A440

Back up My Library with the Backup Tool (Programs/Sonicstage). Run the uninstaller on 4.0 from Add/Remove Programs. Here's the 3.4 full installer: http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/details.php?file=21

They're baaaaack... http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dk...582&Site=US

Since that is a Hi-MD unit, you should also be able to upload files from your discs (in PCM, Hi-SP or Hi-LP format) into SonicStage's My Library, and then convert them.

Something that looks exactly like the Gomadic is on sale at Ebay for $12 shipped. Like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...A%3AIT&rd=1 Or search for Motorola Razr Battery Extender

Have you tried the Normalize function in Audacity? Open the track and under Edit, Select All, then use Normalize under Effects. It's worth a try. And greenmachine is right: "Set it and forget it" is the best way to do levels unless there's a huge volume increasing during the show. I have found that recording with mic-battery box-Line-in that the unit very rarely overloads even when the levels are at the peak. The one exception is still superloud bass. But if you get a good level on the opening song--just above the halfway mark--you're usually OK for the rest of the concert.

Are you sure of that model? MZ-NH600, maybe? NF610? As long as you've got the files on the computer, it doesn't matter.

Let us know how it turns out. It would be great to have the RH1 at that price.

Soundprofessionals has a 30-day guarantee, as long as you keep all the packing materials and don't mess up the unit. So you could actually try it for the price of shipping. http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...ategory/returns You might also call them up first and ask about the sync question, since they're familiar with a lot of different equipment.

You can definitely record line-in to a minidisc recorder. Get a Hi-MD unit since Hi-MD will upload to your PC: either MZ-NH700 or MZ-RH1. Minidisc should give you a good, accurate recording, and with PCM quality (probably better than your mp3 player). If you can get an optical-out from the soundboard, even better. Whether it will stay in sync with your camcorder is something you can only answer by experiment--for all you know, there may be errors in the camcorder too.

If you like removable media, MD is pretty much your only choice, unless you prefer CDs or want to spend a lot more on flash. Legacy uploading is the main reason to get the RH1, though if you do a lot of live recording it's a nice bonus that it holds the settings (like Manual Volume) from previous sessions instead of defaulting back to AGC. You may want to think twice about dealznet, since a Google search turned this up. http://www.m4040.com/AssholeFiles/Let'...o%20Digital.htm Here's their world HQ: http://donwiss.com/pictures/BrooklynStores/h0197.htm

Do you have a link to the SCMS workaround on the R700? Just curious. For a new unit, as far as I'm concerned, there are two top choices and it comes down to budget. Both are Hi-MD recorders, which means they can record PCM (CD-quality), Hi-SP or Hi-LP and upload. Both can also record in legacy MD modes (SP, LP2, LP4) for playback on your R700 if you want. There's the MZ-NH700, the first-generation model (2004). Runs on one AA battery, and you'll find it feels fairly familiar after your R700. It's $150 at minidiscaccess. http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553220 Then there's the RH1, the latest and the greatest. Faster transfers, improved playback, much better looking. But the most important thing is that it will upload your legacy recordings to a PC, and the NH700 will not. About $330 at http://www.minidiscaccess.com , or at http://www.minidisco.com/Sony-MZ-RH1?sc=7&category=10 Minidisco had a $20 discount offer, which brought the price--shipped!--to $319 or so. Don't know if it's still valid. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=16894 There was an intermediate generation of RH models (RH10, RH910), but they had no realtime legacy recording, were very easy to scratch and had problems with buttons and display. Info on all the units is here: http://www.minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

Assuming your ATRAC files are in My Library on the computer, Hi-MDRenderer should be able to convert them: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=12683 And I hope you can make the repair.

Are your atrac files on the computer or on a disc? On the computer, use HiMDRenderer. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=12683 The atrac files are .oma files. If they're on a disc, it will depend on what MD unit you have.

Old bad SonicStage used to delete recordings. New passable SonicStage does not.

I wish I could offer more suggestions, but unfortunately I'm away from home, and due to a serious intelligence failure--my own--I've left the MD behind, so I can't try PC Inspector on my NHF800 right now. Only a shot in the dark, but if you have more than one USB device connected, or a USB hub, try disconnecting all but the MD unit and see if that stops the crashing. You could also Google around for other freeware or shareware file-recovery software. Scan any program you download with an antivirus scanner--like www.f-secure.com, www.symantec.com, www.trendmicro.com if you don't have your own--just to make sure it's not evil. But really, don't get your hopes up. Even if you do find those files, they're going to be encrypted and utterly useless for now--just something to stick in an archive and hope for an amnesty from Sony someday. If you do manage to get back something that was deleted and can figure out which folder(s) it was in, you could try copy-and-pasting it into the same folders(s) on a new disc and see if your latest version of SonicStage will read it. But I think that's pretty unlikely.

