cbmuser

Yes, because the recordings made with older models than the RH1 are encrypted. We are working on that, need to reverse engineer OpenMG. Still work-in-progress. Adrian

Hi folks, just compiled successfully a Windows-version of QHiMDTransfer, fetch it here to test: http://users.physik.fu-berlin.de/~glaubitz...c/qhimd-win.zip Adrian

Hi folks, for your questions: Yes, it will definetely work on Windows 7. It might require a recompilation of the code, but thats not really a problem. We are currently working on the Windows-port, it's almost working now, only a issue with the libhimd DLL-file, there should be a Windows-version next week. This is something I cannot answer for sure, because we do not know the exact reason for that behaviour yet. However, we transfer the tracks onto the HiMD without encryption (like they are when recorded with the RH1 itself). There might be also a "allow editing"-bit, but we do not know yet. We will be able to answer this once we have fully unveiled how OpenMG works. As I said, if the hardware is possible of something, we will support it . @Taliesin: Thanks for your donation. I am already bidding on an MZ-RH1, hope I can get it this time. Adrian

Yes, you have to add an exception for the security certificate. That's because my university cannot afford to buy a certificate which is shipped with most browsers (from Verisign), those cost a fortune . Anyway, it's not an error with the website but simply that your browser doesn't know our certificate because it was not issued by some root-organization on the web. Just go ahead. Adrian

Well, no. The reason that only MZ-M200/MZ-RH1 made recordings can be transfered is that only these are unencrypted. If you use "himdtest" from the libhimd-suite, you can list the tracks on the HiMD and see that their keys are all zero (except for the ATRAC3-tracks maybe). In any case, the Mac-Software does not have OpenMG built in and thus it can only upload those tracks which are not encrypted. Adrian

Very easy. Just go to: https://wiki.physik.fu-berlin.de/linux-minidisc/ and click the PayPal Donate button. Enter any amount you want to support us with. @Syrius: The benefit of this software is to offer a full opensource software for all MiniDisc-devices which offer NetMD or HiMD. The advantages of our software over SonicStage are: - run on *any* operating system you want, not just Windows XP 32-Bit (we are going to switch to 64 bits soon, aren't we ?; I am already on Linux 64 Bit) but also MacOS, Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD whatever you want - allow unlimited up- and downloads of audio-data off/to your MiniDisc-Walkman - slim and fast code, no bloatware - open-source code gurantees that development can still continue even if we ever should drop it; anybody else can pick up the code and continue - open-source allows integration in Linux-distrubution like Debian and Ubuntu If those arguments aren't striking, you must be very pleased with the limitations imposed by SonicStage. Adrian

Hi Syrius, thanks alot for your donation. The software runs on any platform, including MacOS and Windows. However, I have yet been unable to fully compile the code on Windows (only compiled the command-line utils yet). It still needs some time but expect a working Windows-version soon. Sorry for the delay but most of us are hacking on Linux. We are still looking for people who are skilled on Windows-programming. They should be able to port and compile everything to Windows. All sources fully available. BTW: I talked with the editors of Linux Journal today. They will feature a small article with our project. Adrian

Hi folks, there are 2 MZ-RH1 recorders for sale on eBay Germany at the moment. One of these units is for sale to local pickup only (seller claims to be an old grandpa, not being able to walk to the post-office). Anyway, we have collected 50 Euros already and would only need some more 50 Euros to get that walkman I think, I will pay the difference from my own pocket then. Please use our donate button on the frontpage: https://wiki.physik.fu-berlin.de/linux-minidisc/ The MZ-RH1 will be made available to *all* developers involved. It will be shipped to any of us on demand . PS: One guy from the German MiniDisc-Forum is working on building the software on Windows. Adrian

Hi folks, thats so great off all you guys. We have 40 euros already, so I think I will give the 40 euros to the guy then who is selling his/her MZ-RH1. Please just let me know once you have found someone. Project is still making progress, however reverse engineering of OpenMG still takes some time. We are at a progressed point however. http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/HONSH...427/169423/?P=2 "Sony hasn't taken open technology very seriously in the past. Its CONNECT music download service was a failure. It was based on OpenMG, a proprietary digital rights management (DRM) technology. At the time, we thought we would make more money that way than with open technology, because we could manage the customers and their downloads. " Adrian

Hi folks, QHiMDTransfer (the GUI-application) can also upload unencrypted PCMs off a HiMD already. However those PCMs are in RAW-format and need to be converted afterwards: sox -t raw -b 16 -e signed-integer -r 44100 -B -c2 stream.raw stream.wav Upload of encrypted material is being worked on. Adrian

