A440

You might want to look at some reviews of the Griffin iTalk, like this one: http://www.macworld.com/2004/08/reviews/ipodvoicerecorders/ -------------------------- the summary: Griffin Technology iTalk iPod Voice Recorder 3.5 mice Pros: Very good recording quality; audio-in/audio-out jack on unit; great value. Cons: Slight voice distortions in sound quality; no file-format options for recordings. -------------------------- If voice is distorting, then I can only imagine what happens with music. Ipods are made for playback and will grudgingly accept recording inputs. MDs are made for recording and have recordist-friendly features like level meter and level control, track marking, line-in or mic-in capability, etc. Environmental recording is going to require a sensitive mic, and you are going to have to figure out a way to minimize machine noise. It's possible that neither an iPod nor a MD unit will be quiet enough for you, so you might also a consider a flash recorder like the Edirol R09 if absolutely silent operation is important to you.

Yes, SonicStage 2.1 left a lot of garbage behind. It's all detailed here: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=8071 And, er, you work at a Sony Centre and no one there could help you? Why am I not surprised?

Never had the N10. People love the R900 because it was metal and possibly the best-looking of any minidisc unit ever. You can find stories in these forums of how much abuse some R900s survived. However, I had two misgivings about the one I had. One is the latch on the gumstick battery compartment. I had to tape it shut because it kept opening in my pocket. When it opens, the battery pops out and your recording is gone. Two is the stick used as a control. It always seemed flimsy to me, and a little too small for good control. Of course, if you're using the remote that doesn't matter. I also have a strictly personal preference for the units with built-in AA. Yes, you can add the battery pod to the R900, but then it's no longer cool-looking. On the other hand, it does have the Mic Sensitivity switch, which the MZ-R700--my former little workhorse--did not. I was always fond of my MZ-N707. It was my first MD, so maybe I'm prejudiced, but except for the lack of a mic-sensitivity setting it was the ideal MDLP recorder for me--good sound, good controls, and it felt solid. I'm pretty sure that the MZ-R900, like all the R** units, was among the generations of Sony units that do not allow level adjustment while recording--you have to put it in Pause. Not a huge problem, but you should be aware of it.

Try the MDAC Repair Tool first. http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/details.php?file=8 If that doesn't work get MDAC from Microsoft and reinstall the whole thing.

MZ-NH700 will do everything you need. It's probably the cheapest mic-in unit available, and it runs on one AA battery, easily replaced. I have the MZ-NHF800, which is the same unit with a different remote, and it has survived two years of hard and continuous use. The RH-9xx units, with their rechargeable batteries, will also do your job, though people have been reporting troubles with the RH10. MZ-NH600 has line-in recording only and would need an external device to record with a microphone, so don't get that one. If you're not going to upload the recordings, you could also look for another NetMD, like the Sony MZ-N707, but that means taking your chances on an older and probably used unit.

What seems odd to me is that it's 14 minutes. 74-14 = 60. Could you have gotten a 60-minute disc labeled as a 74? As fishstyc suggests, I would discard it. You can get a new disc for under $2. You could even go wild and get an 80-minute disc.

I have often recommended the battery module I use, the Microphone Madness MM-CBM-Mini Miniature Classic Battery / Filter module http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm A few months ago I wore one out--the cord got loose and staticky--and because I needed it that night, instead of sending it back to Mic Madness under the lifetime warranty I got it repaired for $2 by a guy with a soldering iron in Chinatown. Works great again. But in the meantime I ordered a new one as a backup. I started using the backup one this week because the batteries ran out on the older one, and I wondered why I was getting little bursts of static in recordings. Was I using the remote too much for track marking? No more than usual. Jack problems on my well-used NHF800? Gosh, I hoped not. Anyway, it was the battery module, which has a staticky mic jack. I'm sending it back for repair/replacement/whatever, but it's annoying and two shows are messed up. The lesson is not just to look at the meter when testing connections before a show, but to plug in the phones, wiggle everything, and listen.

