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Sony did support native Mac OS but as you said it was only up to 10.4. My computer is mid summer 2011 and has Mac OSX 10.7 Lion. I did try initially to use the old Sonic Stage disc that had version 4.3 on it but the Mac would not recognize or install it (this was before my for first post in mid May). I did just receive an update (Sunday 6/24) for Parallels which is supposed to fix problems with Mac running some Windows programs. Obviously Sonic Stage was specifically mentioned but I'm going to try and see if maybe with these updates it will now work.

Still have not been able to get SonicStage to work with either XP Pro or Windows 7 in the HiMD mode. Everything is fine when set up and connected in NetMD. I will go into the folders and look for suspect drivers and clean up for a third time. Lucky that my Dell XP machine is still working. I did a back up using the SonicStage backup tool about 2 months ago and everything was fine. I also save the raw mp3 files in a separate folder as a backup. Today I went into the backup tool to create a new backup folder with a new name to delineate between the two. About a minute and half into the backup I am getting an error 0x2002 and the backup stops. Now I'm wondering why that is an issue.

I did clean the device map through the above link twice when I had to uninstall the Windows 7 virtual machine when it was corrupted. Since then though, I've reinstalled Windows 7 twice and added Windows XP Pro and subsequently added Sonic Stage 4.3 Ultimate in XP Pro to see if the issues would be resolved in the "original" operating system, which as I stated earlier has not worked either. I will go in and see if those hidden drivers have reappeared in both operating systems and see if those remnants are the problem. Thanks for the help so far.

It does make sense. When any of the minidisc players are first connected in either Windows 7 or in XP Pro, a graphic appears on screen asking whether this is a Mac or PC device. You have to move the highlight box to PC and then click it to "activate" the minidisc unit to "talk" to the computer. In Windows 7 when a NetMD disc is in the unit, if you open up "devices" it shows the minidisc player as a NetMD device and when you investigate further, you will find that the NETMD760 driver is controlling. Opening sonic stage presents no problem at all. When you then disconnect the player, remove the NetMD disc, replace it with a HiMD disc, and then connect it back to the computer, the computer immediately recognizes it as "Sony Hi-MD Minidisc USB Device." Upon opening sonic stage 4.3 Ultimate, the unit is recognized, gives the choice for Hi-MD or NetMD (but only for a moment), shuts down, gives a blue screen with info that disappears quickly and goes to a reboot screen, where Windows 7 reloads with no problems. In XP there is no problem in the NetMD mode, but in Hi-MD nothing is recognized and it does not even show up as a drive. The choice was given as to whether this was a Mac or PC device, although this was when I had initially connected the player up with the NetMD disc. I have told the computer to uninstall the drivers for the device and then reinstall the appropriate one but in XP all I get is "USB device" with a yellow triangle and question mark. I haven't been able to find anything better to try and make this work. I know I am reiterating what I've stated in earlier posts but I'm trying to focus on that the computer and subsequently Sonic Stage 4.3 does not seem to work in the Hi-MD mode.

It appears that in using Parallels for Mac ( to install Sonic Stage 4.3 or the Ultimate Edition) with either Windows 7 (64 bit) or Windows XP Pro there is a handshake issue with the Hi-MD mode. I installed XP Pro over the weekend and had the same issues as with Windows 7. The NETMD drivers were employed when an MD disc was in my MZ-M200 unit. Sonic stage application opened fine and recognized the player as a NETMD player. When I disconnected and inserted a HI-MD disc and reconnected in XP it could not find any drivers for the unit and just listed it as a USB device with a yellow triangle and a question mark. I tried for hours to find the appropriate "drivers" per se but could not get it to be recognized as "Sony Hi-MD Minidisc USB Device" as it appears in Windows 7. When connected and Sonic Stage is opened the unit is not recognized. No NETMD or Hi-MD choice or even a drive name assigned ( the system did not crash though). Luckily I was able to restore my Dell computer that has XP Pro and Sonic Stage 4.3 and it appears to be working fine. Unless someone comes up with something I'll just store the music on both computers but do all of the Hi-MD downloading on the old Dell until it finally dies. One note on NETMD drivers. On Windows 7 virtual machine, sonic stage preferred the NETMD760 driver, and in Windows XP Pro it preferred the NetMD052 driver.

