It’s strange, minidisc had been pretty much left for dead by the mainstream, despite a pretty big installed user base. Now Sony defies expectation by releasing a new recorder that sheds just about every drawback of the format and a few positive articles pop up in the geek mediasphere. About a week ago, the Crave […]
Search results for "minidisc"
New Minidisc Recorder Confirmed, and Even Better than Expected
Minidisc.org has confirmation on the new minidisc recorder, MZ-RH1, that I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. The new unit is remarkable both because it’s a sign that Sony isn’t ready to kill minidisc just yet. But also, this model does away with several bothersome limitations. The MZ-RH1 now allows any audio recorded via […]
Minidisc Not Dead Yet
Like many long-standing minidisc users, I’ve been wondering when Sony will finally kill off this format. I do not live in a fantasy world, so I do realize that the tag-team of iPods, cheap MP3 players and an increasing number of high-quality portable digital audio recorders that use flash memory will spell the eventual end […]
New, Improved Minidisc Software
SonicStage is the software that Sony provides for downloading and uploading audio from its Hi-MD minidisc recorders (and just download to its MDLP recorders). SonicStage has been much maligned for being clunky, slow, and for the digital rights management which limited how many times an MP3 could be downloaded to minidiscs and how many times audio files could be uploaded from a user-recorded Hi-MD.
Surprisingly, it seems that Sony is actually listening to its loyal minidisc users. The new version of SonicStage, 3.2, addresses some of these problems and adds an appreciated new feature.
Gone are the restrictions on recording MP3s to minidisc and the upload restrictions. However, there are still restrictions on how many times you can burn or record songs purchased from Sony’s Connect music store, but that’s in line with other music stores, like iTunes. And, really, how many people actually use Connect anyway?
The best new feature is that SonicStage now takes care of automatically converting to WAV files audio you recorded yourself. Up to now this was a two-step process, requiring you to first upload the audio from your MD recorder, then convert it to WAV. This was because Sony had promised to offer uploaded audio when it debuted Hi-MD in 2004, but didn’t have the software support it until it had been out for many months, and only then by using a separate application called WAV Converter.
If you’ve already got a Hi-MD or MDLP recorder it’s worth a download (and it’s free). I’ve just started using it and there seem to be no glitches of the sort that often haunt software upgrades — my library of uploaded material is intact and none of the drivers were messed up.
Unfortunately, Hi-MD support is still Windows only, although there are rumors of Mac support.
New Minidisc Units Starting Ship & Why Photo MD Is Just 1.3 MP
Despite the fact that I write about such potentially ire-raising counter-cultural things as pirate radio and express an anarchist attitude about media and politics, the thing I get more e-mail about is actually minidisc. Within the last few months I’ve gotten more than a dozen questions about the new Hi-MDs asking for advice on buying and using them. A good portion apperently come from people who’ve read my review of the MZ-NH1 2004 flagship model over at Epinions.
So I thought I’d alert everyone that the new and somewhat-improved 2005 models are starting to ship. The new ones have native MP3 support, which I reckon is their biggest improvement. My favorite on-line MD retailer, Minidisco, has in stock the MZ-RH910, the least expensive model with a microphone input. Apparently, they’ve already sold out of the next model up.
The new MD recorder with the built-in camera and full-color LCD, the MZ-DH10P, is reported to be shipping in May.
The MZ-DH10P only has a 1.3 MP camera, which I said earlier seems pretty paltry by todays mutli-megapixel standards. Minidisc.org has a translation of an interview with three Sony minidisc engineers and designers who explain why only 1.3 mega-pixels:
There is a prevalent prejudice in maintaining existing size of the MD Walkman due to standards set by its predecessors. The MZDH10P unit that I could show at the end of 2003 was still a prototype with a 3 mega pixels camera then considered as a prerequisite. When you employ a higher mega pixels camera module, the size of the unit inevitably increases – thus, the tremendous size in comparison to existing MD Walkman. Although the concept of this new MD Walkman has the ability to take pictures it is not a digital camera, so to speak.
If you’re looking to move up to Hi-MD and also looking for a bargain, I would keep an eye on Ubid.com, which seems to get a lot of just-discontinued minidisc recorders these days. I’ve bought at least 3 from them in the last few years and been pretty satisfied with price and service, though service is not the best around. It’s an auction site, so all the usual caveats about auctions apply — don’t get bid up too close to what regular on-line sellers are pricing your item at. They also have a “buy it now” price which is sometimes pretty reasonable.
This isn’t a ringing endorsement or advertisement for Ubid — just a recommendation based upon bargain-hunting experience.