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Got a Sony Hi-MD Minidisc Walkman yesterday. Went for it when they came down to £89 in Comet (I had vouchers).
For those who don't know, the Hi-MD players are the new version of the Minidisc technology that let you play around 13 hours of digital music on a standard MD disc and 45 hours on a new 1 Gig Minidisc (from Amazon or ebay only at the moment).
Appearance
----------
The build is a bit plasticy for my taste, but it's finished nicely and doesn't feel like it would fall apart. The one bugbear about the appearance is the lack of a backlight. Not too bad unless you need to use it in the dark (or to find your keys perhaps...).
The Player is fatter than a new generation Ipod, but shorter. It fits in my shirt pocket nicely though :-)
Controls
--------
The control system isn't as nice as an Ipod, but it becomes quite intuitive after a while. There's a joystick in the middle which you press up and down for volume or in to start and stop music. Around this is a dial which you turn to scroll up and down the albums/artists etc. A pause button and stop button do their respective jobs and a nav menu button lets you quickly jump to album or artist lists. Lastly, a Record button can be used to record from digital out on a hi-fi/DVD player.
Use
---
The display may only be tiny, but it clearly shows the albums and artists and allows you to scroll though them. You can also choose to have pre-prepared playlists or make them up on the fly.
The main way to get music on to the Hi-MD is through the USB port. Using the newly rebuilt Sonicstage software your CDs can be put on to the thing at lightning speed. Moving MP3 and WMA files on to the machine is easy, but the software converts them to ATRAC3 files first. Though some might complain, this works out well as the new ATRAC3 version is as good on 64k as a 128k MP3 - meaning you can fit much more in a smaller space but with the same quality. If you already have ATRAC files they will be transferred in seconds. I timed a 12 track CD recorded in ATRAC format and it transferred to the Hi-MD in about 50 seconds!
The only thing to note about moving music is that it doesn't like any MP3 which doesn't have rights on it, ie: some of the more dodgy MP3s on the net. If you're buying MP3s or recording CDs then you're fine.
The Sonicstage software is easy to use, but it may be a bit annoying for more advanced users as it doesn't have all the options of software like Musicmatch. Still, it's similar to Itunes in that you can also buy music from Sony's own site.
So there you go, a great priced MP3 competitor that has a few niggly faults, but otherwise it's a very good cheap answer to the Ipod.
For those who don't know, the Hi-MD players are the new version of the Minidisc technology that let you play around 13 hours of digital music on a standard MD disc and 45 hours on a new 1 Gig Minidisc (from Amazon or ebay only at the moment).
Appearance
----------
The build is a bit plasticy for my taste, but it's finished nicely and doesn't feel like it would fall apart. The one bugbear about the appearance is the lack of a backlight. Not too bad unless you need to use it in the dark (or to find your keys perhaps...).
The Player is fatter than a new generation Ipod, but shorter. It fits in my shirt pocket nicely though :-)
Controls
--------
The control system isn't as nice as an Ipod, but it becomes quite intuitive after a while. There's a joystick in the middle which you press up and down for volume or in to start and stop music. Around this is a dial which you turn to scroll up and down the albums/artists etc. A pause button and stop button do their respective jobs and a nav menu button lets you quickly jump to album or artist lists. Lastly, a Record button can be used to record from digital out on a hi-fi/DVD player.
Use
---
The display may only be tiny, but it clearly shows the albums and artists and allows you to scroll though them. You can also choose to have pre-prepared playlists or make them up on the fly.
The main way to get music on to the Hi-MD is through the USB port. Using the newly rebuilt Sonicstage software your CDs can be put on to the thing at lightning speed. Moving MP3 and WMA files on to the machine is easy, but the software converts them to ATRAC3 files first. Though some might complain, this works out well as the new ATRAC3 version is as good on 64k as a 128k MP3 - meaning you can fit much more in a smaller space but with the same quality. If you already have ATRAC files they will be transferred in seconds. I timed a 12 track CD recorded in ATRAC format and it transferred to the Hi-MD in about 50 seconds!
The only thing to note about moving music is that it doesn't like any MP3 which doesn't have rights on it, ie: some of the more dodgy MP3s on the net. If you're buying MP3s or recording CDs then you're fine.
The Sonicstage software is easy to use, but it may be a bit annoying for more advanced users as it doesn't have all the options of software like Musicmatch. Still, it's similar to Itunes in that you can also buy music from Sony's own site.
So there you go, a great priced MP3 competitor that has a few niggly faults, but otherwise it's a very good cheap answer to the Ipod.
Page:
The minidisc is dead maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.
