A440

You need to convert the .wma files (if that's what they are, or whatever they are) to .wav files, which are what standalone CD players will play. Possibly you just copied the .wma files to a CD, which doesn't change them. Napster probably has a setting like Burn Audio CD, which will do that conversion. .Wav files don't have any digital rights information, just the music.

It's going to depend on your mic and how loud the band is. Mic-->Battery Module-->Line-in. Use Hi-SP at least, PCM for best quality. You must use Manual Volume, which is under Rec Set. Auto Gain Control (AGC) will mangle the music. Start at 15/30 and look at the level meter--just make sure it never peaks right at the top. It may seem obvious, but place the mics where the sound is best. If that means closing your eyes to listen in various places in the room, it's worth it.

No matter what you get, you're going to have to get SonicStage working to transfer music. Even units that play mp3 without conversion still have to send them via SonicStage. They don't drag-and-drop (actually they do, but the dragged-and-dropped mp3s don't play). Have you installed other music players in your computer, or something that could have confused SonicStage's mp3 converter? Look in Add or Remove Programs and see if you have any codec packs like K-Lite, FFDShow, etc. Set a Restore point (Programs/Accessories/System Tools) in case for some reason you need them and then uninstall them. Try SonicStage again. How old is your SonicStage? Anything before 3.2 at the oldest should be upgraded, and if you're having troubles you should upgrade anyway. So first, try updating SonicStage with version 4.0, which you can find in Downloads as a full installer or an online installer connecting to Sony. Make sure you run the Backup Tool (in Programs/SonicStage) before you make changes in SonicStage. If you run the Backup Tool you will probably never need the backup, but if you don't.... Only the MZ-RH units play mp3 natively. So your choices are RH710 (no mic jack in case you care), RH910, RH10 (more expensive) and RH1 (top price).

Just learning to walk and talk. Luckily I have my MD.

BE CAREFUL about trying to transfer tracks a second time. Once you have transferred tracks with a version of SonicStage before 3.3, you're stuck. You can't transfer those tracks again--and it's possible that if you try to transfer them, they will also be wiped off the disc. Don't mess with them. With the newest versions of SonicStage, those restrictions do not apply, but it is NOT retroactive. Only tracks that have been uploaded with 3.3, 3.4 or 4.0 can be uploaded again. Record your old tracks in realtime, or get someone in India to burn them onto a CD for you and send them to you.

First, check to see that you're not recording anything but what you want to record. If you're recording through Line-in, then check Mute on mic-in, Midi, .wav, CD player, screaming neighbor, whatever else is listed under audio inputs. If that doesn't help it may be a hardware problem. A lot of computers, especially laptops, skimp on soundcards and have noisy input jacks. And if you're going through Mic-in because you don't have Line-in, then the mic-in preamp could also be adding noise. The Griffin iMic, mentioned above, would give you a cleaner input for about $35.

Particularly in Europe, some CDs have copy-protection built in. Look for a C with some black triangles and some fine print that basically says "You think you own this music that you paid for? WE own this music, and we don't care if you want to play it on your portable." Also, is it possible you are running out of space on your hard drive? Simple Burner wants at least 200MB and would like 1.5 GB of free space to do its conversions. http://www.sony.jp/products/overseas/conte...sssb-02-01.html

SonicStage has trouble with Variable Bit Rate mp3s. You may have to reconvert it to a Constant Bit Rate (CBR) mp3. It also has trouble with ID tags that are too long or unconventional. Try editing your IDv3 tag to a minimum: short title, short artists name, no Comments, etc. Look for more help at http://www.atraclife.com

Uninstalling everything at once was overkill, and apparently removing all things Sony removed the .msi file that tells SonicStage how to install itself. We're trying to isolate a specific problem, which means you want to make changes one by one and see what happens. One codec pack at a time, or one codec at a time. Codec means coder-decoder--it's the software that tells your computer how to read a media file. Getting rid of them all at once means your computer doesn't know how to read them any more. So, please, no more full-scale annihilations. Did you set a Restore Point? If you can, go back to it: Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Restore Otherwise, first thing to do is get SonicStage back. If you have a broadband connection, go to Sony and download and run its online installer file for your country. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=9586 If you have a slow connection, then use the full installer for 4.0 from Downloads: http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/details.php?file=21

Mp3s do not contain digital-rights information, and Sony doesn't know where you got them. Sony can't activate some secret code in .mp3s--if it could, Sony's record companies would be very happy. (And actually, newer versions of SonicStage have less encryption than 2.0 did.) Some .wma files do contain digital-rights information, but if they are playing back correctly in other apps they should also play back in SonicStage. That's why I think it's a software problem with the codecs.

How does the music sound in that hallway to your ears? Balanced, muffled, echoey, clear? My guess would be that music coming through a doorway into a hallway won't sound so great, but acoustics are a wacky thing. There's one club in New York City that for some reason gets a superb sound mix in the men's room--not that you would want to record from there. If you do get bass roll-off, make sure you can switch it off, and try recording both with and without to see which sounds best to you.

