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mp3 conversion in SonicStage is terrible

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toxaco

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Hello to everyone here,

first off i am a total newb to minidisc, i've just got myself a NH600 cos i wanted a portable recording device and was fed up with ipods!

Anyway down to business:-

i have had no problems using SonicStage ultimate on my Macbook using XP with bootcamp,

BUT!

I noticed straight away that mp3s i transferred to the NH600 were noticeably worse quality than the original mp3 on the computer.

I found that converting them to WAVs first and then converting them to ATRAC gives much, MUCH better results.

This also seems true vice versa, ie converting ATRACs uploaded from the NH600 to WAV and then using 3rd party software (dboweramp) to convert to mp3

I don't know if this is common knowledge, I just wanted to share my findings with the community, and introduce myself

It seems that Sony's mp3 conversion in SonicStage just doesn't cut it.

regards, toxaco (Cosmo)

I am very happy to be a minidisc user in 2012, I never want to hear an ipod ever again!!!

and where else can you get a PCM recorder for £30

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Agreed.

I think the *reason* Sonic Stage isn't good with MP3 (aside from commercial/conspiratorial considerations where some aggrieved party suggests this was on purpose) is that the software and design date to before the time when MP3 was enhanced by various means (DFXEnhancer and Foobar2000 to name a couple).

Sony's ATRAC-to-MP3 conversion program is quite decent. But I am left with the feeling that the music I had just took a one-way trip, to which yours is the only solution. I record stuff to MD that is either AAC or MP3 when broadcasted. As you say, letting ATRAC compression do its thing on the decompressed (WAV) sound from such sources works quite well. The MP3 enhancers, also, lessen the quality gap between MP3 and MD.

If you really want to compare converted files, I suggest playing with Sound Forge 9 or 10. It handles ATRAC and MP3 interchangeably. The only thing you must do is to decrypt any uploaded files from MD before you try to edit them. This is achieved with the File Conversion Tool that's supplied with (and is really an integral part of) Sonic Stage.

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Hi inquisitor, forgot to say thanks for the reply, i find the results to be very good when turning a 256kbps mp3 into a minidisc.

I use Nero burning rom to burn a virtual audio disk (.nrg) because i like being able to split up a long (2hr) dj mix into 15min tracks, if you set the expert features on Nero to overburn 120min it doesn't have a problem making a virtual audio cd 2 hrs long!

You then mount the virtual disk in Nero image drive and use Simple Burner to put it onto minidisc!

It may sound long winded, but it's a real drag having a 2hr mix on a minidisc, one accidental hit of the back button, and you can be ffwding for the next 15mins tryin to get back to 1hr in!

I developed this technique, because i found that splitting the 2hrs of audio in audacity (or soundforge i guess) and then creating 8 15min mp3s left you with glitches between the tracks.

I read here that the best way to get seamless play between tracks is to burn a CD straight to minidisc using Simple Burner!

So that's what i did! Who would guess that you can make a 2hr "virtual" audio CD!

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toxaco, that's a cool technique, I have many DJ mixes which are very long as well. I think I'll give your method a try. I typically just let Sonic Stage convert to ATRAC directly from MP3 and the results are not too bad at all. Most of the mixes I download vary in encoding methods from 160K VBR to 320K VBR, some are CBR. Sonic Stage does a surprisingly good job of transcoding such a variety of file types.

I'll need to find an old copy of Nero which I have stashed away somewhere and run it in the Virtual XP as I don't think any one has had any luck getting Simple Burner to function properly in W7 64bit. I could be wrong about that ...

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I'll need to find an old copy of Nero which I have stashed away somewhere and run it in the Virtual XP as I don't think any one has had any luck getting Simple Burner to function properly in W7 64bit. I could be wrong about that ...

I've got a copy of Nero 6 for XP if you need it's only 30mb - dropbox / megacloud etc. ?

I always have XP running on my intel Macbook

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Thanks toxaco, I'll let you know, I think I have a version right around that same era, it has the virtual drive iso loader, etc and a bunch of good tools. I am hoping to get to play with this some this week. I'll keep you guys up to date.

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