Mark Ryle

To write this post I had to "reset" my password again. I've had to reset it every time I've ever posted or wanted to download Sonic Stage or Net-MD add-on. It happens on my desktop, laptop, tablet, and phone, and work computer. I always "reset" it to the same password. I've never changed it. On the reset screen, it always gives me what I assume (I don't really know because it's all in asterisks) is my "old" password in the top field. When, just now, I "reset" it to make this post, I tried, for the first time, not changing the default "old" password it already has entered for me in asterisks. I just retyped it again in the "Confirm password" field. And sure enough, it gave me the green light. So it always accepts my same password time after time. But it has never accepted it when I type it in the normal sign-in screen.

Ok, I do understand now. The format was originally designed to hold a CD's worth of audio even though being smaller in capacity but with the use of compression to 292 kbs. And I will try one of my original MD's from around 1994 in the Hi-MD format. Thank you all for your help. I didn't know that transferring to SP in Sonic Stage degrades audio quality to LP2, but I've been listening to such MD's for about a week now and the quality is very good. i can't distinguish it from the original CD's. And I'm not archiving the music. I'm just using the minidiscs to listen to on a daily basis. I have the CD's in iTunes in WAV.

I'm not sure what it means to be syncing the old password. I'm not sure either how to make sure Javascript is on but I'll google it. Thank you for your help.

I do know I could get a lot more onto the 74 min MD if I would use it in Hi-MD mode. The reason I want to use SP mode is that I need to be able to play it on my Minidisc deck JE530 which does not play LP2 or LP4 or Hi-MD. And i was just wondering if the oldest original MD's from the 1994 era can be formatted for Hi-MD. I know my 74 minute ones which were bought in the early 2000's can be used for Hi-MD.

I'm not sure where to post this but I would like to call it to the attention of the administrators that the Sony Insider site will never let me in unless I click on "Forgot password" and have the site send me an email with a link to a page to create a new password. This happens on my 2 home computers and my work computer. When I enter a new password at the page for creating a new password, I always use the exact same one that I typed in originally and it lets me in with that same password. It has always worked but it is tedious and it seems there must be some glitch in the site. I know I'm entering the password correctly.

As an example, right now I have 7 songs on a 74-min Sony minidisc. The timing of the 7 songs is 32.29 total. Sonic Stage tells me I have 42.01 min free left on the minidisc. Add 32 min 29 sec plus 42 min 01 sec equals 74 min 30 sec. And Sonic Stage is right about that because I know from experience if I would try to add, say, 10 more songs on the minidisc, Sonic Stage would give me a box that says it cannot record the last 1 or 2 because there is not enough room on the disc. The total playing time in SP mode always will come to something around 74 minutes. If the bit rate of SP mode is around the same as mp3, which I think it is, wouldn't I be able to get a lot more than, say 17 songs on an 74 min MD? A 74 min MD will hold approximately an audio CD's worth of content, from my experience. But the bit rate is much lower - a fraction as much as an audio CD, just like mp3.. If I make an mp3 CD I can put 70 or so songs on a 650 MB blank CD.

I bring WAV files into Sonic Stage library and then transfer them to a 74 minute minidisc with an MZ-RH1 minidisc recorder. I transfer them in MD mode on the MZ-RH1 and SP mode in Sonic Stage because the device I want to play the finished minidisc on is a Minidisc Deck JE530 which I don't think is capable of playing LP2 or LP4 minidiscs since it's too old. And anyway, I have an original first generation minidisc recorder I want to play them on too which won't handle LP2/LP4 either, from what I understand. If MD mode is a transfer rate of 292 kbs, why will only 74 minutes of WAV files fit on the MD? Would it make a difference if I would convert the WAV files to mp3 first in iTunes? And do mp3 files transfer to the minidisc in MD mode?