A440

Audio Studio 9 LE--that's Sound Forge lite--is included with the PCM-M10. It looks like it includes ATRAC. http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/audiostudio/features Looking at the frequency response specs for the little ICDSX700 voice recorder, they don't go below 50Hz. And most of them are curtailed at the top end as well. It seems to be pretty specifically a voice recorder, not for music. (A piano goes down to 27.5 Hz, and a boomin' system goes even lower.) That 1GB limit would be like owning one Hi-MD and having to perpetually transfer recordings. The PCM-M10 is one great handheld music recorder, including good-sounding playback. 4 GB onboard, microSDHC (up to 32GB) in a slot. It has every feature I want except recording level on the remote--although it has some LEDs on the unit, green (sounding good) and red (overload), that you can glance at if you keep it in a waist pouch. If it overloads, it has a Limiter function that has a simultaneous recording at 20db lower--so it will substitute that to lower or eliminate distortion. If you have to be stealthy, it is the same size as a (fatter) iPhone and security guards think it's a camera--one warned me not to use flash with it. There's no time mark, unfortunately. And there is no recharging but it has insanely good battery life with two AA's--5-7 concerts before the battery indicator dips halfway down. The PCM-M10 has completely replaced my Hi-MD at concerts. If the approximately $279 street price is high, Tascam makes some under-$200 flash recorders better suited to music than the Sony ICDSX700. Wingfield audio has compared a lot of recorders--though there is a brand-new Tascam they don't have yet. http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-reviews.html

Buried under Tools/Options/Transfer/Hi-MD/Transfer Settings/Advanced in SonicStage you have a choice of Specified Bit Rate. Otherwise it will use LP2, and LP2 conversion of an already lossy mp3 is just pathetic. 256 kbps is Hi-SP for your Hi-MD units (NH600 and RH1)--but won't play on your older units. As Stephen said without elaborating, SP transferred via SonicStage is not SP. It's actually LP2 pumped up to look like SP so older, SP-only units can play it. Hence its disappointing sound. Unless you are going to do a lot of recording, and even in that case, I don't recommend getting the RH1 at this late date just to use as a player for mp3s. You can get three or four high-quality, high-capacity mp3 players (like the Sansa Fuze or whatever Sony's latest and greatest is) for the same price. The Fuze will play FLAC if you want to convert your CDs losslessly. And for a recorder, the Sony PCM-M10 is the final nail in the minidisc coffin. I was a longtime MD user until I got the PCM-M10. Haven't used MD since. The only reason to own an RH1 nowadays is to be able to upload MDs that were recorded on your older units.

That's a very old unit, and the Write head may just be defunct. Try recording through Line-in--out of a CD player or something--but if that doesn't work either, it's time to contact the eBay seller with the maledictions of your choice.

I have both PortaPros and Sennheiser PX-100 (not 200, they are quite different). I prefer the Sennheisers. For me, the Koss push the midrange a little more, while the Sennheisers are smoother. Neither is particularly shrill. The Sennheisers have a puffier bass than my better headphones, but for portable use they are extremely comfortable and sound great for the price.

Maybe I'm the only one, but Sony Media Services did retrieve a Hi-MD full of music for me. At the time, I had no idea what had gone wrong, but in retrospect I may have removed the battery (near dead) when it was still saving. I killed another (near empty, luckily) disc that way. They charged about $50, with no charge if they can't get the files. No idea whether they still even try--this was years ago. And Pete, if your unit is dying--sounds like it--get the Sony PCM-M10 flash recorder. PCM (up to 24/96) or mp3 recording. Drag-and-drop with standard USB-to-miniUSB. (No ATRAC, no SonicSadist, no encryption, no conversion--nothing proprietary.) Lighted, clear on-unit display. Track marking. 4GB internal memory plus microSD slot (also takes but does not require Sony memory stick). Remote with record button (but no display, sigh). Solid build. Huge battery life (2 AA). Under $300. Suffice it to say I'm at the end of my MD years.

From the beginning, minidisc was about the most perversely designed and marketed electronic product around. MD actually stands for My Deathwish. It was confusing, user-unfriendly, chained to its proprietary format and hardware, stuck with awful software and, for many more years than necessary, deliberately crippled. For a while, it was also the best inexpensive stealthy digital recorder around. Despite itself. But look at all the workarounds. Want to use it as a portable player? Convert your lossy mp3s to lossy ATRAC. Lost in its fantasy of proprietary software, Sony resisted mp3 playback for years after it was obvious that mp3 was the de facto standard. Want to record loud music? You can't simply use the mic jack because the preamp overloads, so you need battery box or preamp. How many people just gave up on MD from that alone? Older NetMD's wouldn't even let you change level while recording. Want to play back your recordings? Enjoy your headphone jack. Want to copy your recordings to edit them? First realtime and analog only--and how many people got NetMD expecting to simply be able to upload via the USB connection that was right there on the unit? Another consumer exodus. Then Hi-MD, and uploading to SonicStage but stuck in your computer, and then (under hacker pressure) finally convertible to .wav via multiple steps in which everything could go wrong. Still user-unfriendly--the insane internet "backup" method, which is not a backup but a permission to back up held on some Sony server (wonder if it still works). Then, without any announcement, the File Conversion Tool that makes ATRAC files portable but never exactly explains itself (though at least it's there). The encryption in Sonic Stage is so elaborate that even Sony can't always restore a screwed-up file. Typical genius move: Everything on a Hi-MD goes into one encrypted file, not separate groups. One glitch, it's all destroyed. Even the recording that worked fine yesterday. No wonder iPod made MD obsolete as a player: wow, it's smaller and it plays mp3s. And no wonder, now, that small flash recorders are making MD look kind of silly. I have stacks and stacks of MD recordings. I'm keeping my RH1 and NH700 while I upload them. After that, see you on eBay. The PCM-M10 makes me wonder why I tolerated MD for so long.

