Big news for Hi-MD users

See http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=14095&st=0&#entry85899 - Sony have now taken most (all?) of the restrictions off Hi-MD transfers to/from PCs with the new free release of SonicStage software.

But what does it mean? There seem to be several possible scenarios - some of which aren't altogether mutually exclusive.

• They're giving up the format, and therefore don't care about a free-for-all - because they will claim that it's now unsupported.
• They are aware of the massive amount of damage that their rogue sofware on CDs has done to their image, and are desperately trying to make up a bit of ground.
• The unlikely one - that they've actually listened to what their customers require, for once, and acknowledge that now, MD's are just as likely to get used for legitimate recording purposes as for listening to other peoples' music - the iPod is seeing to that, and they know they can't compete.[/list:u]Perm any combination you like - make up some more if you want. Personally, I think that they have trodden in some deep doggy-doos, and they know it.

Well, WHATEVER their reasoning, I'm happy for the new abilities.  The size/price/quality ratio is still unbeatable in portable stereo recording devices, IMO.  I just wish Sharp had one available.  My Sharp just FEELS better than the new Sony I got for my wife.

If they've given up on the format, it wouldn't be commercially worth their while to now be putting in the development effort to remove its previous limitations, but then Sony's commercial common sense isn't famous... here, some basic 1st generation Hi-MD units are still being cleared at $99 (Aust.) down from $299, and that's been the case for some months - maybe they should try simply giving them away?!  Though actually even the base model makes a pretty hard-to-beat backup recording system.  I'm toying with the idea of getting one of those just to ensure access to the format for a few more years if anything happens to my other two!

Say what?

I can get a Hi-MD player for $100?

Where?

Say what?

I can get a Hi-MD player for $100?

Where?

And it's $100AUS at that.

http://www.minidisc.com.au/default.php?cPath=1_47

Problem for me is, they don't ship outside of Australia & New Zealand.  I'm starting to wish I'd have bought two of the NH700s when they were $140 in North America...

What isn't clear - though hopefully will be soon when the download's finished - is whether this now allows USB uploads from regular Net-MD devices (i.e. pre Hi-MD). I'll report back in due course...

[not]

What isn't clear - though hopefully will be soon when the download's finished - is whether this now allows USB uploads from regular Net-MD devices (i.e. pre Hi-MD). I'll report back in due course...

Well guess what, folks, they still can't bring themselves to allow this.

From the help file:


The following tracks on a Net MD may not be able to be transferred back to My Library on your computer:

Tracks transferred from another computer

Tracks recorded using a device other than a computer (for example, an MD deck)


What a waste...
 

I do field recording using analog inputs.  The previous version of Hi-MD only allowed ONE transfer of an original recording into a computer.  I knew this was risky but tried it anyway and suffered the total loss of a full nights recording.  (For some reason one night the first transfer got corrupted).

So does Sony NOW allow MORE THAN ONE transfer of an original recording??  
(this was not clear reading the link above)  This is mostly an academic question as I intend not to buy anything from Sony ever again.

This loss was at an event that cost each attendee approx $1500 for 5 nites or $300 per day times 100 attendees = $30,000 per day.  The value of the recording is hard to estimate but it is considered to be very valuable by the attendees as it is the only decent audio record of this partiicular music gathering.

At this point I swore to never buy anything from SONY again
(and THEN the Sony pulled the ROOTKIT ATTACK - and it WAS an attack!)

I do field recording using analog inputs.  The previous version of Hi-MD only allowed ONE transfer of an original recording into a computer.  I knew this was risky but tried it anyway and suffered the total loss of a full nights recording.  (For some reason one night the first transfer got corrupted).

Jeez, man.  No offense, but if it was that big a deal, whaddaya mean going in there with no backup knowing you'd only have one shot at transfer?  I mean, I agree that Sony made some BAD calls, but that one's on you, brother.  And did that wreck the original?  I mean, you could still pull it off in analog realtime, right?

It does look like they unlocked the uploads, but I can't find the quote...

Whenever I read threads like this, they leave me eternally grateful that I never saw any reason to get into MD  

Paul

Ok, so this is going far afield... but it looks like Sony is giving yet more grief to their beloved customers -- but not without a promise for support seven years beyond production cutoff.

People became attached to a $2000 robot dog?  They dress them up?!?

...feh. Cry me a river...  

Indeed, for some months multiple transfers of original recordings have been possible.  Prior to that, it was a bit of a Russian Roulette thing and transfer via analog or Total Recorder was the way to go with anything mission-critical.  However, I do not think I've ever lost anything.

And now - http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=14807&hl= reveals Sony's new semi-pro Hi-MD machine with the feature set Hi-MD should have had from the outset.  It seems that it will also be able to do USB uploads of ordinary "legacy" MD discs too.