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One of the things that does upset me about much of the legislation being enacted around the world (I understand it is already in force in Britain, and for sure in the USA) is that it will be illegal to encrypt anything without giving the Government access to it. I realise that there are reasons to prevent the "bad guys" from being able to commit treason in secret, but gun controls never stopped felons from acquiring guns. Suggestions have been made that DES encryption is steganographic (ie the US Govt could always decode it, though noone is quite sure how), which is why AES was supposed to replace it. Security by keeping the algorithm secret is generally frowned upon in computer circles because sooner or later the secret gets out. This was the basis of the design and selection of AES as the new standard for encryption. Mind you, if it ever gets to the point that they confiscate a MD because they cannot determine what's on it, that would be the time to stop travelling.

You are exactly correct, you must press the record button. I think this feature is in common in every single portable MD recorder made by Sony. The saved settings of the RH1 make it quite nice that you don't have to preset anything else. Also if you don't need PCM, there is so much space on each disk that it's rare you need to press the record button very often. You can even press it before you arrive at the venue A tip, set automatic track marking on (my preference is 10 minutes). This will enable you to easily discard the sections you didn't care about, and find your way through the ones that you want. Welcome to MDCF!

I re-read your post just now. As I said, I seem very slow today (must be the weather, we are all lounging around as if we don't know what hit us), but I don't quite see how you answered either of my points. Sure I can transfer to a MD with optical in, making tracks that are not restricted. I do that anyway because most of my tracks are things which I recorded using the analog input of MD deck, off LP, reel-to-reel, or Cassette. So I don't really view the SS library as anything more than a slightly convenient organiser which could disappear at any time and I wouldn't lose sleep. What I really want to know is a. how to add files to the MD over the USB (in HiMD, since the files are just visible and presumably I ought to be able to zap the entire contents back and forth). I havent actually tried this yet. But seems like I should be able to pull all the files off one HiMD, and substitute another set (with different music) using ONLY Windows explorer. I suppose you're going to tell me those files are useless except on that particular disk.... sigh, if so. b. how to move files to the MD over USB without using SS, for the NON-HiMD. I don't care about what NetMD does to them, unless there's a way to get them there unencrypted (same as when I record directly onto LP2 deck). Maybe that's the Rosetta Stone, getting them across USB without Sony's restrictions, but faster than x1. c. How to make (and play back) an Atrac CD or image without having an Atrac player. I.e. can I make an image of an atrac cd and mount it using Nero DriveImage, and simulate the MD? This might be a way of backup painlessly whilst still having the majority of the library directly on some physical MD.

I thought that simply running the Sony-supplied conversion would produce OMA files with no encryption. It was recommended by someone here a long time ago, and I did it, then setting SS not to do the encryption. I don't recall the details exactly.

I agree that the SS library is inflexible (you cannot easily move it, as far as I can see). I always export everything (that SS imports FROM the MD) to WAV that doesn't come from a commercial CD that I already owned. So the only reason for having the SS database is to do the export. As I say, I should be really interested to be able to transfer straight to the HiMD files that are visible from Windows. However this doesn't deal with NetMD.

The one which amazes me is CD-R Audio. I first encountered this concept about a month ago where a very serious gentleman of my acquaintance insisted that they are necessary (at least in his CD-recorder that's not part of a computer). So they tax these disks after deliberately making them different. This is sorta like the Italian government (and I dare say others since) putting a dye in fuel obtained using petrol coupons so that it would be illegal for non-tourists to have dyed fuel (much cheaper) in their cars. Shocking. Unless there really is some technical merit, all they would seem to have achieved is to ensure CD (music) recorders don't sell. I just got back from the grocery store. $19.99 (+ 12% tax) for a spindle of 50. So the levy (21c) is a little bit over half. Certainly not expensive enough for me to complain.

Funny you should ask that. Yes. But I went a very funny way around it. They were willing to have FedEx (or presumably any other courier) pick it up from their warehouse. But the cost was going to be $165. Ouch! So I found myself an Aussie friend willing to take delivery and throw away the charger (useless here), and he came to the US and sent by FedEx second day here. Cleared nicely. So my shipping cost was (apart from the friendship cost!) $30 plus $18 customs clearance including GST/PST and $7 fee. Way better than UPS, for sure. BTW, I think the guy purporting to sell this unit (Ebay) in the USA is selling NH600D's (ie not this unit). I never got an answer from him, so won't deal with someone who doesn't reply to questions.

Presumably,we all want to be able to manipulate the data files on a HiMD with something other than SS. I'm feeling particularly dense this morning... please could one of you two explain again how to get things onto MD without using SS? I'm sure the idea would leap out at me if I kept rereading it. I do have Nero and all the tools there, I think. Maybe I'm completely missing the point of what you want to do. I've never actually tried to put MP3 onto MD as I don't particularly need to - the only MP3 tracks I have were converted from WAV files using Nero or Sony's converter. Also most units don't play them back, so I avoided for compatibility reasons. Perhaps you could enlighten me - I thought SB did the transfer track by track. Or is it as simple as building a data image and using Windows Explorer to copy the files over?

Yeah. Except I couldn't see anything of that kind, and it still whistled (or shimmied, or whatever verb you will) after I failed to observe anything like that.

