Your 100% Non-BS opinion as a Hi-MD buyer.

[bhangraman]

To those of you who have purchased Hi-MD so far. I'm just started this thread for you guys to tell me what you think of Hi-MD so far. (NO FANBOY POSTINGS. I WANT A GENUINE CRITIQUE... have a think before you post.)

- Do you like it? If so, why?

- If not, what is wrong with Hi-MD?

- Is it a sufficient improvement on MD to survive in the current market?

- What has it got over HDD players in general that swung you to buy one? Did you compare before you bought, or was it more or less an automatic purchase because you were a past MD user?

- Would you recommend it to your friends looking for 'an MP3 player' bearing in mind it's limitations? And why?

- Did Sony treat you right? Did your shop treat you right? Did the shop try to mislead you in any way about Hi-MD?

- What in your opinion could Sony do to raise the public awareness of Hi-MD? (Bearing in mind that the ads aren't having much impact)

[u2o]

My opinions (NH3D owner)

Do I like it: I do now, when I was able to get my 1gb disc and Sonic Stage working on my eng.pc to make full use out of it. Recording in Atrac3+ LP2 or whatever its called, sound quality is good. I should be able to get 30+ hours of music on which is another good thing. Also acts as an removable drive, which should come useful once 1gb discs are widely available. The 3-line remote i got is very nice once you get used to it, but potential to easily being scratched.

- Is it a sufficient improvement on MD to survive in the current market?

Possibly not, netMD has been a great hit and any LP compatible MD player can play it, like car stereos with MD. HIMD is too new at the moment, which cant be used on cars or any of the existing MD stereo (i believe) which limits the market.

- What has it got over HDD players in general that swung you to buy one? Did you compare before you bought, or was it more or less an automatic purchase because you were a past MD user?

More or less an automatic purchase because I was a past MD user for about 6 years. I did consider iPOD mini though, along with some other less-known HDD players but I just like the idea of ability to get new discs if i run out of space, in theory i will be able to have more than what the HDD limits. That is, of course, when HIMD media comes out widely.

- Would you recommend it to your friends looking for 'an MP3 player' bearing in mind it's limitations? And why?

Dont know to be honest, it depends on whether they can bear with convertings and all that. I guess I would, with warnings about the conversion requirements which could potentially put them off.

- Did Sony treat you right? Did your shop treat you right? Did the shop try to mislead you in any way about Hi-MD?

Sony treated me right i guess, it did what it said on the box. Would have been nice to have a world-wide voltage adapter though. Shop i bought it from was a major japanese retail (yamada-denki) and they were very honest, although to be fair i didnt ask much questions as I had already done plenty of research prior to goin to the shops.

- What in your opinion could Sony do to raise the public awareness of Hi-MD? (Bearing in mind that the ads aren't having much impact)

TV ads would definately help, to be honest none of my friends know about HiMD so i have to explain about it each time. Of course, as they havent heard of it, they dont trust it as much as more widely known netMD, which i think most people have. Even making it publicly widely available would be nice, but i am sure that is to come along soon.

[Ipaqman]

- Do you like it? If so, why?

Yes. I like my MZ-NH1.

Compact and light (even lighter than my MZ-R900)

Excellent battery life indicator (measures in hours)

Fast 80 percent charge (one hour)

Great storage (compatible with old MD discs

Reliable, excellent recording quality

Powerful, flexible recording functionality

Two channel record level display

Upload / Download capability (never bought NetMD before)

Digital output via USB audio

Excellent sound quality and acceptable Hi-LP sound quality

Fast startup from power down (less than 2 secs for paused/stopped song)

Excellent track mark positioning function

Great LCD remote with 3 line display

Don't like the proprietary USB connector.

Don't like simplified LCD display on main unit

- Is it a sufficient improvement on MD to survive in the current market?

I think so. The PCM, Hi-SP, 1gb disks, and USB upload tip the balance for those who want portable mastering.

All it needs to make it perfect is the WAV convertor program to decrypt the uploads.

- What has it got over HDD players in general that swung you to buy one? Did you compare before you bought, or was it more or less an automatic purchase because you were a past MD user?

I bought the NH1 because I wanted a reliable, quality digital recorder. My HD recorders (NJB3, H120) are not reliable and have primitive recording functions.

I bought the NH1 from BestBuy for the price and the return policy so that I could give it a good try out.

- Would you recommend it to your friends looking for 'an MP3 player' bearing in mind it's limitations? And why?

For anyone needing a portable quality recorder, there is no other option. I have looked. DAT recorders are the only competition and they are not reliable enough and are very expensive. HD recorders are too primitive and flash recorders don't have the capacity.

- Did Sony treat you right? Did your shop treat you right? Did the shop try to mislead you in any way about Hi-MD?

Not applicable. BestBuy has a decent return policy. They shipped promptly for a good price ($350 plus free shipping).

[dex Otaku]

This contains a lot of personal opinion, so I hope it manages to stay within the guidelines of "Non-BS" :wink:

- Do you like it? If so, why?

- What has it got over HDD players in general that swung you to buy one? Did you compare before you bought, or was it more or less an automatic purchase because you were a past MD user?

I'm combining these two questions because some of my answers overlap.

I very much like my NH700. It meets my various needs [and exceeds some] as a portable player/recordable.

Among some of the reasons why it works for me:

* It's very small [and that despite being the bulkiest model in the current line]

* It takes commonly available batteries and has what I consider to be good battery life. For example: recording in Hi-SP mode, I have completely filled the 2:23 capacity of an older disc in a single run without killing a battery that had already been used to play discs for more than 3 hours.

* It uses highly durable, small, inexpensive, and widely available rewritable media [and that's even taking into account the lack of HiMD media on the wordwide market]

* The recording quality exceeds that of any other portable format I've used other than DAT [note: this doesn't mean that better things don't exist, only that I haven't used them]

* Recording length, even on HiMD-formatted 80min MDs, is excellent for my purposes. I rarely need to record anything longer than a few minutes, so PCM on HiMD'd std-MDs still has more time than I need for most sessions or outings. The option of 7:55 on 1GB media using HiSP mode means being able to record shows uninterrupted by anything other than power concerns.

