Philip Colmer
05-09-2005, 05:00 PM
With Sony about to launch their 2005 range of Hi-MD (high capacity MiniDisc) Walkmans, Amazon UK have been slashing the prices of the 2004 models. This was too good of an opportunity to miss for me - buying the top-of-the range 2004 model at one third of the recommended retail price. In this article, I look at what has changed in both hardware and software, and discuss whether or not Sony have done enough to stay in the portable music market.<br /><br />Before I look at what has changed between the original MiniDisc recorders and the new Hi-MD models, let's start with a short look at the history of the format.<br /><!><br />Sony designed and developed MiniDisc in 1986 and launched it in 1992, with Digital Compact Cassette (DCC) as the main competitor - both vying as the replacement for the audio cassette. DCC had the advantage of being "backwards compatible" with the audio cassette, but that also led to disadvantages like no instant track access, and spools & tapes that break over time.<br /><br />MiniDisc had the technological advantage, but also had to compete with CD-R, CD-RW, MP3 players and DVD Audio. The net result was that neither format really won. DCC was eventually dropped, but Sony have continued to market MiniDisc, partly because it has been extremely successful in Japan.<br /><br />After twelve years of refining the MiniDisc range - making the units smaller, enhancing the portability and reducing the price - Sony released the Hi-MD range in 2004.<br /><br /><span><b>The Media</b></span><br />The first obvious difference between the MD and Hi-MD range is the media. The physical size of the disc hasn't changed, but the capacity has increased to 1GB on the new Hi-MD media, allowing 34 hours of music to be recorded using the "Hi-LP" ATRAC3plus format at 64kbps. Sony state that you can store up to 45 hours, but to get to that figure, you need to reduce the bitrate to 48kbps. As you can see from Figure 1, the new players continue to be just slightly larger than the physical media - a triumph of miniature electronics.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-PlayerDisc.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 1: Hi-MD media next to the MZ-NH1.</i><br /><br />Over time, the ATRAC encoding technology has been refined. The original ATRAC format recorded at 292kbps and it's this compression ratio that defines the labelling on the old MD discs as 60, 74 and 80 minutes, depending on the capacity of the discs. By comparison, the new ATRAC3plus format at 256kbps will get you 105, 130 and 140 minutes respectively. With the improvements made to ATRAC, though, you can decrease the bitrate comfortably to 64kbps, resulting in much higher capacities but no noticable drop in quality.<br /><br />Sony have been very clever in supporting the older media on the new Hi-MD Walkmans - the devices support the discs completely for reading and writing, thus allowing you to "create" a MiniDisc on a new device and play it on an old device. They haven't stopped there, though. You can, if desired, instruct the Hi-MD device to use the older media in Hi-MD mode. This allows you to gain all of the new capabilities of the Hi-MD media but with smaller capacity and lower outlay. New Hi-MD media, though, can only be used in Hi-MD mode and cannot be used on older devices.<br /><br /><span><b>The New Features</b></span><br />So what does Hi-MD mode give you?<li> ATRAC3plus audio compression technology - roughly twice the compression over ATRAC3 at similar bit rates.<br /><br /><li> Linear PCM - devices can record at full audio quality without any compression (16 bits, 44.1KHz, i.e. full CD quality).<br /><br /><li> Bi-directional audio transfers between the computer and the Walkman.<br /><br /><li> Ability to store computer files.ATRAC3plus is part of Sony's ongoing enhancement of the ATRAC compression process. This latest version achieves double the compression ratio of ATRAC3. According to <a href="http://www.sony.net/Products/ATRAC3/tech/lab/index.html">results conducted by labs in the UK & Germany</a>, ATRAC3plus at 64Kbps was perceived as equivalent or slightly better than MP3 at 128Kbps.<br /><br />Support for linear PCM means that Hi-MD Walkmans can be used to create full fidelity recordings. A 1GB disc will contain 94 minutes of recording. You can then move the recording back onto the computer, retaining that fidelity. Previous MD Walkmans would let you record onto the disc using the line in or mic inputs but it was stored in ATRAC format and there was no digital transfer back to the computer - the only way of extracting the audio was to "record" it on the computer by connecting the headphone socket to a recording input on the PC.<br /><br />Transferring digital recordings from the Hi-MD Walkman onto the computer is a great step forwards. For some reason, though, Sony limited the functionality of this feature - not to the point where it can't be used, but you do have to jump through some hoops to get to the final destination! To begin with, the only way to get the audio file off the player and onto your computer is to use the supplied SonicStage software - more on this later. Next, as a result of transferring the file onto the computer, the original on the MiniDisc is marked as being associated with your computer, so you can't transfer it from the MiniDisc to any other computer.