A440

Yes, but it's not drag and drop. SonicStage is required. You Transfer the files via SonicStage into My Library. Then, in SonicStage, you highlight the file and Save in .wav format. The .wav files are free of any restrictions, like any other .wav files, and can be burned, edited, converted, sliced, diced, whipped, chopped or pureed. You can actually upload and convert to .wav in one click if you set SonicStage's advanced Options so that every file you Transfer is automatically converted to .wav. But I recommend doing the upload and conversion separately because SonicStage sometimes stumbles when it tries to do both at once. Why not download and install SonicStage (look in Downloads) and take a look at it? Make sure when you install it that it doesn't make itself the default player for all your music files. Save in .wav is under Tools. Automatic .wav conversion is under Tools/Options/Transfer/Hi-MD/Advanced. SonicStage is not the most streamlined program ever, but despite what you can read on this forum in old posts about old versions--let's not even think about the 2.x versions--it now works quite reliably for the vast majority of users. How obsessive about fidelity are you? You could get good mono voice recordings, 320 kbps .mp3 files, with the built-in microphone on an iRiver T30 (the red ones are 1GB) for under $100, and a firmware upgrade makes it drag-and-drop UMS. It's line-in only, however, so you can't just plug in your own mic. If you want to make hi-fi recordings, mic plus MD is superb. Also, you don't need the RH1. You can also use the MZ-NH700, available for $180 from http://www.minidiscaccess.com and probably a little cheaper on eBay. Just don't use the old SonicStage disc that comes with it--download the latest version.

I, too, would love to hear about uploading from the NW-Sxx series. But the gizmos just came out this week, so all we've seen are product announcements. ------------------------ Don't knock yourself out to get the IFP. I have the IFP-795, the 512MB version (besides capacity, the difference is that the IFP-9xx series took a rechargeable instead of the IFP-7xx AA battery). It simply does not match the recording quality of MD--I think the processor just isn't fast enough. Compressed recording only. And if you make it UMS for real drag-and-drop, its maximum recording bitrate drops to .mp3 at 96kbps. (Apparently iRiver didn't really trust it for higher-bitrate recording.) People also complain about the joystick wearing out. It's a toy. The unit that iRiver fans consider the "beautiful mistake" is the not the iRiver H320. It's the iRiver H120 or H140, now discontinued but still around on eBay. It's heavy, and line-in only (or built-in mono mic), but with Rockbox, it does have PCM recording and large capacity. The battery lasted through a 10-hour festival recording in .wav. Still, I prefer MD. Maybe it's just habit.

I think the idea behind the restriction is a hangover from SonicStage's bad old days, when you were supposed to "check out" and "check in" tracks from your computer. Once it was downloaded, you wouldn't want to be checking in only part of a track, so the full track had to stay intact. Now it's pointless. You have to use the Divide function in SonicStage on the computer. You can always convert tracks in My Library to .wav (through SonicStage) or to other formats (with Hi-MD Renderer, from Downloads), and edit them with any sound editor.

When SonicStage crashes its error messages aren't very informative--usually just that Omgjbox.exe has crashed. Yeah, well, we already knew that. Try two easy fixes first. Make sure you're running it without any other resource hogs at the same time, like iTunes, Eudora, Nero, graphics-intensive apps. etc. Also, skinning software (Windowblinds, etc.) makes SonicStage crash. Unfortunately, it's also possible that your OS is incompatible, since Windows server isn't listed among the system requirements. This is the full list from Sony for SonicStage 4.2: # Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. # Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004. # Windows XP Media Center Edition. # Windows XP Professional. # Windows XP Home Edition. # Windows 2000 Professional (Service Pack 3 or later). # Windows Millennium Edition. # Windows 98 Second Edition

What the old WinNMD did with NetMD units was to use SonicStage to play back one track at a time from the MD (controlling it through the USB) and record it (from the headphone jack). You'd have to ask Marc in the Hi-MDRenderer forum what the mechanism is, but his program achieves the same thing--yes, it does control the NH900. It's not a function you usually need with the NH900, since you can upload its own recordings. But in I need a hand's circumstances--SP recordings and the NH900--it works.

