Swordsage

Hey there. Sorry I'm updating you guys on this so late... been a crazy last few weeks. Anyway, I went over to Radio Shack and got their contact cleaner. I followed the instructions and sprayed the contacts on the unit. Yet the remote still won't work with it. I've sprayed it several times since, but no dice. I've played around with the idea of wiping the contacts after spraying, but I just don't have any sort of q-tip like tool that's small enough to fit in, plus I don't want to damage things any further. I guess this may mean that the contacts may have to be bent as the wizard suggested (sorry for confusing your words earlier), though I'm not sure how they would have been bent out of alignment if the remote had almost always been connected. Maybe it's just that my contact cleaner sucks?

OK.. so I need to get some contact cleaner. I guess even if the remote is always connected to the unit. air is going to get in there somehow. And all metals end up oxidizing in some form or another. I am a bit afraid of trying to bend the connectors though. I have no idea how far they are supposed to be bent, and I really don't want to ruin this thing,

Ok... I have a model MZ-NH3D that I've been using as my main player. It's been working just fine for a while now, but recently it's been having problems with the remote. For the last week or so I've noticed that sometimes it wouldn't register button presses, or the screen would even go blank. It then got worse yesterday, when it stoped working with the remote altogether. At first I thought it was the remote itself, and didn't mind too much since I had spares... however, it didn't work for the spares either. And every one of those remotes works fine with my RH1, so it has to be something wrong with the NH3D. Does anyone have any idea what it could be, and how I can fix it, if able?

I'll definitely look up those posts. Any info I can get on making good recordings will be greatly appreciated. I do need clearing up on something though... you said my Hi-MD recorders record ATRAC in Type S, and the JE520 records in Type R, and you said Type R is best for SP. But you also said that I would be better off recording in SP with my Hi-MD units, which seems to be a contradiction. Or did I misinterpret you?

Ok, at the behest of my wife and you guys, I decided to nab it. It ended up being $70, and included 41 blank discs, though it didn't have the remote. Oh well. Because I have a rather basic stereo system (just a 3 cd/radio/double tape player/recorder thing), I don't really have a feasible way of recording anything off of it, though whatever is playing from the deck can easily be heard through the auxiliary connection. Well, I'm sure I can set it up so I can record from the stereo, but it will take some finagling. In the meantime, I plan on making sp recordings with my portable units for home playing. The one SP disc he gave me to test the deck sounded great from it, so I'm hoping discs made via my computer will have similar results, despite not being recorded from the deck itself. I'm a bit confused about the ATRAC 4.5 designation though.... exactly how does it line up with the timeline of development in regard to the other file formats? Anyways, I don't regreat my purchace, and it will do as a home md player/recorder until I save up enough money for (or the price comes down on) those Onkyo Hi-MD decks.

Ok... I just found someone nearby who wants to sell his MDS-JE520 minidsc deck and several blank md's for $75 Flat. Now, normally I'd say it was a no brainer: go and buy it. I'm just wondering if I really need it. I already own a MZ-RH1, and a MZ-NH1, among others, and am pretty much converting my cds to minidiscs with those units via my computer. That's pretty much what the deck is designed for, but if I'm doing this with the other units, wouldn't this be a waste to get it? Or should I be using the deck more often for this, despite not being a Hi-MD model? I did hear that the decks tended to make some high quality recordings anyway. Plus there's always the thing about backing up equipment. And I can always use more blanks. Should I nab this deck while I can, and risk not using it often, or just let it go?