Hi folks, as baturjan has pointed out to me in a mail, I'd say you guts what support we could need. Actually, we are collecting the money to buy an MZ-RH1 for testing. At the moment, we only have some older NetMD-Walkman and a Sony MZ-RH10. For full testing, however, we will need an RH1. Since we are more than one developer and we only have one HiMD-model at the moment, we'd be happy if anyone of you collectors is willing to share a HiMD-model or you could donate some money for the RH1 we want to buy (a used one off eBay is fine ). Ah, and yes, our software will allow maximum upload/download-functionality provided that the hardware supports it. It will not impose any of the restrictions which SonicStage brings when touching any audio on the MD (disabling of Editing etc), whenever possible. Adrian

No, it does not make any difference, whether SonicStage and drivers are installed or not. Our software connects to the walkman over USB-Mass-Storage, it directly reads the files from the drive-letter, where Windows has mounted it to. You could also copy the files off a HiMD and put them elsewhere, libhimd/himdtest/QHiMDTransfer will still be able to upload (extract) files from the HMA-files. Adrian

Hi, ok, I managed to build himdtest in Windows, get it here: http://users.physik.fu-berlin.de/~glaubitz...imdtest-win.zip Here a short howto which explains how to build libhimd on Windows with CygWin: https://wiki.physik.fu-berlin.de/linux-mini...pilingonwindows Adrian

The code doesn't have to be ported, it is portable already. However, I am somewhat too stupid to setup the build-environment under Windows. You can try it yourself, if you're more into Windows-development. Here is what you need: - CygWin - Qt 4.5.1 OpenSource for Windows (see ftp.trolltech.com/qt/source) - Qt Creator 1.1.0 for Windows (see www.trolltech.com) - libmad - libmcrypt - libglib - git to checkout the code You can install git, libglib and libmcrypt with the setup-program of CygWin, building is analog to Linux (same commands) in CygWin. Once you really managed to setup CygWin with Qt properly in Windows, you should be able to compile everything. It's just QHiMDTransfer which I can't manage to compile, libhimd together with himdtest already compile. I will upload himdtest.exe. Adrian

Hello, update: Upload of weak-encrypted PCMs (like they are recorded with the MZ-RH1) is now possible. First you need to build the latest version of libhimd from source, see: https://wiki.physik.fu-berlin.de/linux-mini...ompilingonlinux Then you can upload tracks with: ./himdtest /mnt dumplpcm 1 to upload track no.1 of the HiMD which is mounted to /mnt. However, since the audio-data is in RAW-PCM, you'll have to convert it to WAVE: sox -t raw -b 16 -e signed-integer -r 44100 -B -c2 stream.pcm stream.wav PCM-Upload is not yet implemented in QHiMDTransfer. However, QHiMDTransfer will directly output WAV-files so you won't have to convert the files after upload. PCM-Upload for older models and ATRAC3-upload will still take some time in development, as OpenMG needs to be reverse-engineered. Adrian

Hi, I have a working version for MacOS which I compiled on my Mac Mini (Leopard 10.5.6/PPC). I can upload it for you to test it, but it works already (except for some bugs). EDIT: I have uploaded the version here: http://users.physik.fu-berlin.de/~glaubitz/qhimd_mac_ppc.zip You will need to install Qt 4.5.0 or higher and Macports with libglib2 and libmad for this application to work at the moment. Qt for Mac: ftp://ftp.trolltech.com/qt/source/qt-mac-...ource-4.5.1.dmg Macports: http://www.macports.org/install.php Once both is installed, open a terminal and type: sudo bash <Password> port install libmad glib2 Sorry for the inconvience at the moment, but everything is still in development and I am not so much into Mac development yet. On Linux, the compilation and the creation of ready-made packages is much more simple. I have to figure out, how to link the application statically, so you won't need to install the additional software. Any experts on MacOS-development are therefore welcome. EDIT2: I have written a short howto for compiling the software on Ubuntu and MacOS. Compiling on MacOS is still a bit tricky, but on Ubuntu it's very easy if you're following the instructions: Ubuntu: https://wiki.physik.fu-berlin.de/linux-mini...ompilingonlinux MacOS: https://wiki.physik.fu-berlin.de/linux-mini...=compilingonmac Adrian

