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optical in via TOSLink i would probably say yes...coax maybe not...unless you take a look at some of the more professional grade s/c's that are compatible with the macs then mayb...but if say you buy a Creative based card with the breakout box i think the best you'd get is TOSLink In/Out and SPDIF In/Out...no coax...

ah rite...ok well did u make sure that the EQ settings were set to off??? If it still does crackle then i suggest you normalise you're mp3's using a program called mp3gain so that it can try and lower the crackling... apart from that i think it's a gneral fault with the software if it won't record any songs across...i think the best way to fix this is to uninstall everything and do a fresh install of all the software including the NetMD driver...since i had a problem a while back with SimpleBurner displaying a black box and when i re-installed everything was ok again... sorry bout misunderstanding ur post b4...oh and install all the updates that OpenMG and SonicStage put up on the net...they mite help fix up some of these problems as well...

i have to comment on what karan_and said above...i just recently got my N1 back from Sony repairs and basically they just change the whole optic block...it didn't say anything on the receipt about what they did other than to take apart the unit, put a new recording mechanism in and put it back together and test to see that it works...still it works so i'm happy but i would have liked more details to what apparently went wrong...my guess is that the recording head was misaligned thanks to my friend dropping it a few weeks back...oh what i mean by recording head is that it has two seperate parts...one for heating up the MD (the lens) and the other to change the data on the MD (the electromagnetic head) sorry if this has gotten you confused...

so you also tried re-installing the drivers and such? hmmm...sounds like something might be corrupt...have you tried recording say the same song but using OPTIC/LINE Out in realtime and see if there are any crackles??? if there isn't then it is indeed something wrong with the program that you're using...i think it's best to do a fresh install of those programs again...

NetMD wasn't designed for uploading music faster than real-time from MD -> PC, only downloads from PC -> MD...so u can't upload the recordings done by your unit to your HDD since it won't allow that and plus there isn't any uploading facility that will accomodate this...Sony does say something about being able to transfer music back onto the HDD but the only catch is that those music files have to be transfered from your PC -> MD first...i.e. if u don't check out the music files from your computer then u can't check it back in...you can however use a program that will allow for you to upload your music to your HDD but it can't be done faster than real-time i'm afraid...go here to view more info about how to use and where to d/l this program...

yup i agree...so long as the cables match up (usb mini plug) then it should work np...

the diff between the 71 and the 51 is that the 71 is made out of rubber whereas the 51 is made out of plastic...that's basically more or less the difference...sound quality is more or less similar with i think the 71 having slightly punchier bass...and N1's are more or less phased out in sydeny...if you do want to look for a new MD unit go down to near the QVB and check out the stores there...i usually go to either HomeZone or G&V Imaging...both are basically across the rd to each other and allow you to bargain...

:?: so hot-hearted??? :?

i don't think there is any official mac support for that unit...but there are users around who are making programs for the mac which will allow you to utilise the NetMD functionality of your unit...

i think what he means is that say that you have the 4 tracks orignially say A B C D, then you delete B and C, which leave you A - - D...A is the 1st track while D is the 2nd...but on the disc these 2 positions do NOT move but the TOC updates and D is recognised as track #2 instead of #4 originally...so when you record another two tracks say of similar lengths to the ones deleted then the structure (on disc) would be A E F D but the MD's TOC will recognise these tracks in the following sequence : Track #1 : A, Track #2 : D, Track #3 : E, Track #4 : F...

ok then i think you can get the Sony unit...shouldn't be too bad at recording since both my portable recording units are made by Sony and i record lectures and concerts fine with them...LP4 is basically LongPlay 4...meaning that it has 4x the recording length of SP (i.e. 74min or 80min depending on which MD disc u buy) at the cost of quality since it uses a LOT of lossy compression to get this much music onto an 80min MD...MD's these days have usually two modes...ShortPlay (SP) and LongPlay (LP)...SP is basically what all the oldest of MD's use while LP is something only newer units can record and read...LP itself has also two other modes...LP2 and LP4...LP2 is capable of recording 2x as much music onto an MD and LP4 4x as much...so if you have an 80min MD, u can record 80min (1hr 20min) in SP, 160min (2hr 40min) in LP2 and 320min (5hr 20min) in LP4...SP and LP2 sound fine since most users claim that they can't hear the difference on their portable units but LP4 does sound really bad for music...IMO it is only useful for recording lectures and things that you don't care about the quality of the recording...

not entirely sure about what you mean by streaming audio but what these devices do is just create a simple TOSLink output from a spare USB port that you have...you basically record from an Optic source so you don't have to worry about encoding anything in mp3/ATRAC3 format since it just bypasses the PC and the MD does all the ATRAC conversions on the fly from the signal... well this "feature" is basically not really a Digital output from the MD, rather it uses the MD's headphone/Line output and records it to the computer...it is still analogue though but since it's on the PC they call it "digitised"...it's kind of misleading in a way but thought you should know...and this also is done in real-time, just like the recording from PC -> MD on this device... i would assume so...i think by now they would have released drivers on their site if it didn't work on XP based machines...most older computer peripherals (like my old printer) works in XP with the Win2k drivers so i would say that it's safe to assume so...

Sharp's mic functionality is indeed better than Sony's but depends if you really need to use the NetMD download functionality from PC -> MD a lot or not...if u can do without then go for the Sharp... and what did u mean by for sharp what does mean lp4? did u want to ask me about what LP4 is??? or am i totally missing the point here??? sorry can't quite understand what you are trying to get at here...

oh really??? di'n know bout that...hmm ok well make sure that u look for one that is USB -> TOSLink....

sorry i wasn't specific about the structure i stated above...what i meant was that it eventually becomes like the way you want it but the way it is recorded is the way that NRen2k5 has mentioned above...since the 2 songs A nd D remain in the same place on the MD just that the blanks spaces where the previous tracks were deleted are rewritten with the data of the new songs that you put in...

if the files have already been encoded and transfered they would be stored under a specific folder that SonicStage creates for you...(go to Menu down the bottom left of the screen and select the Option... option...then from there select the Location to save the recorded files) and it should show you where the files that have been encoded are located...just import the files into SonicStage again...

i don't think that I/O card would work with the Audigy 2...i own an Audigy Platinum and use to own an Audigy 2 Platinum before swapping it for a Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro...from what i'v encountered Creative don't sell the breakout box..i think your best bet for a cheap optic out is to buy one of those USB PC Links from XiTel...

i think it is a full installation...

both of the softwares that ship with the two units should be fine and work with all the ms windows based OS'es to date...and depending on what you're using it for will determine the model...NetMD capabilities i think software wise Sony have more support than the Sharp but the Sharp's mic recording leaves tread marks over the Sony...

this will work fine...=) unless it has a proprietary Sony miniplug connection then you should be worried...otherwise there shouldn't be a problem...

i got the silver...

i don't think it can...

ok which Audigy 2 card are we talking about? just the base card itself or does it have a breakout box??? (i.e. Platinum series) because if you only have the card itself you cannot use the optic output jack on the back of the card since it is Creative's own proprietary jack that they use for their speakers and not anything else...if you do own a Platinum then u use the OPTICAL OUT square connector on the breakout to connect the sqaure -> circle TOSLink cable...otherwise you're basically stuck with recording with analogue cables...

no u can't use SimpleBurner to get mp3's across...since this is a PC link all it does is provide an optic output from the PC...you still have to slide the record switch when you want to record something since the PC link is basically a USB -> TOSLink converter...

that's SonicStage's problem...try and convert them into wav files with Lame and transfer the wav files across instead...this works most of the time..