Got a Sony Hi-MD Minidisc Walkman yesterday. Went for it when they came down to £89 in Comet (I had vouchers).
For those who don't know, the Hi-MD players are the new version of the Minidisc technology that let you play around 13 hours of digital music on a standard MD disc and 45 hours on a new 1 Gig Minidisc (from Amazon or ebay only at the moment).
Appearance
----------
The build is a bit plasticy for my taste, but it's finished nicely and doesn't feel like it would fall apart. The one bugbear about the appearance is the lack of a backlight. Not too bad unless you need to use it in the dark (or to find your keys perhaps...).
The Player is fatter than a new generation Ipod, but shorter. It fits in my shirt pocket nicely though :-)
Controls
--------
The control system isn't as nice as an Ipod, but it becomes quite intuitive after a while. There's a joystick in the middle which you press up and down for volume or in to start and stop music. Around this is a dial which you turn to scroll up and down the albums/artists etc. A pause button and stop button do their respective jobs and a nav menu button lets you quickly jump to album or artist lists. Lastly, a Record button can be used to record from digital out on a hi-fi/DVD player.
Use
---
The display may only be tiny, but it clearly shows the albums and artists and allows you to scroll though them. You can also choose to have pre-prepared playlists or make them up on the fly.
The main way to get music on to the Hi-MD is through the USB port. Using the newly rebuilt Sonicstage software your CDs can be put on to the thing at lightning speed. Moving MP3 and WMA files on to the machine is easy, but the software converts them to ATRAC3 files first. Though some might complain, this works out well as the new ATRAC3 version is as good on 64k as a 128k MP3 - meaning you can fit much more in a smaller space but with the same quality. If you already have ATRAC files they will be transferred in seconds. I timed a 12 track CD recorded in ATRAC format and it transferred to the Hi-MD in about 50 seconds!
The only thing to note about moving music is that it doesn't like any MP3 which doesn't have rights on it, ie: some of the more dodgy MP3s on the net. If you're buying MP3s or recording CDs then you're fine.
The Sonicstage software is easy to use, but it may be a bit annoying for more advanced users as it doesn't have all the options of software like Musicmatch. Still, it's similar to Itunes in that you can also buy music from Sony's own site.
So there you go, a great priced MP3 competitor that has a few niggly faults, but otherwise it's a very good cheap answer to the Ipod.
For those who don't know, the Hi-MD players are the new version of the Minidisc technology that let you play around 13 hours of digital music on a standard MD disc and 45 hours on a new 1 Gig Minidisc (from Amazon or ebay only at the moment).
Appearance
----------
The build is a bit plasticy for my taste, but it's finished nicely and doesn't feel like it would fall apart. The one bugbear about the appearance is the lack of a backlight. Not too bad unless you need to use it in the dark (or to find your keys perhaps...).
The Player is fatter than a new generation Ipod, but shorter. It fits in my shirt pocket nicely though :-)
Controls
--------
The control system isn't as nice as an Ipod, but it becomes quite intuitive after a while. There's a joystick in the middle which you press up and down for volume or in to start and stop music. Around this is a dial which you turn to scroll up and down the albums/artists etc. A pause button and stop button do their respective jobs and a nav menu button lets you quickly jump to album or artist lists. Lastly, a Record button can be used to record from digital out on a hi-fi/DVD player.
Use
---
The display may only be tiny, but it clearly shows the albums and artists and allows you to scroll though them. You can also choose to have pre-prepared playlists or make them up on the fly.
The main way to get music on to the Hi-MD is through the USB port. Using the newly rebuilt Sonicstage software your CDs can be put on to the thing at lightning speed. Moving MP3 and WMA files on to the machine is easy, but the software converts them to ATRAC3 files first. Though some might complain, this works out well as the new ATRAC3 version is as good on 64k as a 128k MP3 - meaning you can fit much more in a smaller space but with the same quality. If you already have ATRAC files they will be transferred in seconds. I timed a 12 track CD recorded in ATRAC format and it transferred to the Hi-MD in about 50 seconds!
The only thing to note about moving music is that it doesn't like any MP3 which doesn't have rights on it, ie: some of the more dodgy MP3s on the net. If you're buying MP3s or recording CDs then you're fine.
The Sonicstage software is easy to use, but it may be a bit annoying for more advanced users as it doesn't have all the options of software like Musicmatch. Still, it's similar to Itunes in that you can also buy music from Sony's own site.
So there you go, a great priced MP3 competitor that has a few niggly faults, but otherwise it's a very good cheap answer to the Ipod.
Page: