zoot1

Four Sharp Mini-Disc player/recorders, Mt877 or Mt77 model. All four play OR record, none do both! Two have headphone jack issues (marginal connection, a jiggle is needed), and two do not record. Package comes with: 3 remotes, 6 gumstick batteries with two wall chargers, 1 AA battery aux. power attachment, 3 charging cradles with 3 Euro wall chargers (1 wire is cut...), 1 pair Sound Pro in-ear mics, Sound Pro battery box, 1 pair Aiwa Lav. mics, 1 pair of "wind socks" for outside recording (professional version, cost $50.00!!) 1 new TDK disc, and 9 Sony Gold Gold Discs. Some excellent values here if you already recording with Mini-Discs. PLEASE NOTE: there is no US AC charger that connects to the cradles; I use the separate wall chargers. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...E:IT&ih=014 I'm just cleaning out some of my extra equipment; take a look if you are interested.

Another theory worth a try, thank you. But if successful, I will still have to wonder why this would happen all of a sudden? I have now used a third PC, same result. Back to the cord... I played the CD made by the third PC, and the only problem was in the first few minutes of the recording, when the internet was connected. After I disabled the wireless connection, it was fine. So back to the original thought, which was a processing glitch. I think...

As far as the tics/skips go; the skip is a quick one, a fraction of a second, and are (at least from what I can see) completely random. It could two 5 seconds apart, or 20 minutes apart. The skip is often, but not always accompanied by a tic, almost reminiscent of an LP with a scratch. No other noise, static or (long)silence. The recording is perfect otherwise. I have not tried the USB device in the new PC. And as far as a bad jack is concerned, that would mean I have TWO bad jacks, one a brand new one (not impossible, I know). I will go after the cord theory and see what happens. I will try to post a sample. They are all in the i-tunes library though, and I can't seem to get at them! As I look back through some of the songs, I have many recent flawless recordings that I had not considered. Maybe a cord with a weak spot in a bad position? I included a 30 second sample, the skip occurs at about the 17 second point. This is actually a dropout I think, a split second of silence. No tic this time, but as I said, it's not consistent. Thanks sample2.mp3

Sorry for even more confusion. The old computer HAD always worked fine, until the last year or so. I eventually blamed it on the kids sketchy downloads. At one point, the tics would disappear if I only disconnected from the internet. Then over time, I couldn't seem to make a clean recording. I then went out and bought a new PC, JUST FOR ME, so I the blame could not be passed on to anyone but myself. The new computer is doing the exact same thing (4 different MD's, all Sharp, all real-time uploads. The Sony Gold I referred to were the discs themselves)as the old. I have no other source to play into the mic in. The Mini disc players all play fine on their own, so I believe you are right about the problem being with the hardware. Do you suspect the processor? RAM? I should even consider the possibility that I have TWO bad cords. Thanks again for your help and patience.

Sorry for the confusion. I have two PC's. The one I was referring to has a USB sound device, a generic e-Bay item that has always worked fine. On the other PC (the recently purchased one) I use the mic-in. The set up is exactly as it always has been. It's the new computer that has me confused, I disconnect from the internet, no "hogs" running in the background that I can identify, the min-disc plays fine, but then the tics/skips always appear on the recorded version. I have literally uploaded hundreds of hours of live MD's over the years with no problems, and I really can't figure out what changed. No chronic problems with Audacity? Should I try Sonicstage?

I use Audacity on both PCs, and the one I sit at now lists USB Audio under Sound recording default device. The sound card was chosen (from a choice of 9!) was "IDE-DVD Rom 16x", so you are right, they don't match. I should choose "USB Audio Device" under hardware settings? Never tried recording from another source, but I suppose I would have the same problem...

No, two different PCs. Uploading IS in realtime. The original recording plays fine. I think you have to be right about a processor problem, that's why I tried using a new PC. The only thing I can think of is that Nortons is scheduled to run when the computer is booted up. I'll change that. There is absolutely an improvement with the new "kid-free" PC though, so I guess I'm on the right track. It still puzzles me as to why I had so many years of clear tic-less listening. And thanks for your patience!

Much has been written about tics or dropouts while recording, my problem has been these little skips that appear upon uploading. The original recording is fine. Different players (Sharp 877 Sony Gold), two different computers and cords, I don't get it. I have only had the problem pop up recently after 10 years of recording live events problem-free. I first thought it seemed to happen when the internet was connected, now it seems to appear regardless. Maybe too many operations at once? A new cord (Gold, from Radio Shack) seemed to help a little, which doesn't really make much sense unless it was also bad... Any thoughts (without any newbie rage)?