Sony_Fan

Either way, the left channel is still louder than right with SS 3.4 modules. I'm pretty confident this is the case. That is a defect!

I don't think it's SS 3.4, it's the compression modules it uses. The same effect was produced when I used Simple Burner, left channel a bit louder than right. I'm using the same earphones that I used when I burned with SS 3.3 I spoke to a Sony rep on the website, and asked why SS 3.3 was not available for download. he said you have to buy it now. I'm guessing SS 3.4 has some issues so it's free, and SS 3.3 is better so you have to buy it. I didn't tell him that you could get it for free on this website. Because of this, I'm currently using SS 3.3 and to do the testing you guys are suggesting I would have to re-install SS 3.4 and i don't want to do that.

If you listen closely to music burned by using SS 3.4, you will notice that the left channel is a bit louder than the right. This is not the case with SS 3.3, where the both channels seem to be equal. Why doesn't Sony test SS thoroughly before releasing it? I'm not making this up, after listening to the same song burned by SS 3.4 and SS 3.3, I can tell which one is which. The last time i came across uneven channels was with my old MD player. Does the compression process affect the left and right channels? It shouldn't right? ******UPDATE ON PAGE TWO*******

In the U.S. of course. I downloaded the installer from this website. Apparently, the guy who posted it issued the Euro version instead of the U.S. version.

Everytime I click on the Connect Store button in SS 3.4, I get a message saying that Connect Store is not available in your country. I wanted to use my Connect Card that came with my MZRH10. Is there some setting I need to change?

10 years from now that will be the case and probably an end to MD.

Yes you can use it as USB storage. Windows XP should recognize it as removable storage media, that's what it does on my computer. The discs should be formatted to Hi-MD so that you can look through the files with the unit. On my computer, it recognizes it as Removable Disk (J:). Try it on different PCs.

I installed and played around with SS 3.4. For some reason, SS 3.4 seems to transfer slower, especially during MP3->Atrac3+ conversions. The album and artist layout is annoying. After transferring MP3s, and album folder is created for each track, which means I have to delete all the album folders and put the tracks under one single folder. I won't do any uploading and 256kbps is all I need. I'll stick with SS 3.3 for now.

How did you guys install SS 3.4? What I did was I uninstalled SS 3.3 and Simple Burner and then installed SS 3.4. The only problem was, Simple Burner was not installed. Should I have installed it over SS 3.3? Thanks.

Personally, I have no idea why Minidisc did not replace cassettes and CDs back in the 90s. The ease of recording in almost CD quality sound should have dominated the market, but Sony made it too expensive. I remember when music stores sold pre-recorded MDs of music artists. But very few were sold because very few people had MD players because they were too expensive. I think Sony should have cut the price in half and taken the losses with the hopes that it would pay off in the future. Also, I have never seen a T.V. ad for MD players. It looks like Sony didn't even try to promote and encourage consumers to swith to MD. They had something big on their hands and they didn't take advantage of it. So many manufacturers have stopped making MD units because of unpopularity for the same reasons stated before. Where are the Hi-MD commercials, billboard ads and internet ads? No where! And that's probably where MD is going. I found this on the internet. I hope I'm wrong about MD. "Sony launched the MiniDisc format in 1991, and has continued its evolution, since. In 2000, the MiniDisc adopted "MDLP"(MiniDisc Long Play) to quadruple the recording time. The following year, MiniDisc took the first steps into the networked era with "Net MD" and made the leap to "Hi-MD" in 2004. Today, including Sony, approximately 80 companies support the MD format. Approximately 100 million MD devices and 1.6 billion MD media have been shipped cumulatively since 1992 (according to Sony Corporation)."

Can you import to your hardrive in many different format? Yes! Can you transfer to Hi-MD in many different formats? Yes! The software does what it is suppose to do. So to me, it is much more than decent. If you have such an issue with SS, get an iPod and install iTunes.

I just tested a song at 192kbps and transferred to Hi-MD. It doesn't sound as crisp as 256 but much better than Hi-LP. If you're using the factory earphones with your unit, they don't have much of a treble or bass response. Try using better earphones, and maybe 192 will be good enough.