I agree that for all intents and purposes, MD is dead, but I still voted for it to be revived. Not just because of my love for the format, but there are some reasons that I think are viable. One, despite the fact that great strides have been made in solid state/flash memory players and recorders, we STILL have CDs, vinyl and even CASSETTES (though blanks) being sold. The latter two don't have a large following of people using them, but there are enough to justify them being put out on the market. I feel the same can be said for MD, particularly if one takes a look at the sales going on in sites like Ebay. Two, it's still a dependable format. From what I've seen, soild state versions of playing/recordable units are still prone to failure, either by units breaking down, and/or memory problems. Granted, this is improving, but considering that even to this day I can take a minidsc out of my player, throw it on the ground, pop it back in and it will still play, and they can last for a pretty long time in storage, and today's tech can't really match that, that says a lot. You have to be careful storing audio files in memory sticks, hard drives and such; one misstep and everything is gone. DVD and CD archiving are better, but they're still prone to scratching. This is the main reason why my albums and songs, as well as old lectures, interviews, and speeches I've recorded, are all backed up on minidisc. Three, the demand is still there. I'm not naive enough to think it's a huge demand, but there is enough of us out there to support a niche market. And considering how cheap it must be to churn out blanks, there is no reason to think Sony or another company stands to lose a whole lot of money... provided they market this correctly. That is, of course, the rub; they haven't done this well in the past. But if they are selling to a group of people who are already bought on the idea, and they do it right, it can make them some money. And word of mouth will attract a few more customers. I'm confidant in that last part, since I still turn heads whenever I pull one of my recorders out, and new people show up here from time to time. So the spark of interest is there, just waiting for someone competent to fan into flames. I'm not saying this could be easy to do... or that we have a chance in hell of ever seeing it happen. But it could be done.

Funny, I actually went this route, though I didn't go for a netbook. I actually went with a used Dell Inspiron 1501 with a 64bit Athlon x2 Processor. I figured that was more than enough to handle running a program like Audacity, and I was right. I also decided to stick with using XP as the OS, though considering that Win7 supposedly has an "XP mode", that might be a decent option. I haven't heard about this though, so i can't say for sure. Honestly, I suggest that you get your hands on a used laptop instead of a netbook if you want a dedicated portable computer ti work with your MD stuff. You'll be spending about the same amount of money, but you'll be getting more for your dollar. There are some decent place online to shop from, and Dell in particular even has a site dedicated to un-bought and refurbished laptops sold at greatly reduced prices. Peronsally, I'd recomend getting either a Toshiba or an IBM/Leveno, but Dells aren't too bad: I'm using this Inspiron simply because it was a hand me down that lasted it's owner 3 years with little problem... AND it was bought from the refurbished site, so that says something about how well it's been keeping up. But I wouldn't get a netbook, unless it has decent processing power AND enough harddrive space to hold your music.

Oh my gods... and I had just bought a rh1, nh1, and a nh3d. I have to get some money together....

Thought I would give you guys an update on my SS situation. I finally got the chance to go with my plan on using a laptop specifically to interface with my minidisc units. I formatted the drive, reinstalled Xp and all the relevant drivers I needed, and then got around to installing SonicStage. Just before I did though, I decided to install 3.4 instead of 4.3. Result: no problems whatsoever with my mp3 files. SS can read and play them without a hitch. Considering that my wife had installed SS 4.3 earlier on her own laptop and had the same problems I did, I'm tentatively concluding that the newer version just doesn't accept mp3's at lower bit rates. I could upgrade to 4.3 on the laptop to make sure, but I just got things working ust right, and I don't want to risk screwing things up on the one machine that I'm dedicating to my minidisc stuff. THen again, considering that I might have to replace the harddrive, I might upgrade just to find out once and for all. Anyway, thank you guys for all your help; your advice did help inadvertently with other things. Now, if only SS accepted flac...

I guess I should ask: what would be a good mike to use with the RH1?

I know the adapters are interchangeable, and when my new nh1 and nh3d get here, I'll use one of those as the "universal one" for all the other units. I just wish I had one now for my current units that use it. On a happier note, the RH1 finally showed up yesterday, and so far I'm loving it. It doesn't just look good, it sounds good. And even though I know some people don't like the mike that comes with the m200 version, so far it's doing right by me. I did some test recordings with it, and it's so far, so good. And it turned some heads at work as well. It's times like these when I remember just how cool the minidisc really is.

