Decisions, decisions... this just in from the minidiscnews RSS feed!
"OSAKA, JAPAN - Sharp Corporation, Ltd. today announced MD+(tm), a new
high-capacity solution for portable music enthusiasts worldwide.
Adopting blue-laser technology already commonly available in consumer DVD
and DVD-ROM devices, MD+ offers storage capabilities of nearly 3.4GB on a
small disk the same size as Sony Corporation's popular but aging
MiniDisc(tm).
Sharp's new discs were shown with a suite of MD+-branded portable
recorders, portable players, home stereo, and car audio components, most
scheduled for Q3 delivery this year.
MD+ devices will be capable of recording and playing back digital audio
streams in a variety of formats, from Sharp's existing ATRAC5 compression
(the new format's capacity will allow a record-shattering 25 hours of
recording time on a single disk), up to an audiophile-pleasing new "high
resolution rendering" mode specified by Sharp as "96KHZ 24-bit PCM". The
latter will allow nearly two hours of audio per disk at a quality not yet
heard in a portable device.
While the devices already scheduled to ship this year are only capable of
recording in stereo, Sharp also showed working prototypes of portable
devices capable of recording and playing back up to six channels of audio
at once, through a variety of the units' analog and digital connectors. In
one demonstration, the units' capability to play two different tracks back
to two listeners at once using an auxiliary headphone jack on a remote
control was showcased.
High-speed file transfer to and from personal computers was demonstrated
over both high-speed USB2 and Apple Computer's popular Firewire format.
"Sharp recognizes that the needs of the home recordist have kept pace with
the changing audiovisual marketplace. When the original MiniDisc
technology became available, two channels was the standard, but today's
demanding surround sound applications require the ability to record, edit,
and play back many channels of audio together," said team engineer Haruki
Murakami. "We recognize the importance of offering features that competing
harddrive-based portables such as Apple [Computer]'s iPod cannot.
"And after all, if Hollywood can produce music and soundtracks in more
than two channels, so can today's technology-savvy customer base, who are
used to using tools such as Apple's Final Cut Pro 3(tm). Sharp today
extends the promise of home media production and enjoyment with MD+4 and
MD+6."
While the promise has been made, Murakami was quick to confirm that the
multichannel devices are not yet ready for prime time. Battery consumption
was cited as one obstacle to immediate release of multichannel MD+
devices. "While MD+2 devices will be capable of recording for upwards of
twenty hours with included NIMH batteries at CD quality, modes such as
'high resolution rendering' require proportionally greater power. Our goal
with the first generation of MD+4 devices it to allow four-channel
recording at 24 [bit] 96 [KHZ] for at least three hours on a single
charge," said Murakami. Such devices are currently slated for Q1 2005.
"In the short term, we will support the synchronization of multiple MD+2
units with a digital clock to allow many devices to record and playback
multichannel audio together."
Industry reaction was muted, in large part do to anticipation of a format
war with rival Sony Corporation, which in January announced its own
successor to MiniDisc, Hi-MD, which will be incompatable with MD+. Both
formats are backwards compatable with existing MiniDisk, but each uses a
different approach to extending the format. Sony's Hi-MD format also
allows computer data to be stored on disks, something Sharp did not
demonstrate but said was under consideration for the MD+ format.
While Sharp was able to show prototypes of MD+ technology as licensed by
lesser-known industry partners such as audiophile stereo manufacturer HHB
and Sweden's NAGRA, Sony's penetration of the consumer market is
considered a major obstacle to wide uptake of competing formats.
Prices for MD+ devices have not been set, but are expected to be
comparable to existing Sharp Minidisc offerings. The new 3.4GB MD+ disks
are expected to cost around US$9 each initially, with prices expected to
drop quickly if the format catches on."
http://www.quietamerican.org
April Fool's. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
________________________________________________________________________
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"Microphones are not ears,
Loudspeakers are not birds,
A listening room is not nature."
Klas Strandberg
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