A440

Skip, welcome to MDCF. Wish you could upload some Guero's tacos. Can we go back to those samples you posted? What do you think is causing the hum that gets louder with the higher gain settings? Do you think it was your "fridge compressor"? Or do you think it was noise from the preamp? That's the crucial question for anyone considering using the H2 for interviews, podcasts, etc. If the mic preamp is adding that much noise, that's a problem. But if it's delivering a pristine recording of your refrigerator, that's a plus. Where would the world be without finely documented refrigerator hum? Unlike Guitarfxr, I don't use my Hi-MD as a player--just a recorder, mostly for concerts and occasionally for speech. What I want is stealth, which means good external microphone recording, and control: levels, track marking. Which is why I'm still trying to figure out if I have much use for the H2. I was impressed with the quality of the built-in mics in Skip's sample, but I am truly hoping that someone will do some recordings with the H2 with a setup like what I use at concerts with the MZ-NH700: Mic-->Battery Module-->Line-in (or Mic-in if the preamps and limiter can handle it). Meanwhile, Skip, if you gave up MD before Hi-MD came out, which was just a few years ago, you had all kinds of good reasons. But you might be surprised at the improvements Sony gave Hi-MD (and then utterly failed to market to the public). And for portability and battery life it easily fits your criteria. Uploading is now possible--two steps, not drag-and-drop, but tolerable. Quality is now PCM if you want it, and media cost about $7 per 1GB. Battery life is magnificent. MD units are smaller than the H2--they fit in your palm, and mine have survived a few drops. You already have the outboard mics. And the NH700 is still available for around $215. With a small stack of discs that you can upload and reuse, I don't see any problem with using minidisc until the unit itself finally gives out. Yes, it's about to become orphan technology, but I've always had a soft spot for orphans.

Minidisc is at the end of its life. Have no illusions otherwise. But a good unit and half a dozen discs--which you can upload and reuse thousands of times, Sony claims--should last you until the fingernail-sized wafer-thin ultra-high-fidelity recorder implants are on sale in 2012. Of the units you list, dump everything but the NHF800 (or its clone without the FM radio remote, the NH700) and the RH1. The RH10 has reliability problems, the RH910 is very scratchable, the M100 is the RH910 with a premium price for added compatibility with Mac, the NH1 has proprietary connectors that will be increasingly difficult to replace now that it's no longer made. NHF800 only uploads to PC, RH1 uploads to both PC and Mac and has a lot of other small but enjoyable improvements, as well as more pleasing aesthetics. It doesn't matter to you, but the real draw of the RH1 is that it's the only unit that uploads recordings made on the older MD units, like the B100. Both the NH700 and the RH1 have mic jacks, will record in PCM and will basically sound as good as the quality of your mic. You can find RH1 new, for the moment, at under $350. Try http://www.minidiscaccess.com (which also has the NH700), http://www.minidisc-canada.com . The MZ-M200 is the RH1 plus the mediocre--but decent enough for voice, I guess--Sony DS70P microphone. Try www.bhphoto.com To see features in detail, look at http://www.minidisc.org and the Browser tab. You might also consider a flash recorder like the Edirol R09 (though some people say their mic inputs are breakable) or the Zoom H2, which has built-in mics. Guitarfxr, you already have the H2--what do you think of using it for speech recording? It seems built to be an interview machine as well as a musicians' tool.

I remember your taiko drummers. What I meant was, have you tried the AT822 with loud music on the Zoom H2? I'm wondering if a louder signal would overcome the noise.

Well, you may have just talked me out of getting the H2 if the external mic inputs are that bad. I can't be standing at a concert with the H2 in my hand. Have you tried your AT822 with loud music?

It passed 60,000 while we weren't looking.

This was a bounce from the closed thread about Sony closing the Connect Store--although that's really different news from what this started with. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=19766 Richyhu noted that Sony has a conversion tool for ATRAC to .mp3. http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-downl...71&os_id=30 But it's not going to help Connect suckers--er, customers--because: "The MP3 Conversion Tool can be used to convert non-DRM protected ATRAC® format audio files stored in your computer to MP3 format audio files" Aren't Connect files DRM'd? To be fair to Connect customers who paid actual money for their music like good legal citizens, Sony really ought to release a tool to unlock the DRM on ATRAC, once and for all. It's officially a dead format, and those who are trapped in the ATRAC zone should finally get full use out of it. Earth to Sony: There's nothing left to protect.

Windows Media--"more open"--in what particular universe? But this is interesting: Is Sony going to provide tools to unencrypt ATRAC directly? Wouldn't that be a beautiful thing....of course, they could just pay Marcnet big bucks to license HiMDRenderer.

I'd love to see a photo of the H2 side-by-side with a Hi-MD recorder. The NatureRecordists group said it flat out: "I think the H2 could displace the Hi-MD minidisc recorder as the "budget" nature recording tool."

About disc brands: I personally had bad experiences with Memorex and an off-brand called Hi-Space. No problems with Sony, TDK, Denon, Fuji . Magnetism won't affect the discs, which are optical. The cases, if they're metal, are magnesium or aluminum if I remember correctly, non-magnetic. Someone who's been into the guts of MD units might know: are there any small iron or steel parts to worry about?

