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sorry i di'n mean for it to sound hard to do...but yes i mean if you can manage to put all the effort in doing all of these things then it would be good...but the problem also comes back with your s/c...if you want to get a cost effective s/c that will do the job hunt around for the Creative SB Audigy Player s/c...this should be like a budget card atm and has can get out very decent recordings (i own an Audigy Platinum and Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro and both come recommended)...in Aus i think they can be picked up at about A$70 at the markets...otherwise look at the cards made by Guillemot (<- have noo idea how to spell it but they're the guys who make the Hercules brand graphix cards and peripherals)...and as u put before there isn't a way to get a CD burner to record directly from the sound input like an MD...though the trouble is with MD -> CD you need to go through your computer again so a decent soundcard would be good...if i were to do it i would do it directly from vinyl -> PC through my s/c and a few programs which allow me to check the levels of the sound wave...Sharp are good units for recording...i've used the 722 model yonks back and i am very impressed with the output of it and the ease of recording...i've only own one sharp unit and that is the DS8 player and the remote on that isn't too bad...i kinda like it, in a way i'd say it's similar to Sony and Panasonic remotes in terms of operation...look wise is alrite...i can live with it...but i have to say that i've used the ST880 and that has one funky two line/colour LCD remote...=)

IMO i would get the DR580...=) but when it says OPTIC/Line In it means that it can hav an digital or analogue recording on MD through that jack but using cables and a powered mic...the Mic In jack is just a powered jack for a non-powered mic...and yes vinyl -> MD -> CD is a viable option to bypass a cheap s/c if you can manage 2 pull it off...

realone transfer faster than realtime to NetMD capable units...though i don't think that WMP has the functionality of transfering songs via USB to the MD yet...

hmmm...Sony vs Sharp...well IMO i can't really say which is better but the new DR580 seems like a very very promising model from them...featuring a funky dock + having a 1-bit amp (4-pole headphone connector which truly seperates the left and right channels) the sound output will be better (in theory) than that of a Sony...i own a DS8 player and a Sony E10 player as well...out of the 2 of these i would agree that the Sharp is a lot nicer in terms of sound output, the overall sound i quite like...the Sony's not bad but seems a bit lacking...the N1 unit i prefer over the N10 for similar reasons...even though you can muck around with the VPT Sound settings on the N10 (kinda like diff EAX environments on creative cards) and even use the custom EQ i still think that the N1 sounds nicer...more stronger output...ok enough with sound i'll get on with it...N1 unit is a nice unit overall, though not as small or light as the N10 it does indeed sound a lot louder and alos has a better battery life than the N10 relying on a more readily available NiMH gumstick battery...N10 is the 10th anniversary unit from Sony and meant to be something special...in terms of looks and design i would say yes...the internal Li-Ion battery is something i kind of dislike due to the fact that it doesn't last very long (plus it's very low capacity ~340mAh as opposed to the 1400mAh NiMH gumstick on the N1)...both are fine units in their own right...backlit remotes feature on both as well as a 3 line display (N1 has a slightly darker text colour (black) than the N10 (grey)) with a jog dial, (and both are plagued with similar NetMD related problems see forum threads for more details on problems with the two units that users have encountered)...DR580 has a backlit remote, 1-bit digital amp (1st of it's kind on a portable and very very impressive), very functional dock with input and output connectors onboard, thin + light with good battery life, very simple and practical recording features (which i doubt u'd have much use for but it's there nonetheless) and trademark Sharp kick ass signature sound output (8mW per channel as opposed to Sony's 5mW per channel)...and being the newest unit out of the line up it is a very tempting unit (for me anyway)

upload as in from MD -> PC??? well if this is the case you won't find much luck if you turn to the N1 or N10 since they don't support faster than real-time uploading of music...but if you meant downloading music from PC -> MD then yes the NetMD functionality of both the N1 and N10 is very appealing to you...i own both unit and i have to say that i like my N1 unit better than my N10 because of it's battery life and also sound output (the N10's sound output feels somewhat lacking as compared to my N1 IMO)...Sharp has also put a really interesting NetMD on the market (IM-DR580) just currently, utilising the 1-bit digital amp used on their high end AUVI units it seems like a good buy...take a look at these units yourself...and if you have anything specifc that you want to ask feel free to post any questions here and i'll be happy to answer the ones that i can...

you can find a remote for the N510 from a wide range of online retailers...(such as Japan Direct which i think sell remotes, if it's not listed on their site email them for more details) and you can use any programs that play music to transfer to MD in real-time (via Digital/Analogue recording using cables) but if you want to transfer files across through the USB interface then there is only the 4 programs : Sonic Stage, OpenMG, SimpleBurner and RealOne Player that will allow you to do this...

those items are basically models that Sony have made and the dates that they were released officially in Japan...the past models are harder to come by but if you went to eBay or something you might be lucky and find one lying around...but basically the more recent models retailers may still stock (i.e. end of 2002/2003 models)...