Sorry to say, but it can't be done. The good information is buried under the distortion.

Avrin, many thanks. Got 'em! I've found foobar to be kind of ugly and clunky, and boy does it take a long time to rip anything, but I see it is finally calling itself a 1.0 version, so I'll give it another try.

Older Winamps have security holes. No thanks . I despise WMP too, but compared to SonicStage... Avrin, do you have a link to that post?

I've got all 209 kb of in_atrac.dll, which let Winamp use SonicStage's codec to play .oma, but it seems to crash the latest Winamp 5.x on exit. Anyone have another copy I could try?

In the US you can see if www.tapewarehouse.com still has them Its site is so goofy that you have to dig deep to find them: Call 800-659-8273 to see if they are still in stock. Catalog page/Digital Audio/Mini Disc Audio/ SCM HMD1G HI-MD DISC (for Sony Hi-MD) at $6.40 each, item number: 2724264569 SONY 8MDW80 8PK.COLOR - CLOSEOUT/QTY LIMITED (8-pack for $10.50), item number: 2724258884 or SONY MDW-80.MINIDISC ($1.81 each) item number: 2724255739.

One sad thing is that this whole problem was avoidable. Not even by converting to .wav, which takes huge amounts of storage space, but by using a recent SonicStage and simply running the File Conversion Tool, which makes those .oma files into .OMA files that are playable on any SonicStage. They are no longer linked to the particular Windows installation on the particular computer. I have no advice for the OP if Sony Media Services couldn't save the data. But for anyone else who has a library in SonicStage, please, immediately, right now, before you surf to something else, go to C:\Program Files\Sonicstage and run the File Conversion Tool with copy protection unchecked. You owe it to your recordings.

It is confusing, and confining. But in the end, it's simple. Your only method to digitally transfer recordings from old MDs (pre Hi-MD) is with the MZ-RH1 or MZ-M200 (same unit packaged with a microphone) via SonicStage. You need that particular hardware and software combination. No way around it. SonicStage 3.x and 4.x are made to upload recordings made on Hi-MD recorders, not your NetMD, until you get the hardware that can upload older recordings: the MZ-RH1. So you need to decide whether uploading your NetMD recordings is worth the $300-$350 it costs for the MZ-RH1 or MZ-M200. And if it is, you need to commandeer someone's Windows computer for what's definitely going to take a while. When you upload, you can have the uploads converted immediately to .wav by SonicStage, or you can selectively convert later. Probably you'll want an outboard hard drive, because those files are going to be huge. After you have uploaded, run the File Conversion Tool in SonicStage with copy protection Un-checked. Please, do it right after you upload. This will make the uploaded files playable by any computer running SonicStage. Otherwise they are locked to your computer unless they are converted to .wav (as above) or .mp3 (see below). Once uploaded, you can also use Hi-MD Renderer to convert the files to .mp3, which takes less space. http://marcnetsystem.co.uk/ There is software called Music Transfer for the Mac. But it only uploads (MD-->computer) files that were recorded in the Hi-MD formats (PCM, Hi-SP, Hi-LP, not the SP, LP2 or LP4 from your NF810. Only the MZ-RH1 /MZ-M200 with SonicStage will do that. http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?upd_id=2236&PASSVAL2=SMB&mdl=MZM100 And get SonicStage 4.3 from support.sony.com--or search this forum for Avrin's Ultimate SonicStage 4.3--for the least complicated transfers.

Sure, go ahead and authenticate, but after you run the File Conversion Tool--make sure to un-check copy protection--those files will play on ANY SonicStage. It makes them portable. Do that before Sony does something weird with the encryption.

I don't know about volume limits and don't remember reading about that anywhere regarding the RH1/M200. http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-RH1.html Do you already have minidiscs that you want to play back or upload? Or are you just looking for a palm-sized PCM recorder? Because if it's just for recording, the Sony PCM-M10 is under $300, has a 4GB internal memory, does higher-quality .wav recording and--for us minidisc habitues--even does track marking. You can just drag-and-drop recordings onto the computer--no SonicStage hurdles. I love my RH1, but its job for me is uploading old-school MDs.

