Sony's still making mini disc players from new!

This is like that time we had a web site that wouldn't stop talking about Sega hardware nobody was interested in.



The best news is it uses Sony's new "ATRAC" encoding format, which is sure to take over from MP3 as the world's most popular shared music system (Copyright 1999).

SONY BRINGS STUDIO SOUND TO NEW Hi-MD WALKMAN, Mar 23, 2006

“Hi-MD is light years ahead of alternative formatting technologies such as HDD and Flash, making the MZ-RH1 the clear choice for professionals and music fans alike” – Yoshiaki Kadokura (Vice President, Personal Audio Europe, Sony)

Berlin, 23rd March 2006 - Taking playback sound quality to another level, Sony today announced the latest addition to its family of Hi-MD™ Walkman® digital music players. The sleek and slimline MZ-RH1 builds on the success of its predecessor. Listeners can now enjoy unsurpassable CD-quality sound whether they are playing back music recorded at a live music concert or selecting from their personal music library.

The MZ-RH1 is a digital audio player that can play files downloaded in LinearPCM, ATRAC (ATRAC, ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus) or MP3 format, or which have been recorded onto the device from a live music session. Sony has improved the recording experience with several enhancements. Users can adjust the mode to reflect what they are recording, which could be a live event, their own ‘jam’ session, or even a business meeting - creating crystal clear playback sound. The MZ-RH1 also features different listening modes to complement musical genres and create the right acoustic atmosphere, including “Club”, “Jazz” and “Pop”.

The competitive price belies the MZ-RH1’s professional capabilities. The iconic Sony design with the spectrum analyser display encases a pocket size recording studio. Usability for professionals has also improved, moving the buttons to enable easy operation, and building in a backlight function so that the product can be used in a dark recording studio. Sony has the advantage on the market for studio quality sound thanks to its Hi-MD next-generation formatting technology. Harnessing over 14 years of research and development, Hi-MD evolved Sony’s popular MiniDisc into a multi-purpose medium for storing audio, text and image data. Hi-MD uses the uncompressed LinearPCM format so music can be recorded and played back with the same sound quality as the original source. The MZ-RH1 will be available from May 2006 across Europe.

Key product features include:

* The device is also now offered with Mac compatibility, bringing greater choice in digital audio devices to Mac users. The Mac application can be downloaded from the MZ-RH1 page on the Sony websites and support website: http://www.sonydigital-link.com, from summer 2006
* Users can now revive their old mini disc libraries as digital music by uploading music to the PC
* Ultra slim and compact body – measures just 14.7mm
* Supplied with high power headphones offering treble and bass sound, and a remote control for easy listening and playback
* Rechargeable battery offers a battery life of 19 hours
* Removable media format offers unlimited storage capacity - one 1GB mini-disc can hold up to 45 hours of music
* Dynamic normalizer automatically uniformises the sound volume of each recorded track to a listenable level
* High capacity coupling condenser allows an authentic reproduction of bass
* PC data storage (Windows/Mac)
* HD digital amplifier
* Hi-Speed USB (compatible with USB2.0 specification)