jmsla

I thought you guys would think the battery prices were wildly excessive for aftermarket. I went for the 2 I got because I was willing to pay for 'perceived' vetting of the quality. I see gum-stick batteries on eBay or Amazon for $9 and change. Am I correct then to assume those are likely trash?

Yes, I've been checking in on the site too and he's added some recorders and players among other additions. As for my order, it arrived several days ahead of the estimated. Hong Kong Post managed to get the package half way around the globe and to the US Post Office branch in my NYC neighborhood with out a hitch.* Everything I ordered was in perfect shape; MDGadgetry's packaging was excellent. All the items immediately appeared to be high quality. I ordered the tiny dock replacement for my NH 1; an adaptor cord to convert 5V from a wall socket adaptor to 3V with the appropriate, very skinny, Sony barrel plug on the 3V side; and 2 batteries - a gum-stick replacement and the flat one that powers my RH-1, an LIP-4WM replacement. I haven't had time yet to fully play with all my new accessory toys. So far, the small dock is working perfectly, and the batteries fully charged quickly, they came partially charged, and are both working perfectly. The gun-stick has a tiny port to accept a charging cable! Nice. I will order from Gerry again. ____________ *And yet United Parcel Service, in the same period, couldn't get an expedited Next Day Air letter to me from Texas without loosing it for a week and a half. I'm struggling with which is the more, or least, remarkable achievement. ?? For certainly, it wasn't a Slow Boat From China nor a cowboy on horseback from the Lone Star State. I

Possibly of interest, 3 messages I've received from MDGadgetry: I only accept paypal for now as I am it is so much work setting up credit card paypal. Am sure things will improve as the site is getting popular. Gerry And, upon asking about certain MiniDisc models I'm interested in acquiring: Hii James I have all the said units. Actually, I have 700+ portables (still buying). I will upload some units to the website soon ... Gerry Also, my order, made about 5 hours ago, has already been processed, ready to ship out as per an Order Status Change message correcting from Monday shipping. All good so far on communication and responsiveness.

True, and this didn't go unnoticed. However, I am relying on an age old bit of wisdom that advises: One picture is worth a thousand typos and some lost translation between East and West. My dock replacement Adapter will be shipped out Monday and if it should happen not to fit my MZ-NH1, this forum will be the 2nd to know. The 1st will be Gerry. As far as the ersatz MiniDisc model goes; if there isn't an NH10, perhaps there should be! _________________________________________ P.S. I was just informed of the following: (and I've only been a forum member, starting with minidisc.org, for ... 25+ years) 🙂 Congratulations! You've increased your rank to Rookie! 4 minutes ago

True, and this didn't go unnoticed. However, I am relying on an age old bit of wisdom that advises: One picture is worth a thousand typos and some lost translation between East and West. My dock replacement Adapter will be shipped out Monday and if it should happen not to fit my MZ-NH1, this forum will be the 2nd to know. The 1st will be Gerry. As far as the ersatz MiniDisc model goes; if there isn't an NH10, perhaps there should be!

Hi Vincent, I just inquired with the guy BearBoy mentions regarding an adapter plug that substitutes for the cradle and the original USB cable for attaching the NH1 to a computer. His name is Gerry and he now has a website. https://mdgadgetry.com/ (thanks to BearBoy for informing the community about this site; see BB's post of July 4, '24) Did you get one of those adapters by chance. If so, are you satisfied with it? link to the accessory adapter: https://mdgadgetry.com/products/Sony-MZ-N10-Adapter-p675099857 If you haven't gotten one you might be interested in what I learned from inquiring. Here is Gerry's reply to me: Hi James Thank you for your email. The adapter charges via usb-C, it has built in voltage regulator and it will bring voltage from a 5V usb-C to the necessary 6V for this player. Alternatively, if you have a 6V wall charger, you can also use it with this adapter as it has charging port for that too. As far as data transfer goes, it has a switch on it to toggle between charging mode and data transfer mode. I hope this answers your questions. Regards, MDGadgetry So, 2 input ports and a toggle switch! With this you wouldn't need the cradle at all, the NH-1 it will be freed from the cradle for general use; recording and playback powered by the 6V wall plug. I hope this is helpful, I plan to order one of these adapters and other accessories and will report my experience and on the items i get. Best, -ja NYC

Hi BearBoy, Good spotting in finding this site, thanks for passing it along. I just sent them a question about one of the products and I plan on buying a few items. Best, -ja