* While it may not have the best implementation of such, it allows for manual control of most options, most notably recording levels; most inexpensive DV cameras and the like record LPCM but offer no options for manual control and very severely compress recordings, for instance

* While it takes some effort, it is possible to get recordings off the unit without any D/A and A/D conversion

* The output volume is more than sufficient for my needs [i usually sit it at between 10-13/30 as anything above that is uncomfortably loud for me with my 'phones]

* Gapless playback is good, at least coming from frame-accurate sources [i.e. ripped from CD]

* The built-in EQ is sufficiently good to compensate for the known deficiencies of my portable 'phones. I have no use for the effects like virtual surround that are built into the higher end models.

* Sound quality in general is good [noting that the model I have does not feature a digital amp], especially when one keeps in mind how small the unit is and that it's running on 1.2-1.5V from a single battery.

* Even with just the stock remote [black stick with no display] I find the player a pleasure to use. I like being able to stuff the unit in my pocket, string the remote to another pocket, hide the 'phones cord under my shirt, and go for a walk with something that -never- skips, sounds good, and if presented with the right environment or situation I can have set up for recording in under a minute

As to the hdd player question, I actually have no practical use for anything that is player-only, regardless of capacity, sound quality, or features. If it can't record, it's basically of no use to me. With the extremely limited income I have, it's important in the extreme for me to be as pragmatic as possible with purchases of any kind. HiMD presented me with the best compromise available at this time.

As to specific reasons to choose it over a hdd player, the only ones I'd really point out are the ability to use common batteries and the durability of the media.

- If not, what is wrong with Hi-MD?

I'll skip the "if not" part and just get to what's wrong with it.

* The worst thing about HiMD is, in one word: SonicStage. Generally speaking, it's crap. The interface is confusing, poorly-organised, and ugly. It terms of functionality, it's bug-riddled and strongly gives the impression of being an alpha-release despite being Sony's supposed flagship for their Connect music service [which I don't use and likely never will]. SonicStage has a long, LONG way to go before it will have the consumer appeal of a product like iTunes or Winamp [this coming from someone who has been using Winamp since the pre-v1.0 days].

* Sony's DRM.. Yes, it's the wave of the future. And I sincerely hope that when people realise that, they'll rise up against it in all its forms. DRM has seriously hobbled this format into something that the average person will find unusable for - what I at least - view as its best intended purpose - portable recording.

* There's no reason why, on something that costs $300CAD or more, they can't include a switchable indiglo-type backlight on the unit's display, especially considering the fact that $10 watches that run for 3-4 years off one battery have had this feature for years. Same goes with all of the remotes with displays. This omission is a serious one and their engineers should be slapped silly for it.

* The inability to permanently set it to manual record levels is another one they should be slapped silly for. A switch as with older units or a remembered setting would be great. I'd prefer the switch, myself.

* The group function is great, but why not have that "group" button, while recording, start a new group and track? [this can only be done by pressing stop, which means having to put the unit back in manual levels through the menus again]

* The lack of a mid-quality [128-192kbps] bitrate with atrac3+ is another serious omission.

* When recording with powered mics and using the AC adapter, there is audible hum in the recording. Have electronics companies forgotten the true value of a $0.03 power regulator and $0.02 capacitor, or is it just me?

* Plastic. Plastic, plastic, plastic. Gone are the days of aluminum-cased units, in the interests of lowering prices, I guess. The NH700 still seems durable to me, despite being all-plastic, but I doubt it would survive even one good drop. Thankfully, I'm accustomed to being very careful with things like this, but many people aren't.

- Is it a sufficient improvement on MD to survive in the current market?

IMO, MD itself can't survive in the current market, and neither can HiMD - not as consumer formats. The consumer end of things will remain an offshoot of the professional uses such as MD had such success with.

By 1995, MD had almost completely replaced cart tape in most of the upscale Canadian broadcasting industry, and was already being used for location recording by the CBC. Now all CBC reporters carry MD recorders. HiMD could easily phase into that market and completely replace MD in time.

Among other reasons for this is the fact that you can mail or courier an MD / HiMD somewhere without much worry. CDs do occasionally get mangled, and I wouldn't want to send flash media anywhere like this, personally. The durability of the media speaks for itself after more than 10 years of embedded use in various industries.

The ability to upload unrestricted, as I would expect to see on professional versions of HiMD, would also help secure its place in various industries that rely on location recording, fast dumps to notebook computers and then uploading to regional HQ via internet. CBC's procedures work this way and could only be helped by unrestricted upload, which would become a great selling point [to pros] of course.

So yes, it's enough of an improvement to survive. But not in the consumer market.

I'll point out here that since MD came out, I have only met one person in Canada [and have never even heard of anyone else, and I have met a lot of people who work in various aspects of the independent music industry, music schools, etc.] who used MD for "general purposes" and had a home deck. The one person I met had a bookshelf system with built-in MD, and that was back in 1994. He didn't even know that MDs used adaptive compression, and spent a few hours in the student pub with me trying to convince me [over several pints] that MD audio was exactly the same as CD audio. He didn't know that I'd written papers in high school on things like why DAT died as a consumer product, and how the wave of the future would be formats using lossy compression [DCC and MD were just out at that time].

I have never actually even seen a home deck, myself. I have never been anywhere that sold them.

See also my answers to the next question.

- Would you recommend it to your friends looking for 'an MP3 player' bearing in mind it's limitations? And why?

No. I would not even begin to recommend either MD or HiMD to anyone who doesn't need something specifically for recording.

IMO, both MD and HiMD are very ill-suited as consumer formats/devices. While the selling points I listed above are advantageous, most people are more concerned with being able to carry lots of music at once and being able to put things on the player as quickly as possible.

Even the cheapest hdd players can outdo any HiMD/MD in terms of transfer speeds. Most of them are not hobbled by the same DRM restrictions. Most of them work either as simple USB/firewire removable discs or with multiple options in regards to library software, be it RealOne [gag], iTunes, or whatever else.