Heh... I have to tell my wife, otherwise she's just going to keep asking me where I got the new toys from. At least she doesn't nag me about it, and actually likes the tech overall. There are some more things I wanted to add to my gear. I still have yet to own a deck (and not sure which one I should nab), and of course I need to add more blanks to my already growing collection. One thing I wanted ask though... is there any kind of alternative to the AC-ES608K ac adapter for the NH1? the one for the unit I plan on giving to my friend is broken, and I need to replace it. However, next to no one is selling one used, and Sony is asking a ridiculous amount for a new one. I tried using a standard universal ac adapter, but that just ended up melting. So is there any kind of alternative, or do I pretty much have to keep hunting for a reasonably priced AC-ES608K?

So I finally got the extra cash I had coming to me for some time now, and decided that it was time to upgrade my md portables. I already own two MZ-NH1's (one that still records, the other only plays and I don't trust my skills with a soldering iron) and an MZ-NF610, but I've always wanted to get a MZ-RH1 ever since I first heard about them, and I finally had my chance. However, while ordering this (in the MZ-M200 version... those tend to be cheaper than the stand alone RH1's for some strange reason), I also noticed some fantastic deals on Ebay for some other units. So I ended up getting: - 1 MZ-RH1 (MZ-M200) - 1 MZ-NH1 (I was giving my older working unit to a friend who needed it for recording purposes, but I knew I'd missing owning one that still recorded - 1 MZ-NH3D (It was going for $250!!) ... so yeah, I think i'm set on HiMD units for now. Though my wife is going to roll her eyes when they show up at the door (still, the NH3D might change her toon, considering how gorgeous it looks). So, did I go a bit off the deep end, or what?

Oh gods, that would be a horror. Still, this is Sony, so I wouldn't be surprised. Considering from what i heard about SS not having its own native mp3 codecs, the problem could be myfault... though to be honest, I'm not too convinced. I installed the k-Lite codec pack a while back in order to watch avi files, and it has the ffdshow audio codecs. Still, I'm pretty sure I had done this way before SS started having these problems. If it turns out it's ffdshow that's the culprit however, I might have to start digging around for another codec pack.

... Sometimes it's the simplest explanation that proves to be the right one. Turns out it's the mp3 files after all. Or at least, SonicStage not liking them. I decided to re-encode one of the mp3's that wasn't playing in SonicStage. A quick run through with Cdex, and one import of the new file later... it plays. So somehow, I don't how how, most of my mp3 collection has become unuseable by SonicStage. In order to input them, I'm going to have to re-encode the lot of them. Wonderful. I have close to 50 gigs of music encoded in mp3. To say this is going to be a slog is an understatement. I'm not planning on doing this all at once. It's just too much tedium to handle right now. So I'm going to do this on an "as needed" basis. Every time I feel like burning a particular mp3 to minidisc, and it (most likely) won't import, I'll re-encode it with Cdex it right then and there. Not pretty, but at least it will work. This leads me to another question though... a question about bit rates. the bit rates of my files are all over the place... the older ones anyway. My newer stuff i have encoded in 320kbs, and those don't seem to be causing SonicStage any problems. I was thinking of re-encoding my older mp3's that way, but considering I'm dealing with a lossy format, I don't know how the sound quality will turn out if I go from a lower bit rate to a higher one. Is it a good idea to re-encode say, a 128 kbs file to a 320 kps one, or should I just encode in the same bit rate? Edit: that last part might be a moot question... so far I'm not finding ANY mp3 files under 256kbs that SonicStage will play. The 128kps ones that I found playing earlier turned out to be m4a files, which SonicStage currently has no trouble dealing with. Edit2: After some more fiddling around, it seems I've confirmed that for whatever reason, my copy of SonicStage 4.3 simply refuses to play any mp3 file that is under 256kbps. I even re-encoded a file without changing it's original bit rate. SonicStage turned its nose up at it. So it has to be whatever codec that SonicStage is using that's causing this. And I don't know how to fix that. I also have no idea why it's doing this. I'm even importing old mp3's from months ago that I had burned to minidisc, and because of it's bit rate, it won't play it. So strange.

