A440

You should contact marcnet directly about this. His site is: http://www.marcnetsystem.co.uk DirectX is part of Windows. You can try to decipher information about it on the Microsoft website, but www.microsoft.com/directx goes to a Vista information page for gamers and too much jargon for me.

MD formats (SP, LP2, LP4) play back through the headphone jack, controlled by SonicStage. Hi-MD formats play back through the computer, also via SonicStage .

You can change tracks, etc., on the RH1 as well--it has all the controls on the unit. It just doesn't display the track title on the unit (which I agree is a stupid omission). I'm actually not sure how much the one-line display on the NH1 shows--it, too, is made for use with the remote, which is why it came with the fanciest MD remote of all, the RM-MC40ELK. This photo doesn't show a track title either: http://www.minidisc.org/images/sony_mzneh1_avwatch2.jpg The NH1 connectors are all proprietary, including the charger and the crucial USB cord to get the music onto it. Lose it, break it, you're done--they're hard to find and expensive. The RH1 takes a standard mini-USB. This discussion may be entirely theoretical. There are not a whole lot of NH1s around, and those that still exist are 2-3 years old. RH1s are getting scarcer, too, but they will be easier to find.

NetMD and Hi-MD players can all record your CD. That is, you put the CD in the computer and SonicStage or SimpleBurner converts it to MD-playable files. Anyway, for SQ: NH1 or RH1, hands down.

Because the MZ-N707 is a NetMD unit, the mods think the post belongs in this section.

Sorry to say this, but NetMD recordings cannot be transferred to the computer from the MZ-N710. The connection from PC to MD is one-way. Only one unit transfers NetMD recordings from MD to PC: the MZ-RH1, which is also called the MZ-M200. Otherwise you have to record them out of the headphone jack in realtime. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7070 If you are making new recordings, a Hi-MD unit will transfer its own recordings, which are in different formats. NetMD used SP, LP2 and LP4--those can only be uploaded from the RH1 or M200. Hi-MD units use PCM, Hi-SP and Hi-LP, and all of those formats CAN be uploaded with SonicStage. So your best choice might be to get a Hi-MD unit: preferably the NH700 or NHF800 if not the RH1.

Here are some binaural DPAs on Ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/Core-Sound-High-End-Bi...1QQcmdZViewItem

It could be: 1) Mic placement, anything from where you were in the room to where the mics were pointing. How did the sound you recorded compare to what you heard in the room? Were the mics in a position to hear like your ears? For instance, if they were on a table and you were sitting at that table, what you hear and what the mics pick up will be very different. 2) Something to do with the mic response. It has various attenuation and low-cut switch positions. What were you using? 3) Something to do with the H2's analog-to-digital conversion. You'd have to ask H2 users. About getting closer and turning down the preamps more: Sounds good, but you need to find the sweetest spot in the room. That could be up close, though not so close the PA is pointing over your head, or it could be by the sound booth, where the person who's mixing is judging the balances. But if you've found out the general sound level is too low with what you're doing, and you didn't get distortion at any point, then turn it up next time.

I love my Hi-MD, but I don't really see it as the right gear for this purpose. Field recording really is the killler application for MD. You can get an mp3 player that's much smaller with much more capacity and no need to deal with the weirdness of SonicStage. I have a Sansa E260 that has become my constant companion. Other people like the Cowon X5, and there are players by iRiver, Toshiba and others if you don't want to just give in and get an iPod. The high SQ of Hi-MD is mostly when you're using it to play uncompressed PCM files--only 94 minutes per 1GB disc, which is a lot of discs to carry around. In most portable situations, the SQ of a high-bitrate mp3--I'm talking about 192 kbps or above--is all you need. Your headphones are going to make as much of a difference as the player, possibly more. Possibly, if you're playing a CD ripped to Hi-SP through the top-of-the-line Hi-MD units--the NH1, RH1 or (though it has some other flaws) NH900--in a quiet place, it will sound better than a high-bitrate mp3 to some ears. Even that's debatable. But I think a good mp3 player is a much better deal. You could start researching here: http://www.anythingbutipod.com/archives/reviews/

NH1 is not only hard to find but has proprietary connectors: You have to find not only the unit but its accessories. Don't buy the NH1 without them. For just playback and CD transfer, you could also find the NH600D. It does not do realtime recording--only USB transfer--but is much cheaper. The NH600 (minus the D) does do real-time line-in recording--from a powered source, not a microphone--as well as USB transfer. Since you're a first-time poster, and may be new to the format, I just want to make sure you are aware: MD players don't play CDs. They play minidiscs. You need to convert the music from CD to MD formats on your computer. And the computer has to be a PC, not a Mac, unless you are using the RH1, M10 or M100. All the NH units are PC-only.