<br /><br />There is a solution, though, and Sony have provided it - they make available a free download that will convert the <b>oma</b> file that has been created on your computer into a <b>wav</b> file, preserving the quality and losing the DRM information. The caveat to this, though, is that the audio recording must have been made using an analogue input, i.e. the line in or mic inputs. If the optical input is used, you can still transfer the recording to the PC, but you cannot convert it into a WAV file, nor can you burn it onto an audio CD. That limitation makes sense because, without it, you could use the device to copy digital recordings without any copyright restrictions.<br /><br />The last new feature is another big leap forward and helps to put the Hi-MD range back in the running against devices like the iPod and some MP3 players. When the Hi-MD device is connected to the PC via USB, the disc appears as a removable disc (just as it would with a memory key) without the need for any special drivers.<br /><br />Users are always looking to get more out of their portable devices and the added bonus of being able to swap discs on the player means that you aren't constrained by the "built-in" capacity of the device as you are with the competition. The implementation used by Sony loses some capacity to system information, so the 1GB disc can store 964MB, the 80 minute disc 291MB, the 74 minute disc 270MB and the 60 minute disc 219MB. Amazon UK sells the 1GB disc for £4.99 or a 5-pack of the 80 minute discs for £5.98, which makes the price per MB very competitive with alternatives like memory keys, although the latter do have a slight portability advantage over the Minidisc. That said, if you've got quite a bit of data to transfer around, the ability to swap discs clearly puts the Minidisc units ahead of the game there.<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>The Hardware</b></span><br />The MZ-NH1 that I bought is the flagship of the 2004 range. It has a magnesium case which gives it a solid feel and doesn't retain fingerprints. Other users have commented that the case is also scratch resistant but I didn't want to put mine to the test!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-Player.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 2: MZ-NH1 with remote control and headphones.</i><br /><br />The front of the player has been simplified compared to my MZ-N707 - now, there is just stop, pause and record (Figure 2). The other controls have been moved to the side of the unit (Figure 3), with the case open slider on the top, the hold slider on the back, the inputs & outputs on the other side (Figure 4) and, finally, the charger/USB socket on the base. You can just see this socket in Figure 2.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-Side.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 3: Side view of the MZ-NH1.</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-SideOpen.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 4: Open side view of the MZ-NH1, showing headphone, mic and digital input sockets.</i><br /><br />For quite some time now, Sony have been using remote controls in-line with the headphones. The remote on the MZ-NH1 has a three-line display (Figure 5) which allows more information to be displayed than previous remotes and also more than the main unit. In fact, the two parts work together to complement each other. The remote is intended to be the main "play" interface, i.e. you are out walking, the player is in your pocket and you've clipped the remote to your clothing, while the main unit has some controls like the record and T Mark buttons that are for managing the content and therefore don't need to be on the remote. One thing I do like about the Sony remotes is that the headphones connect through a standard socket. This allows you to use or change the headphones to suit your needs.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-Remote.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 5: MZ-NH1 remote.</i><br /><br />In addition to the hold slider on the main unit, the remote also has a hold slider. This means that you can keep the device permanently protected against accidental control activation, and switch the remote in and out of use. From the remote, you can initiate playing, move forwards & backwards through the tracks, stop play, change volume, change the content displayed on the remote, the play mode and the sound of the playback.<br /><br />All the usual MD track features are there - labelling, grouping, deleting, splitting, combining. Hi-MD brings new features like being able to search for tracks by track, group, artist or album name, and being able to play by artist or album. The MZ-NH1 also has a 6-band equalizer that can be set to one of five presets or you can customise two other sets. On a particularly user-friendly note, the player remembers those settings on a per-disc basis! The settings are stored for up to 64 discs. When you exceed that limit, the player keeps the settings for the most-used discs.<br /><br />The charging stand is a small unit that holds the player in a vertical position. It looks very nice but prevents you from connecting the player to the computer's USB cable at the same time because the stand uses the same connector in the base of the player. It truly is a missed opportunity on Sony's part not to allow the computer's USB cable to connect into this stand. If I want to connect the player to my computer, I have to remove it from the charger, plug the USB cable into it and then lay it down flat on the desk. Not only is this inconvenient, but it occupies more desk space and gets in the way.<br /><br />To make matters worse, connecting the player to the USB cable and thus to the PC doesn't charge the battery in the player! Nor is there a way of plugging the charger into the USB cable as you can with Dell's Axim charger. The player does, thankfully, draw enough power from the USB cable to run the player. This means that you don't drain the battery while it is connected.