CDWave is freeware but he's asking people voluntarily to register and send him some $$. The freeware works forever with a nag or two.

storm shadow, I would personally be overjoyed if someone could finally do this. Maybe you're the one with sophisticated enough skillz. The particular post you reference was the high point of optimism that the DRM could be defeated at the time. However, in that post there's this: "Any "hack" or utility that wants to copy OMA data, restriction-free, from HiMD (or to transfer OMG/OMA files from PC to PC) will have to factor in all of this.. plus maybe more that I haven't come across yet." And then there were 6 months of dead ends in the thread after that. No one would be more delighted than I would if .hma files could be decoded. I've got 8 hours of music messed up by one hardware glitch, sitting in a useless .hma file on a disc. But ATRAC isn't the iPhone--there's not a worldwide incentive to crack it. Please, prove me wrong...

Until someone breaks Sony's encryption, which no one has been able to do in the lifetime of minidisc--there have been hex editor attempts before, which can be found by searching these forums--the only entity that can possibly help you with those files is Sony. Contact them and explain. They may be able to un-encrypt what has been encrypted. But don't get your hopes up. They may help, they may not, and/or it may be expensive. http://www.sonymediaservices.com/ In future, you can make files portable by using the File Conversion Tool, in the link raintheory posted, on everything that you have uploaded. I am in the habit of uploading and then immediately running File Conversion Tool with "Add Copyright Protection" unchecked. It removes the DRM and gives you .oma files (ATRAC) that can be played in any SonicStage or converted by HiMDRenderer. If your hard disc can be reconnected to the original computer, and will still play the files on that computer, you can still run File Conversion. Otherwise, they're locked.

Like every automated program, CDWave has widely varying results. If the ads have a hugely different waveform than when they interrupt, it should separate them. But if they're pretty similar to what comes before it might not. Regardless, it's a start, and if you delve into it you should be able make the ads into separate tracks. Then you can just delete them from the folder.

Sorry to say it, but the most economical solution is probably to find another minidisc recorder with a Mic-in jack, which means the preamp is built in. If you are content with not being able to upload your recordings to the computer--the only way to copy them is to record them again out of the headphone jack of the minidisc recorder--then you have many choices in models that are as old as the one you have. You will need to find them used, on places like eBay, and apply common sense about whether to trust the seller. Look for a clear photograph and look to see if paint around the buttons is worn off to give you an idea of how much wear the unit has had. This page lists all the models: http://www.minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html I have had good results myself when I owned the MZ-N707 and the MZ-R700. To upload directly to a PC (Windows only, not Mac), the cheapest option with a mic jack is the MZ-NH700, now about $200 U.S. http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553219 There is also a new recorder available--not minidisc, flash-drive--for $200 U.S., the Samson Zoom H2. Because it is so new, just available in the past two weeks, I have not seen any user reviews yet, but it has built-in microphones and promises a lot. See if you can find reviews in the next few weeks as people buy them and start to play with them. If it lives up to its promises, it will be of equal or better recording quality to MD and far easier to use with a computer. But Samson's previous Zoom recorder, the H4, was a disappointment to many reviewers, so don't jump on it without more information.

You may have found this already, but you can probably divide the track that's in My Library, by highlighting it and using the Edit menu. You could also cut up your original recording in Audacity, exporting separate selections as .wav files. And you could use CDWave to automatically slice up the original .wav file. http://www.milosoftware.com/cdwave/ Oops, I replied.

It could be a problem with my RM-MC40ELK then. I was recording an opera with my NH700 on Hold, and got noise. I guess MDnewuser should experiment.

It will add a buzz to recordings of quiet music--at least, mine does. If you're recording unamplified classical music, for instance, I wouldn't use it. Anything amplified should be OK. I don't understand what you mean by raising it from -12db and "get it steady there." Can you explain? Pressing P-Mode while recording will give you a track mark. It may also make an instant of static--though for some reason not always--so you might want to use it only during applause or something that would cover the noise. RH700? Is that the NH700 (my display lights up whenever I change anything or make a track mark) or the RH710?

Hey, it wouldn't hurt to try another cord. And really, no one you know has a portable CD/iPod/radio/voice recorder with a headphone jack? Borrow your kid's player. Have you tried the USB Audio device with the new computer? I'd like to know more about the problems with the recordings. Are you getting static, noise, or silence but the recording proceeds in real time? That would suggest some kind of noise getting introduced--a bad jack, my current suspect. On the other hand, if you are getting skips--that is, the recording leaps ahead, so a three-minute song comes out under three minutes--that would point to software. I would find it very worrisome about tics coming and going with an internet connection. You really should run the spyware/adware/virus checks I mentioned above on that computer. For all you know that computer has been commandeered remotely, is running some horrible program whenever it goes online, and is sending me tons of spam. If you want to look under the hood of the kids' computer, try Start/Run/msconfig . You'll get the System Configuration Utility and you can see what's running on Startup (far right tab). There are probably at least a dozen programs listed, most of them utilities built into your computer, antivirus protection, etc., perfectly normal. But you can look up any suspicious program names in Google. My hardware suspicions are simpler than processor or RAM, especially if other programs are running well for you. You could test your RAM with this, but why would there be problems on both computers? http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Memory-...k/MemTest.shtml I'm guessing connection problems with the jack. Maybe you wore out the jack on the USB audio, and as I mentioned, laptops can skimp on the mic jack.