Unless you have the RH1, you need to do a realtime recording. Here's a detailed procedure you can use with either your Hi-MD or your NetMD. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...mp;#entry112207

Now I understand what you're trying to do, and it's not hard. You need a current SonicStage, at least 3.4, so make sure that's installed first. Then download Hi-MD Renderer from the invaluable Marcnet. You'll have to log in again. http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/download.php?file=3 Unzip it to a location where you can find it, like your desktop: You'll get a Hi-MD Renderer folder. It doesn't really install like a fancy Windows program--you just click the .exe file in the folder. Or tuck the folder away somewhere and make a shortcut to the .exe file. When you've opened Hi-MD Renderer, look on the bottom in the middle and you'll see MD Recorder. Click on it. Connect your NH900 with your disc from the BZ100 in it with two cords: the USB cord AND a stereo miniplug-to-stereo miniplug cord from your headphone jack into your computer's Line-in jack, probably white. If you have a dinky laptop (like I do) and it only has a mic jack, use that. Click on HiMDRendererWin.exe and look on the bottom in the middle for MD Recorder, and click on that. It should show a list of the tracks on the MD with timings. Highlight what you want, choose a directory for them, click Go Record! It's a realtime recording. Try one short track first to test. When recording through a microphone jack rather than a Line-in jack, you may get a buzz or hum because mic jacks are not noted for clean sound. If it's not a good enough signal, then invest $35 in a Griffin Imic, which is a USB line input and output (also mic in and out), and you'll be able to use it as a line input for cleaner sound. You need to have 2 USB ports on your computer. A USB hub may or may not give you trouble--sometimes it messes up SonicStage. I've been in Hi-MD land for a while now, so this is the first time I had tried Hi-MD Renderer for this, and Marc has done a great job--better than WinNMD, and free. He's just one guy who made the program himself, so send him a Paypal donation through his website if you can. Hi-MD Renderer will also convert Hi-MD formatted files you have uploaded with the NH900 to other file types, like .mp3, without first converting them to .wav as Sony makes you do. Oh, and blame your seller, not Sony, for pretending the BZ100 was a current unit. When the BZ100 was made, Sony was thinking of minidisc as a replacement for the cassette, and didn't anticipate computer connectivity. Sony has a lot to answer for--it should have made old MD recordings uploadable from every Hi-MD unit, not just the RH1--but the NH900 documentation does makes clear that it won't upload old MD formats.

I've only given a brief listen to the Bose Triport, but it was enough to convince me that they are way overpriced. Both ends of the spectrum were severely curtailed. There was very limited bass, and the highs sounded like you were listening under a thick blanket. If you want to hear them, go to an Apple Computer store near you--for some reason they think the Triports are good for showing off their iPods, so there are lots of pairs lying around. Bring your old Sony phones with you, plug into an iPod and do a comparison, and I think you'll be severely underwhelmed by the Triports. They're just for people who have more money than sense.

Here it is at Minidisc Access. http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553220 £299 is a ridiculous rip-off price--you're better off with the RH1. £109 isn't too bad. The relevant differences for you between the NH700 and RH1 are that the NH700 takes an AA battery rather than the proprietary gumpstick and, if you want to record with Manual Volume (which you may not for voice recording--AGC could be better), it won't hold that setting--you need to go through menus. Otherwise, you still get PCM quality, uploading, etc. If you do get one, make sure to use the current SonicStage rather than the disc that comes with it. For longtime MD users, of course, the great thing about the RH1 is that it uploads old MD recordings, and nothing else does. But that doesn't matter to you. You're right that the NH700 is disappearing. The ones that are still around and affordable, like this one, come from a close-out Sony Australia had when the 2005 models came in, and smart retailers snapped them up. You may need a different AC adapter, but don't worry about it--for recording, you will always want to use battery power anyway because recording with AC creates a hum. A standard 3V adapter will power the unit, but batteries run for so long that I have never bothered to plug in the AC adapter since I got my NHF800 two years ago.

That is kind of strange. The NH900 would use SonicStage and upload directly. The B100 is an old, pre-NetMD unit with a built-in mic. Neither would use WinNMD.

