Sony's first 1GB Hi-MD players coming in July

They may be killing off the Clie, but rather than just let the MiniDisc die with dignity, Sony seems intent on keeping it around. Back in January they announced a new line of 1GB MiniDiscs and players called Hi-MD. A gig of music isn't anything to sneeze at, especially since Sony says you could fit a full 45 hours of music onto one of them, but can you forgive us for not caring much about this? It's not like it's 1999 or anything, when a high-capacity MiniDisc might have had a sporting chance. Besides which, Sony is already pushing ahead with the 1.8GB Universal Media Disc (which'll show up first in the PlayStation Portable), how many mini disc formats do they expect us to deal with? Anyway, the first Hi-MD players are due out in Japan on July 10th, about three months after they were originally slated to hit. We have this funny feeling that they won't make it over here for a long time.