It must have been installed previously by someone onto your Mac. MacOS definetely does not ship with the Sony-Software installed. However, once the software is installed, MacOS creates a shortcut to "HiMD Music Transfer" every time you plug in your HiMD-Walkman (This is performed by the software "HiMD Monitor" running in the background). Wave is just a container format, the files are in PCM (PCM is an encoding format, WAV a container format; WAV-files usually contain PCM). You can use any audio-editing software on your Mac. In any case, you have to transfer the files as WAV-files, ATRAC3 (Hi-SP/LP)-Recordings have to be converted prior further editing. I have never used Garage Band, but I guess it should be able to edit PCM/WAV-files. Adrian

Hi guys, just a small update: We have 3 people now working on Reverse Engineering Sony's OpenMG which manages all encryption and content-management on the NetMD/Hi-MD-Walkman. The OpenMG-Modules come in a special binary-coded format named OCM, whose files reisde in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Sony Shared\OpenMG. Once we have understood the OCM-format, we can disassemble all the code for enrcryption and download/upload to/from the MD-Walkmans. This Reverse Engineering process takes more time, but in the end we will be able to support all possible transfers with the devices. Btw, one of the ffmpeg-developers who wrote the ATRAC3-decoder for ffmpeg has been in contact with us. He wants us to share code with him later on and vice versa, so we can integrate full ATRAC1/3-support. Stay tuned and thanks for all your supprt. We have collected 30 Euros of donations already, Adrian

Hi, just for a short update. Our project has received its first donation over 10 Euros . We are also now working on NetMD transfer, studying several Sony patents for that and writing sample/test code. Also PCM-Upload for HiMD is work-in-progress now. Adrian

Hi folks, at the moment we only support uploading of MP3s from HiMD-Walkman. We also already know how to format an HiMD from Linux and setting time/date (we have reverse-engineered all Sony SCSI-commands for the HiMD). Next will be support for uploading PCMs, then downloading MP3s and PCMs. We have started with the MP3s because they use a very weak encryption (XOR-based) while PCMs are encrypted using 3DES. But we have the master-key for 3DES, so expect PCM-upload capability soon. Although we know how to encrypt MP3s for the MD-Walkman, we haven't started on downloading tracks to the device yet, since we do not want to provide code yet which can destroy your audio-data . But we have the knowledge, we just need manpower for coding. We're still working on the encryption of the PCMs, they are less encrypted on some HiMD-devices. For example, the Sony MZ-RH1 uses a very simple encryption for PCMs recorded with the device itself whereas it uses strong encryption for PCMs transfered to the RH1 with SonicStage. That's why you can only upload PCM-tracks with the Mac-Software which were recorded with the RH1 itself but not with SonicStage. I cannot say anything about ATRAC yet, but I will keep you informed as soon as I know more. Adrian PS: You may also support with fundings if you want, we have a PayPal-donate button .

Yeah, the ultimate goal is to provide all possible upload/download-functionality provided by the (Hi-)MD-Walkman. We already know how many of the audio-data is encrypted on the discs, but we need more support from other people to write code or reverse-engineer things. If you want to know how backup could be possible, read the pages on our wiki. Adrian

When you connect the Walkman, a windows should pop up showing the directory contents of the Walkman. Then start QHiMDTransfer in the directory it was compiled with "./QHiMDTransfer". In the software, click the button connect and choose the main-directory of the Walkman (it ususally lists as "1 GB Storage Device"). You'll have to play around a bit until you understand everything if you're new to Ubuntu, but it's actually quite easy. Future versions of the software will detect the Walkman automatically and do all the work for you, but we're still "Work in Progress". Adrian

Oh, you want a Windows-version ?! . Well, I haven't compiled a version for Windows yet. I have working versions for Linux and MacOSX (Intel/PPC) so far. I can upload everything tomorrow if I find the time to. On Linux (Ubuntu/Debian) it's very easy to compile everything from source: 1. Install necessary packages (together with their dependencies): apt-get install git-core build-essential automake autoconf gcc libqt4-dev libglib2.0-dev libmad0-dev 2. Fetch full source-code from linux-minidisc: git clone git://z6.physik.fu-berlin.de/linux-minidisc 3. Build libhimd and QHiMDTransfer: cd linux-minidisc/libhimd ./autogen.sh make cd ../QHiMDTransfer qmake make Building on MacOS-X is slightly more difficult, you'll need Qt-Creator, Qt Open Source Edition 4.5.0 for Mac, Macports with glib2-devel, libmad-devel and git-core. Adrian

Hi folks, the software "QHiMDTransfer" supports uploading of MP3s on all newer HiMD-models. Please test as much as you can. All infos can be found on the linux-minidisc wiki. Adrian

Hi, just to show you the current status of the Qt HiMD application, I attach one screenshot. Feel free to retrieve the source from git and build and test the things yourself. Adrian