured under the unit is a memory stick. The button on the left has text over it which says "Copy". You'll need a Hi-MD recorder to use it, and it MemoryStick / SecureDigital / MultiMediaCard / CompactFlash. How to use: Plug this reader into a Hi-MD recorder. Then you remove the memory stick from your camera and stick it in the reader. The data gets transferred to a Hi-MD disc that you put in the Hi-MD recorder. Hi-MD average transfer rate will be about 350-400K/sec. That makes approx 12 minutes for a 256MB card, assuming nothing else gets in the way. The unit will be available in September. p.s. Thanks to bhangraman for filling in some of the details of this unit, it's very appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ppk3000 Posted July 21, 2004 Report Share Posted July 21, 2004 Hi-MD and memory stick... wonder what they'd call it The thing looks pretty simple (unit inside?). Except I'd have to say the casing resembles too much of a typical computer case finishing. :whatever: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Stamp Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 more so, how much will it cost? like, it can't be more that 200 american. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siN Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 I doubt it's less than 200 American. It's probably somewhere around the price of the NH1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonshin Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 ohh... a hi-md / mem card reader, gotta get me one of those! i don't think it's gonna cost THAT much, it's just a reader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 interesting pic... :happy: that'll be an interesting unit to see on the market...wonder how much it'll cost IRL... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fray Adjacent Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 So all that thing does is copy files from a memory card to HiMD? If that is so, then Sony really must hope HiMD will be a good viable data storage medium. That may or may not be a good thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 well given that it's sony anything can happen... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmix Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 Well I think Minidisc SHOULD be a storage medium it shoul completely replace what floppies did in their time..it should also replace memory sticks and all memory cards...why? $$$ Also MD could replace cassette. I've always mentioned that Minidisc could be used in a lot of different applications like a MD drive on laptops, a MD drive on a camera (no more flash media :cool: ), MD car player, home MD stereo. The whole line of applications one could use would be satisfied by MD. It's the complete merge of CD and cassette. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazeybt1 Posted July 22, 2004 Report Share Posted July 22, 2004 cd and cassette :smile: i wish they'd use mds to it's highest possible capabilities n stop short shooting it.. i'd use mds over mmc cards just because mmc are so easy to lose :cool: careless me over cds because it's obvious that cds get scratched very easily point: i just hope these people see the light before it's too late.. and not just run to those options because it's their only choice becuase then i'm sure some people might retaliate ( cuz they angry) probably asking why didn't they do this before.. in that case i've been doing fine without it all this time i'm ok without it now :grin: Hey sony do your stuff .. i'm all for ya. :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDOG58 Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 i wish they'd use mds to it's highest possible capabilities n stop short shooting it.. Sony will never figure it out. They are too worried about proprietary applications. If Sony would think outside of just the Sony universe, Hi-MD would take off like gang busters. But, Sony doesn’t think that way. Sony thinks only about Sony. Hence why Hi-MD only supports SONY’S music format. I have said it a thousand times. Hi-MD should replace the audio cassette, but it never will becase Sony deosnt have that forsight. As for me, in the next few years, Hi-MD will completely replace all my audio tapes and audio tape applications. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PDOG58 Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 I think there is one thing that makes Hi-MD so versatile and why (if marketed correctly) it should become the primary storage medium of choice. That thing is Hi-MDs ability to be rewritten over, reformatted, completely erased, and any file can be accessed at anytime. These can all be done easily. A lot of these attributes are things that CDs (which most think is the ultimate format) cant do. Yes you can randomly access CD files, but you need a computer burner to rewrite, reformat, or erase. With Hi-MD, you need a device as cheep at $150, not a whole computer worth over $1000. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ppk3000 Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 I think there is one thing that makes Hi-MD so versatile and why (if marketed correctly) it should become the primary storage medium of choice. That thing is Hi-MDs ability to be rewritten over, reformatted, completely erased, and any file can be accessed at anytime. These can all be done easily. A lot of these attributes are things that CDs (which most think is the ultimate format) cant do. Yes you can randomly access CD files, but you need a computer burner to rewrite, reformat, or erase. With Hi-MD, you need a device as cheep at $150, not a whole computer worth over $1000.Well it depends what the demand is. MiniDisc's can possibly become a popular storage medium in the portable storage market for its reliability and form factor. But I think some users would prefer a higher data transfer rate and lower waiting time for files to be sent. After all, what good is the largest storage capacity with the lowest throughput? I can only think of the backup market being applicable for such an unbalance type of storage. Speaking of capacity, the ratio of capacity to the dollar of (Hi-) MiniDiscs is still much higher than portable hard drive solutions, or even CD/DVD-RW's. On the brighter side, MiniDiscs are probably the strongest format against physical abuse for its price, making it a convinient format to carry around without too much care. Try dropping that portable hd once or twice... and we all know how vulnerable CD/DVD's are to scratches. Yes, flash memory is just about as durable as a MD, but the pricetags of those climb exponentially high when you look beyond 256MB. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazeybt1 Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 ppk3000 wrote Well it depends what the demand is. MiniDisc's can possibly become a popular storage medium in the portable storage market for its reliability and form factor. But I think some users would prefer a higher data transfer rate and lower waiting time for files to be sent. After all, what good is the largest storage capacity with the lowest throughput? I can only think of the backup market being applicable for such an unbalance type of storage.i wouldn't say that at all i think you are saying this based on your experience with a portable MD unit. we all know we can burn 700mbs on a cd in a matter of 3 minutes now(@52x) but that's possible using a cd burner working on dedicated DC current not battery right? now how long do you think it would take a disc man with burning capability to burn that same 700 mbs??? i believe a lot longer at maybe 20- 30 minutes (@4-16x) even. in the case of MDs being used as portable storage devices and a drive was created for just that purpose i'm sure the speeds of reading and writing would be doubled if not trippled or quadrupled so i wouldn't base the read/write speed to hi capacity data mds on our current technology and equipment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ppk3000 Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 i wouldn't say that at all i think you are saying this based on your experience with a portable MD unit. we all know we can burn 700mbs on a cd in a matter of 3 minutes now(@52x) but that's possible using a cd burner working on dedicated DC current not battery right? now how long do you think it would take a disc man with burning capability to burn that same 700 mbs??? i believe a lot longer at maybe 20- 30 minutes (@4-16x) even. in the case of MDs being used as portable storage devices and a drive was created for just that purpose i'm sure the speeds of reading and writing would be doubled if not trippled or quadrupled so i wouldn't base the read/write speed to hi capacity data mds on our current technology and equipment errr... my mistake, I based the CD-RW/DVD-RW assumption on bhangraman's review of iPod vs. NH1's storage :laugh: oops... But current portable HD's can still seek + send data faster than the Hi-MD, but I suppose their storage capacity are also much higher. However we don't know if Hi-MD is at its peak possible performance or if Sony hiding something up their sleeves :whatever: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazeybt1 Posted July 23, 2004 Report Share Posted July 23, 2004 pk3000 wrote But current portable HD's can still seek + send data faster than the Hi-MD, but I suppose their storage capacity are also much higher. However we don't know if Hi-MD is at its peak possible performance or if Sony hiding something up their sleeves :smile: well u might not know if it's up to it's limits but i'm sure sony have better technology up their sleves because MD uses MO technology and so does cds and i'll presume that burners can burn up to 7mb per sec on a cd and i'm sure a time better than that could be met by the md.. it's just a matter of time till they find everybody taking into the ipod frenzie (as i'll b doing for a while) but i'm saying this to say sony acts like most parents do.. they know it "all" and we "kids" don't know nothing.. till we retaliate and then it's too late for them to listen right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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