Thanks I will try that. When you first plug anything into the USB ports it asks whether it is for a Mac or PC. I'm also working to get a copy of XP PRO that I can install as an additional virtual machine. If this doesn't work then I know it probably will not work at all. Probably over the weekend if I get time, I will reformat my old Dell XP and reload that. I know that will work but then I would be stuck doing HiMD on one machine and MD on the other. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Thanks for the suggestions to date. If and when I get this to work I'll fully document it here to help anyone in the future.

To address azureal's question, I do have the XP disc but it is a special Dell reinstallation disc so I'm not sure if it will load for a virtual machine but it is worth a try. In addtion to running Sonic Stage on the virtual machine portion of the Mac I am also going to install Autocad, Matlab, and Solidworks for work and an engineering class that I teach next fall ( a couple of these programs are available as Mac versions but I think the university wants the PC versions). When I first started this last week the computer automatically is set for coherence mode. When you install Parallels it asks you if you want to have the machine act "like a Mac" or "like a PC". I chose the former. I had the problem with sonicstage and the system crashing so I attributed it to being in coherence mode. Everything that I have described has been in the "like a PC" mode so I have ruled that out. Azureal also mentioned that maybe the 760 drivers maybe interfering but I had the same problems when I did not have the 760 drivers installed (there was a HiMD disc in the MZ-M200 so at that point sonic stage did not need those drivers).

I agree with your statement but I actually did both. I am at the point where I am shotgunning for a solution. I did take a blank disc, format it for MD, open up sonic stage and it worked fine. I then disconnected the player, reformatted the disc for HiMD, reconnected the USB cable, restarted and sonic stage which recognizes the disc, it states HiMD drive (E) in the drop down, and then it shuts down and subsequently windows 7 goes to blue screen protection mode and then the reboot screen that I mentioned earlier. Until I get this issue resolved I am going to try to reformat the hard drive on my Dell computer that has Windows XP and has started to run very slowly. I have all of the music on this computer and on an external hard drive where I used the sonic stage backup tool for a just in case scenario like I now have. I also have the music saved in a downloads folder all in mp3 format so I can import this into iTunes if I really had to. I really like the flexibility of minidiscs. I hope I and get this to work in the HiMD mode.

