Also states that they're not going to be available until November, which for Sony sounds about right.

Didn't see that bit. In that case, I'll probably hold off until then to buy Hi-MD player.

I got the entry level MZ-NH600 from this link

http://www.be-direct.co.uk/productDetails.asp?id=15747

which includes VAT and delivery. Until the availability of the 1G discs, I've been converting my existing discs to Hi-MD format using the Atrac3 Plus in Hi-LP, which has an impressive sound - I can't detect any discernable difference to that and the Hi-Standard Play. I also get 10 hours of music on a standard 80 minute disc using this format . Must admit though, I'm looking forward to the 1G discs when they're available

Aint it supposed to be around 13.5 hrs? I'd understand if there was a few mins difference but there's a difference of 3.5 hrs here. Can anyone explain this?

Has anyone seen any sign of any in car players?

It's 13.5 hours if you use the lower 48kbps bitrate Seven, where I was referring to the 64kbps. I've taken the following from my minidisc manual:

80-minute standard disc

Linear PCM/1.4 Mbps = 28 minutes
ATRAC3plus/256kbps = 2 hours and 20 minutes
ATRACplus/64kbps = 10 hours and 10 minutes
ATRAC3plus/48kbps = 13 hours and 30 minutes

You said you were using ATRAC3Plus but not which compression rate so I just assumed you were using low bitrates to fit in as much music on a standard MD as possible.

You say you can't detect too much difference between Hi-Standard play and ATRAC3Plus 64kbps, but is there a very noticable difference between 48kbps and 64kbps?

Yes sorry for not clarifying the bitrate for Hi-LP recording. I haven't tried the 48 kbps rate as yet, but I wouldn't think that there would be too much of a difference from the 64. Would think it would be suitable for voice recordings

Nope. I suppose you'll have to make do with those standard 'connect it to the headphones socket' adapters for now.

Unfortunatly as I currently have a Kenwood in car MD player I can't use them

Suppose I could try and wire it on the aux connections on the back but I am not sure if it will recognise the fact that something is plugged in without the CD Changer control lead. I'll just have to wait....

What's the CD Changer Control Lead? I don't really know much about in-car systems.

More than likely the incorrect term for the cable, but it is the cable that plugs into the back of the stereo from the CD Changer.

My stereo can control two devices but they do not appear as a selectable option unless this lead is present.

What's battery life like on the MZ-NH600, ideally I'm looking for a Hi-MD player with 30+ hours before it runs out.

If you can get your hands on an argos catalog, it's listed in there.
I can't quote from it right now, as i am 1000 miles away in Finland

Approximately 27 hours. A useful feature with the Hi-MD, is that you don't need to use an AC adapter to power the unit when connected to the computer, as the USB connection provides the power, which also saves on battery consumption.

In response to Seven's question regarding sound quality recorded at 48 kbps, I've had a chance to do some critical listening over the last day and found that the sound does degrade somewhat and is more noticable at the top end. Percussion, such as bells, take on a slight 'tizziness', but it's still impressive for the ampount of compression used. This is a big improvement on Atrac3, which makes me wonder why Sony didn't rename Atrac3 Plus, Atrac 4! I'll be sticking to the LP mode at 64 kbps, as I've found it negligable compared to SP at 256 kbps

Top end of what?

Are you joking?

No seriously, I'm not, maybe I'm just noticing the obvious. Do you mean top end as in 256kbps, or top end of the music 'spectrum', like low frequency sounds or something?

(I hadn't really realised how my previous post could be misinterpreted)

Yes, top end of the music spectrum. I wondered if any other Hi-MD owners have had a chance to do a comparison and if so, what do they think?

Got the MZ-NH 700 from unbeatable, the Hi-MD player, comes with a 1GB Disc, 34Hours of great sound on Hi-LP mode.

I am a big fan of MD - I'm on my second MD-walkman and have an MD deck in my home stereo - but I won't be buying any Hi-MD.

Firstly, as yet they haven't announced a standard size seperates unit. I don't want to have to plug/unplug a walkman all the time to record stuff. Secondly, it isn't mac compatible. Not just in terms of the music content, not even as a USB hard drive. No disrespect, but I don't want to encode 13 albums onto a Hi-MD at 1X speed. Yuck.

Lastly, it's not really that great value, if you have to get a recorder. In fact, I can get an iPod mini for less than the cheapest decent Hi-MD recording walkman even ant net prices, because I get educational discount from Apple.

If these things had come out when the iPod first did and if there was a seperates unit and IF they worked against a Mac, I'd have bought one. Now, they're looking seriously limited tech. I'm keeping my old 'standard' MD kit which does as good as job as it always did. But the next portable audio device I buy will have a hard drive in it...

Well not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to obtain an educational discount and be in the same position as your good self.

Personally for me, the Hi-MD is ideal, as it offers a large storage medium, and like a majority of PC users, don't possess a Mac, so I'm unaffected. With regards to not being great value, it depends on where you purchase it from. Finally, the minidisc offers an unrestricted storage medium, so when one discs is full, you then use another. With a hard drive, once you're reached it's storage capacity, then that's it - you've either got to leave the drive full, or start deleting to make room for something else. Also what happens if the hard drive fails? With a dodgy minidisc, you just scrap it and unwrap another one and away you go...

So let me get something straight.

Can normal 80 minute Mini-disc's be used on a Hi-MD player to get 13.5 hours of playback, like these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00007BKPW/

Or do the Mini-disc's have to be specially converted ones, which say they that they're compatible with Hi-MD to get 13.5 hours, like these:

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/st...go.x=9&go.y=14

What's the difference between the two?

The player/recorder converts the disc in seconds(any MD Disc), it can also convert it back to a normal disc, if you have a few MD Discs going spare you can use them, it can record in MD and Hi-MD, HI-MD Discs will not play in a MD player/recorder, you would have to convert the disc back, (1GB discs are Hi-MD only)

I also use it to store my Digital photos, its a great backup to store PC files.

I have heard that the Discs could go as high as 200GB in the future,but dont quote me on that.

Hard drive jukeboxes and other portable music players are usually Mp3 compatible. This is significant for me as I like to take music from one device, e.g. my phone, to another device, an Mp3 jukebox. I could convert Mp3 and burn a standard CD with very little effort. Using Mp3 keeps the music compatible, so you don't need to convert it when moving music between devices & sharing it with friends, or keep different formats of the same music. (By the way can you even convert Atrac back to Mp3 using software?


You still lose your music, although it'll cost a lot more to replace a hard drive than to replace an MD!

I think the hard drives are bound to be at least a little bit protected against 'bumps', but they are both vulnerable, the MD more so because it's not incased as well as a hard drive in an Mp3 'jukebox' as an MD needs to be portable and exchangable.

In a few years time though, flash or solid state memory (used in small Mp3 players at the moment) will be the way to go as there are no moving parts and they are much lighter. We'll just have to wait for the prices to drop - considerably, cos for the same amount of memory hard drive memory is way cheaper.