sfbp

dollars to doughnuts your neighbour has hdd=C: dvd=D: if you can prove that works for you, there's a chance of finding the logical error SB install has made. Looks like SOMEWHERE in the registry there's some setting that persists when you don't wish it to do so. Another thing: have you tried disabling Simple Burner from running automatically at start up? Do that, and also wait 2 minutes between getting the login screen for Windows and logging in. I have a strange condition where some of my user startup items fail if the network card(S) don't initialize before I log in. Waiting until the network connections are finalized gets rid of this. Yet another idea: download Process Monitor and try to see what files SB is opening.

Wait a second... something popped into the memory stack here. I recall that some event has to occur to trigger OpenMG considering this a "new" drive. What I think you have to do is to disable or disconnect ALL your DVD or CD drives, and then reinstall OpenMG. When you reconnect the drive(s) it should now check them properly. Getting desperate here..... another stupid idea.... does SB depend on LASTDRIVE or whatever the modern equivalent is?

Just one more thing, did you get rid of your virtual CD driver? I remember some drive-letter confusion. I agree about leaving it a day or two as now you will at least get a system restore point. But System Restore REALLY does not agree with OpenMG. More to the point, try UNMOUNTING (using Drive Management) all drive letters except C:. Just as a test.... I bet your neighbour has only 1 drive letter, and I bet you like me have about 5.

Those are data, right? Too much for a digital copy imo. But as I say, my theory that ATRAC->S/PDIF->ATRAC is uni-whatsit would still produce something like this. Did you take a look at the service manual schematic? I would expect to be seeing a physical interconnect between some pre-decoded data on one drive and the DSP chip on the other. And I don't. Either way it's amazing. Now the question is, can it be reproduced with an SCMS-killed regular copy? Or one made without digital amplification by making a WAV file and transferring it back to an SP disk? Stephen

This is getting to be annoying. Forget about System Restore. Then you undo all the good work you've done. Could it be the drive is simply busted? DVD drives have 2 lasers, you know. DVD laser and CD laser.

Start here You can basically delete any device thats "greyed out" I also recommend deleting all CD and DVD drives. Don't worry, they will reinstall automatically.

Couple of comments 1. If you are getting the dialog box ASKING you each time whether to save them as WAV, you've done something wrong. 2. I would hazard a guess that the reason you cannot convert them is something to do with the fact that the tracks are untitled. Try labelling them a,b,c etc.

I had NOT understood that the CD drive check WORKS in Sonic Stage, for you. Maybe it's time to clean up your device map? Do you know how to do that?

Have you copied a disk, uploaded each with RH1, converted to WAV and done a file compare, then? If what you say is true then this should work, I think. Can you show me the signal path on the circuit diagram? Again I don't doubt you - I want to believe.

Philippe, are you sure about this? Looking at the schematic for the W1, it seems that the connections between the deck are normal S/PDIF connections, switchable between direct connection and optical in. Would you agree with me that the ATRAC converter lies after this level of signal? If that's the case then really the MDS-W1 is nothing special, just two decks (specifically MDS-JE520's) hooked back to back.**** Now comes the potentially interesting part. If you are correct in your claim about no loss (and I don't doubt you on this point), then the ATRAC transform itself is essentially "Magic", and mathematically ensures that ATRAC->S/PDIF->ATRAC is the identity matrix. Now THAT is the magic of ATRAC, to me. You can go to and from 1411Khz (from ATRAC 292kbps) with no loss. All the years I have been using MD's to capture sound, and then create CD's from them, suggest that the conversion FROM ATRAC to CD is lossless (my ears might have argued, otherwise). Incidentally, going the reverse direction is clearly not 100% lossless but if you started with ATRAC then you will finish with the same ATRAC. And as long as the PC or CD drive reproduces what really was on the CD accurately, then you will get back the same bit patterns on the other MD before it got sent to the CD. Stephen **** except one small thing, the MDS-W1 does it faster than real time. Note that the conversion of SP to WAV is well understood by Sony's software engineers and the #linux-minidisc group, and it is, mathematically an extremely simple transformation. This is how the RH1 can upload at x10 with "perfect" conversion to WAV.

My assumption is (possibly faulty) that the 520 adequately encodes to digital, and therefore is a good place to record the signal. I don't think that ONLY using the 520 as an A->D device would have advantages over simply recording what it digitises. Remember this deck was just before MDLP was introduced, so probably SP encoding didn't get a whole lot better (although I dare say some of the higher end decks from about the same time may beat it in certain areas, and I can not be sure whether it's the A->D or the subsequent ATRAC recording on disk which would be different). It's true that it is NOT Type-R, which should be better at compression. If that's the difference then I stand corrected. But I don't think it's anything to do with inherently using a given machine to encode "from analog" or "from digital" as by the time it encodes it will have been digitised by the same circuit you are using when you simply pass through the signal in A->D mode. Off the top I would expect a device designed purely to record and encode SP might be better than a portable (which perforce has a smaller chip count and less stable power supply than a deck) that has to double duty at recording SP and other bit rates. But I cannot honestly claim any real knowledge as to which components affect what. The SNR for some of the 9xx series decks are better by a few dB. The only one to beat it by a mile is the semi-pro range such as JA333ES which claims 106dB (over 96 for the 520). The JA20ES and JA50ES have high values too, I hasten to add. Whether this difference in SNR is a valid indicator of better recordings, or audiophile bragging rights, I am not sure. However I WOULD definitely expect what you are doing to produce better recordings than analog line to the portable. But that's not a fair comparison, IMHO. Stephen