I hate to say it, but they may just be gone--erased by SonicStage because it decided you were a music pirate. You should probably upload all the data on the disc--connect and have Windows Explorer read the Hi-MD as a USB drive, and make a copy of everyting that's there--in case somebody ever figures out Sony's encryption. And with it still connected, you might also run a file-recovery program that detects deleted files and see if it finds anything else. This one is a little non-intuitive to use, but it's free: http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/download.htm If it does find anything, the data will still be encrypted, so it still won't be immediately useful, but it can't hurt to save them. Also, there is no guarantee that the tracks are still on the disc. I think you are a victim of an old version of SonicStage. All 2.x versions, and if I remember correctly version 3.0 and 3.1 as well, would not allow you to upload a recording more than once from the same disc. They would mark the tracks as already transferred, and if you tried again they wouldn't simply refuse--they would erase them from the disc. Vicious, ugly, stupid and insane are the nicest ways to describe the thinking behind this. My guess is that whether or not you had uploaded those tracks before, SonicStage thought you had, and erased them. What version of SonicStage are you using? If you are not using at least SS 3.4 you should back up your library (with the Backup Tool in Programs/SonicStage) and then upgrade immediately, either with this offline installer: http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/details.php?file=21 or with 4.0 from Sony. You can run Sony's little online installer file if you have a good connection, or there's a link in post #10 to an offline installer here: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=108279 Note that tracks on discs that were transferred with old versions are still marked and vulnerable. But once you have 3.4 or 4.0, your newer recordings will not be subject to that idiotic restriction. You can upload those as many times as you want, which is the way it always should have been.

I've said it elsewhere, but I really think the NH900 is a mistake. Its PAUSE and STOP buttons are two sides of the same button so you always risk stopping your recording, and losing your settings, whenever you try to pause it. Its display is hard to read--unlit behind smoky plastic. Its battery latch has to be taped shut so it won't pop open. To get significant battery life you have to add the outboard AA, which is clunky. I sold mine after a few weeks, but people who have had them longer say the buttons start malfunctioning. For a starter Hi-MD unit, get the NH700. It's as good a recorder as the NH900 and much better designed. And you'll be happy to have a long-running, easily replaceable AA battery rather than the little rechargeable gumstick.

Thanks for the explanation. You've turned an early MD deck into an almost-NetMD unit by controlling it through the IR port. Pretty cool.

Can you explain to a non-programmer what this does? Apparently you're reading titles and song lengths, going from the optical out of the deck through the SCMS stripper and noise reduction into the computer, and using the scripts to time each recording. So it's still a realtime recording. You could also do this, though with analog instead of optical output, with a NetMD unit by using Hi-MD Renderer's NetMD Recorder function, similar to the old WinNetMD: it controls the unit through SonicStage, plays back each track and records it as a separate track from the headphone jack. For all I know the programming is similar. Unless someone has all these gadgets lying around, why not just get an RH1 and upload?

I've been using the NHF-800 constantly since 2004. It's the same as the 700 except for an FM radio in the 800's remote. It has been very reliable, runs a mighty long time on one AA battery and has survived some drops. By the time the paint on the case rubs off, you'll know where all the buttons are anyway. You'll need an outboard mic, and for just about any amplified music you'll need a battery module so that you can record mic-->battery module-->Line-in to prevent overloading the built-in amp. Are you in Australia? Your best deal for mics and module might be our own greenmachine. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=14388 There are some other options in the US.

It is not an uplooad in the sense of a file transfer. Audacity will record, in realtime, what you're playing on the MD unit if you connect headphone out to audio in. That's the best you can do with old MD recordings unless you want to buy an RH1, the only unit that can upload them. Just download, install and open up Audacity. You may have to select the audio input coming into your soundcard--find the little speaker icon in the taskbar and left-click it to get the mixer (Master Volume). You may also have to make adjustments in Audacity: look under Edit/Preferences/Audio I/O to select your soundcard, and look at some of the other tabs as well for recording quality, etc. I don't remember what the defaults were, so you may not have to change them, but they're pretty self-explanatory anyway.

NetMD units like yours can download songs from the computer faster than realtime, but it's only one-way. You can't upload live recordings you have made--only record them out of the headphone jack. Hi-MD finally (and way too late) allows direct, fairly fast digital uploading. Only one model of Hi-MD will upload older recordings that weren't made on a Hi-MD unit--that's the RH1.

Stay away from the strip bars and blackjack tables...

Has anyone found the LIP-4WM for under $60 (US)? There are Ebay listings for $20 shipped, but I have the feeling those are fakes--the LI-ION logo on the left is different from the RECYCLE logo on the Sony.

As far as I know, there were no prerecorded Hi-MDs. Sony gave up on the idea early in the history of MD, so they're all legacy. Which is why you need the RH1 to upload them.