There are also non-minidisc possibilities. You might want to look into little recorders like the ones made by iRiver, which have a built-in mic and record onto flash memory--no discs. The red iRiver T30 has a built-in mic, holds 1GB and will record for a very long time in .mp3--you can choose the quality. It's a little fatter than a tube of lipstick and triangular shaped, so you can set it on a table with the microphone pointed at your child. Make sure you get the red one; there's another T30 that holds only 512 MB. They're not made any more but you can find them on Ebay for $100 or less--check the seller's reputation, make sure the unit is not all beat up, etc. Refurbished from one of the regular dealers is fine. Caveats: There's some startup to be done with the T30. You need to do a one-time upgrade of the firmware (download a program, connect USB, click a few buttons, about 10 minutes max) so that the computer will recognize it as an external disc drive. And you need to get used to its buttons. But you can leave it set so that all you have to do is push one button and you're recording. It doesn't take an external mic, but the built-in one is fine for voice recording. And of course, it only holds 1GB, so you need to upload recordings out of it on your computer and burn them to CD (or whatever) when it fills up. But uploading is simpler than SonicStage--just drag-and-drop. Minidisc with an external mic will give you slightly higher quality recordings, though you'll either end up with a stack of discs or find yourself uploading to the computer anyway. The pluses of the T30 are convenience and ultra-portability.

I'm assuming you have an NetMD unit, with a USB connection--MZ-Nxxx ? The most basic solution is to just record in realtime with Audacity and separate the tracks later. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7070 WinNMD or Hi-MDRenderer automate the process a little bit by using SonicStage to control playback, and to make each track on the disc a separate recorded track. Otherwise they are still just recording out of the headphone jack. What version of SonicStage do you have installed? You are better off with 4.0, which you can find in Downloads or here: http://s23.quicksharing.com/v/9374647/Soni...200_UN.exe.html Also try Hi-MD Renderer, which has the same capabilities as WinNMD. It's in Downloads. The MDAC Repair Tool, also in Downloads, may fix some problems on recognizing the unit.

Page 42 is for optical recording only. If you are recording analog through Line-in there is no way to turn off the auto trackmarking function. Not Sync, not anything else. It's one remaining minidisc quirk. You might try recording at a higher level so the unit doesn't detect as many "silences". Otherwise, you can upload the recording to SonicStage and Combine the tracks under Edit.

Everyone who's ever called them has had a difficult time with Sony support.

Ditto on bobt's recommendation of the NH700. You can find them for $180 at http://www.minidiscaccess.com , and might find lower prices elsewhere, like Ebay. You will also need to get a microphone with it, because it doesn't have a built-in microphone. A one-point stereo mic--two little capsules in one unit--would be something you could point at the offspring. Something like this would be good: http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...?item=SP-SPSM-1 That's certainly not the only choice, but I would trust it over the widely available Sony DS70P, because it's probably quieter. That's an omnidirectional microphone. Another possibility would be a cardioid microphone, which only picks up sounds in front of it rather than all around, in case you live in a noisy place. http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...item/SP-SPSM-16 Another microphone supplier is www.microphonemadness.com . The cute little microphones that have a plug coming right out of the mic and are often pictured sitting plugged into a minidisc recorder are not good. The disc makes noise as it spins, and a mic that close will pick it up. Make sure you get a mic on a cord.

The USB is not proprietary. It's the same one that comes with most digital cameras and PDAs, USB to mini-USB. I think I have about six of them that came with various devices. The battery is proprietary, but it can be found for about $20 on eBay. Still an annoyance. As you probably know, minidisc doesn't record to mp3, but uploaded files can be converted to mp3 with Hi-MD Renderer. The Edirol might well be better for your uses. I do think the track marking function on MD is extremely useful, and I'm not sure if the Edirol has an equivalent. You'll also end up paying a bit more for the Edirol because you'll have to buy extra flash memory. If you do choose the Edirol instead. please report back here on what you think of it. For all I know, that might be my next gadget too.

The copyright police won't be at your door. Pre-20th Century classical music like Louis Spohr (1784-1859) doesn't have copyright problems. The music is all in the public domain. That's why you hear classical music in many cheapo advertisements--they don't have to pay anyone to use it. --------------------------------- from Project Gutenberg: United States Public Domain and Copyright Rules Works first published before January 1, 1923 with proper copyright notice entered the public domain no later than 75 years from the date copyright was first secured. Hence, all works whose copyrights were secured before 1923 are now in the public domain. Works published from 1923-1977 retain copyright for 95 years. Works first created on or after January 1, 1978 enter the public domain 70 years after the death of the author if the author is a natural person. Works first created on or after January 1, 1978 which are created by a corporate author enter the public domain 95 years after publication or 120 years after creation whichever occurs first. --------------------------------- And why, you ask, do corporations get the extra time? Because Disney Corporation freaked out when it realized Mickey Mouse was headed for the public domain, and Sonny Bono pushed the Copyright Term Extension Act through Congress. And the beat goes on....

