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Fan noise is a big consideration. Obviously silent PCs are the way to go for Hi-Fi use. However, I haven't heard anything about power consumption mentioned. A PC even @ 100 watts is a power hog compared to a MD deck @ 18 watts. There is also something to be said for MD in favor of simplicity. I still don't have my Creative X-Fi working the way I want after 2 years but I can pop in an MD and hit play. Just that simple.

I got the remote working the basics late last night, thanks for the help. I really think I'm going to like this thing. I think one of the best features is going to be the timer function. Now I can use the decks that don't have timer record, to record stuff when I want (mainly radio shows). The thing is huge though, make an Ipad look small Pics to follow soon, I promise.

Thanks for the help guys. Turns out the driver IS in the compressed archieve, plain to see when it's uncompressed. I should have looked before I posted. As a small thank you I will post a pic of it controlling all the decks I have. It should be pretty handy once I get it programmed. Thanks again!

That's for a AX1400, I need the driver for a AX4000 but thanks.

You didn't waste any time on that one, huh?

Wow, I must really be missing something. You actually find a driver there for XP?

Sure did, no luck. Thanks.

I just got a RM-AX4000 to control all my MD decks, and have everthing but the driver for it, I hope some has a driver they could point me to I really want to try this thing out

Oh, that's minty!

Phil, I'm convinced if Sony thought all MD'ers were like you we would see Sony Hi-MD decks in every store tomorrow! In other words, your love of the format is proof of sucess!

I've been looking at shoring up my collection of hardware in the last month or so. I recently bought a D400 on Ebay about mint for ~$150, but was seriously considering AC2's brand new champagne colored one @ $800. In my limited experience with the machine I think it's really the only deck a guy would ever need,, it's really that good (sound & features). I especially like burning a CD-TEXT CD with Nero from my CD collection (ripped w/ EAC and stored on a HDD). For compilations i edit the text "<Artist>/<Title>, for albums just <Title>, burn, load and record. When the MD is done it's done. The D400 will also play/record MP3 CD's, with recording done in analog mode. I honestly can't tell you what it does with tags/titles but may give it a try someday, for some mp3's I didn't rip into wav files. Should be a good test too as most were ripped with LAME at 256 kbps. Listen, $800 is a LOT of dough to spend on one of these, even new. But you are a MD'er for sure so I'm not going to try to talk sense to you. None of us have much sense when it comes to this old and dying tech. With that said, you NEED a CD player, right? And you NEED a Type-S deck with OPT in & out! But try to find a nice used on on Ebay from a good seller (I have a couple that might take an order, if you are serious). Then with all the money you save you can get the Onkyo MD-133. It's rumored to be going out of production this year - You know you want one

In my opinion the MXD-D400 is a heck of a deal at ~$125. I almost bought one from AC2 for $800 new, they are that good. Mine doesn't have a timer function through. About the only thing that model doesn't have...

Not really counterfeit but I find the quality on some of the JVC color collection and some of the Maxell's to be pretty flimsy. I can see why some prefer Sony discs, I've never had a bad one but I've had at least 2 off brands that have problems.

I'm still working with the filenames, evidently my standard does not work well with M-crew. I think I'd have to copy the files and parse their names to be much use. Cool printing program I'm looking forward to using, though. I think I'll give up on this one - it's easier to burn a CD-TEXT CD-RW and feed that through the MXD-400. Plus it's faster than real-time. Probably pretty cool for a multi-function shelf unit though, who knows... After all it is 10 years old.

Thanks sfbp, I got 2.01 installed, works with my file names. I think it's worth learning. I'll use it to record SP discs on the PC3 after running it through some effects on the sound card. I have a virtual surround mode that my favorite music seems to respond well too. It's throwing the names onto the discs just fine. Thanks again for the help!

Thanks. I'll try that. It's actually M-Crew that has a problem with the file names, when I try to build a playlist or whatever M-Crew calls it (File Icon on toolbar). Nothing to do with a MD at all. I figured and new version would have addressed that rightway seeing how after 2000 long file names became the norm.