They have much, much larger capacities - I don't take that argument about "when the disc is full you just put another one in," and most of the people I know who want mp3 players wouldn't, either. Most of them would rather quickly remove a few tracks and put more on their hdd player than to have to carry more than one disc around, because that means fiddling through pockets or purses and having to negotiate the removal and insertion of media - juggling several objects and sometimes possibly dropping the player in the process.

While it is true that there are many hdd players out there that have truly horrible user interfaces, most of the ones I've seen weren't so bad that the average person couldn't at least figure out how to get it turned on, get it playing, and find what they want to hear. Finding it quickly is another issue, of course.

The worst point against hdd players is that of the fragility of the disc itself. MD and HiMD both have this beat, hands-down, and in the case of MD has done so for 11 years.

In terms of an audio format in general, MD and HiMD are convenient, but are falling seriously behind the times. With SACD/SDDS and DVD-A now out, 24-bit audio becoming commonplace enough that people might notice a format's support of it, and mp3/mp2 support available on $50 DVD players everywhere, MD and HiMD present no serious advantages to the average consumer in a home environment.

As a portable format its strengths speak for themselves, but the issues of transfer speed, closed codec support, obligatory transcoding, and seriously hampering DRM will disappoint most people to the point that they will either stay away from it completely [if, indeed, they ever even hear about it] or return units after purchasing them because Sony fail to deliver on their promises.

And that's without even mentioning SonicStage, which is the biggest single reason the average consumer will probably be frustrated to the point of wanting to employ a large mallet and a hard swing in improving the functionality of their HiMD, atrac3+ CD, and other atrac3/atrac3+ players.

- Did Sony treat you right? Did your shop treat you right? Did the shop try to mislead you in any way about Hi-MD?

There is no Sony store where I live.

I purchased my NH700 through Minidisc Canada. I found their service excellent. In all the correspondence I had with them, I always dealt with the same person, which I find noteworthy.

I will definitely deal with them again in the future, and would recommend them to anyone in Canada.

They in no way mislead me at to the capabilities of HiMD, though I must point out that I'm not the average consumer and knew more about the format before even checking out their website than many people would know about it after having purchased and used one for a year.

- What in your opinion could Sony do to raise the public awareness of Hi-MD?

First of all, they could tell the truth about it, rather than using hyped claims that will lead to product returns and customers on support lines who are fed up with their [sony's] inability to help them with some of the misleading and/or outright false claims they've made about it.

They could also start distributing actual HiMD media.

The biggest thing they could do is completely remove DRM restrictions on self-made recordings, and push the format, push it hard as primarily for recording - with the added bonus of being a portable music player [which is basically how I look at it].

IMO, they should completely ditch all player-only models except the top-end ones, and push HiMD as hard as possible as the portable recording media of our time. Because really - what else is there nowadays? Most of the people I know are still using cassette and microcassette for portable recording. While the sound pros and broadcasting pros I know use everything from DAT to Nagra open-reel recorders - an awful lot of them use MD.

The situation where I live isn't exactly the same as everywhere else; I have never seen Sony promote MD, anywhere, ever. I've never seen an advertisement [except in American magazines], and until last week when Sony started running one with MuchMusic I had never seen any kind of promos, either. MD is the invisible format - no one knows it exists.

Perhaps if Sony stopped relying on their own chain of stores in Canada.. Perhaps if they aggressively marketed the format to retailers in general [since you will never find the players, recorders, or media at a place like Wal-Mart up here, though computer stores tend to carry the discs at reasonable prices] and actually tried to inform the people who were supposed to be selling them as to what they were.. perhaps that would make a difference.

[aeriyn]

Wow, dex, that was in-depth.

By the way, flash memory type media is very durable, much tougher than it appears (save for SmartMedia, which is the most fragile of the bunch). My father is a photographer and his CF cards occasionally take some serious abuse when he's out shooting in the field (usually hostile environments like the desert, forests, etc).

There was some test on the internet that showed flash memory cards nailed to a tree which data was still recoverable off of. I don't think MD can do that. :laugh:

I agree on the point about hdd fragility, although Skyther has told me that he's accidentally dropped his iPod several times and it still works beautifully.

The only thing that really burns me up about HDPs (especially iPod) is the short battery life. After using MD as my primary portable format, I got used to the 30ish hour battery life using SP mode... the first actual MP3 player I bought (Rio S30S) has less than 1/4 the battery life. I would be always carrying an AAA battery with me wherever I went.

Btw, I chose MD as a portable format (well my aunt sort of chose it for me when she gave me my Japanese R900 for Christmas in 2000) before MP3 players were widely available; I believe Diamond Rio's very first solid-state MP3 player with 32mb was one of the few available, at the low-low price of 300USD. :laugh:

HDPs didn't even exist yet. Also, I didn't have a computer at the time, where MP3 portables would be completely useless to me, I could record high-quality audio digitally off my parents' DVD player via the optical output.

I haven't bought a Hi-MD. I likely will never buy one. My last MD purchase will probably be a used ATRAC 4.5 (or type-r) deck so I can get digital record from the recordings I make with my R900 to my PC without having to do the whole DAC thing. Come next year's tax return, I'm taking that check to pair a pink iPod Mini with my Shure E2cs (until I get a pair of Etys, muahahahaha) and likely my DS8 will be shelved, or sold.

I'm going to miss 30+ hours of battery life, though. I consider it a fair trade, however, for with my purpose of owning a portable, iPod is far superior (I'll just have to remember to toss it on the dock every night).

:grin:

[Yiggy]

- Do you like it? If so, why?

I have a MZ-NH1. Its sleek, I like the remote, its the perfect size, I love the removable storage. I like the line out. My old player didn't have one, and already I love this feature.

- If not, what is wrong with Hi-MD?

I like it, but I'm still going to put what I think isn't up to snuff on this player.

1) You can't switch to lineout mode with the remote plugged in. So, if I wanna use the lineout option, I lose the easy functionality that the remote brings. I don't think the interface on the player is as bad as everyone makes it, but when I'm using the line out, I'm likely in my car, and using that joystick button and holding onto the entire player is a pain when I could just have the remote in one hand and my other on the wheel.