As a quick update, I "uninstalled" the drivers on the HiMD side and disconnected the MZ M200. I then opened Sonicstage and connected the M200 with a HiMD disc. This immediately loaded the "drivers" necessary to interface with the computer(which were the same ones). When you look at what is listed when the unit is opened under "devices and printers" in Windows 7, it states that no drivers are needed, the device is working, and when you look under the drivers it links it back to a system 32 file in Programs(x64) folder. As in the earlier posts when the M200 is connected with a disc (either with HiMD content or a blank disc formatted in HiMD), sonicstage shuts down and Windows crashes and then wants to reboot. I mentioned that Windows 7 Pro is loaded on a MacBook Pro via Parallels for Mac. I have is set where the computer is not in the coherence mode which means OS X and Windows 7 are running separately so I have tried to eliminate the Mac interfering issue. I did get into the disc mode (with the player disconnected from the computer) and changed from HiSP to PCM and Sonicstage and Windows 7 still crashed. I then went into the compatability mode of Windows 7 and tried to use the program as an XP (service pack 2) program and this corrupted all of files making sonicstage inoperable and want to immediately shut down. So after removing the virtual machine from the Mac I reloaded Windows 7 and then Sonicstage 4.3 Ultimate. I put a NET MD disc into the M200, connected it up to the computer, (by the way I have tried changing USB cables that Sony provides from the multiple players I have accumulated over the years)reloaded the NETMD 760 drivers which is still working fine. I disconnect the player, remove the NET MD disc, put a HiMD disc in, reconnect to the computer where it recognizes it as "Sony HI-MD Walkman USB Device." As soon as I open up sonicstage with the M200 in the HiMD mode, it and Windows 7 crashes and then wants to restart. I am ready to think that I cannot use sonicstage in the HiMD mode on a Windows 7 Pro(64 bit) virtual machine loaded on a Mac via Parallels. I have yet to be able to hook up either my MZ-M100 or MZ-M200 to the computer with a HiMD disc (either blank formatted HiMD or with music in the HiMD format). Any further suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks for the quick response. After all that I stated above, when I connect the M200 unit up with an MD minidisc, ie. non-HiMD disc, and check it under drives/devices in Windows 7, it shows the driver as the NETMD760 driver. When I then open up Sonicstage, everything is normal although the HiMD option is greyed out. I have been able to read MD discs, put music into the library and then write to a new blank MD minidisc. When I either (1)change the format of the minidisc to either HiMD through the option on Sonicstage, (2)format a blank disc to HiMD on the M200 or (3)even use a disc that is already HiMD, sonicstage crashes and Windows 7 goes to blue screen (fast) and then to a reboot screen (black) giving the option to reload Windows 7 in safe mode, safe with networking, safe with command prompt, or normal. I guess what you are telling me is to delete the driver "Sony Hi-MD Walkman USB Device." I can do that but what should I be looking for when I then reconnect the M200 with a HiMD disc? As it is I'm fairly certain that when I reconnect it will utilize the same drivers. Will it make a difference if I open sonicstage up first and then connect the M200 with a HiMD disc?

I have been using minidiscs since the mid 90's starting with the MZ-R55 and have progressed that I have both the MZ-M100 and M200 units which have never given me any problems. Both of my boys like using the minidiscs also. I started them with the MZ-DN430 (strictly NET MD) and they are now moving to the M100's. When my XP computer started dying, I used the Sonicstage backup tool to move all of the music in sonicstage (ver 4.3) to an external hard drive so that I could reinstall it on a new computer. The new computer is a Mac Book Pro and I installed Windows 7 Pro (64 bit) as a virtual machine with Parallels for Mac. Once everthing was working correctly I installed Sonicstage 4.3 which worked fine and imported the music which also worked flawlessly. When I connected my HiMD player the drivers loaded and show up as "SONY Hi-MD WALKMAN USB Device." When I then open Sonicstage the program opens and once it finishes, Windows 7 crashes (with blue screen) and the wants to shut down and reload. I researched this and found this forum, so I followed the advice that Arvin provided. It was easier for me to erase the virtual machine and then reload Windows 7, so with a "fresh load" I went and erased all of the phantoms in device manager, loaded the NETMD760 drivers and installed them. I then loaded Sonicstage 4.3 Ultimate. When I connected my M200 unit (that had a HiMD disc inserted) , it loaded the drivers again and when I opened up Sonicstage, Windows 7 crashed and wants to shut down and restart. After disconnecting the MD player from the computer I put an MD disc into the unit and repeated the process. This time, like the proudofmylife youtube video, I was able to pick the NETMD760 drivers, load them, and open up Sonicstage without it crashing. I have not tried to reimport the music yet since I want to fool around with the program. I was able to put music into the Library, move music from my MD disc in the MZ M200 into the library, and move that music back out onto a black MD disc. I have not yet been able to find what the proper drivers are so that I can do the same in the HiMD mode. Could someone tell me what the proper driver for HiMD? The one that currently shows up is as earlier, "SONY Hi-MD Walkman USB Device," Microsoft driver version 6.1.7600.16385(win7_rtm.090713-1255). Obviously this is one of the phantom drivers that should be removed as I had done earlier on the previous Windows 7 Pro load.