Hi kgallen, Thank you for your reply. It's good to know now that the digital (optical) output isn't getting ATRAC treatment. It also never occurred to even try putting the deck in 'record' without a disk inserted; it works exactly as you described. I am sending the analog signal from my turntable into the 520 and straight out to the optical input on my RH-1. This set-up is really just a matter of convenience because the turntable and the JE-520 are sitting next to each other. I'm sure there are better ways I can make digital copies, (sans mp3), of my LPs but, this is the line of least resistance for the moment. Thanks again for the info. and operation help; good news to me. Best, James

Greetings. I have a JE-520 deck that records using ATRAC 4.5. I want to use this deck simply as a pass-through device to convert an analog signal coming in to a digital out signal I know I can accomplish this by putting a disc in the deck then hitting record and pause which will activate the all the inputs and outputs. My question, however, is whether the digital signal out will be in ATRAC 4 or just a straight analog to digital conversion in that the deck is not actually recording. Any thoughts out there are appreciated. JMSLA (James)

Hi All, One of my LIP-4WM batteries has become swollen; bloated like a gum-stick blow-fish. Clearly it can no longer be used and is likely a danger to even keep as a paperweight. Does anyone have advice on what I can do, or avoid doing, to prevent this from happening to any more of my diminishing supply of LIP-4WM batteries? A few others are just beginning to show a tiny bit of swelling. None of these batteries are of the 'after-market' variety. And, does anyone know what happens inside the battery to cause this condition? Any advice and insights are greatly appreciated. Thank you, -ja

I'm still running XP with no problems at all and Sonic Sstage works like a dream; including Simple Burner which I use quite often. I simply refused to be frightened by Microsoft into giving up XP. I't's possibly one of their best operating systems; simple and robust. And I do continue to get monthly updates from Microsoft. Wouldn't it also be possible to have a stand alone computer; one not connected to the internet, that runs on XP to use Sonic Stage without any glitches? Of course 'Grace Note' and such would not be available but, a small incovienence.

Yes, it is true as AVITWeb says; there is an option in the 'transfer settings' to instruct SS to delete the converted files after transfer. However, i'ts still always a good practice to take a look in that default folder or follow that file path because, in my experience, the deletion doesn't always happen --- for reasons that remain a mystery to me. {I guess computer programs sometime ignore instructions and do want they want to do just to defy the humans.} Don't forget about clearing your Recycle Bin either, if you do have to perform a manual deletion. My two cents. Happy Transferring, -ja

Hi Roflol, I would like to buy your 600 as a backup if it's still available. I'll pay your asking price, which I think is very fair if not outright generous. I own a 600 which I've had for several years. Despite it's entery level status and plactic case, is a tough workhorse and can make excelent recordings. The higher end, metal case 900 models I have become plagued with operational problems. Please PM me. -James / jmsla

No problem. it's very good that the disc was new because sometimes remnants of prior recordings that were 'erased' and recorded over can pop up in spots like, for example, the silent space between the recover tracks. // When I reuse a disc for an important recording, I have a procedure to completely purge the disc of prior recordings so that it starts as essentially a new disc. I think the 'disc error' message you get occasionally is just an anomaly, especially since it mostly reads 'blank disc'. I think that simple 'blank disc' message is encouraging. And, I don't think it matters what brand of machine was used to record the disc - SP is SP as far as I know. It is curious how the disc got erased. Since this disc was so important, I can't imagine that your client put it in a player / recorder and mistakenly went through the menu to 'erase all tracks', or mistakenly formatted the disc. It might be helpful to ask the owner of the disc if he/she remembers how that happened. I hope it wasn't a situation where a malfunctioning machine somehow mangled or scrambled the TOC - if such a thing is possible. You would probably be getting more 'disc error' messages if that were the case. I'm just guessing here. You know where to find me if you want to get in contact. Good Luck, James

Greetings AudioArtist, If this is a straight forward matter of the tracks having been mistakenly erased, leaving what appears to be a blank disc, I have the necessary equipment to write a new TOC to the disc and would be glad to perform that procedure. Understand, however, that I am making no promises just now as there is a lot I don't know about this disc. For example: You mention ..."the issue of an erased TOC". Did you mean to say erased 'tracks' or literally and erased TOC; because I've never heard of a disc completing missing a TOC and I'm not sure this such a condition is possible. I ask because I want to be perfectly clear about what is wrong with this disc. Also: Can you find out exactly how the music on the disc came to be "erased"? // Was the disc new when it was originally recorded or was it a reused disc? // In what mode had the disc been recorded: SP, LP2 or LP4? // Is it a 74 minute disc or an 80 minute disc? // Is the disc damaged in any way, such as having a missing or malfunctioning shutter door or a warped case? // Does the internal disc spin smoothly inside the case? I have a MZ-G750 that I modified for TOC cloning and I have a MDS-J520 Deck. I typically use the portable because the procedure is much simpler with fewer steps. I'm in the States - you can PM me if you wish. Best, -ja

Thank you all for your insights. I don't exactly understand some, well most, of the technical aspects and jargon discussed but, I now am assured that my .wav files are not being fundamentally altered in some way. I also now understand why some players on my computer don't display the track titles of commercial CDs I have uploaded as .wav files. A player would need to be connected to some CD catalogue database because the .wav files don't include that information. // Another mystery sent packing. Thanks again for the illumination. Best, James A.