2) There is no track mark button or record button on the remote. I like to have the hold feature on on the player itself and have it in my pocket while using the remote exclusively. When recording this isn't an option, Which is weak sauce cause discretion is nice, especially when recording live concerts.

- Is it a sufficient improvement on MD to survive in the current market?

As far as MD's go, I think so yes. I loved my old player but storage was a pain, and even on old discs that are reformated its still not as much as I'd like. However, I think the 1 gig disc is perfect for what I need, it fits the right amount of music on one disc so that I only need one, and if I'm traveling short distances, an extra disc would likely cover all the music I'd want to carry. If I'm traveling long then thats not a factor anyway since I'd just bring my MD wallet.

- What has it got over HDD players in general that swung you to buy one? Did you compare before you bought, or was it more or less an automatic purchase because you were a past MD user?

Live recording options. My old MD unit wasn't capable of this, and so the better storage plus recording was just the next step for me. I did consider HDD players. At first the IPod because of transfer speeds and second the Sony HDD player (because my collection is already in ATRAC). The live recording was what ultimately swung my vote. That and the fact that I just don't feel comfortable going around with a harddrive, too worried it'll break, especially when I know people's who have (iPODs at that).

- Would you recommend it to your friends looking for 'an MP3 player' bearing in mind it's limitations? And why?

Yes and no. Yes because some of my friends would simply prefer this format with removable storage because we have huge collections. A friend of mine filled his iPOD up completely an hour out of the box and still had music left, so now hes frustrated cause he doesn't wanna pay money to upgrade to a 40gig from his 20gig.

No, because other friends of mine are impatient. A HDD player would probably be better because getting music on it would be quicker and they wouldn't have to transcode their mp3's.

- Did Sony treat you right? Did your shop treat you right? Did the shop try to mislead you in any way about Hi-MD?

Sony? No. I waited to buy my unit forever, and now I'm waiting just for extra Hi-MD's. Its frustrating and dissapointing at the same time. I got my unit almost a month ago, but I'll be waiting another week probably just go get extra discs.

My store didn't. I bought it from Amazon. I got mine for 340.00, Free shipping, 60 dollars down from what their price was. Shipping was prompt. I don't feel that they misadvertised anything. If they did it wasn't their fault, they pretty much posted what they got from the press kit. WIth the amount of merchandise and customers they handle I can't expect them to call Sony on sketchy claims.

- What in your opinion could Sony do to raise the public awareness of Hi-MD? (Bearing in mind that the ads aren't having much impact)

All I can think are, what ads? I've yet to see any ads for Hi-MD. I've seen ads for their harddrive player. The one with Macy Gray is annoying, and even if I was looking for a HDD and loved Sony that commercial would drive me away from it. In addition the only advertising I've seen for the Connect store was in conjunction with McDonalds.

If they want their stuff to sell they could try advertising more aggresively. If they want Hi-MD to succeed they need to focus on it rather than the gammut of other products they're throwing out on the same table. And finally if they really want Hi-MD to take off, they need to reconsider direct mp3 playback on future gen models. I had a friend that picked up my Hi-MD player, fell in love with it, only to turn around and buy an iPOD (which, might I add, he hates apple, hates itunes, doesn't like the whole iPod image and is still dissatisfied with certain aspects of his iPod) all because he didn't want to transcode his mp3's.

In closing, I love my Hi-MD. Its a product thats perfect for me, and would be even if I'd never owned MD players. I can't say that for everyone else though, and while I may stock up on Hi-MD's and use it religiously, I can't say that the product line will survive outside a highly niche market. Not with the restrictions it has.

[DrZhivago]

I feel bad about this product. Not because I think it's bad. Quite the opposite,I used to like it. I feel bad because its sound quality has almost been bashed to death on these forums They, are tellin me(these, these damn, damn audiophiles )it ain't good,after I spent couple hundered of smackers and after all that long wait and excitement. :whatever: Yesterdee I was walking down the street with my MZNH1 remote proudly attached to my jacket, good looking chick stopped me and said:"hey dude that's pretty cool little mp3 player you've got". I i-i-i, I :wacky: almost reached for my pocket.but then said: "Yeah,ain't it cool sugarl". Yesterdee I was happy chap.Today is Sunday I am sitting in my room,contemplating an iPod mini pink.

:grin:

[aeriyn]

Today is Sunday I am sitting in my room,contemplating an iPod mini pink.

:laugh:

You just had to throw that last little bit in there, didn't you?

That's what I want. :whatever:

And it has to do with more than sound quality. ATRAC SP mode is fine sound quality for me (with portable application). It has to do with not transcoding, with not recording the slow way, with not having to worry about strangling DRM and many, many other things (such as 4gb of storage, I can fit a lot of 192-320kbps MP3s in 4 gigs...).

Yeah, I'm not skyther. :grin: I don't require all my music to be in Apple Lossless to listen to it. But I do like my portables to be easy to use; one handed operation is almost a MUST. It's very difficult to juggle a portable unit, my purse and discs when changing media... with HDPs that's not a problem at all.

Accessiblity aside, the iPod's got the power I need to drive better 'phones, while my DS8 is quiet even on 16 ohm 'phones (although, this has a lot to do with the 4-pole deal, the volume is quite acceptible with my MD33S 4-conductor 'phones).

I'm just going to miss that battery life. Really going to miss it. Average six hour battery life = ebil. I like not having to charge/switch batteries except once a week or so.

[DrZhivago]

:rasp: :smile: I just had to do it.

I totally agree with you. Don't have money right now to throw yet at another portable player,but when I save some, I will eventualy buy an iPod (not pink and not mini though :smile: ). Heck, maybe I'll get iMac G5 to go along with it.

Cheers

P.S I am sure that mini Pink will look great on you.

[skyther]

I'm being overquoted around here..

[Michael_Walker]

- Do you like it? If so, why?

YES! it records flawlessly, and on playback its extremely shock-resistant. Thats all i ask for!

- Is it a sufficient improvement on MD to survive in the current market?

for me, it is.. i resisted buying an MD recorder for YEARS, now i have one!

- What has it got over HDD players in general that swung you to buy one?

cheap, removeable media! (archival use is important for me, i make plenty of live recordings of my band)

Did you compare before you bought, or was it more or less an automatic purchase because you were a past MD user?

i shopped around a LOT, and never owned an MD before

- Would you recommend it to your friends looking for 'an MP3 player' bearing in mind it's limitations? And why?

sure, its simply the most cost effective removeable MO drive going.. that means a lot to my friends, since they all have thousands of hours of music - enough to fill multiple hard drives!

- Did Sony treat you right?

sure, guess they did okay

Did your shop treat you right?

they were lame, but all russian shops are lame

Did the shop try to mislead you in any way about Hi-MD?

no they knew less about it than i did..

- What in your opinion could Sony do to raise the public awareness of Hi-MD? (Bearing in mind that the ads aren't having much impact)

they could start by making the Hi-MD media more widely available

:wacky:

[LMFDean9]

To those of you who have purchased Hi-MD so far. I'm just started this thread for you guys to tell me what you think of Hi-MD so far. (NO FANBOY POSTINGS. I WANT A GENUINE CRITIQUE... have a think before you post.)

- Do you like it? If so, why?

- If not, what is wrong with Hi-MD?

- Is it a sufficient improvement on MD to survive in the current market? 

- What has it got over HDD players in general that swung you to buy one? Did you compare before you bought, or was it more or less an automatic purchase because you were a past MD user?

- Would you recommend it to your friends looking for 'an MP3 player' bearing in mind it's limitations? And why?

- Did Sony treat you right? Did your shop treat you right? Did the shop try to mislead you in any way about Hi-MD?

- What in your opinion could Sony do to raise the public awareness of Hi-MD? (Bearing in mind that the ads aren't having much impact)

Do I like Hi-MD? Yes, definitely. Especially since I sync-ed recorded about 9 hours worth of radio programming on Windows Audio onto my MD last week. But why I like MD over something like an iPod is purely personal preference (I like being able to archive everything on different discs). Also, coming from an old MDLP-only player, the sound is certainly a huge improvement as well.

I don't think MD will survive in the American market, it never lived. However, I think when prices come back down and it starts matching those of MP3 players, it will survive in the Japan market, where MD is still very popular (My tutor here at school saw my Hi-MD and proclaims that he wants one as well).

Hi-MD was an automatic purchase for me just because 1) I was coming to Japan, and 2) looking to buy a new MD player to replace my old 2-and-a-half year old player. Like I wrote earlier, why I'd choose MD over a MP3 player is purely personal preference to stay out of the mainstream and to archive my recordings.

I don't think I'd be able to convince anyone to buy an MD player over a MP3 unless they are looking to getting a lot of music from me or they really do want to explore the MD market because for now Hi-MD is far too new, and thus too expensive. Also, it would depend on why my friends would want an MP3 player.

Sony didn't quite treat me right, especially with the Japan-only adaptor and the software (apparently, Sony told the family-ran shop I bought it at and other stores that the software is only in Japanese). However, the shop treated me very well with the advice about software and the discount.

I don't think Sony at this point can do anything about MD awareness as MD has already had a fan base and the high price of Hi-MD isn't going to attract any new users. However, once Sony find that they can afford to lower the prices a little bit on both the hardware and software, I think this will turn some interest into actual purchases.

[vova]

To those of you who have purchased Hi-MD so far. I'm just started this thread for you guys to tell me what you think of Hi-MD so far. (NO FANBOY POSTINGS. I WANT A GENUINE CRITIQUE... have a think before you post.)

It's definitely not an mp3 player, so to anyone looking for one I say fugedaboutit. There are easier/cheaper ways to download your mp3s from PC. However I am into lossless lately, and if there is a lossless/pcm player out there that costs $150 and comes with 1 gig of memory I'd like to hear about it. And has reasonable battery life and uses AA batteries and is small enough to fit in a pocket.

It will survive, maybe not in the US market where I predict flash players will disappear too, but overseas where people tend not to have PCs and standalone record capability is a major plus.

[aeriyn]

However I am into lossless lately, and if there is a lossless/pcm player out there that costs $150 and comes with 1 gig of memory I'd like to hear about it.

There's one that has twenty times what Hi-MD has and plays lossless/linear PCM. And it fits in your pocket quite well.

iPod. :laugh:

Not $150, but neither is Hi-MD. Only the NH600D is under $200, and because it only uses SonicStage, the highest you can go on it is Hi-SP.

[bhangraman]

**GRATUITOUS PICTURE ALERT **

Despite the fact that my own Lossless player which fits on it the equivalent of 6 ~ 8 Hi-MD discs in PCM and does surprising amount of justice to the 'front end' pictured is not a Hi-MD :rasp: I'm not really inviting specific iPod comparisons. I really want to see what you Hi-MD owners think of it in the way that I mentioned.

[AMPlitudeHD]

wow, nice pics, i gotta agree with ipaqman with his comments on hte nh1, its a great piece of equipment if you can obtain it for less then the list price, otherwise, head for the nh900

[mutant1345]

okay i am a fan of md and i hate mp3 players but i can give an honest opinion and not just glorify what i like so here it goes

do i like it?

of course i do thats ahy i got it, it holds the amount of music i have (i dont have more than 1 or two discs worht of music in hi lp so im good) nd i get to hold my data on the old discs as i need to back things up

what is wrong with hi-md?

well lets see here...i cant go to far into uploading but i have experianced the uploading whatnots and i have to say there is work to be done , i wont go into that seeing as how there are threads upon threads over this so...

is it a sufficiant improvment?

by far it is... weve gone from 5.5 houres of music to 45 houres (in 48 k which no one uses, yuck) or 34 in hi lp still a big improvment

will it survive in the current market?

well this is tuff now....i would have to say right now by what i see no....but when i look into the possibilities then yes i could see it being the most sufficiant recorder ever but untill some software issues are worked out and released then hell no none will want these things.

what does it have over hdd players?

alot and alot less, they are able to record perfectly most units dont require a pc for transfer of music (unless its a downloader i.e. 600d american) although some hdd players have line ins i hear bad stuff about them all the time , bad recording unreliable after 30 mins of recording etc...

i baught one because i was a past owner and i like the new capacity, it suited me well so i purchased it.

Would i recomend it?

yes and i already got a net md for a freind in which he loves dearly but unless they wanted fast loading of music to a portable player that needed no extra features on it just to play bak mp3s then no i would recomend an mp3 player or hdd player.

did sony treat me right.

me yes but i can not say the same for others who were mislead in the uploading dept and ive heard sony is packaging reformated 80 min discs and calling them 13.5 houre hi mds and over pricing them , wtf is that i think that is misleading but i havnt seen this my self so...

what could sony do to improve awareness....?

well i remember when i saw an ad for netmd and they werent that great, (some little alien dude recording an md off a laptop and giving it to some chik or something)

i guess if they, as someone else said made the discs more common and less expensive....people woud go

Costumor: hey whats this 1 gig disc thing go to

Store Clerk: that goes to a hi minidisc player it alows 1 gigabyte of media dtorage or music in the atrac3 or 3 plus format

Costumer:so its an mp3 player then that doubles as a storage device?

Store Clerk: no you can store mp3s as a storage file but the player does not read them it reads atrac3 encoded music (hopefully wont turn people off once there is less drm if that ever happens)

Costumer: well maybe ill guve that a try...

Costumer likes hi-md player/recorder tells freinds....freinds try they like tell other its popular !!!

but that would require a bit of change around the md thing so maybe down the road some day

thats my opinion what yours??

[celticchrys]

- Do you like it? If so, why?

Yes, I like it. It's small, light, holds more per piece of media than flash players, but Hi-MD disks are still way cheaper than comparably sized flash media cards. Good sound, and good battery life.

- If not, what is wrong with Hi-MD?

I would say that if I could just drag and drop my mp3s over to the player in Windows Explorer, that would be the biggest improvement that could be made. A backlight I can turn on and off for the screen would also be very handy. One feature I miss from my Lyra.

- Is it a sufficient improvement on MD to survive in the current market?

Without a ton of serious and very well done promotion? Probably not, which is sad, because there seems to be some very good engineering in MD players, yet most ppl seem to have never heard of them.

- What has it got over HDD players in general that swung you to buy one? Did you compare before you bought, or was it more or less an automatic purchase because you were a past MD user?

A friend has a NetMD player. I had an original RCA Lyra, and a Sony Clié Palm handheld that plays mp3s. I wanted to carry more mp3s in a player with better battery life. I looked at Ipod, Dell DJ, Creative Zen Xtra, Creative Zen Touch, etc, etc. And the new 1 and 1.5 gig HD players, and the new Flash players.

Chant with me now: Battery life! Battery life! Battery life! Double A's! Double A's! My friend's NetMD player blew away all the others for battery life. And the media was way cheaper than CF cards, etc. I sighed and said, "gee, if this thing held at least a gig of music, it'd be what I need." Then I saw that Hi-Md had come out. And that was that.

- Would you recommend it to your friends looking for 'an MP3 player' bearing in mind it's limitations? And why?

Yes. I'd tell them the reasons I chose it.(battery life!) And ask them about what's more important regarding cheap media, or media capacity, etc.

- Did Sony treat you right? Did your shop treat you right? Did the shop try to mislead you in any way about Hi-MD?

I got my unit at Radio Shack. The clerk didn't even know there was a difference between regular MD and Hi-MD. Polite but not up to date on knowledge.

- What in your opinion could Sony do to raise the public awareness of Hi-MD? (Bearing in mind that the ads aren't having much impact)

There are ads? I've never seen one. Where are these ads? They should advertise in tech-savvy media. Wired magazine. Tech TV. They should do product placements on popular teen shows. Contests to give away players on really popular teen shows. Really play up things like battery life and cheaper media. Sony doesn't seem to have problems with being able to advertise Playstation stuff. Where are the prominent MD store displays? The catchy funky tv ads?

Sincerely,

Chrys

[vova]

[

There's one that has twenty times what Hi-MD has and plays lossless/linear PCM. And it fits in your pocket quite well.

iPod.  :laugh:

Not $150, but neither is Hi-MD. Only the NH600D is under $200, and because it only uses SonicStage, the highest you can go on it is Hi-SP.

I don't need something that will not make my pants drop to the ground if I put it in my pocket and I need something with battery life a bit better than "up to 8 hrs" and can be had for $150. And plays lossless. Ipod does not even begin to meet these conditions

[aeriyn]

Um... there are no Hi-MD models that will do linear PCM for under $150. The only one under $200 is the NH600D, and you can't put PCM directly onto the discs with it.

Also, iPod Mini is a whole lot smaller than any of these Hi-MD units. It's smaller (and about the same weight, maybe a bit lighter) than my Sharp MD-DS8...

It plays both .wav and Apple Lossless. And you don't have to record in realtime. Fast 2.4mb/s USB2.0/Firewire transfers, my friend. :happy:

Battery life... meh, it's not that big of a deal with Li-Ion batteries, since you don't have to wait until they die to charge them. Just toss it on the dock every night when you go to bed. When you arise, behold! A freshly charged Li-Ion.

(although that is indeed one of my gripes with iPods... I like my DS8's 28-30 hour battery life using SP mode.)

Most of the Hi-MD units don't have all that much battery life either. *points at the NH1*

[mutant1345]

aeriyn i know yer all over these ipods and i know that they are pretty sweet lookin and hold alot and are good for some people but my reason for not getting one is this,

i need something more durable, i had a freind that put almost 5 gigs of music on his and he tripped and fell on the thing (not too hard but enough) and the ipod was okay but that not to say the music was too....he lost it all!!!!

i was considering one untill that happend to ma freind then i went to my himd (which i have fallen on a few times working and such and i have to say its held up wonderfuly and the music is definetly in tact all 400 tracks so i think it really depends on the persons activity and where that machine is going and whats happening to it and whether you wanna risk all that music eh?

[Syrius]

Sorry if this derails the topic, guys. Last saturday I was watching the anime bar of adult swim on cartoon network, and just between Wolf's Rain and Cowboy Bebop, guess what digital audio player was being advertised?

Ipod.