You probably need Administrator rights on your computer to install any version of SonicStage. You may also have to turn off any security software while you install--don't forget to turn it on afterward.

Wow, that's big type. The capacity of a disc depends on the running time of the music and the format you are using. You can put three different formats on a Hi-MD disc: PCM (CD quality, only 94 minutes), Hi-SP (very good quality, 7 hours 55 minutes) and Hi-LP (borderline quality, 34 hours). It's all on a chart partway down this page: http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html To get the 34 hours, you need to set SonicStage to transfer the music in Hi-LP. Tools/Options/Transfer/Hi-MD/Transfer Settings/Advanced/ATRAC3+ 64kbps. 45 CDs is still a little optimistic for Hi-LP--unless those are short CDs--but getting only 20 tracks means you probably had it in PCM.

A lot of people looking for MD, NetMD, Hi-MD, etc., aren't quite sure of what model they want or how much to expect to pay for it, so they may not know what to ask you for. A better way to do this might be to do an occasional, when-you-feel-like-it list of what you saw on your visits and what Hardoff wants for it. Then you might get some PMs. And if you see any good mics that are compatible with MD, you might mention those too....

Your G750 was from before the NetMD era, so if you don't want to bother with computer connections, any MDLP unit should be fine. The different versions of ATRAC are tweaks, not format changes. The newer Hi-MD units also record and play back in additional formats: PCM, Hi-SP and Hi-LP. And they use 1GB discs that the G750 will not play, although they will also take 74-minute and 80-minute MDs. If you do get a Hi-MD unit, get the RH1, which plays, records and UPLOADS every format--it is the only unit that uploads SP, LP2 and LP4. Or get one of the NH units (NH700, NF800, NH900, NH1), which will record to the MD formats (SP, LP2, LP4) in realtime but will not upload those recordings. The other RH** units will not record in realtime to SP, LP2 or LP4, although you can transfer music to them (not from them) with SonicStage in those formats.

Is this an actual Sony authorized repair shop?

Only the RH1 or M200 (same unit) uploads SP, LP2 or LP4 recordings. All other Hi-MDs only upload PCM, Hi-SP or Hi-LP.

Actually, recording is better with the battery. Recording while plugged in can add a hum or buzz. Is it just happening with one disc or with every disc you record?

For recording with external mics, MD's mic preamps are still considered superior to flash recorders like Edirol or Zoom. I don't know about the second version of the M-Audio Microtrack. Battery life is also a question; some of those units have built-in rechargables, nothing you can pop out and replace when they run down. Those other recorders are also bigger than MD units if stealth is a factor. However, the inconvenience of SonicStage vs. drag-and-drop is increasingly annoying. And line-in recording, which is what I almost always do at concerts, bypasses the mic-in preamp. SonicStage does work well with XP SP2 and supposedly will work with Vista, though some people have had problems. Although Sony has promised updates, personally I wouldn't expect it to be updated the next time Microsoft gets around to making a new operating system. I still like minidisc for its small size and for track marking while recording, and other on-unit editing features. I keep wishing for the ultimate flash recorder, but I haven't seen it yet. That doesn't mean it's not out there somewhere. You can do some serious concert recording with the MZ-NH700, which should be about $100 cheaper than the MZ-RH1 if you can find it, and it takes a AA battery, easily replaceable. (The RH1 uses a special Lithium-ion gumstick.) When recording, the NH700's main disadvantage vs. the MZ-RH1 is that you have to set it to Manual each time you record; the MZ-RH1 holds that setting. But if you already have old MDs, the RH1 is precious beause it is the only unit (although sometimes relabeled the MZ-M200) that will upload your old MD recordings.