<br /><br />Overall, this seems to be a backward step from earlier models where the power and USB connection were separate and you didn't need the stand to charge the battery - you could plug the main adapter directly into the unit. Sony have also gone from an AA-size battery to a flat Li-Ion battery so you can't replace the battery with a non-rechargeable one in an emergency. That said, the battery is supposed to last up to 18 hours (1GB Hi-MD disc, Hi-LP format audio, playing continuously) so I don't think I'm going to suddenly find myself with a dead battery.<br /><br />The case and headphones that you get with it are, to be frank, nothing much to write about. For my old MZ-N707, I got a nice vinyl case that clipped onto my belt. For the MZ-NH1, I get a draw-string bag that has a nasty feel to it and doesn't really do much to protect the player. The headphones will do the job but I've gotten used to and prefer my MDR-EX71 Fontopia headphones so any bundled headphones are off to a bad start :lol:.<br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>SonicStage</b></span><br />SonicStage is Sony's equivalent to iTunes - you buy tracks from Sony's Connect service through it, you transfer tracks from CDs into the SonicStage library and you transfer tracks from the library onto the MiniDiscs. SonicStage will also burn an ATRAC, audio or MP3 CD.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-Connect.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 6: Sony's Connect service through SonicStage.</i><br /><br />The software is one of two methods of getting pre-recorded music onto a MiniDisc, the other being Simple Burner which I'll look at later. The reason for enforcing the use of an application, rather than allowing you to just drag & drop music tracks onto the player is so that the digital rights can be enforced. Sony use OpenMG as their DRM platform. Tracks purchased from Connect can have limits imposed on how many times you can burn them onto CD. It is also possible to separately limit how many times a track can be transferred onto MiniDisc, although most of the tracks I've bought have unlimited transfers, with the few restricted tracks having high transfer (15) limits. SonicStage employs a check-out/check-in system with transfers, where it keeps count of how many times you've transferred a track onto MD and decrements that count when you transfer the track back off the MD into the computer. One of the enhancements that has been made is that if you format a disc from within SonicStage, it now automatically marks any tracks present on the MD as being checked back in before the disc is formatted.<br /><br />A really neat feature that I've used a lot since getting the NH1 is that if you've got the player connected via USB to the computer, and you open SonicStage, not only can you control the player from within SonicStage, but the audio comes out of the computer's speakers!<br /><br />SonicStage, though, is not without its critics and I do number myself as one of them. I recently received an email from Sony announcing a new version (2.3). I duly downloaded and installed the software, only to find that it wouldn't start - I just got Dr Watson errors. I reported this to Sony's technical support but just got an email telling me how to download the software from the Internet. In the end, I managed to solve the problem by downloading version 3 from the US (currently incompatible with the UK Connect service), installing that, uninstalling it and then installing version 2.3 again. I don't know what went wrong but clearly this isn't going to impress consumers, particularly the less technically capable ones.<br /><br />The other aspect of SonicStage that doesn't seem to work seamlessly is maintaining the DRM database between software upgrades. On the two occasions that I've upgraded SonicStage, the licence between SonicStage and my Sony Connect account has been broken, requiring Sony to reset the account (which they do quite quickly) and then re-download previously purchased tracks, which Sony allow you to do without further charge. Sony handle their side of it quite well, but I would much prefer just being able to install a new version without the added pain. Version 3 is supposed to connect with up to three computers with a single Connect account but I suspect that will just put off the pain until the third upgrade :evil:.<br /><br />Ripping CDs is quite pain-free - it uses CDDB to get the title and track information and on the 30+ albums I've transferred, this has been very accurate. As the tracks are ripped, they are encoded into ATRAC format according to the bitrate you've specified. Once on the computer, you can then transfer them onto, and off of, the MiniDiscs.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-SonicStageLibrary.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 7: The SonicStage library interface.</i><br /><br />SonicStage also gives you track management tools for the MiniDisc side of things. You can delete individual tracks and complete groups. You can rename tracks and groups. You can move tracks from one group to another.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-SonicStageTransfer.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 8: Transfer between SonicStage & Minidisc device.</i><br /><br /><span><b>Simple Burner</b></span><br />For me, this was the best surprise and a really good reason for upgrading to the Hi-MD player. Simple Burner allows you to rip directly from CD to MiniDisc, without storing the files on the computer as well. Like SonicStage, it uses CDDB to get the title and track information. By default, when you put an audio CD into the computer, a small message window pops up to give you a few options, as shown in Figure 9.