VBR means variable bit rate. Instead of using exactly 128 kbps or 192 kbps or whatever all the way through the song, Lame varies the bitrate, using more kilobytes per second for more complicated sections of the music. Sometimes VBR confuses SonicStage, so that may be the problem with that file. Try converting it to .wav and importing it into SonicStage again. You can also convert the .wav to .mp3 again--with iTunes or Windows Media Player--and make sure CBR (constant bit rate, look in Advanced tabs) is used, and test to see if that plays correctly. As for the others, is that # sign in the ID3 information? Try removing it. I'm just guessing here on both, but it's worth a try.

Convert your problem mp3 files to .wav (which is also called PCM) and then import them into SonicStage again, and you should be able to transfer them to the MD. (You'll have to re-title them because .wav doesn't have the ID3 tags of mp3.) When you send the files to the disc, they won't be huge because SonicStage will compress them into ATRAC. Here's the longer explanation. A PCM file is a .wav file. It's the high-quality (and large) kind of file that is used on a CD. It is called uncompressed because it holds all the information of the original recording. .mp3 compresses .wav files to about 1/10th their size. That means it has to throw out sonic information. In converting to mp3, your computer makes choices about what to keep and what to throw out. The better the converter, the better the mp3 sounds, but something is lost. .wma and ATRAC (or .oma) files are also compressed. So when you convert .mp3 to .wma or ATRAC you are losing information a second time. That's why you are better off converting to .wav than to .wma. If you take your mp3 and convert it to .wav, you don't lose any more musical information--but it gets a lot bigger, because it is using 1411 kilobytes per second of music to save all the information. (Typical mp3 files are only 128 kbps, so they're a lot smaller.) But the important thing is that if SonicStage was having a problem reading the .mp3 for some reason, it may be able to read the .wav file because it's an entirely different kind of file. And when SonicStage sends the .wav file to your minidisc, it will turn it into an ATRAC file, which is about the same size as the mp3 file. Yes, you're compressing it again, but there's no way around that. At least you're not compressing it twice, which is what would happen if you went .mp3-->.wma-->ATRAC (minidisc). Look in the Properties of your problem .mp3 files. If the ID3 tag isn't the problem, they must have something else in common that is causing trouble in SonicStage. Are they all from one person's computer that might have been working badly? Do they say VBR (variable bitrate) rather than CBR (constant bitrate)? Are they at a very low bitrate, like 48 kbps or under? Once you can figure out what they have in common, you're on the way to solving the problem.

Line out isn't a separate jack on the RH1. It's a software switch that removes any effects/EQ and maxes the volume. You can do the same, and have the unit treat it as a headphone output, by....removing any effects and maxing the volume. There's a Normal EQ that doesn't apply any processing. I have Grado SR125 phones, and I regularly plug them into the headphone jack or remote and get decent volume. If you're rocking some very power hungry Grados, just plug your headphone amp into the headphone jack. A battery box isn't an amplifier/preamp. It's a power supply. It sends power to the mics that broadens their dynamic range--they can handle higher volumes without overloading. It also boosts the signal going into Line-in just enough--not to the extent a preamp would. Which is a good thing, because boosting the signal of a loud concert means clipping. It works, is all I can tell you. When I had someone build a Cmoy headphone amp for me, I immediately asked your "dumb question" about using it as a mic preamp too. He just said it wouldn't work--unfortunately I didn't get the technical explanation. Of course I tried it anyway, running into both line-in and mic-in, and....nothing. No mic signal came through. I know your budget is hurting for the RH1, but bite the bullet and get the battery module too. You won't regret it.

Ishiyoshi! Happy birthday! Analog and digital!

