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Portable AV: Sony delays Hi-MD, adds colors
Posted on May 26, 2004 - 12:28 PM by zmcnulty
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Posted on May 26, 2004 - 12:28 PM by zmcnulty
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Title says it all.
They've pushed the products back a month, but add some color variations of the models and make a few minor changes.
Sony has announced that they will delay the release of their three "MD Walkman" products supporting Hi-MD, a minidisc format with a 1GB capacity (as opposed to the 300MB capacity of existing MDs), as well as their "SoundGate" desktop audio device supporting the same technology.
When originally announced in January, it was stated that the release of all of the products would be in June - this time, however, Sony has announced that the release of the three MD Walkman (MZ-NH1, NH3D, EH1) products as well as the Hi-MD media (HMD1G) will be pushed back to July 10th. Furthermore, the release date of the "LAM-X1" SoundGate stereo will be extended to July 21st. As for the reason for the delay, Sony has said that "since this is a newly developing format, it is taking more time to develop it than we originally planned."
The Hi-MD Walkman lineup consists of the "MZ-EH1" for playback, the "MZ-NH1" capable of recording with a USB connection, and the "MZ-NH3D" which is only for playback but has a USB connection (for some reason). Two new colors have been introduced, however - a gold version of the "MZ-NH1," and a blue version of the "MZ-NH3D."
Furthermore, while it was originally presented that the MZ-NH1 and NH3D would be bundled with a USB cradle, it has been changed to a charging cradle. A USB cable is needed to connect the device to a PC.
The version of the included (with the MZ-NH1, NH3D, and LAM-X1) audio software, "SonicStage," has been changed from version 2.0 to version 2.1. Improvements include ripping and transfer from the CD in the linear PCM format.
Although the price of all the units is Open Price, indicators suggest the Hi-MD Walkman "MZ-H1" will cost 45,000 yen, the "MZ-NH3D" will cost 37,000 yen, and the "MZ-EH1" will cost 32,000 yen. The Hi-MD media, "HM1G" should cost around 720 yen, and the "LAM-X1" SoundGate device should cost around 63,000 yen.
Inspired by:
http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/ ... 6/sony.htm
News Release:
http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Pres ... 5/05-0526/
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| Comments (must be registered to post) | |
| zmcnulty
26.05.04, 12:31 |
For some reason, I can't say I'm disappointed. Look, I'm really not against Sony, but their DRM stuff is pretty bad. I think a 1GB MD player would be much more successful if you could take your mp3 files, use the device as a recorder, and just make 1GB Hi-MD discs full of mp3s. In the perfect world, MD would have been opened up as a data format years ago - sort of like MO (Magneto-Optical, same storage technology, though on a 5.25" disc) has taken off in Japan. Instead, the process is much more difficult. You've got to convert all of your MP3s to Sony's ATRAC format before writing them to the disc. But I would like to say $7 for a 1GB Hi-MD ain't too bad. Sure, you could get 2 CD-Rs and have more space for a thousandth of that, but...oh well. |
