Hi-MD Minidisc

[JADS]

Sony have released a new minidisc, the Hi-MD.

Press Release (http://news.sel.sony.com/pressrelease/4270)

What are the chances this is going to bomb as well? ;)

Buy one (http://www.avland.co.uk/sony/mznh1/sony-mz-nh1.htm)

[danielctull]

I loved my minidisc player, but a year later, I discovered MP3s and to get an MP3 onto a minidisc digitally was a git. They went wrong with their "network" and net md walkmans, both should've been given MP3 playing abilities.

Lets face it with a 20GB iPod at £300 or a 30GB Zen for £250, who in their right mind is gunna pay £300 + whatever the discs cost to lose the ability to put their MP3s on and at a 20th or a 30th or the space at a time...

Don't even try again Sony unless you put MP3, WMA and the rest as STANDARD playback formats. :mad:

[Craig]

I've always liked my minidisc, and it's currently a network minidisc. Sadly the software is shamefully poor with unstability and slowness. So... after this one it looks like a MP3 player for me....

[Declan]

45 hours on one, admittedly new (and therefore likely to be expensive) disc is pretty damn impressive and squeezing 13 hours onto a standard MD is not bad.

I like my Sony MZ-N1, and the option to have four CD's onto one small MD is a bonus when you're not sure what music you actually want to take on a journey.

I wouldn't say they've failed, just weren't promoted enough when the time was right...which is strange seeing how Sony took the world by storm with the Playstation promotions.

[nightlurker]

Slightly off subject:

Can anyone explain why minidisc never made it into the computer market? I would have thought it was a natural to replace floppies, small size large capacity.

:confused:

[DAvE19]

simple put m8 when they came out nobody new about them and those who did no knew how expensive they where compared to floppys and at that time cdrs where just starting to become realy cheap :)

[[GPO]Solitaire]

Also the fact that the minidisk was proprietary hardware and software (I don't think they have ever released the audio codec they use for use on the PC) so there was a limit on how it could be used, (i.e. Sony only ever wanted it to be a audio storage device rather than a floppy or CD like replacement)

Think i'm right in the above statement?

[nightlurker]

Thanks for the explanation guys, seems a pity they never thought of the software angle though.

[danielctull]

There was an MD Data thing released in Japan, but alas it didn't get anywhere else.

Originally posted by nightlurker
Thanks for the explanation guys, seems a pity they never thought of the software angle though.

Their idea of software is pants tbh. Open MG (the software used for their NetMD and Network Walkmans) is the biggest pile of **** I have ever seen. The idea was to make music secure by allowing songs to be "booked out" to devices when moving them from the computer to the player and "booked in" when putting the songs back on the computer.

Who the hell would do that. Surely you would just re-rip the MP3 into Atrac3 format.

Again if they made it a straight MP3/WMA player it would've sold bucket loads. It didn't help that they sold me a Network walkman as a MP3/WMA player, even though technically it doesn't play MP3s or WMAs :mad:

[Welly]

The data MD drive that came out would only store 64mb so that was a big factor. ATRAC (the compression format that MD uses) is a great compressor for audio but no good for anything else.

And as far as the Net MD not playing MP3s, it's because the minidisc format physically is incompatible with MP3, no other reason. So they couldn't make it an MP3 player without losing compatibility with the minidisc format.

I've not had a problem with OpenGate so far.. it seems to do the job for me.. the secure side of things sucks and the fact you can digitally transfer audio from the MD to the PC sucks too. Even if you record your own audio from a mic or whatever. That is really shabby on Sony's part.

[JADS]

Originally posted by Welly

And as far as the Net MD not playing MP3s, it's because the minidisc format physically is incompatible with MP3, no other reason. So they couldn't make it an MP3 player without losing compatibility with the minidisc format.


Well not technically true, AAC is binary and so is MP3. So there is no problem with the storage medium. The issue is with the decoder.

[Welly]

Exactly my point.. you make the decode MP3 and it's not Minidisc anymore. I don't know the ins and outs of it but whether or not it's feasible to have multiple decoders, ie. an ATRAC and MP3 decoder.. well, i've no idea.. is it possible? I'd have thought if it was, then Sony might have done this.. it'd make sense rather than converting MP3s to ATRAC. But then business often doesn't make sense.. still, looking forward to hi-md.. i'll snap one of those up sharpish.

[JADS]

Originally posted by Welly
I'd have thought if it was, then Sony might have done this.. it'd make sense rather than converting MP3s to ATRAC.

There is no copyright protection inherent in MP3s, if they built in support they would be contradicting the Sony Music division. They can't build open hardware when it allows abuse of their software, it contradicts.

[Welly]

fair enough.. is that the case with the network walkman? the little solid state device they have on sale? is that atrac as well?

[danielctull]

Originally posted by Welly
fair enough.. is that the case with the network walkman? the little solid state device they have on sale? is that atrac as well?

Exactely the same. Uses the same software and stuff.... USELESS!

[Welly]

Bah.. come on sony! where's your kahoonas??

[zealot]

i use simple burner no hassle then