Ah, dating models. They're lovely girls, really. Kind of tall. Of course with all the makeup and designer clothes and paparazzi it can be a little inconvenient at times... Anyway, it's all in the Browser at http://www.minidisc.org http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-NE410.html (2003) http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDS-JE780.html (2002) http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDX-CA680X.html (2001)

When you hear an orchestra tuning up, the oboe is playing that A--usually 440 Hz, but sometimes higher or lower at the whim of the conductor. PCM is .wav by another name, and encrypted. Any file uploaded to SonicStage can be converted to .wav--which removes encryption--on your computer by SonicStage, though the other formats are compressed and PCM is not. There's a long, bad history of SonicStage encrypting files. Luckily, those days are pretty much over. You can convert files to .wav and do what you want with them. Hi-MD Renderer (free in Downloads here) will also convert uploaded files to other formats: .mp3, .flac, etc. And you can save .oma (Sony's proprietary format) in unencrypted versions, though you still need SonicStage to play .oma files. It's easier than it sounds. With a Hi-MD recording, you upload, convert to .wav, have fun. You get 90 minutes of PCM recording on a 1GB Hi-MD disc. Those won't play in your old deck; old MDs (80 minute discs give you 27 minutes of PCM) will play in Hi-MD units. Clearly disc capacity had to be enlarged to make PCM useful. Uncompressed recording and direct uploading are the big advantages of Hi-MD over the older MD. It's why I'd strongly recommend Hi-MD if your budget can possibly afford it. The switch for sensitivity is among the menus. It's nice but not crucial. Most MD units had the choice; a few cheaper units did not, and for some reason the MZ-N707 was among those. If you're recording music, I'd recommend mic-->battery module-->Line-in anyway, and a high-sensitivity mic works fine with that. All Hi-MDs with mic jacks have a sensitivity choice. There aren't a lot of separate knobs on a MD recorder. Recording level is controlled with various buttons or jog wheels, or the remote. With the MZ-N707, you could change the recording level, but on Pause. In some ways, it may have seemed like a good idea at the time. Every time you change the level while recording, you hear it in the recording. So forcing people to Pause also, perhaps, "encouraged" them not to be fiddling with the level all the time. But since the whole point of having manual level control is to be able to deal with the recording on the spot, it annoyed Sony users until Sony finally came to its senses with the last NetMDs and all the Hi-MDs.

The RH1 is a wonderful music recorder but much better than what you need to record lectures. Voice recording can be done with smaller, cheaper gadgets. I don't know if you have a second-generation Nano, but you might look into this little add-on as a voice recorder with the Nano if it's the right unit: http://www.xtrememac.com/audio/earphones_r...romemo_nano_2g/ The Micromemo apparently doesn't have auto gain control--it won't adjust the volume if the speech gets too quiet--so your lecturer has to be clearly audible. iRiver, Cowon, Creative and others all make little gadgets that are basically music players but also have built-in mics for voice recording, and you could use them for lectures. I have an Iriver T30 (no longer made, but you can probably find a refurbished one) that does the job nicely. But little voice recorders won't make music sound good. If you do plan to do a lot of music recording, get the MZ-RH1 or the MZ-NH700. Minidisc-Canada has a great price--see if they'll ship to Europe. http://www.minidisc-canada.com/shopexd.asp?id=734 In Europe get Greenmachine's mics: http://www.geocities.com/greenmachine_audio/

I don't like messing with WIndows itself unless there's no other choice. What about other music players? Real, Winamp, iTunes, etc. Could one of them have "upgraded" itself and interfered with SonicStage? Why not try uninstalling other music players (one by one) and seeing if that helps. And are you sure there's no firewall blocking it? Every so often my firewall program decides not to recognize an application that I've been using for a while, and I have to change the settings again to allow it to load.