They make no difference with noise from the RM-MC40ELK remote, which is not bundled with the RH1 anyway. Static from a remote occurs when turning the backlight on and off, and the ferrite does not affect that--it's a grounding problem. They ferrite clamps are supposed to cut down on radio frequency interference generated by the MD. If you are worried about interfering with crucial radio communications, feel free to leave them on. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=8662

You can record on 74-minute, 80-minute (those were old-school minidiscs, holding 80 minutes of the old SP format) or 1GB discs. The Hi-MD blanks that were introduced with Hi-MD hold 1GB, which is 90 minutes of CD-quality PCM or nearly 8 hours (yes hours) of very good Hi-SP, or much longer and lower-quality Hi-LP, which you wouldn't want to use for live music. The 74 and 80-minute discs hold slightly less than 1/3 as much. An 80-minute disc holds just under 2 1/2 hours of Hi-SP. You might as well get 80-minute discs rather than 74-minute discs if you're not using 1GB discs. I have had bad luck with Memorex and Hi-Space blanks--stick to Sony or TDK. And only Sony makes the 1GB discs, which are pretty addictive. They're widely available--just punch "1GB Blank Hi-MD" into Google or Froogle. List price is $7 each--really not bad for 1GB of storage--so don't pay any more than that. You don't need many since you can keep reusing them: record, upload, erase, reuse. Supposedly a million rewrites are possible. The mics you picked are cardioid, which means they are directional. If you want to shut out sound from behind the mics, they are useful for that. People sometimes use them for audience recordings to focus more on the sound in front of them. However, if your band is set up in a circle and you are recording from the middle, you definitely want omnis instead of cardioids. Also, the frequency response on those cardioids is 50-20,000 Hz. As you probably know, each octave represents a doubling of frequency. The bottom key on a piano is 27 Hz. So a mic that only picks up above 50 Hz will miss the bottom octave on a piano, and any lower bass tones. Inexpensive cardioids usually have limited bass, so omni provides more bang for the buck. Is your rehearsal room excessively boomy or bass-y? Otherwise, save some money and don't bother with bass roll-off. Bass roll-off was devised to compensate for the preamps in minidisc recorders, which overload easily if there is substantial bass. There's no bass problem recording through Line-in (and bypassing the preamp), and philosophically I don't like bass roll-off because the recording you get is inaccurate and the bass can't be restored later. Whereas if you do get an accurate but bass-heavy recording, you can always EQ it on playback. A low-bass cardioid mic plus bass roll-off is going to give you tinny-sounding recordings. If you can connect an output from the mixer to the 1/8 Line-in jack, you should be good to go. More here: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7989 Question: Does everything go through the mixer? Drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, mixed the way you want to hear them? Because if only vocals are going out through the mixer to the PA, then that's all you'll get on the recording....

You might as well take off the cores. People here have tested recording, playing, etc., with and without them and they make no difference. You may get a hum in your recordings if you record using AC power instead of the battery. However, the ferrite core on the charger cable, on a microphone cable, etc., will not change that. Do your recordings on battery power if at all possible. As far as I can tell, they only include the ferrite to give you more exercise when you carry the equipment. Viva la musica norteña.

Yes, only Hi-MDs will upload, so there aren't that many choices. With your budget, you might as well get the MZ-RH1, which has the most features and the easiest recording routine: Once you have set Manual Levels once, it retains them. No other MD does that. About $330 from www.soundprofessionals.com, www.minidisco.com and a zillion other places. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...oughType=search Unless you have a mixer, where you could just send a headphone output into Line-in, you will want to record Mic-->Battery module-->Line-in. The mic picks up the sound, and the battery module provides a little bit of power to the mic to open up its dynamic range and prevent it from overloading. Line-in needs a strong signal--loud music--and doesn't go through a preamp, so there's no preamp to overload. For a battery module, I use this little thing: http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm But you could use any battery module that provides 9V to the mic. http://www.soundprofessionals.com has lots of mics, including many small ones made for stealthy use (which doesn't matter to you). You should look at the specs for frequency response (20-20,000 Hz is best) and for Maximum SPL (how loud the music can get before the mic itself overloads). Your mic must connect into a mini stereo jack, so its plug should look just like your earphone plug. Think about how you are going to use the mic. Do you want one stereo mic you can place on a stand? A pair you can separate? Two omnidirectional elements placed six inches apart will provide a stereo field like your ears. If the elements are closer--housed in one mic--you'll get less stereo separation, though that may not be important to you. I'm very happy with the results I get with the extremely basic Sound Professionals BMC-2 through the Mic Madness battery module into Line-in, and I've been to some pretty loud shows. (You can listen to my recordings and other people's by clicking the (Live Recordings) link on the upper left.) That setup can handle anything short of actually feeling pain in your ears--though if your entire band is wearing earplugs during rehearsals and bashing away like Slayer, the bets are off. Still, you may want to try bigger or more expensive mics, or less sensitive ones to deal with ultra-loud sound. Call up Sound Professionals or your local gear store and ask them for some advice. Sound Professionals, Microphone Madness and others have 30-day tryout periods, so you can experiment for the price of shipping. In all fairness, minidisc now has competition for portable digital recording. There's the $399 Edirol R09, which is actually a bit more because you also need to buy a larger SD memory card than the one supplied. As compensation, it has built-in mics, though I have no idea whether loud music would overpower them. And minidisc has a feature I love: You can push a button on the unit or the remote, either while recording or (only on the unit) playing back, and place a silent, gapless track mark. Still, you might want to do some research elsewhere on the Edirol. http://www.zzounds.com/item--EDIR09