I have the same unit, and MP3 playback sound quality is awful. I suggest you convert the MP3s to ATRAC3+ 256kbps. It will sound better. I don't know why Sony makes MP3s sound worse. If you want good sound quality from direct MP3 playback, you should consider an MP3 player instead of Hi-MD.

Why is it that MP3s transferred to Hi-MD don't sound as good as ATRAC3+? I transferred a song @ 256kbps in both formats, but the ATRAC3+ version sounds more CD like. But when I play the track on my computer they both sound the same. Is Sony intentionally making MP3 and WMA sound worse? It almost feels like they're forcing us to use ATRAC if we want clear sound quality. Anyone else notice this?

Personally, I'd love to see a Hi-MD car deck. I think that's more practical than a home deck. I would replace all my CDs in my car with little Hi-MD discs. It would save space and would be well worth showing off.

Raintheory, it worked! I transferred one track to test it out and it played on my dad's MD player. I first imported the track as a .wav file and then converted to SP and transferred. When i listened to it, it almost sounds like SP. But I noticed it took longer to tranfer than the other formats. The Aiwa has dynamic sound enhancer so the track sounds pretty good. Thanks for your help!

It's an Aiwa AM-C80 standard MD player/recorder. Hope that helps.

My dad has an old MD player (Aiwa). It only has line/optical in. It's a standard MD recorder (SP 292kbps). I want to transfer music in SP mode to my MZRH10 so that he can play them on his MD player. The manual says that I have to use the software to record in SP mode but I don't see any settings in SS3.3 or Simple Burner that let me record in SP mode. What should I do? Thanks.

Does that "high" setting prevent "ripping errors" or does it affect the sound quality? Personally, I've recorded the same song with Simple Burner (Hi-SP), SS 3.3 (Hi-SP set to "normal") and SS 3.3 (Hi-SP set to "high"). Listening to the songs blindly, i can't tell them apart. Can anyone?

I just noticed that the OpenMG module numbers in Simple Burner are the same as those in SS 3.3. Does that mean that they both will burn to Hi-MD with the same sound quality (assuming using same formats and bitrates)? I don't want to store music to my hardrive, I just want to burn to my MZRH10.

I've noticed that if you record in Hi-LP and have the treble all the way up it will sound almost the same as Hi-SP with the treble only 2 notches up (from the center). Also, the bass seems heavier with Hi-LP. I wish the bass frequency was 80hz instead of 100hz!!!

Well, I transfered the same song in 3 formats: SB Hi-SP, SS3.3 Hi-SP, SS3.3 Lossless Hi-SP (with SS3.3 set to "high"). I honestly could not tell the difference when I listened to all 3 tracks. At times, I was trying to convince myself that SS3.3 yielded better sound quality, but when i shuffled the tracks to play randomly I couldn't determine which song sounded better. I like the fact the SB simply compresses and transfers. With SS3.3, it compresses, copies to hard drive and then transfers. When I installed SS3.3, it also installed SB so I'm guessing that they both use the same compression algorithm (Codecs). Besides, SB is the only program that launches as soon as I connect my RH10. SS3.3 does not launch. I think I'll stick with SB, for now.

I just bought a new computer and I want to start transfering music to my RH10 but which method should I use: 1.) MD simple burner (Hi-SP) 2.) Sonic Stage 3.3 (ATRAC, Hi-SP) 3.) Sonic Stage 3.3 (ATRAC loss less, Hi-SP) Would there be a difference in sound quality between them? Thanks.

Wow, I've had the same problem but I noticed that it only happens a few moments after I insert a disc. After a minute or so the volume control works fine. My guess is that when you insert a disc and push play, the unit is storing music into it's memory and by pressing the volume controls during this process, button signals are getting mixed up. It's not enough for me to send it in, unless it really starts to screw up. What do you mean firmware update? What is being updated and is it necessary? I've got the RH10.

In my opinion, you would be better of with Minidisc. Most Minidisc units record, most MP3 players do not. You can also upload your recording from minidisc to your computer and burn them onto a CD. I suggest you get a Hi-MD unit, either RH910 or RH10. Both record with Line In and Mic In.