They are exactly the same. The MZ-M200 comes with a microphone. So go by price. I have only seen photos of the MZ-RH1 in black and silver. The color is just the color, signifying nothing else about the unit internally. If you like shiny, see if you can find a silver one. Otherwise....

Let's make it clear. The MZ-RH1 and M200 are the same thing. Find whatever is cheapest. They are the only ones that will upload recordings made on the MZ-R50. If you are making new recordings, the MZ-NH700 will upload its own recordings made in new uploadable formats: HiLP (passable), HiSP (like your R50) or PCM (CD-quality). But it will not upload recordings made on the MZ-R50.

The best portable without question is the MZ-RH1, which is also the only unit that will UPLOAD off your SP (or LP2 or LP4) discs if you have live recordings made with your SP unit.

Yes, mine was Hi-MD. I was totally amazed. I really think it's luck of the draw. Remember, one bad bit/sector can destroy the whole thing. Their tool found whatever was wrong on mine--maybe it was a software error. But yours must have had a different kind of glitch they hadn't anticipated. A flake in the coating? A bit they couldn't access? A lazy technician at SMS? We'll never know.

No help for you here either, unfortunately. And I've said it before, but your situation reminded me: It is consummately idiotic that Sony made HiMD so that the entire disc is one encrypted file, rather than separate groups/folders/files. One glitch and it's all gone. I'm not a programmer, but anyone with a logical mindset should have known that there's no reason to mingle new recordings with old ones. Each group should have been a separate folder, so that even if one went wrong, you could still retrieve the rest. Media Services actually did save a Format Error disc for me, but that doesn't make me feel any more charitable about Sony. Sony had some kind of deathwish about minidisc. There's no other explanation.

If I understand, you are using mics that take a phantom power source and an XLR-to-mini-stereo adaptor. What happens if you put that adaptor into the Line-in (white) jack instead of the Mic (red) jack? Do you get any signal? The mic jack has a preamp that overloads with bass or loud sounds. If you can get a signal through the line-in jack, you should be able to record a wider dynamic range. But it may also be too quiet. I run an electret condenser mic through a battery box (9V of power, not 45V like your phantom power) and into Line-in for loud recordings. Most of the time it works, though super loud sub bass makes the mic overload.

Thanks, gormby, but I picked up a couple on eBay and they're working, so I don't need any more. Appreciate the offer.

The backup tool is not to be depended on. It's not backing up your files. It calls a Sony computer somewhere, tells it your files are actually your files, and stores some code. Then when you want to back them up it calls Sony again, asks nicely for permission and gets it. What are you going to do when Sony finally ditches SonicStage and turns off that remote computer? Luckily there is a far better alternative. It's the File Conversion Tool, under Tools in SonicStage. This changes .omg files, which are tied to your particular SonicStage in your computer, to .oma files, which will play in any SonicStage. No more begging Sony for permission to play them. You click on it, it shuts down SonicStage and scans the database. Then it gives you a giant length of time with "Add copy protection" checked by default. Uncheck "Add copy protection" and it scans again. The first time, you are still going to get a giant length of time, so run it overnight or something. You can allow it to delete the .omg files, since you are replacing them with scrumptious .oma files. Afterward the scan (with copy protection unchecked) will only count your unconverted files. At least, that's how it works with my own uploaded recordings from minidisc. I don't know whether it will un-copy-protect CD rips, but you should try it. Do it now and get your library out of Sony's clutches. I believe that's what's going on with your .wma files is that SonicStage is just pointing to the existing ones, not doing any kind of conversion. The .wma files may have their own copy protection, since the default in Windows Media Player is to add copy protection. (You can change it under Rip.) The backup tool is only for SonicStage's own ATRAC files, not for what's on your computer from other sources.

I don't know about the Edirol line-in, but I hope you're using a battery box into the RH10 line-in. This is a really tricky situation and I don't think there's any easy solution. Manual control is manual control. Changing the input volume yourself is the best bet. Auto level is going to ruin musical subtleties. Or how about leaving the volume up and just editing out the audience when it clips? Do you really need the applause in the final recording? I always push the Track button on the remote when the final note dies out (which, unfortunately, is usually after the applause starts) but I don't really need the 30-40 seconds of applause between songs. If I were preparing the songs for anyone else to hear, I'd open them in Audacity and do a fade-out during the few seconds when the last note fades out and the audience starts to clap.

I hope you mean MZ-M200, the only unit that transfers old MDs. (Also known as the MZ-RH1). After transfer, you get individual tracks in the ATRAC format, .omg. Each group becomes a folder holding its own tracks. So if you have a disc with 10 groups of 10 songs each, you get 100 tracks divided into 10 folders. Once uploaded, they are still encrypted to only play in the computer that uploaded them. But SonicStage can convert them to mp3 for you. Or you can use its File Conversion Tool to keep them as ATRAC files but unencrypt them, so they become .oma files that are portable, playable by any SonicStage. Every time I upload something, I run the File Conversion tool as a matter of habit, so that if anything happens to the computer the files are not tied to it. (You need to un-check Add Copy Protection.) The free Hi-MD Renderer (Google for it) can convert the uploaded files to other formats if you prefer.