Why Sony Should've Put Its Weight Behind Hi-MD

An anonymous reader writes "OSNews has an article making a case for Hi-MD: 'Currently, .mp3 players are all the hype. Everyone has one, and if you don't, you're old-fashioned. I do not have an .mp3 player. I tried to have one, but for various reasons it did not please me. I'm a MiniDisc guy. I've always been. MiniDisc has some serious advantages over .mp3 players, whether they be flash or HDD based.'"

Comments

Only applies to ipods...

[JediLow]

One thing the article completely forgets - ipods aren't the only mp3 players on the market. All the different advantages (except actually having a disk) that it describes already exist in other models/brands of mp3 players (I've used my iRiver for recording and storage - which it gets read as an external hard drive, thus avoiding the issues the article has)... but don't exist in the ipod. But, thats what the masses do don't they? Every mp3 player is an ipod to them. Back to reality - outside really liking the minidisk format, there aren't that many reasons for using it over a mp3 player.

Why do I use a HD mp3 player? It stores a large amount of music. I don't want to have to juggle around dozens of cds or in this case minidisks, I have over 15 gigs of music on my mp3 player and I don't have the time to find the disk that I want when I want to listen to certain things, nor does the space it takes to store all the disks appeal to me. I like having a device which can store large amounts of data - after trips with groups I'll normally get a dump of all the pictures that the group has taken and put them on my mp3 player to transfer.

I've tried the mp3 cds (which was giving me 700 megs of storage compared to the 305 megs you get from older minidisks using the hi-md format), but I ended up having too many... and when I wanted to add music to it it meant that I had to burn a whole new disk... and I just plain didn't like using it... and my mp3 player has proven to be a whole lot more solid than any cd player I've come across (I've dropped it many times, left it out in my car through all the extremes of Michigan's weather, and its still been great).

Re:Only applies to ipods...

[trolleymusic]

I have an IRiver ihp140 and the recording function is brilliant. I can record as mp3 or (up to) 44.1Khz 16bit stereo wav using the inbuilt microphone, an external microphone (one was supplied, but any one with a 3.5mm plug is fine), an external audio source (ie: line in) or a digital audio source using optical in.

I've recorded lectures, a couple of concerts and when my band practices I records all jam sessions just in case we want to review something.

Windows only! Soon to die. Big downsides.

[linuxbaby]

Important to note that even this MiniDisc fan-boy points out downsides to MiniDisc that completely kill it for most of us:

Even though each Hi-MD player can be used as a mass storage device under windows, Linux, OSX, and even BeOS, you cannot just drag/drop .mp3s onto it. You are forced to use SonicStage. And of course SonicStage is only available on Windows

then he ends with this:

Now, it's all too late. I'm afraid MiniDisc will slowly but surely die out.

Oh well.

Re:Windows only! Soon to die. Big downsides.

[distributed]

Found this interesting article
Quoting:

"We did finally make the Minidisc machine everbody knew Sony was capable of," said Miyazaki, "but at a considerable cost." Some members of Sony's vaunted Shinagawa engineering labs have apparently felt the burden has been too high however; since January over two dozen engineers and scientists have left to join Google Japan where, it is rumored, a wireless portable audio device with a wow-factor exceeding the iPod is under development."

Now why isnt this on the frontpage instead of MD's sad death. :-(
So many bad things have happened to Sony just because of the constant struggle with the Entertainment division.. crapping up so much innovation. Google could prolly be THE company to set things right in portable music.

If you're a musician MiniDisc is better

[Llamakiller-4]

Nearly all Mp3 players (if they record at all) are limited to voice recordings.
If you want to record music and lots of it, MiniDisc is the way to go.
Leave the expensive DAT for others, a Minidisc can get you up and running with
live recording and onto CD in no time.
Im not a fan of all their Atrac stuff, nor am I a fan of Sony's constant annoying
search to create their own standard. Some day companies will learn there's more to
gain from open standards than a gamble on closed standards. Sony for instance loses
nearly every time.
Betamax, Sony Memory Stick, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
My new Minidisc from Sony is more open than their previous models.
Works great - musicians, HiMd with Mic Input ! Great sound, on the cheap.
Lk4

Re:If you're a musician MiniDisc is better

[ericdano]

Yes, I agree. I used MiniDisc to record concerts and rehearsals for 4 or 5 years. Then the broken promise of HiMD (and USB transfers) made me jump ship. The unit I got I had mic input problems (bad mic jack?), the interface was VERY clumsy compared to my previous unit (MZ90 I believe), and you could transfer recordings to your computer, but unless you had a SONY VIAO you could burn a CD of it. Seriously. This was August 2004. Sony promised to fix this but......I believe it wasn't till April of 2005 that they did it? Maybe sooner? I don't believe they had a solution in 2004.

Anyhow, I found the world of Compact Flash recorders. You can record stereo, non-compressed, plus a lot of the recorders have XLR inputs. Good stuff.

Re:1 Gb is good enough for me...

[mrchaotica]

I think the people are buying iPods just because their friends have iPods and they don't know that there other such "toys" out there with a different set of features that might work better for them.

Either that, or maybe they actually like the unique features that the iPod has, namely, synchronization with iTunes. I know that seems like a revalation to all the people around here who think anyone who willingly buys a player that doesn't support Vorbis is a raving lunatic, but you know what? It might just actually be true!

MD locks me out of my own music

[fishbowl]

I don't approve of the way MD locks me out of my own music. I didn't give Sony the authority to put DRM on stuff I record, but my MD recorder takes this liberty. I don't want to hear about how I can buy a "pro" deck that turns off DRM, and I certainly don't care about "Soundstage" software or whatever the hell they make you use now, where you get three chances to copy your original or some such, and it's *erased* -- I *certainly* didn't give Sony permission to *erase* my masters.

I loved the idea of MD, but I hate, absolutely seethe with hate, to let Sony abridge my copyrights by putting DRM and copy-limitations on my work, just because I chose to use their cheap media. No thanks. CF-recorders may start at the $400 price point, but at least they don't seek to lock me out of my own work.

I really don't care how badly Sony wants to control things. When they try to control *MY* work, I tend to get very, very upset.