Sony MZ-NH1 Hi-MD
Sony has finally released a new MiniDisc specification that pushes the ailing MD format into the spotlight again. There are a few things that makes this device so compelling.
First of all, the biggest splash is the new Hi-MD format which uses a new 1GB optical disc. This increases MD’s by a factor of 6. At a maximum, the 1GB disc can hold 45 hours worth of music. At the best quality (virtually exact CD quality), the Hi-MD can play for 8 hours which is pretty good for people who are sound quality freaks. Hi-MD also boosts the MD’s transfer rate to 9.83Mb/s (up from 1.25Mb/s) for Hi-MD discs and to 4.37Mb/s for older MDs.
The second huge thing that’s brand new for MD technology is the fact that Hi-MD uses the FAT file system which allows the older MD and newer Hi-MD discs to be used as versatile rewritable PC media. The new Hi-MD players will complies with USB’s Mass Storage Class allowing the units to be recognized by most modern operating systems without requiring a driver.
The Hi-MD discs will cost around $7 which is phenomenal for small removeable media at 1GB. Owners of older MDs can still use their discs and can actually get more out of them than before. The old MDs only held around 177MB. Reformatted in Hi-MD mode, the older discs will hold 300MB of data. At only $2 a pop, that’s pretty good.
This was actually released a month ago but I’m only getting around to adding this. I really like the idea of this product as it gives you portable audio on the go and a decent amount of storage space on cheap replaceable media. 1GB is a lot of space and should be fine for many tasks. As one invested in MD technology and media, this is a great new move that’s sure to keep MD alive.
Of course, I’ll have more updates in the future should I add one of these to my collection of gadgets.
