ATRAC 4.5R and HI-MD?

[m82a]

Hey

There are loads of threads here and so if this has been answered before I apologise and could someone please point me in the right direction.

I have at the moment about 500 minidiscs recorded on various different ATRAC formats from the old 3 up to 4.5 and 4.5R.

Now then - New Hi-MD presents me with a bit of a problem as I have 2 ATRAC 4.5R decks which I can delightfully record from one to another - I know it's anolog but with a good amp and interconnects its good quality.

ANyhows, I'm dead chuffed with the way 4.5R sounds and even play my MD's over the original CD as I reckon the 24 BIt 4.5R converter on SOny's Decks picks out the midrange better than my marantz CD player.

My portable player has now packed in MZ-E909 and am pretty gutted as its perfect as the battery life keeps going and going - 6 weeks travelling and recharged it probably 3 times....

So it's time to buy a new poratble and go into the Hi-MD world - Prob is that the only advantage I can see so far is that it's a mass storage device which replaces the floppy disk.

Is Hi-MD even at the highest bit-rates as good as the good old DSP 4.5 Type R?? If it is then that's a bonus but annoying that codecs keep changing - can someone enlighten me on this.

I have over 500 disc which I sincerely would love to import on to my computer - as with crappy Net-MD - sonic stage seems to want to recompress it to LP and now Hi-MD to yet another format - I'm quite happy with the original sound I love hearing everyday. Can I just get SP on to my computer - oh no SOny have gone and messed that aswell.

So it seems I'm gonna buy the NH-1 when it eventually comes out - Be really pissed off at the rubbish battery life they have been spending the last 12 years of MD improving. Still not able to import my SP 4.5R discs on to my comp so I can make nice new compilation discs and then only use 20% of the features cos it's more hassle than it's worth sometimes - can't they just come out with a super format that will do it all.

Hi storage removable Media able to play all MP3 and superior ATRAC Codecs to maintain those nice baselines or subtle bongos from diappearing by compression and a load of battery life alll in a nice small anti-jog package in a small size that fits in your top pocket - THE TECHNOLOGY is there just not the willingness - They could stop ipods in their tracks in one fell swoop - we all still buy CD's cos we all know and love em!! just they're too bloody big!!

Anyone can help me on my dilema - I'm sure there must be a load of other MD peeps out there like me who like HiQuality small media??

[jadeclaw]

Ooookay, first, you cannot upload your old SP-recordings via USB onto the PC using a Hi-MD unit.

Only recordings made on a Hi-MD recorder in Hi-MD mode can be uploaded that way.

Second, the Hi-MD recorder will playback your SP-recordings.

Third, you can upload your old recordings by connecting line out of your home deck to line in of the soundcard in your PC and copy it realtime by recording it on the PC with a suitable program. For better quality, use optical digital instead, if PC and MD-deck offer it.

Fourth, Hi-SP is comparable with old SP in terms of quality, but your old decks won't play it, however, SonicStage now allows it to transfer in Hi-SP onto a Hi-MD recorder, thus giving better sound than NetMD.

Fifth, the short runningtimes have a reason: The Hi-MD-technology needs more power, so if the current times don't satisfy you, you either wait for the next generation of Hi-MD units or buy one of the current MDLP/NetMD - players.