Also available here, good price for the M200 bundle: http://www.minidisco.com/Sony-MZ-M200?sc=7&category=10

Well, I thought you were obsessing over sound quality. Your R700 was made even before the NetMD era, and things have gotten much easier for anyone who wants to use the MD as a player. You will get equally good results, much faster, by installing Simple Burner, and with a bonus: track names. Open Simple Burner, set it to encode at Hi-SP, connect the MD. Insert disc, let Simple Burner get track names, and transfer. It's all-digital, so it's as good as optical. And the titling is all done for you. Use the time you save to foment world peace.

20 hours of opening acts sounds like a good definition of purgatory.

If I understand you, the new computer is giving you problems while the old one works. Therefore I would look at the new computer hardware. Try the mic jack with something else as an input--which would rule out the MD as the culprit if you have the same problem. Look in Sounds and Audio Devices and see what the default recording device is. It should be whatever the built-in soundcard is. The computer's mic jack, as on the MD, has a preamp behind it. There could be loose connections to the mic jack or to the preamp. The preamp could also be flaky. This happened to me on a badly made Toshiba computer I had--random static from the mic jack--and since I needed Line-in rather than Mic-in anyway, I just got a Griffin iMic (USB audio device) and used that. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16812999078 How about plugging your old USB audio device into the new computer and recording through that--if not permanently, just to test. SonicStage is not a realtime recorder. It's for music transfer, and for any MD before Hi-MD (including your gold Sony, which I assume is the MZ-N505) it is one-way only: PC to MD. I've never had any problems with Audacity, and no one has reported them here, for what that's worth. Audacity has its own user forum, I think. You could also try another free recording program, Reaper. http://www.softsea.com/review/Reaper.html But I suspect hardware, not software, is the problem.

The only thing to do with that unit (and all older MD units until the introduction of Hi-MD) is to connect headphone out to line-in of your computer and record in realtime. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7070 If your computer (like many laptops) only has a mic-in jack, you can get Line-in via USB with the Griffin iMic. It works with all USB ports, not just Mac. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...78&Tpk=imic Only one unit allows you to upload those old recordings as digital files: the MZ-RH1, the newest and probably last minidisc recorder. Nothing else will do it. (It's also sold as the MZ-M200, the exact same unit bundled with a Sony ECM-DS70P microphone.) It comes with free Sony software, SonicStage, that runs on a PC--not a Mac. I don't think old MD recordings can be uploaded to a Mac. Depending on how you value your time and how many recordings you want to upload, it might be worth it. You should make the decision soon, because they are slowly disappearing and Sony seems to have stopped production. http://www.minidisc-canada.com/shopexd.asp?id=734

Look at http://www.soundprofessionals.com for a lot of small, stealthy clip-on mics at fair prices, and get what your budget can afford. I prefer omnidirectional/binaural mics--two names for the same thing--rather than cardioids because the sound is more realistic. I mostly use BMC-2 mics, which are tiny (pencil eraser size) and sound quite good, but more expensive ones should sound even better. They have some ultra-tiny ones now that you might be able to sew into a shirt collar or hat if you want to be super stealthy. In the specs for the microphones, the ones that are especially important for you are: Frequency response: nothing narrower than 20-20,000 Hz SPL--Sound Pressure Level: the loudness the mics can handle. Higher is better. Sensitivity--Lower sensitivity is better. Sensitivity is negative numbers, so -40 is lower sensitivity than -30. Do your recording with Mic-->Battery Module-->Line-in. Use Low Sensitivity. (The mic jack is useless for loud music--it will distort, because its preamp is made for much quieter sounds.) You'll see in the specs that the mics can handle higher SPL when powered from a battery module. You're gonna need that. I like this battery module because it's small, but Sound Professionals also has something similar: http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm You get better recordings with Manual Volume, even though you have to set it on the spot, with the disc in the unit and the recording on Pause, for each new recording. Try 15/30 for your first recording. Don't fiddle with it during the set unless you see it constantly peaking--squashed up at the top of the range--on the level meter. (And in a situation where you can't watch the meter, don't worry about it.) If 15/30 comes out too quiet in the recording, try a higher setting the next time; if it distorts, my apologies, but lower it next time. The ideal level will depend on which mics you choose, as well as the volume at the show. You can do some recording tests at home with your stereo pumping.

I don't think there's much battery drain on Rec/Pause because the record head isn't moving and nothing is getting written to the disc with the laser. I've gone 20-30 minutes, not hours, but I'm pretty sure it could go much longer. If you're worried there's always the privacy of a bathroom between acts. Or you could sacrifice a battery to an experiment and see how long it would go on Rec-Pause. I'd expect it would last at least overnight.