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MZ-N707 Recording Analog

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I haven't recorded a mini disc since my wife upgraded her laptop. To be honest, I didn't know that You could record without the Sony software. Yesterday I went to WalMart and Radio Shack, and came home with a Digital to Analog Convertor (DUH!), an optic cable with Toslink and two mini plug convertors, and a fresh 1/8" to red and white RCA's.

Today I took them all back, and came home with a shielded 1/8" to 1/8" mini plugs, and a thick, shielded 1/8" to r&w RCA's to use when the Analog to Digital Convertor and custom Toslink to mini plug optical cable That I need to order arrived.

So, I was reading about Analog recording from Portable CD to MD. I have two MZ-N707's. The first one that I bought, which hit the floor HARD about ten years ago. The damage was such that i could hear the left channel when I messed with the remote cord where it plugs into the MD recorder, and that was it. I bought a NOS sealed MZ-N707 on eBay for $120, and I was rolling again, until Windows 7 showed up.

I had found that I could still record with the broken MZ, both with my stereo condenser Mike and using NetMD Burner. At his was handy because I could still take my old one to concerts without exposing my nice cherry new one to drops and just the wear and tear from recording my CD's on the burner. Again, all was well until her old computer crashed and she "upgraded" to Win 7.

So, in the last few days, I realized that I could burn high quality MD's using a convertor and optical cable from my new Portable CD player. So, after I returned all of the wrong stuff yesterday, I came home today with my shielded 1/8" to 1/8". I tried a regular 1/8" jumper first, and only the left channel was recording on my OLD MZ, so I got out my good MZ, and the same thing, left channel only.

So I took my new cable, and my newer MZ, and no matter WHAT settings I used, I would come up with a BLANK DISK message. So after an hour of screwing around with settings on my NEW MZ, and getting nowhere, I broke out my trusty CRASHED MZ, put in a great Grateful Dead CD, put the new cable on, and let her rip. And....SUCCESS! I recorded the entire CD, by just connecting it, hitting record, and doing nothing but marking the end of the songs. I didn't touch a thing. 

 

My 14 year old, beat up MZ came through for me, and the sound is unbelievable. For $9.50 I'm back in the game. Now I just have to decide which of my 700+ CD's are worthy of the slow SP process, but I'm really happy about being able to put some new music on every blank MD that I have laying around. I can't remember who made the thread that inspired me to try analog CD to MD transfers, but if it was You, I owe You! I have always used MD to save wear and tear on my CD's and my (now extremely expensive) NOS CD player.. It seems that I am back in the game. 

While I'm waiting for my Analog to Digital Convertor, my custom optical cable, and the blank MD's that I'm looking for, I have a means of burning some fresh music onto my MD's. I'm sure that You know the great feeling of getting Your beloved MD player-recorder back in action. And to think all that it took was $9.50 to hook myself up with the ability to make surprisingly great sounding Mini Discs using just one analog cable. 

I can't try the new software, and probably never will, because I intend to find a refurbished laptop,with Windows Vista or XP. I can't download the new Sonic software onto her new laptop, because if anything even remotely FEELS like I screwed up something on her computer, my name is mud. I wouldn't even TOUCH her computer for years until I got the Sony CD-ROM software downloaded. It was really clean, and the install was simple, and the software worked FLAWLESSLY. So she had no complaints. I never even surfed the web until about 2003, because everywhere that a I went was examined by her private detective personality. I was only interested in guitars, coins, and Corvettes. 

So, it feels great to have some fresh tunes on a disc, and they will all be reburned by next week, and hopefully I can find some blank MD's to get working on a new MD library. And THANK YOU to all of You for posting all of the information that You share. I am not the guy who will give up on MD. I'm 59 this Thursday, and I will be an MD guy until I'm dead and gone. MD is Sony's best work ever, and it's a shame that they tried to put us all out to pasture. Well, it ain't gonna' happen here, EVER!

Here's my MD and CD stuff. The Blue MZ is the MD that refuses to die. The new SHOCKWAVE is my birthday present. Best one EVER!

 

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Thank You for the help. I took my microphone out last night, and I'm sure that I have the rotten recording ribbon. I'm glad that I hung on to the one that broke. Have any of You guys repaired the ribbon? I sent feelers out to Sony parts to see if any nos ribbons exist. I may send it to be repaired. It's probably cheaper to buy a revamped rack model for my stereo system. I just got a fancy new turntable and a pile of new vinyl, so I may as well have it wired up. I'll look for a good laptop with a quality CD-Rom or DVD. If I get my own she won't flip out.

How hard is it to download the Sonic software? Do I have to type in a bunch of stuff? I'm old, and kind of handicapped beyond my broken back. I have no computer skills, but if it'd something easy to follow I could probably handle it. How do I know if she has 32 or 64 bit Win 7 running?  Thanks Again! I never will give up on ND.

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I was wondering. Last night I tried recording with the microphone, and still get the Blank Disc message. I have tried both analog feeds. Is it possible for myOptical input to work using an ADC and optical cable? Meaning, can power be cut off to the magnetic head, and not the optical laser?

I've been recording a lot of music today using my old broken MZ-N707. For analog input from my CD Player they sound amazing. my old one was bought in around 2002 or 2003. I'm wondering if the flexible leads on the original, first issue of the MZ-N707 had higher quality ribbon supplies, because the one that doesn't work was a later one?

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You really don't want to record from a CD or any other pre-recorded source using a microphone. You should have received a cable optical to optical with your N707. However you can buy one really easily on Ebay, like this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/10FT-3M-Toslink-to-3-5mm-Mini-Plug-Digital-Fiber-Optical-SPDIF-M-M-Audio-Cable-/381078972661

This will enable you to record from your CD player to your MD recorder.

Downloading SS is pretty easy. Provided you have a good internet connection, the whole thing takes a few minutes. Most versions of Windows 7 sold are 64-bit, FYI.

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I bought an Analog to Digital Convertor and Toslink to Mini Plug optical cord. I have the complete MZ-N707 package somewhere with everything still inside, including the software disc, but can't find it.

So, I've been recording direct from my new CD Player to MD using a high quality 1/8" to 1/8" cable, and now I've recorded one disc using the Convertor and Optic Cable. I'm sure it's the CD, because the Optic recording is of a live Jerry Garcia recording, but the Analog recording of the new Megadeth recording blows away the Optic recording of a live disc. I'm going to record the same Megadeth album using Optical Cable to get a fair comparison. At least I found out that the record function on my newer MZ-N707 is completely dead, Analog and Digital. I'm going to send it to Great Britmain to be repaired.

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