This does seem curious. It might be related to what I'm going through here. I have to admit though that I was just deleting the file from SonicStage's library, NOT my computer completely. Maybe that's what I need to do? Just wipe my entire music collection from the drive, then put it back in and see if SonicStage can handle it? The more I've been fiddling with this, the more I'm becoming convinced that it's not necessarily a database problem, but more about how SonicStage is handling mp3's. I did yet another uninstall/reinstall session, then decided instead of importing a single file to test it, to import a folder. Once again, it "imported" them, but couldn't play them... all except one. When I checked to see what was so special about this one, it was the kbp: 320. So this is looking like a codec problem. Unless I'm missing something.

Is it the Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless to PCM Converter? I want to make sure before I download and install it. Sfbp, I'm noticing something strange... every time I click on the "read only" box in the folder preferences to turn it off, it always turns right back on again. Something is stopping me from doing this.

Ok... I either did it wrong, or it didn't work. I went to my c: disc, and made the folder SonicStage, then the Imported Sound folder in there. Went into the sharing options in the folder's property tab and made it accessible to all users on the computer as well as in the network. Then turned on SS, went to options, and redirected the imported files to go to the new folder. No dice. And to add insult to injury, it will still play the few files it was able to play when this mess first started. This is AFTER I had uninstalled and reinstalled SS (including taking out the registry entries and deleting the SS files left behind, thus wiping the library) before working to redirect the import files to the new folder. I'm hoping that I made a mistake somewhere in this method and just have to do it right. Because if not, I'm at wits end. The only trick I can think of is wiping out every last trace of sonic stage from my machine, registry included, and installing again. I guess I had this coming. I never had a problem with SonicStage before, all the way back to when 3.3 first came out. Fate must have thought I dodged the bullet too long. Edit: Avrin contacted me, saying it might be mp3 codec problems and gave me the link to a file to reinstall Windows Media components. Considering that a little while ago I noticed that I was no longer able to use mp3 files in Windows Media maker, I figured I'd give it a shot. Didn't work. I'll contact him about it later.

Hmm... so there be a couple of options here.... First thing I'm going to try is another uninstall/reinstall. I have nothing to loose with that: none of my music on the harddrive itself is in ATRAC, save for what's already burned to minidisc. So I'm trying to wipe out everything that has to do with SS, even in the registry, then install again and see what that gets me. If I have the same problems, then database meddling it is. I figure when you mean the root of the disk, you mean to put the folder directly in c:, rather than in something like C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\SonicStage\Packages\. Let's see how this goes. Oh, a question I've been pondering. If it's a matter of SonicStage not having access to a directory, then why is it able to still play a few mp3's in that directory? that's the one curious thing about all this.

Oh boy.... The mp3s in question do play in other programs. they have no problem playing in Foobar and Winamp, and with no modifications necessary. As far as having several optimized files folders, actually I have just one. It's just that i noticed that there were several "SonicStage" folders: one in the Program Files folder, One in the All Users folder, and one in the All Users/Application data Folder. I would think it would be better to just have one folder for all these files, but that's Sony for you. I can install SS into another computer... I just have to ask my wife if it's ok to use her laptop for that. I'll admit, the files I'm trying to import are in my "My Documents" folder. Normally I store my music in a separate folder not in the "My Documents" folder, but I had just got those other music files and haven't moved them yet. Maybe I should do that, and see if importing them from the folder outside of "My Documents" will work? What you said about SP3 is scary, because I DID upgrade to it a while ago. Considering that I haven't used SS in a while, and I don't remember having these problems before, I'm guessing that I was enjoying glitch free performance before the server pack upgrade. I have no idea what ACL's are, but something in the way you phrased this making me think this is going to be a headache. It's looking like I might have to speed up my plans to get a dedicated XP laptop just to run SonicStage, and to make sure it never has SP3 on it. Edit: looks like SS 4.3 is now having problems importing files from my music folder as well, the one that was never in the My Documents folder. This is getting ridiculous: it used to be able to play these files.