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-SimpleBurner1.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 9: Audio CD detected.</i><br /><br />Clicking on the first option performs a straightforward complete rip of the CD onto the MiniDisc. While this is happening, another small window is displayed to keep you informed about the progress made. By default, the tracks are placed into a group named after the CD's title.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-SimpleBurner2.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 10: Simple ripping.</i><br /><br />If you want more control over what Simple Burner is doing, you can switch to Standard Mode. This mode works on several levels, but the initial level is very straightforward and aims to transfer the whole CD with the minimum of fuss, as you can see from Figure 11. In this manner, you can edit the artist & title, change the transfer encoding and the disc name of the Minidisc. Clicking on the big red REC button then transfers the whole disc.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-SimpleBurner3.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 11: Standard mode.</i><br /><br />For more control, clicking on the Open button expands the window to give you the track listing for the CD and the content listing for the Minidisc, as shown in Figure 12. Here, you can edit the track names, play tracks, and decide which ones you want to rip. On the Minidisc side, you can manually create a new group, erase tracks and groups, or erase the whole disc if you feel so inclined.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/Colmer-NH1-SimpleBurner4.jpg" /> <br /><i>Figure 12: Slightly more complicated Simple Burner.</i><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Personal Thoughts</b></span><br />I'd had my previous Minidisc recorder for a couple of years but not really done much with it. The primary reason for this is probably because transferring CDs to MDs required that the tracks were stored on the computer as well and this is not something I wanted - I needed the space for other things.<br /><br />Additionally, although the MZ-N707 could be used for recordings through its analog and digital inputs, the only way of getting the recordings onto the computer was to perform an analogue recording on the computer, so that didn't get used very much. Upgrading to the MZ-NH1 gets me the functionality I need in this area, particularly since I can now record at full fidelity when I need it.<br /><br />The 2004 MD range do not support MP3 files - you still need to convert them to ATRAC. This will change with the 2005 range but, from my perspective, that isn't an issue. I don't use MP3s at all. Prior to buying the Hi-MD recorder, I had been using WMP to rip my CDs into WMA format but that will stop now. All that process got me, really, was CDs ripped onto my harddisc which is fine but takes up valuable space and doesn't easily integrate with my hi-fi system. With the Hi-MD recorder, I'm not taking up disc space any more thanks to SimpleBurner and I can play the audio through the computer's speakers by connecting the player via USB or through the hi-fi by connecting through the line out on the player.<br /><br />The choice of ATRAC over MP3, WMA or AAC just doesn't really matter to me - the format isn't going to be used anywhere outside of the player so the fact that I don't have anything else that uses the same format doesn't matter to me.<br /><br />The ability to store computer files on the disc is an added bonus but I'm not sure how much I'll use it. At the moment, I'd probably stick with USB memory keys for files and keep the Minidiscs for music.<br /><br />The higher capacity discs rock! I've managed to get 32 CDs onto a single disc, which is a huge improvement over the previous discs. The ability to swap the discs is, I think, a major selling point compared to the competition. It avoids one of the biggest decisions one has to make when buying an iPod or MP3 player - the disc capacity.<br /><br /><span><b>Conclusions</b></span><br />Minidisc is not a popular format in the US but it is hugely popular in Japan and, I think, somewhat popular in the UK. The format has a lot going for it, some of which I've outlined in the previous section. The improved ATRAC compression provides high quality recordings at low bitrates. All of the CDs I've ripped have been at 64kbps and they sound just great.<br /><br />The 2004 range offers significant improvements over previous models but Sony have, in my opinion, made some design errors. The 2005 range looks as if it offers some potential - one of the models has an improved on-case display using OLED technology, and another model has an integrated camera. Only time will tell as to whether or not Sony have corrected some of the flaws in previous models.<br /><br />There are very few portable devices that can provide digital recording capability. Hi-MD devices offer a lot of features and should be considered if you are looking for such a recorder.<br /><br />If, however, you are just looking for a playback device, the decision is harder. The use of ATRAC will put some people off - for some people, it has got to be MP3 or nothing. The 2005 series will help here. The feature set of the Hi-MD devices is very good and holds up well against the competition. If you are like me and can be format-independent, you should give these devices a good look.<br /><br /><i>Philip Colmer is an I.T. Manager for a global electronic publishing company. In his spare time, he enjoys researching his family history, developing his videography skills and going shopping with his wife.</i>