It seems that the CSB mics need more power than my BMC-2. There are all kinds of mics, and some need more power; indeed, some mics need a whole separate power supply. From what he's saying, it seems you should run those mics through the mic jack and forget about Line-in. Unfortunately, the mic preamp may overload if there's a lot of bass. Try testing at home with your stereo turned way up--does the recording through mic-in distort? For your immediate recording, I suggest: 1) First night (or, if you can test it with an opening act and listen between sets): CSB-->Battery Box-->Mic-in with LOW sensitivity. High sensitivity is really for unamplified sounds like speech. Use Manual Level and keep it at 15/30 to 18/30--watch the meter if you can. Good recording? Then read no further and have fun recording the remaining shows. 2) Distortion caused by big bass? Go to an electronics parts store--Radio Shack in the US, Maplin in England, I don't know what Australia has--and get a headphone volume control, just a volume knob on a cord with a stereo minijack on one end and a stereo plug on the other. My avatar is the Radio Shack version; Maplin has something that looks different called the VC-1. Shouldn't cost more than $10 US. The volume control is what electronics geeks call an attenuator: it attenuates (cuts) the signal going through it. Mic-->Battery box-->Attenuator-->Mic-In. Turn the volume knob on the attenuator all the way UP (maximum) and it should still cut the signal enough to limit bass distortion. It may add a little noise, but nowhere near as much as amplifying a too-quiet signal. You also might want to make Manual Volume a little bit higher. Using the attenuator limits the power going out to the mics from the MD unit's mic jack, but that shouldn't be a problem for you since your mics are getting their power from the battery box. I used to go mic-attenuator-Mic-in, and there's probably a recording or two in my album done that way, but the mic--battery module--Line-in gets better results. I still keep an attenuator around in case my battery module loses power. 3) If for some reason that doesn't work, on Night 3 just make a line-in recording at 30. At least you know you'll get somewhat usable audio.

Another proprietary port? What's wrong with a nice little Line-in minijack? Do they really need the $$ from the accessories cord? Also, it seems it's still tethered to SonicStage, though I'd love to find out that I'm wrong about that. At this point, since it's recording in non-DRM formats like .mp3 and PCM, it's really time for drag-and-drop. Of course, iRiver has intermittently released devices like this over the past few years: notably the T30 1GB flash player/recorder, which has line-in recording, a built-in mic and drag-and-drop. Takes one external AAA battery, too, rather than the rechargeable that's bound to run out when you need it most. Unfortunately, the highest capacity is only 1GB, it only does compressed recording (mp3) and it has a lot of buttons to press a lot of times to do things. Sound quality on recordings doesn't match MD. Mandeepi, if you want a high-capacity recorder, you could hunt down the iRiver H120 (that's 20 GB) or H140 (40 GB) hard drive recorder, which with Rockbox freeware has most of the capacities (level meter, track marks, PCM) of MD, but only Line-in recording. It's heavier than MD, and if you break it you lose all 20GB, but if capacity is your prime objective.... And yes, the idea of a little 4GB PCM recorder from Sony is very promising. It's just a little annoying to see Sony concentrating on stuff like "jacket search" and noise-cancelling headphones when it could make the ultimate pocket recorder with: Mic-in (standard jack) Line-in (standard jack) PCM recording Level metering (What is the Record Level "switch," anyway?) Track marking Drag-and-drop uploading AA form-factor battery None of those is beyond current capabilities, and sooner or later someone's going to put them all in one unit. Maybe it will even be Sony.

Why not transfer the sound to the unit via SonicStage? Just import the file and send it over via USB. If it's some sound from the computer itself that you're trying to get, you could record it with Audacity (free) or TotalRecorder ($12). All MD units get the hum when recording while using AC, and this sounds like a similar flaw. The best thing to do is probably to figure out a way to ground it using something other than your hand.

As raintheory pointed out, ID tags on mp3 files sometimes cause trouble. In your problem files, edit the ID tags down to the bare minimum, using just alphanumeric characters, nothing fancy. Some mp3 files I have downloaded have the entire artist biography in the Comment field, which is ridiculous. Converting mp3 to wma will degrade the sound further. The files on your minidisc are going to be either ATRAC (.oma) files or (on RH units only) mp3, or they won't play. Converting the .mp3 to .wav will preserve whatever sound quality is left in the mp3. The files will be converted back down to .oma on the disc, so don't worry about the size. The freeware version of dbPoweramp music converter should still be in Downloads, and you may be able to get an .mp3 to .wma plugin for it from www.dbpoweramp.com if you need it for some reason. But I don't see any reason to use .wma unless you are desperate for hard drive space.