OpenMG is use to transfer music to NetMD capable units as well as the MagicGate MS based mp3 players...

hey there, glad to see that you're enjoying your MD...=) details about using Nero + SimpleBurner can be found here...

yes this would work...i'v used the cable from my digi cam on the dock of my N1 and it transfers music fine...

from what i've seen i don't think they do...most of the portable recording units that i have bought come with only an optic TOSLink cable (square -> circle miniplug) and not much else...these analogue cables are relatively cheap though since you can go into basically any electronic store and ask to buy a two ended 3.5mm stereo cable...

Sharp units are better at live recording than Sony units are...they offer total control of levels on the fly and the new ones do support MDLP recordings...

oh rite, um basically Sony lists all the current models usually on their Sony Style website and also in Australia they have a magazine called Pulse which is basically a brochure of all their latest offerings to the Australian public...it should list the models there...you could take a look at the minidisc.org equipment browser as well to see the current range of decks that are currently available...in Aus Sony sell these models at the moment : MDSJE480, MDSJE780, MDSJB980 and MDSJA333ES...

basically all of the ones from Sharp utilise a mic in jack...they have quite a lot of models and having the DR420 and DR580 as the newest offerings from Sharp and feature NetMD capability...Sony units that have a mic in jack start from the N710 unit upwards...the ability to transfer from MD -> PC is something that is not possible using NetMD (faster than real-time using a USB cable) because this feature was not implemented in the NetMD standard and if you do want to do this then you have to do it using analogue cables and in real-time...

oh right...hmmm...i think it all depends on the CD itself because some of the CD players that do support CD TEXT it will show up on the remote (well at least this works for me on some of the CD's i've used in my CD player...) but i'm not entirely sure about CD TEXT on the actual CD and how it's recognised by the CD player...but previously i've seen CD TEXT transfers done quite easily when my friend showed me on his R91 and Discman both by sony using the Optic cable and specialised CD TEXT transfer cable and the titles as well as the song got transfered over to MD perfectly...sorry i'm not entirely sure how this works because i have never used this function before...

i'd prefer to get the original Sony battery if it were me...sure the nonamed one seems very tempting for the price but i wouldn't want to risk using them...

hmm...if i can find the sheet that they gave us in year 10 about the do's and don't of soldering i'll scan it and post it up...

the JB940? isn't that an older model? i wasn't sure that Sony still made those...but any way the one i have is the JB980 deck from Sony...i think it is still around in stores in Aus but yes it does have optic output and i think is the updated version to the JB940...and Sony won't say because i think that person doesn't know which model it was...i.e. if it's not listed in their catalogue then they won't talk about it...but yes it is manufactured by Sony but it came out i think back in 2000...there are a few units (decks) that do have optic out now the QS and ES series of decks generally do but i think they also have the JE780 deck which is not part of the QS/ES series and also features optic outputs...

that's interesting...if the CD doesn't appear to have CD Text then you can't really do much about it even if you did use the CDDB to connect to the net and try to get the cd info...but if say that it is there and you see that all the songs on the CD are titled then transfering via optic to MD won't transfer the CD Text across unless you use another cable that looks to me like it connects to the remote jack on the MD unit...

i think u need another cable for transfering CD Text...like when the portables had this feature you needed another cable in order for the CD Text to be transfered...

did u mean the do's and don'ts of soldering???

yup OpenMG and SonicStage use the same engine just different GUI...kinda like diff Linux distros...and SonicStage 1.5 is the latest version...

no u need a deck if you want to have an optical output because none of the new portables have this output jack, only decks do... no u can't...unless you also get a deck...as i mentioned before, since there is no optical output on the portable recorder so you can't record your recordings to the PC via digital link...

nice to know you're enjoying your new MD unit... hope it gets you more involved with the MD world so that you can see the potential of MD...

Hi there, I won't do a full out review here but if you check Brian Youn's Site you will be able to find very detailed reviews of a few units he has there...(these are usually high end models though...) ok for a recording unit that cost approx $250 (US i'm taking it?) and needs to be discrete i think i would recomment the Sharp DR7 unit...(details of it can be found here) these Sharp units are very good at recording from liv concerts and also it has a backlit remote for you to keep an eye on the recording as well so you done really have to take the unit out of your pocket etc to check on how things are going...for a more detailed look on this unit you can check out this site...hope this answers most of your questions quite simply...feel free to ask anything else you mite hav regarding this topic...