The MZ-N707 was my first MD unit, the one that got me hooked. It uses an AA battery, which makes a bulge in the back but which I consider a great advantage because you can get another easily if it runs out. (Ditto for the MZ-NH700.) It has two disadvantages. One is that you cannot switch the microphone between High Sensitivity (for speech, quiet sounds, etc.) and Low Sensitivity (amplified music, anything else louder than speeech). Another is that you cannot adjust the level of input, the recording level, without putting the recording on pause. This was fixed in later units like the MZ-N910. To address both problems with the MZ-N707, I found the cheap and imperfect solution: an attenuator, a fancy name for a Radio Shack Headphone Volume Control (US) or Maplins VC-1 (Great Britain), basically a volume control on a cord that lowers the signal enough so it won't overload. Usually leaving it turned up to maximum is enough to prevent distortion, but you can also use the volume knob as a level control if you're desperate. Costs about $7. Mic-->attenuator-->Mic-in (red jack). The more expensive, more electronically pure and slightly better sounding solution is a battery module like this: http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm which provides a little bit of power to the mic and goes through Line-in, bypassing the MD's built-in preamp, which wasn't made for loud sounds, especially bass. Mic--Battery module--Line-in (white jack). There are also fans of the MZ-N900. It's very slick looking and has a High/Low Sensitivity menu setting and some other cute features. But it uses a rechargeable battery and the battery latch needs to be taped shut so it doesn't open in a pocket. Sharp recorders, no longer made, always had level adjustment on the fly. I've never owned one, but back in the day, live recordists loved them, particularly ones with AUVI circuitry. See what you can find in Ebay and check model numbers in the browser.

Welcome to the incredibly confusing world of minidisc. Since being invented, minidisc has gone through lots of changes. New models are mostly backwards compatible. Old models are not forwards compatible. The MD recorder I recommend to you is the MZ-NH700, which records in full PCM (.wav) fidelity if you want AND uploads the recordings to your computer. It's $180 here, http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553219 and behind the recommendation is a long story if you want to bear with it. If you want to continue to do realtime transfers, you can use many old models available on eBay. My own past favorites include the MZ-N707 and the MZ-R700, but there are many others. You'd be buying used equipment, so obviously use common sense. You would use those units to record in the SP format if you want to use your deck; they have other formats as well because they were released later. OK, take a deep breath. First, a good reference for every minidisc model is here: http://www.minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html Your MDS-JE500 is pretty old-school, introduced in 1996. http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDS-JE500+S37.html So first of all, no, it is definitely not compatible with all minidisc recorders. It only plays the original minidisc format, SP. Later minidisc units would introduce more compression on the standard discs: LP2 (doubling the length) and LP4 (four times the length, bad sound quality). So if you were to get a standard MD recorder you would only be able to use it at SP if you wanted to do a digital transfer from the deck. But things have changed in a decade. Along came NetMD, Sony's answer to iPods and iTunes, which allowed music to be downloaded from the computer to the MD. (One-way, PC to MD, not in reverse.) In 2004 Sony introduced Hi-MD, which allows--fanfare please--uploading recordings to a PC. New discs (though Hi-MDs also can use regular MD blanks) and new formats (which include PCM--same as .wav--and Hi-SP and Hi-LP, excellent and good compressed formats). Uploading has to be done through Sony's own software, SonicStage, which is not drag-and-drop, but which is now largely reliable. You can find countless complaints about older versions of SonicStage online, but they are largely irrelevant if you have a decent PC running Windows XP with SP2. Regular MDs won't play Hi-MD discs or Hi-MD formats . Hi-MD will play all the old MD formats. Some Hi-MDs, beginning with NH***, will record to SP if you need that. Others, beginning with RH*, will not, except for the new RH1, the exception to everything. THe RH1 is about $330, and a great little (very little) unit if you can afford it. But it's up there in price with the Zoom. Old MD recordings will not upload from any unit--Hi-MD or regular--except the RH1. Depending on how your radio station copies the programs to those discs, you also may not be able to upload those recordings. If they were the original recordings, made directly to the mindisc, you can upload. If they were downloaded from computer to disc via NetMD, you still can't upload (those copyright fears you mention--which, incidentally, are no worse in the US than internationally). You'll have to ask the station. So: as a new recorder for your music, the MZ-NH700, the most affordable mic-in Hi-MD recorder. For top of the line, with possible uploading of your old SP discs, the MZ-RH1. And as a bargain recorder if you're willing to do the realtime transfer, MZ-N707 (though other people have other favorites).

Those should be good mics--maybe you got a lemon. The two sides should definitely not be mismatched, especially if they arrived that way. Those mics should also be sensitive enough. I almost always use BMC-2, which have the same specs for sensitivity (and I think everything else) and work great with a battery module. Soundpros has a two-year warranty, so I suggest calling or emailing them about a warranty repair, which would probably just be a replacement anyway. They've been pretty fast about that sort of thing with me. When I wore out some BMC-2's near the end of the two years, and lost a channel, they replaced them with no problem. Also, an obvious question but....is the battery in the battery module fresh? When the battery starts to go, it doesn't just go dead; there's a stretch when it puts through very weak, staticky sound. Cool Edit probably has some serious hiss filters to play with, so I hope that works for you.