Could it be a codec problem? If there is a codec pack--K-Lite codec pack. FFDShow, or anything else with "codec pack" in the name--showing in Add or Remove Programs, first set a Restore Point. Then uninstall the codec pack and try reinstalling SonicStage 4.0 one more time. Perhaps SonicStage is trying to play .mp3 with a codec it doesn't like. However, uninstalling the codec pack may lose playback of some formats, like maybe xvid .avi files (which is why you have the Restore Point as a last resort). Should that happen, it's best to download individual, up-to-date codecs rather than a codec pack that could have old or incompatible ones. Codec packs try to be one-size-fits-all, but don't always succeed.

Try turning off the firewall briefly (5 minutes) and making the connection. Also, is there some setting in your computer that might be sending the wrong country code?

That's why you have the problem. Try using Hi-MD Renderer (from Downloads, upper left on this page) to convert those files to .wav or mp3, and maybe you'll get lucky and be able to re-import them. If not, you're going to be burning again. Every SonicStage application is tied to a particular computer installation in an attempt to prevent music piracy. Its encryption key is tied to the particular computer and operating system installation. Earlier versions, like the one you were using, had particularly tight encryption that Sony has since loosened. With 4.0, you can save My Library as unencrypted .oma files. With 2.0 all the files were encrypted. SonicStage has a Backup Tool that you were supposed to use BEFORE reinstalling XP, which would have allowed you to re-authorize My Library with your new installation. Yes, this encryption was and is an idiotic idea on Sony's part. However, it is documented in the manual, the help files, online and here. It's always a good idea to back up your data before making any drastic changes in your computer. Then again, you could just get a (red) 1GB Iriver T30 for about $60 on ebay, convert it to UMS with a fireware upgrade, and have pure drag-and-drop.

The RH1 has a handful of advantages over the NH1. First, it will upload legacy recordings (SP, LP2, LP4). Second, it is Mac compatible if you need that. Third, it doesn't need the charging cradle to charge: just the AC adapter or (slower) a USB connection. Fourth, it will play mp3 files without having to convert them to ATRAC, though you still have to send them through SonicStage. Fifth, it will retain the setting for Manual Volume recording so you don't have to go through menus each time you start recording. Sixth, the RH1 has a lighted OLED display--on the side of the unit, not the top. Other differences are relatively minor, at least for my purposes. The NH1 came with the superior remote, the RM-MC40ELK (although that remote does work with the MZ-RH1).

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...rentPage=search Or you could pay more for "Ipod" foams. In nearly all known languages, "for iPod" translates as "for suckers."

Hard to tell what you mean by "standard" Sony earphones. Sony makes a lot of little earbuds. Try Radio Shack. You'll just have to eyeball the pads in the package. You have a bit of leeway since the foam does stretch. You could also measure the earbuds and pop the results into Google.

Simple Burner is only for copying CDs to minidisc. SonicStage should support m3u playlists: You have to scan the folder where the mp3s are to import them into My Library. About recognizing the device, what exactly happens when you open SonicStage and connect the unit?

Assuming they play back in other players, there are some mp3 files that give SonicStage problems: Low-bitrate mp3s (48 kbps or below)--reconvert them to something higher with dbpoweramp or your converter of choice. Variable bitrate mp3s--reconvert at constant bitrate Unconventional tags--re-tag as ID3v1 with shorter titles and artist names, no comments. Try one of your problem mp3s with these tricks and see if it starts to work.

If you were using LP4 and/or starting with 128 kbps mp3 files and/or playing back through the stock Sony earbuds, then I can understand why you thought MD sounded bad.

Kristine, you need to find a line-in (probably white) or, if it doesn't have one, the mic-in input (probably red) on your computer. And you need a cord to connect from the headphone output of your recorder to the computer input--a stereo plug like your headphone plug on both ends. Then right-click to your volume control on your computer--probably a little speaker-like icon in the taskbar on the lower right, or Start/Programs/Accesssories/Entertainment/Volume Control--to show all the inputs into your soundcard. Make sure Line-in or Mic Volume is up pretty high and not muted. You can mute MIDI and anything else that looks irrelevant, so you get the cleanest possible input. Open Audacity and look for a microphone icon, probably under the red Record button. (If you don't see it go to Edit/Preferences/Interface and check Enable Mixer Toolbar.) On the right of the microphone is a volume slider--that's your input volume. To the right of that is a drop-down menu that should have Mic-In, Line-In, Stereo Mix, etc. Choose the input you're using: Line-in or Mic-in. Connect the MD, click the red Record button on Audacity, push Play and look at the display. If it's barely visible, raise the input volume or the volume coming out of the MD; if it's getting flattened on top and bottom, lower the input volume, etc. That should do it, but if I've forgotten something or something's not working, feel free to ask again.