Which brings me to the conclusion (Duh) that if Sony expects to get a slice of the pie, they better start telling people about their new flavor of MD, and soon. And truthfully. Do they expect knowledge of MD to be passed on to new prospective customers via osmose?

*whispers to Sony* If you tell them... they shall come. :laugh:

[mutant1345]

well i think that right now sony is putting there advertising stuff to there network walkman that holds 20 gigs of music in that little credit card sized whatchamijiger

which is the more competing with the non removeble storage thing

20 gigs on that small thing is pretty sweet and im pretty sure it would crash ipod completely except for one little thing......

EVEN THERE HDD BASED PLAYER Which is the most free type of music player out there plays only atrac3 (+) that is the crippling the thing that could possibly kill ipod its smaler i believe and hold 20 gigs (ipod probly around the same for the smallest)

and i just cant believe sony took the mp3 playing mp3 player and took it of its best capibility, playing mp3s , sure it "supports" mp3 wav and all those, doesnt mean it lays em just converts them in the ss program

TISK TISK TISK SONY...you are the best audio portable company you have the best stuff ever made....but you guys really need to have at least one thing out that doesnt play ONLY your special format

[aeriyn]

aeriyn i know yer all over these ipods and i know that they are pretty sweet lookin and hold alot and are good for some people but my reason for not getting one is this,

i need something more durable, i had a freind that put almost 5 gigs of music on his and he tripped and fell on the thing (not too hard but enough) and the ipod was okay but that not to say the music was too....he lost it all!!!!

i was considering one untill that happend to ma freind then i went to my himd (which i have fallen on a few times working and such and i have to say its held up wonderfuly and the music is definetly in tact all 400 tracks so i think it really depends on the persons activity and where that machine is going and whats happening to it and whether you wanna risk all that music eh?

Well, I don't see why you would load all your music onto an iPod and not also leave it on your hard drive... That just doesn't make sense to me.

While I record SP-mode MDs for the moment, that doesn't mean I delete the MP3s and FLACs off my hard drive.

[vova]

Um... there are no Hi-MD models that will do linear PCM for under $150. The only one under $200 is the NH600D, and you can't put PCM directly onto the discs with it.

I paid $150 for my NH600D and am listening to gorgeous PCM put directly on it. $150 buys you a wimpy 256 meg flash player, so the HD600 is a pretty good deal.

Granted that ipod mini would probably record faster because it's HD based. But it costs an extra $100 and has little battery mojo. Plus it comes standard with a metrosexual image that I personally could live without.

[aeriyn]

I paid $150 for my NH600D and am listening to gorgeous PCM put directly on it. $150 buys you a wimpy 256 meg flash player, so the HD600 is a pretty good deal.

Granted that ipod mini would probably record faster because it's HD based.  But it costs an extra $100 and has little battery mojo. Plus it comes standard with a metrosexual image that I personally could live without.

A winner is you.

As far as I knew, SonicStage did not allow you to transfer PCM tracks.

Pfft. Are you saying the iPod isn't manly enough? :laugh: Maybe not a pink one... IMHO, iPod Mini's looks own the NH600D. I seriously can't stand that thing. I just don't see dropping over $100 on any digital audio player entirely made of plastic.

[Latexxx]

As far as I knew, SonicStage did not allow you to transfer PCM tracks.

Try SS 2.1.

[b0neman]

I just got a HiMD player off ebay for really good price and am completely satisified with it. I don't know if anyone else has researched through this site, but SonicStage is not a requirement (err you might just have to install it but you don't have to actually run it) to get MP3's onto your MD player. I had a MZ505 before this and was horrified at the crappy SonicStage stuff and knew there had to be an alternative.

Eff SonicStage!

A combination of daemontools/M3U2SB/SimpleBurner turns your computer into an mp3 machine. Now, it is some work and more than a bit of baby sitting that has to be done to get mp3 into an "album" form that SimpleBurner can use but in the end it is as elegant a solution as any.

FAULTS but not Really...

I don't have a need for lossless playback of mp3s as this is a travel/car companion and you're screwed in those situations as far as acoustic quality. So, HI-LP is wonderful for me. Battery life in the double digits from a single battery beats just about every other player out there. No power adapter is no problem if you use rechargables plus the rechargables get longer life.

I don't personally have a need for line-in recording from this thing but I've heard that others have used these units for years and are quite happy. If you're recording live music, maybe a multitrack unit may be more your speed.

Sony, Soni, Sonie, has done it again... NOT

Why Sony has no clue about marketing these things properly in the US is beyond me. They have absolutely crushed the competition in the video game console "wars." They *INVENTED* the portable audio craze. Who didn't want a WalkMan way back when? Why is the HiMD media unavailable? It all just doesn't make sense.

The SonicStage software, the user interface on the units themselves and the just plain dumb unuserfriendliness of these things baffles me as well since the PS2 is something that even a 4 year old can master in a matter of minutes.

Bottom Line

If you want it, you can pry my HiMD player off my cold dead fingers!

[mutant1345]

Well, I don't see why you would load all your music onto an iPod and not also leave it on your hard drive... That just doesn't make sense to me.

While I record SP-mode MDs for the moment, that doesn't mean I delete the MP3s and FLACs off my hard drive.

i didnt say that he didnt keep it on his computer too but i am sayin that its frustrating having to put em back onto the player

and say yer in a situation where you dont have your computer around and this happens. like yer on vacation or something and you bring your ipod the charger and all its whatnots this happens sure youve got your nice ipod yer nice charger and youve just lost all yer musicbecause something accidental happend you arent gonna see yer computer for a week (maybe less) wouldnt that suck

and im not saying that it would crash on all kinds of shock to the device but im saying that some people wouldnt wanna take that chance especialy if your puting alot of music on it

[aeriyn]

i didnt say that he didnt keep it on his computer too but i am sayin that its frustrating having to put em back onto the player

and say yer in a situation where you dont have your computer around and this happens. like yer on vacation or something and you bring your ipod the charger and all its whatnots this happens sure youve got your nice ipod yer nice charger and youve just lost all yer musicbecause something accidental happend you arent gonna see yer computer for a week (maybe less) wouldnt that suck

and im not saying that it would crash on all kinds of shock to the device but im saying that some people wouldnt wanna take that chance especialy if your puting alot of music on it

In that situation, yeah I see how MD would be superior, IF you were prone to violently flailing around and tossing your iPod through the air... :laugh:

[mutant1345]

not exacltey it doesnt take more than a small drop i believe (an accidental height)

[Leland]

I owned a NH600 for just under 30 days, then returned it.