Ah-ha, so if I understand 'metadata' in this context; that step that SS displays as 'converting' is all the information about each track, such as name, date it was created, etc., being encoded. is that correct? Thank you. I was thinking that maybe I was failing to apply some Importing feature in a menu somewhere. -ja

Greetings All, I often import one or several .wav music files from my hard drive into the Sonic Stage library, and then transfer them to a Hi-MD disc using the 'Standard transfer mode' - transfer file "as is" (no conversion)', etc. (I use the version of SS 4.3 available from this forum on a computer with XP operating system. / flawless operation of SS by the way.) To continue, I have assumed that .wav and PCM are the same format or bit rate. However, I notice that during the transferring procedure, the files first go through a "converting" step before being transferred. This is indicated in the 'Status' area just to the right of the track name, all in the large transfer window. So, my question is; What is that conversion all about? / Are .wav and PCM different in some way? I seem to recall doing the same sometime in the misty past and just seeing 'transferring' indicated. I could be mistaken about that. Thanks in advance for any information / education on this subject. Best, James

Same question, ..... What do you mean by "an interesting price" ? Are you asking people to bid on this or do you have a price in mind? I'm in the Colonies (US). PM me or post publically. -ja

I second PunkRockAddicit's choice - with a bullet! I have both the Grado 60i and the 80i. The 80i model is $99.00 and the 60i model is $79.00. I personally don't hear much difference between the two. Don't let the relatively low price decive you. They are without question the best sounding headphones I've ever used. For one thing, they don't color the sound with emphasised highs or lows. You get a very transparent listening experience and somehow a 3 dimentional effect on certain recordings; as if you were in the studio or at the concert during the performance. There is no special circuitry built in for that effect; it's just how good they are. The design styling is definately not up-to-date, (who cares?), and they don't fold up but, I often carry a pair for on-the-go MiniDisc listening with no problems / they don't have huge cans and aren't heavy. Very comfortable to wear, and for a long time if so happens. I do have a pair of AKG K81DJ headphones that I use for subway travel listening because the closed back doesn't disturb other people and the ear cups are more isolating. They fold up to some extent and they sound pretty good, (w/ some low end emphasis), but not up to the sound quality of the Grado headphones. Just my two cents on the question and I acknowledge that which headphones sound great to any particular individual is very subjective. One piece of testing advice: don't listen to too many different headphones at one time. After about 10 minutes or so of listening to music your ears ability to hear certain frequencies accurately tends to deminish. Listen to a few, then take a break to let you ears recover. I know this symptom well from years of shopping for cymbals. -ja

Find MD jewel cases here: http://www.minidiscaccess.com/index.html

Yes! I believe I went through at least 4 of the 7 stages of loss and grieving before the link started working again. I was informed that the forum has moved to a new host. ??

Ha! How about a demand to Sony that they create and market a USB turntable that converts those "old school" vinyl recordings directly to any of the minidisc codecs; thus to satisfy all the minidisc users to whom they sold that format for 20 years. Does anyone know the total sales figure(s) for Sony Mini Disc units of all types from introduction to the recent discontinuation?

Well, the display windows are fine, even with the contrast turned all the way down. So it's likely some mechanical problem as you suggest. Should I PM Jim Hoggrath or does that require an invitation? I haven't done this before but, I would like to have these nice NH900 units working properly if possible. thanks

Sorry for the tardy reply - Hurricane Sandy sent us a little off course here in the Apple. (note: above I meant to say '...downloading or ripping CDs to MD using Simple Burner') A further question then: Could such a power problem go on and off at times? Sometimes one or the other of these NH900 units seems to behave as expected, including the finicky function button problem. Then, suddenly it's misbehaving again. I know I have read here that fixing a power problem takes special equipment and expertise. Can I be advised approximately the cost of repairing two units? thanks p.s. Condolences for the loss of HMS Bounty and one crew member in the storm. Sad events.