Another observation. I have been having trouble recording from 128kbps streams (it seems that the server in question is flaky at the moment) so I switched to another stream (of the same source) that was at 192kbps. This sounded fine off the air, and recorded nicely in LP2. But recording to LP4 I got the same muddy crap that everyone has always complained about when dismissing LP4. Could it be that, for a given "final" compressed bit rate, there is a SOURCE bitrate that you don't want to exceed? So transcoding PCM (or for that matter 192kbps) straight to 66kbps may not work that well (depending on how things are set up and what digital filters are in place), but that going from 128kbps to 66kbps may be just fine most of the time (provided that the 128kbps stream was encoded well to begin with). I'm quite aware this is not a scientific study - just a one-off observation, but I am trying to build up a picture of what it is that makes for good compressed recordings. Maybe one of you will be able to reproduce the sort of thing that I think I have seen. Stephen

Don't think that's quite right. Suppose you get a 10% loss on the first transcoding. (100->90) There's no reason to suppose you would lose MORE percentage wise on the second transcoding, ie 90->81 not 90->80, and certainly not 90->89 (or worse). I have used MD's as a way of capturing digital sound and generating CD masters. I can put up with the loss of the 10% (or whatever it is, I suspect much less, instinctively I am guessing 5% or smaller) because I don't lose anything after that (and because when I do that step I can clean up the sound quite a lot). So for me the CD (or PC) is the backup to the "original" MD recording. When all is said and done, I think we basically agree.

You can buy a new or almost new NetMD-capable unit for under $40. Your free unit is worth more than what you paid for it For example: http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-NetMD-Walkman-MiniDisk-Black-MZ-NE410-Extras-/290481544407 Or this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-MD-WALKMAN-MZ-N420D-Minidisc-Player-Recorder-MD-/160487105699

You have to select the sound card (output) to be the AN1; now play back your file into the input socket (line) of the MZ-R70 using the proper cable (from AN1 to MZ-R70). There is no downloading here. Every minute of music will have to be played and recorded while you watch (and listen).

What I do not understand is: why not use the 520 itself to do the recording? You prefaced all this by saying you wanted to record at SP data rates. Stephen

Oh dear, you didn't read what I wrote. Let me repeat 1. THERE IS NO SOFTWARE FOR THE MZ-R70. You cannot use Sonic Stage or Simple Burner, as the unit does not support them 2. You would do best getting a USB audio card for which you have a driver. The link (to Ebay) I gave you will suffice. I just spent half an hour looking for a specific driver for the AN1. If it (AN1) doesn't work on your Windows, give up, was my conclusion.

There's NO software associated with your MD unit. All you do is to hook up the Xitel as a USB Audio Device. Its driver is what you need. After doing a little checking it appears that Windows "knows" about this device. I can't verify that, however. This discussion might be interesting. The AN1 is the analogue version. Much better would be the digital version DG1. Strongly suggest you look at (for example) this ebay auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/USB-2-0-7-1-Optical-Audio-Sound-Card-SPDIF-Adapter-5877-/280556876345 I have one of these and it works great. You get "pure" digital sound (thanks to the CMI8738 chip inside) to the optical recording input of your MZ-R70. There was a Xitel DG2 but it's harder to find. This latest one even works with Windows 7, drivers are supplied on a CD all included in the price. Good luck.

Start here: http://minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-R70.html For PCLink, I don't think it will control the unit for you. But tell us the model number, I am intrigued anyway if there is a PCLink with the "remote"-style output. It's a good way to get optical output from the PC to the MD. Optical is always more reliable (and better quality) than line in, for a given signal. Welcome to the forums!

If the CD fails the Drive Check in SS, then it's some common component shared by SB and SS, correct? What about OpenMG? Have you got some firewall on that is preventing OpenMG from authenticating (which I believe at some point it must)? My conclusion from your experiment is that you have failed to remove some piece of the very old OpenMG from the initial install before putting SS and SB 2 on the machine. Isn't it the case that the sound files used by early versions of SS/OMGjbox are completely incompatible and have to be upgraded when going to Version 3? Stephen PS one thing that also got upgraded was the database. The current one is definitely MS Access 2003. So in 2001 (early NetMD and OMGjbox) it must have been Access 97.

One more thing.... try uninstalling the virtual CD driver completely.

Jim - just a quick question if you don't mind? Why would you prefer the optical input on a portable to that on a deck, given that you want SP recordings? I would have thought the 520 (analog in to SP recorded) is the best choice, unless it's busted Stephen

Over the top should be fine. Find Avrin's "Ultimate" version, though.

What about SS version? If you aren't on 4.3 then I cannot answer for the behaviour of your system.

I think the biggest thing I noticed was the NE410 came with very cheap headphones, not goldplated contacts on the jack - noisy, and I thought possibly might have coloured my view of it initially. Like everyone else I was frustrated at the lack of features, as it was my first portable. Recent comparisons showed it worked quite well, and stood up to just the comparison you mention.