As a MD unit, I liked it. Later, when I tried a HDD player (I bought the little one from Sony) I decided I would most likely not use MD much for portable listening. For recording, it is still an outstanding format.

I used to recommend MD, but these days I think it would confuse most consumers as being overly complex.

Sony always has treated me right but my history with MD has included some units that died after only a year or two. I never minded because I liked buying a new one almost every year, but I think the units have lacked longevity. The discs are bulletproof, which is great.

I am sorry to say I am afraid that HiMD is not going to do well. I was at Best Buy in California this week and they have lowered the price on the NH600 to 179.00 US$, indicating they are not moving. Also, the one I returned is on the shelf still, not moving even at an additional 10 dollars off after two months. The Best Buy and Frys near me have yet to stock any units other than the 600. Doesn't bode well.

I might buy one as a recorder in the future depending on the price and performance of the next gen products, assuming there ever are any.

[lamewing]

I can see this argument from both sides. In fact I made use of my local CompUSA and Targets return policies to test out the HiMD and the iPod mini.

Up front. I hate the new iPods. I did like the original design with the mechanical scroll wheel, but that is story for another time....

I kept the PINK iPod mini for a week and used it daily. The pink actually has a more redish-pink color thanks to the anodized aluminum shell. Really nice looking and I god MANY comments by the young ladies at my university.

The iPod mini is very easy to use, but the remote is worthless, and the earbuds are very average in sound reproduction. I LOVE the fact that the iPod mini can display kana, kanji and hangul perfectly with no hacks to iTunes or the player itself. The mini is also very sturdy. The aluminum body just screams durability and quality. The mini also has a nice heft to it. Light, but not magnesium light, if you get my drift.

I also tried the NH600 from Target. Ugh. The plastic body made the unit feel very CHEAP and not very durable. The lack of line-in really bothers me. At least is is still in the higher level units. I miss the old scroll wheel from the R900, R909, R910, N910, and N920 models. That wheel was fast, well located and simple to use. The new scroll wheels are pretty much flush with the front of the unit making it a slower and more difficult process to use it.

I returned both of them as I was far happier with my DR7, S1, and R909 models. I figure I can spend the cash on a nice sharp player like the D8, D70 or D77.

The mini looses on battery life, hands down. I was very unhappy with the idea of having to recharge every night. Heck, I have troulble keeping my cell phone charged. I drive 55 miles to school (one way) and if my battery dies, I am out of luck. With the mini I would have to carry a charger, while the HiMD unit lets me use a standard AA. Even the higher end models use replaceable batteries...just cary a spare gumstick for them.

Music transfer is much better on the mini, but I didn't take advantage of it much. With the MD format, I make a disc with 3 LP2 encoded albums and call it a day. The music stays on the MD. I have a couple of speacial MD (both are Hello Kiity -> hangs head in shame) for compilation discs Loading those up every so often is a bit slower with the HiMD, but so what? I go make a cup of coffee and all is set.

All my units are solid metal construction and I have no intention of buying a plastic MD. It really shook me to learn that the NH900 has a plastic back! This reminded me of the first days of MDLP when the R70 replacment, the R700, came with a metal front and a metal back. THAT act alone forced me to start using the 900 series MD units. Of course once I heard the Auvi sound of the DR7 I was hooked on Sharp.

The sound quality of the NH600 vs. the iPod was pretty similar, but then again I used LP2 vs. 256kbit VBR (iTunes encoded) mp3s. SP and HiSP sound better, true, but I prefer the most music I can get on the disc and after two years LP2 has grown on me. I realize I could up the quality on the iPods songs, but by doing so the battery life would drop. Not a good solution.

In the end, standard MD (sharp protables) is where I will stay until a HiMD deck is released. If I have to import it, so be it.

I admit, if the iPod mini had a user replacable battery and lasted longer than 6-7 hours per charge I might reconsider it.

[vova]

When Sony or hackers finally solve the upload dilemma so that field MD recordings become exportable into wav/mp3, Hi-MD will become a bootlegger's dream come true. I predict big things for it

[aeriyn]

When Sony or hackers finally solve the upload dilemma so that field MD recordings become exportable into wav/mp3, Hi-MD will become a bootlegger's dream come true. I predict big things for it

You can do the same thing with CF recorders, only a lot easier and in a universal format. If bootleggers really want to bootleg something, they are going to do it, regardless of what stupid DRM measures Sony uses.

It's my opinion that copyright protection on software and music is pointless, because these companies spend millions of dollars (causing the product to cost even more to us, the consumer who actually BUYS it) protecting a software that a thirty year old "l33t h4x0r" living in his mother's basement will crack in a few afternoons.

[mutant1345]

that is very true

i wish sony would wake up but im afraid they are in a world that they created out of drm and uniqe music formats where they think that they are in charge of everyone who buys there products when they are just losing buisness to there own ignorance

but bitching wont do anything about it so

OH WELL.....

[LMFDean9]

Sorry if this derails the topic, guys. Last saturday I was watching the anime bar of adult swim on cartoon network, and just between Wolf's Rain and Cowboy Bebop, guess what digital audio player was being advertised?

Ipod.

Which brings me to the conclusion (Duh) that if Sony expects to get a slice of the pie, they better start telling people about their new flavor of MD, and soon. And truthfully. Do they expect knowledge of MD to be passed on to new prospective customers via osmose?

*whispers to Sony* If you tell them... they shall come.  :laugh:

I think Sony is giving up on selling MD to American consumers. The advertisement here in Japan is fairly moderate. It's not on every other commercial breaks, but you do see an ad here and there.

[mutant1345]

isnt md in japan one of the popular formats out there

cause i heardthat md is extremely ppopular in japan