I was pretty excited to finally try out M-Crew with a PC3 I just got. I'm learning as I go but the first problem to get me was the file names of my wav files are too long. It's odd too because by long I mean "Ace Frehley - Trouble Walking - 03 - Seperate.wav". I had a hunch when I got the error so I copied a few wavs, renamed them "03 - Seperate.wav" and it worked like a charm. The new file name is certainly not "8.3" compliant. This bug alone make the program almost useless for me. Anyone one have a later copy I could try? I'd also like to hear others experience with it. I think it's good concept: I like the PC3 and it should work with my JE470. I'm mostly recording SP mixes/albums and the titlleing feature would be pretty swift. I'm more excited about the print program. I thought it would make my life easier but really, after 5 years of Sonic Stage use I should know better

No worries. As they/we say "let your ears be the judge". *nod going to blucrab*

I've never had any music sound good on LP4 no matter what I've tried. Several times while getting used to new decks I've mistakenly recorded something in LP4 and when played back I immediately panic thinking my favorite speakers (JBL L880's) lunched both tweeters. For me it's a right-away realization. Don't get me wrong, LP4 has it's place. But I do not enjoy music in that mode. You might be on to something as far as the implementation from the chip to the ears and I should have mentioned that in my post. Which is not to say you are wrong, far from it. Your observations on multiple conversions are quite valid, at least for MD. I have had good luck with Hi-SP to LP4 for movie dialog quite by accident. What I was recording was too long to fit on MD but I wanted a friend with MD to have a copy (two seprate discs because of length). As a side note I find most mp3's, even at high bitrates, recorded in LP2 to sound worse than LP2 from wav but better than LP4 from wav. I'd call it LP3 .

I'm pretty sure there is a Type-R chip in those machines. I've had 4 of them and all of them sound terrible in LP4 mode, where as LP4 in any of the Type-S machines is noticeably better.

I've decided to put my music dvd collection onto MD's so I can listen to the audio that way. I haven't had as many problems as I thought. I set the sound output on the card to 24 bit/48 khz and hook up a good coax cable into the JB940. For discs that don't have a PCM track, I play them through the good old VLC player. I try to set the volume on VLC about %75 to leave about 1.5 db of headroom (yeah, I grew up on tape - go ahead and yuk it up. I don't mind.). I haven't done any ABX tests yet and I don't think I'm going to. I don't have the surround sound hooked up right now so I had to laugh when I kept looking at the center channel speaker. There isn't any wire to it - but the soundstage was so wide with just 2 front speakers that I found it hard to believe (no processing from the amp at all - just straight 2 channel output). I'm pretty impressed with DTS 5.1. I thought it might be better to use the Dolby 2.0 stereo mix but I'll never use it if there is DTS surround available. It's really that good. I'm sure there are some who will say that there is too much resampling, rounding, etc. going on for it to sound good but it does. To be fair some of the cymbals don't sound the greatest. But they don't sound any better on the native DTS mix either. Minidisc is a funny thing sometimes. I've found that to my ears I'd much rather listen to say a Mobile Fidelty Sound Labs CD recorded through Sonic Stage in LP2 than the original release CD in 16 bit 44.1 khz native. So there is my take on recording audio from dvd's. I'd like to hear how others are doing this - I'm always open to a better method.

I still have one NIP that I'd sell for a steal at $250 and throw in free shipping! But seriously, those sold new for $149 at Best Buy here in SD in 2005. I'm pretty fond of that model as it was my first - and it's a great player. I bought the second one NIP on Fleabay for ~$70, I thought that was a stretch. Pretty well-rounded unit, records well both optical and analog, plays back LP2 well but not LP4, shrugs off water/abuse too.

Or you could just flag the TOC on the disc as analog...

I loved the "sleep with it under my pillow" part, I did the same thing when it was new. And pretty much anytime I slip a portable in my pocket. Welcome to the forums!

Wow, thanks a lot Christopher. I'll give those a try!