It's really important to talk to the sound person in advance. RCA jacks are the kind with a plug in the middle and a rim around it. Phono jacks are large plugs like a big headphone jack or what guitarists plug into amplifiers. Stereo 3.5mm minijacks--the kind the RH1 accepts--are the plug on your headphones. If you are getting your signal from the soundboard you have to find out what's going through the soundboard. In a small place, the drums and maybe even some of the amplified instruments will not go through the soundboard to be amplified through the PA system--they'll just play into the room. So what you'll get from the soundboard will be the vocals, maybe some keyboards, who knows? Then again, a full mix of the band could be going through the soundboard, which would be ideal. As noted above, you have to find out what kind of output the soundboard has. The alternative is just to record the sound in the room with a pair of microphones. My basic setup is: Sound Professionals BMC-2 http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-BMC-2 Microphone Madness mini battery module http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm into the Line-in Jack with Manual Recording Volume (you'll need to change the default setting on the RH1) at about 20/30. Clip the two mics somewhere near your ears, like a shirt collar, and they'll basically pick up what your ears pick up. If it sounds good in the room, it'll sound good on the recording. But it will also record audience noise and you--you can't talk over the music, clink ice in a drink, etc.

There must be Sony support for the UK. Just try Google from where you are and it will probably come up with the Euro link. I'm also wondering if it has something to do with McAfee, which can be a very intrusive program. Although you switched it off during the install, it probably comes back on with Startup, and maybe it's stopping SonicStage at that point. Can you go into McAfee options and have it not run on Startup? Or do Start/Run/msconfig and go into the Startup tab and un-check McAfee there, then reboot. Just make sure that you're offline when you're running without McAfee. Leaving it off is obviously not a permanent solution, because there are some extremely nasty viruses out there, but it might isolate where the problem is.

There's a whole headphone topic below. It all depends on your budget and what kind of phones--big, small, over-ear, around-the-ear, bud, inner-ear--you want.

I don't know if I can help, but a couple of questions: Is it at the same spot in various PCM recordings? Are you using the remote? The remote can cause static in recordings.

From the specs, those look good. I have what I think was an earlier version of the same thing--the elements are AT and they are interchangeable--and they are my best small microphones, adding the least noise and providing the richest sound. (But I have omni elements). They will probably be heavier than what you're using now, which may make clipping them a bit more awkward, and because they're cardioids you're going to have to be more careful with the way they face. Who knows, maybe you'll end up getting the interchangeable omni elements too. Here are some fancy mics recommended by the guy at www.quietamerican.org , a serious field recordist. http://www.sonicstudios.com/ Note that he's using them for quieter things than concerts. Other people with lots of money like DPA. http://www.dpamicrophones.com/ For really high-end stuff, you might want to check out the fanatics at http://www.taperssection.com I've never had those high-end goodies to try, and maybe that's a good thing so I don't somehow get spoiled. But my perspective is that live concerts are noisy, imperfect events and not ultra-quiet recording studios, and that a mic that gets the full frequency range with fairly flat response is good enough. I don't know that I would want to be carrying $500 mics into some rowdy show.

Just to clarify. Audacity is a sound editing program. It has nothing to do with minidisc (though it's quite useful). If you have the files as mp3s you can use Audacity to make one long track out of your mp3s by cutting and pasting them together in Audacity, and then using SonicStage to convert that long track and send it to your MZ-N707. That is going to be time-consuming, and you will not get individual track information from the tags, since they are no longer separate mp3 files. But it should work.

I was just joking about the girl. You could gag her next time. I'm impressed that the R30 can handle that volume through mic-in, because I don't know if a later unit would. The mic is cutting off the bass, which helps prevent it from overloading, but after hearing the gig, I really don't know how the R30 would react with a more bass-sensitive mic through Mic-in. You'd probably still get a slightly better recording with the battery module via Line-in, since the preamp must add some noise, but it would certainly be an interesting experiment to see what the Mic-in preamp could handle. Your dad is right: Basically you want to get the level as high as you can without overloading, so you're close to the edge but never past it.