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[Christoff Yurievich]

I'm really looking forward to buying one of these but I'm not sure what the general consensus is on the players.

Sony MZ-NH1 Net MD / Hi-MD Walkman Portable Minidisc Player / Recorder

Sony MZ-NH900 Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman

Sony MZ-NHF800 Hi-MD Minidisc Walkman Portable Music Player

Sony MZNH600D Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman

I've seen the 600 for a pretty good price but the reviews on it are so mixed it's crazy. Slow transfer says one guy, super-duper fast says another. Any of you guys have a Hi-MD player and care to report in?

also, seems Sony has a "card reader" for MD players. It's USB but you have to use your own batteries to power it. (???)

Sony MCM-DR1 USB Memory Card Reader for Hi-MD MiniDisc Recorders

 

[Blackcherry]

There is 1GB player with good price, better that Atrac fo sure

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Well, what do you know? I was just going to create a topic asking for help on my 600D. I asked my mom for an MP3 player for Christmas and she bought me this since it was such a good deal, and it came with 1 GB of storage.

First, I don't know what to tell you about it. I've spent a couple hours today trying to copy music to it, to no avail. The software quits almost as soon as it starts, and I can't directly copy MP3s to it (it says no track), so I'm pretty close to calling it quits until I get back to school and have my computer to try it with.

The topic I was going to create was asking if any MD users on this board know of a way I can copy music without using that sucky Sonic Stage software? I don't think my computer is recognizing the MD correctly (it says USB Storage device...) so the quick burn whatever software doesn't work either. I can copy files directly in Windows Explorer, but apparently it's not in the correct format. Is there anyway to convert an MP3 file to the proper format so I can copy it over?

At this point I'd have to give the 600D a 0 on a scale of 1-10, because I can't get it to play any music, but I'm sure once I figure out how to get some music on it, all will be nice. Sony's software sucks ass though.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Huh. I had the same problem with some Musicmatch software I installed earlier for my little brother. Dunno what the problem was but I decided that installing from the cd was crap and just downloaded the newest software and drivers from the website and it worked then. You might try that.

Do you like the layout of the device, though? I mean even though it's not being played does it seem like it would be fairly easy to navigate around the face buttons?

and what's this I hear about an 'World' version? I was looking on ebay and found this:

This is the World Version of Sony MZ-NH600 Hi-MD. It is different from the cheaper MZ-NH600D sold in US and some European countries. MZ-NH600D DOES NOT have any audio inputs at all. Our World version MZ-NH600 has remote and line inputs, making it a great recorder at budget price!

There is 1GB player with good price, better that Atrac fo sure

* Plays back in ATRAC3™ Audio, ATRAC3plus Audio and Supports Multiple Audio Formats (MP3, WMA, WAV): The Hi-MD recorder plays back in ATRAC3 or ATRAC3plus audio format and supports the most popular Internet audio formats, including MP3, WMA and WAV.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

I don't know about the world version. I do know, however, that the version I have doesn't play back MP3s, WMAs or anything unless it's first converted into ATRAC3. Unfortunately, the one program I know of that does this conversion doesn't work on my mom's computer (I don't know why...) so I'm hoping I can find an alternative, or it will work when I get back to school.

 

[Teknopathetic]

Thaedolus: I dunno if they've started supporting Hi-MDs, but RealOne has a netMD plug-in (neuter RealOne as much as possible). It's surprisingly decent.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Sweet, I'll be sure to give that a try when I get a chance. In the meantime, I'll have to enjoy one of my other Christmas gifts (or my family!)

 

[pixelated]

Find Sonic Stage 2.3, this is what I use with my MZ-NH900. Works like a charm. The transfer speed is pretty good, not as fast as an Ipod or other mp3 players, but much faster than previous netMDs.

Yes the unit is suppose to read as a USB mass storage device. Yah you just can't dump mp3s on there and expect to play them. You can dump mp3s and other computer files on there and use it as a USB jump drive of sorts.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Well I figured out that SonicStage has some kind of conflict with one of the Windows Security Updates, so I had to download a fix for it. Now it works perfectly, and I'm enjoying my new MP3-like device

 

[DaCocoBrova]

I'm officially done w/ MDs.

Been heavy in the MD game since '98. I have hundreds of discs.

Lately, however, I've been using my laptop and iTunes on my daily commute to the office, and recently brought my MD player with me and just left it in the briefcase. Used it a few days later and was really put off by the 'flatness' of the sound compared to what my laptop was putting out. Used the same head phones too. MDR-E888

Why don't MD's have equalizers? 5 Band at least! Even transferring the music over USB and tweaking the sound settings leaves a lot to be desired from a sound quality standpoint.

 

[Teknopathetic]

Hi-MDs have a 6 band EQ. All models.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Good to know!

 

[Jason]

I'm going to pick one of these up pretty soon since my MZ-N1 won't record anymore.

The good thing about these new MD's is that you can digitally upload your recordings but since this is Sony we're dealing with, they only allow it once. Try to upload again and it'll delete it.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Well I must say that the previous difficulties could have left a bad taste in my mouth concerning my new Hi-MD, but once I got it going smoothly it's been pretty sweet. Transferring files is a bit more of a chore with this ATRAC format, but all in all I think this was a good choice. I especially like the fact that the storage media is so expandable and cheap. I think I'll end up only needing a few gigs rather than my entire audio collection anyway, so I'll just buy a new Hi-MD when I need one.

As far as the audio is concerned, Tre is right, the MD I have allows for 6 band EQ adjusting, and has like 4 or 5 preset into it. Pretty nifty...I know plane rides won't be half as difficult anymore without my big CD case and discman...

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Why are there no MD decks in the US? I know they sold like sh!t, but I love mine. Turn on XBMC, make a playlist, slap in blank MD and record (via Toslink)...

I like that.

I can't say the same about the NetMD method of transferring data.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

I would love a deck just for the ease of titling my discs.

The main reason I want one of these is because I already have a MD player and therefore have tons of MD's laying around. The Hi-MD will reformat those discs into Hi-MD and I now have doubled my storage spage but halved what I carry around (CD size vs. MD size).

Good to hear you got your 600 figured out, Thaedolus. Maybe I'll get one of those since they're around the $120 range on ebay.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Well I must say that the previous difficulties could have left a bad taste in my mouth concerning my new Hi-MD, but once I got it going smoothly it's been pretty sweet. Transferring files is a bit more of a chore with this ATRAC format, but all in all I think this was a good choice. I especially like the fact that the storage media is so expandable and cheap. I think I'll end up only needing a few gigs rather than my entire audio collection anyway, so I'll just buy a new Hi-MD when I need one.

As far as the audio is concerned, Tre is right, the MD I have allows for 6 band EQ adjusting, and has like 4 or 5 preset into it. Pretty nifty...I know plane rides won't be half as difficult anymore without my big CD case and discman...

so now that it's been almost a month, how do you like your player? I am probably going to get the 600 as well and would like to know if experience has upped your opinion of the unit or if it has soured it.