Disconnect from the internet and turn off any security/virus scan/firewall programs. Maybe something like that is interfering with the installation. Don't forget to turn them back on before you go online again.

Make sure your mic jack is working. Plug your stereo headphones into the mic jack and yell at them--they work like a weak mic--and see if you get a level on both sides.

First, the mic jack usually can't handle amplified music, even softer amplified music. You always want to go into the Line-in, using the battery module both to boost the signal a little and improve the response of the mic. My guess is that you need a different mic, because it sounds like the one you are using now is very low sensitivity. Line-in needs a strong signal, and it's not getting it. The hiss with AGC would probably be from the unit boosting both the signal from the mic and the mic's self-noise. Every mic has noise, but when it's not getting a strong enough signal you'll hear the noise more clearly. What mic are you using? Some Sony mics are very low sensitivity, in an attempt to prevent them distorting when just plugged directly into the mic jack (and, incidentally, did you try that?). Get Greenmachine's mics (in Europe) or Sound Professionals BMC-2 (in the U.S.) and you should easily make excellent recordings with the battery module to Line-in. http://www.geocities.com/greenmachine_audio/ http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-BMC-2 Meanwhile, to improve what you've got, you could filter out the hiss with Audacity, using Noise Reduction (if you have a sample of the hiss alone) or a Low Pass filter.

I'm with KG on this. The bottom A on a piano is 27.5 Hz, and I can hear that perfectly well as a tone, not a rumble. 50 Hz is probably around a G above that, and there's nothing subsonic about it. Organ pedals use various stops--16', 8'. etc.--and if it's a 16-foot stop, it's sounding an octave lower than the written note: half the frequency. So maybe your rumored 50 Hz organ pedal is really 25, which would be low but still not inaudible. [From Wikipedia on "organ stop": Registration usually begins with an 8' on the manual and a 16' on the pedal; the pedal thus normally sounds an octave lower than written pitch, providing the "full-bodied" sound typical of the organ. Halving the number raises the pitch by an octave; in growing a registration it is usual to draw next the 4', 2', etc. on the manual and the 8', 4', etc. on the pedal.] Loud sounds destroy the high frequencies first, not the lows. So does age. But all those folks complaining about bad mp3 playback on the first RH* units knew they weren't hearing something way up there.

Why am I suspicious of this? Could it be that the "free download now" costs $14.90 ?

Google search for "optical splitter" comes up with this: http://www.amazon.com/Dayton-Loudspeaker-O...R/dp/B0002MQGR2

The MDAC Repair Tool is in Downloads free, so no, don't buy it. http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/details.php?file=8 And it has helped a lot of people, as a search through these forums would show. Don't know why you're having trouble with it, and I hope Macropool does get back to you for the $5 you sent them. (Did that really put a serious dent in your back account?) But it's not particularly "dodgy" software for many other people who have used it with no problem. Meanwhile, can you describe more fully your problem with SonicStage? The MDAC Repair tool is useful when SonicStage won't recognize the unit. Is that your problem?

No question about it. But try Noise Reduction anyway--you can add a little, which might help, or a lot, which is guaranteed to sound weird.

I hope you've reinstalled SonicStage after upgrading to SP, just in case there were leftovers from before the upgrade. Back up My Library (with the SonicStage Backup Tool, under Programs/SonicStage) if there's anything in there. You might also try turning off the Windows firewall (Start/Settings/Control Panel/Windows Firewall) or the firewall in your security/antivirus program to see if that is preventing SonicStage from loading. If it is you'll have to tweak the firewall to let the program run. Are you using Windowblinds or another Windows skinning software? That can stop SonicStage at loading. You need to turn it off.

Any fans of bass roll-off? Here's a bargain for you: mics and battery module with roll-off. Please bid before my curiosity gets the better of me and I end up with a pair of mics I don't need.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...p;rd=1&rd=1

The M10 is the equivalent of the RH910, which when it was introduced was the bargain-basement Hi-MD recorder with a mic jack--cheaper than the NH units. The M100 is the Mac-compatible version of the RH10.