I think some people must rather abuse their equipment. In fact in a post today, someone admitted as how they did that, and how the player came through anyway. Nearly all mine is second hand, and I only had one failure, ever, and from reading on here, I realise now, what I might well have done to recover from *that*. One thing to bear in mind is that PCM uses a lot more disk access, therefore power, and also mechanical wear on the moving parts of the player, than the compressed formats. It's also fairly clear from sound tests that SP, Hi-SP and PCM have not that much to choose from, unless you are recording something that ought to be done with a bank of mixers and 20 mikes. Hi-SP uploads easier to computer (faster, no losses?) than SP (forget LP if you care about quality for making your own recordings). SP is fine via optical out from a deck, but no portable players left have optical, and no deck has HiMD (except a couple that don't have optical out OR USB). That's one reason to stick with SP, and gives you that much more redundancy since every MD device made supports SP.

I said nothing about "getting by" the trade agreement. I was assuming that some jerk who didn't know what he was doing might start inspecting every piece of electronics (much like they make us take our shoes off in US airports). I was further suggesting there was nothing that I might have that could be confiscated except the media, provided I stick to MD. I am not proud. Nothing to be proud of. Or ashamed of. I have no idea what you're talking about "fooling airport security". This is a matter of international borders and contraband. Perhaps you have never crossed into another country by presenting your passport? It has nothing whatsoever to do with "airport security".

I wasn't discussing the legislation. You were.

You can't use Spinrite on your Ipod. Or any other portable device with a hard disk. Sure, you need to back up your hard drive. But I trust MD more than I trust a memory stick. I heard some rumours that indicate MD might last a long time because of certain organisations (eg NPR) having contracts. So as long as they are being manufactured you've got a finite time to move away from MD.

Weird, I found so many different accounts of what the levy is that I don't believe any of them. I know it *used* to be 21c per cd. I'm pretty sure it has been adjusted, probably to tax CD's and cassettes less, and DVD's more. But no luck digging this up (yet). I found references to .25c, 21c, 67c, who knows??? What I do know that currently any of these except the first would exceed the cost of CDRs that I can buy in the supermarket. Edit: looks like 21c but no reference to the other media (DVD, MD). So at least here it doesn't seem that onerous. One time I went down and bought some in the USA but the real price included a refund from the "fulfilment house" (a euphemism, as their job is to get out of paying up on any grounds whatever), and they simply didn't even respond telling me I wasn't eligible. So in the end more expensive than here. I'll check the next time we go grocery shopping and post the result.

Sure. But if you've ever tangled with some of the numnuts who police the various borders, you wouldn't want to experiment. My only point is, wouldn't it be nice to say "here's a disc, you can have it if you insist, there's no music on the device"?

Thanks I do recall hearing something rattle when I shook it. Sounded like it wasn't coming from the disk drive itself but from the back corner where the power supply is. I'm now reluctant to see if the rattle has gone, for obvious reasons!

I think it costs money. Most of these "free" hosted sites have to survive somehow. There's probably a way for you to pay a buck or two and get thousands of un-"added" views. I don't see them (presumably because I paid for a premium membership).

Yes, lots. I admit that I do a fair amount of playback at real time into my computers TosLink, but I have yet to fail to get the first upload of a file via the NetMD interface. None whatever. The only issue is quality, how much does one lose compared to the almost-CD SP? Consensus and experience seem to indicate Hi-SP (256k) is pretty good; of course there is always PCM and since you get 94 minutes on a 1GB disk, that's enough for most live recordings.

Funny you should ask that. I removed the deck from the stereo setup, took it to the other room, where, just as before it whistled (possibly less badly, no way to measure). A couple of days later I put it in place of my 520 next to the computer, thinking "I can at least use this to play back LP2" and eventually got around to testing record. Now, no noise! Why would turning it upside down have an effect? I may well have done during the course of my endeavours. My current theory (until you happened by with your comment) was along the lines of something crazy about the power in that corner of the house. Seems like I had trouble with several things over there at one time or another. Stephen

Can you get a hard disk fixed when it dies? (rhetorical question) Tell me you've never lost a song that was stored on a hard disk. MD's combine backup with accessibility. Doesn't sound like they are gone yet by a long chalk.

I'm not speaking to that problem (whatever single "problem" you think it is). I am curious why you think (assuming you are not Canadian yourself) you are qualified to comment on what I understand on a subject that is outside your domain of interest or competence. I don't have an iPod. You're not Canadian (correct me, please). So maybe that makes us even?!?!?

I just posted something like this: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=134881 Let us know if this helps - I'm not going outta my way to mess up my machine to see if I can reproduce the problem - I figure that's for Sony engineers. Cheers

Thanks for the pointer to the utility, I had no idea it was there. http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?upd_id=2971 I have something I got as part of my Nero License but it is a bit of a hassle to use, except for one occasional file at a time. I concur with all your comments about needing to buy enough gear to keep using MD. I have only 2 HiMD's, and I keep the RH1 for things that only it can do - if it ever shows signs of unreliability then time to get another. But you're talking to someone who recently revived his 1975 Beocord 1600, heheh.

Now I think about it, the portable function to erase all (which I never use) is probably ok, if you do it by pushing buttons (on the portable). I think it's just SonicStage's "initialization" that seems to take rather a long time, and also it frequently barfs if it thinks you shouldn't be deleting a transferred track. Hope this helps.

Very useful URLs, I had no idea that any units other than RH1 were actually being sold in North America. I got my NH600 from Australia, and my RH1 from Canada. Cheers