Ok... I've finished deleting all the non playing mp3's from the database, deleted all the optimized files from the optimized files folder, optimized the database, and reset the computer and SonicStage. No dice. It still won't play files I import. I'm thinking my next move might be to uninstall again, and then check and clean the registry. Considering that this is something of a risky move, I want to make sure that this is pretty much the next step before I do it. Should this be my next option, or should I go through all my mp3 files and re-render them, in the hopes that SonicStage will be able to play them?

Thanks for the response. I'm working on things right now. So far, I deleted all the optimized files in the folder of the same name (it's weird how SonicStage has three different folders with the same name, in three separate locations on the harddrive. Wouldn't it be more efficient to just have everything in one folder sitting inside the program files directory??), though I haven't optimized the database yet. I then uninstalled 3.4, and installed 4.3 ultimate (love the whole flipping of numbers here). Sure enough, the mp3's wouldn't play... in fact, a lot of my old mp3's which used to play no longer did so. However, some still did. So I'm in the middle of deleting the ones that don't work from the SonicStage database. However, while doing this, I noticed something interesting. The mp3's that can play on SonicStage are all 256kbs and above. The ones that can't play are all lower kbs. So I'm wondering if this has anything to do with whatever codec or plugin that SonicStage is using to play mp3 files. Will keep you posted on my progress. Edit: ok, forget that part about SonicStage only able to play mp3 files that are 256kbs and higher. I just found some 128s that are playing just fine. Still deleting the non playing ones.

Hey there. Just hoping for a little advice on this. I'm a long time Minidisc user, though I wouldn't put myself at the level of some professionals who know the in and outs of recording, the ATRAC format, own several decks, and such. Currently I own a MZ-NF610 and two MZ-NH1 models, and I plan on nabbing an MZ-RH1 in the near future. I've been using SonicStage 3.4 for a long time to port over my music to minidisc with minimal problem for a while now. However, when I recently upgraded my computer, I had moved up to SonicStage 4.3. I rarely used it though, since much of the music I listed do was already on disc, and I was doing more live recording then file porting. However, today I had some new music I wanted to burn to minidisc via the netMD model. SonicStage unfortunately would not transfer the files over, giving that message familiar to some users here: "Unable to transfer files." It wouldn't even play the mp3 at all. I looked around for any advice on the matter, and saw in an older thread that it was best to stick with 3.4 anyway, as I'm using XP, and it didn't have the transfer problems seen in the later versions. So I uninstalled 4.3 and reinstalled 3.4 (I tend to save exe's for just this sort of thing). However, I ran into the same problem; the files wouldn't be transferred. THen I did what I should have done in the first place: I checked to see if it would do this to other mp3 files I had. Sure enough, it was able to play many others, but not the ones i wanted to transfer. So this is making me think it has something to do with the files themselves, though I'm not sure what. The files themselves are at 192kbs, and last I checked that was ok with SonicStage. Basically I'm thinking that there probably wasn't a problem with 4.3 after all, and thinking of going back to it. But I'm wondering if I'm better off just sticking with 3.4. I am only using minidisc equipment and have no plans on getting a Network Walkman. I also have seen some people here and there say that 3.4 was more stable, though I don't know how true that is. And It seems lots of people are happy with 4.3 Ultimate. So should I upgrade, or stay with 4.3? Also, any advice on getting SonicStage to read and transfer those other mp3s would be great too.

I can't seem to find any skins on this page. I'm assuming their gone now?