A440

The idiotic encryption Sony built into minidiscs encodes everything on the disc into one giant .hma file that must then be decrypted by SonicStage. This not only makes the other units that can play Sony's oddball proprietary .oma incompatible. It also means that one tiny bit of corruption on the disc ruins the entire .hma file so that you lose everything on the disc instead of having one bad track. .HMA and the whole deranged idea that your own recordings would be encrypted is exactly what killed minidisc. If you're wondering what HMA stands for, it means: Hara-kiri Madness Always

Damian, if you're still checking, he's right--get Hi-MD Renderer. You connect the USB cord to control playback and record out of the headphone jack. Intead of getting one long recording that you'd have to edit, Hi-MD Renderer records each song as a separate track. Look for the MD Recorder function button down at the bottom.

SOL. Sorry to bring bad news, but the connection to the S1 is one-way: PC to MD. Not the other way around. There is no digital workaround on the S1. (Of course you can record the discs in realtime out of the headphone jack.) Sony eventually changed that idiotic situation with Hi-MD, but the formats that the S1 uses--SP, LP2, LP4--can only be uploaded on one piece of hardware, the MZ-RH1 (also called the MZ-M200). Not even the other Hi-MD units can upload the old MD formats.

Early versions of SonicStage for Hi-MD uploading only allowed you to upload once, and wrote something on the recordings to prevent them from being uploaded again. Evil. Later versions got rid of that, so you can upload multiple times to multiple computers. Update to 4.2 when you can. Unfortunately, music uploaded to earlier versions is still locked on those discs. But there is a workaround. With the music you have uploaded in your SonicStage Library, you can Convert to .wav in SonicStage, which will give you large but unlocked files--.wav files are completely portable. You can also get the free Hi-MD Renderer--there's a subforum under Software--to convert Library files to other portable formats, like mp3. Can't help you on the deck question, but why not just use SimpleBurner to copy the CD directly to an MD on your portable MD recorder?

You say you don't need computer input/output. But you are going to need some way to get music onto the disc if your 420 ever wears out. So you still need to look at NetMD units for that. If you're serious about not needing the computer connection, you could go back to the R series--the R700 or R900 were pretty sturdy units. Those are recorders, and you could also look into players (model numbers begin with MZ-E***). Go to the Browser tab at www.minidisc.org and you can see all the models. The MZ-N707 is reliable, too. Practically speaking, look at Ebay and see what's available, then check the Browser at minidisc.org. If something looks tempting, ask here about the specific model.

Meanwhile, concert recording continues to thrive on MD, as posted here by someone named gladcarrot: http://www.echoingthesound.org/phpbbx/viewtopic.php?t=41972 Photo here: http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd235/g...arrot/NINMD.jpg

That depends on what you want to use it for. ----------- The price is very low. Maybe it's a bargain....but maybe not. Here's the important thing about the N10, from the browser link you could have clicked yourself: USB and charging connections are made through the docking stand only. If the seller is not selling the dock with it, you have a very pretty paperweight. New in the box is good--but make sure all the parts are in the box. Also, even if the dock is included, the battery is built in. I don't know if it's replaceable, and that's an old unit, so you would have to get a guarantee from the seller that it will hold a charge. As with other MD recorders, you can record through an external stereo microphone (not included) or a stereo line-in jack (from a source like a CD player or an audio mixer), both stereo minijacks (same connection as your headphone plug). SP is the length of the disc, 74 or 80 minutes. LP2 is 2x the length of the disc. LP4...well, you figure that out. You'll need to get discs somewhere, too. You won't be able to upload the recordings off the disc with any NetMD unit, other than recording them out of the headphone jack. Just my opinion, but there are now smaller, more convenient and higher-capacity music players and more convenient solid-state recorders available than there were when the N10 was made. Hi-MD is a different story, since you can upload the recordings. But to me, NetMD is pretty much obsolete. At that price, though, the N10 is a nice toy, assuming it works.

When you wrote bass distortion, I though you might have accidentally plugged into mic-in (red) rather than line-in (white), and that the bass was overloading the mic-in preamplifier, which is sensitive. But that snippet doesn't sound like the unit is overloading. Because the static just erupts at random places in the song, it sounds to me like a bad connection somewhere. You'll need to figure out where in the chain the bad connection is happening: in the mic, in the mixer, in a connector cord. It sounds like you're trying the right first step, which is a different mic. Have you used the mixer before? Are you sure it's OK?

BH does say it still has the MZ-M200, the MZ-RH1 bundled with the DS70P microphone. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4468...D_Recorder.html Don't let the $399 scare you--Add to Cart and it's $339. Note that BH is closed on Saturdays (orthodox Jews) and open on Sundays.

The P-Mode button on any of the newer remotes--like the RM-MC40ELK, which I think is the one that comes with the NH1--inserts track marks while recording.

I just wouldn't use Maxell, Memorex or HiSpace for live recording or any important moment that can't be duplicated. But as long as you have the Maxells, you might as well keep them for portable music playing and more casual recording. I've had Sony Hi-MDs go glitchy, too, for what it's worth. Not many, just a few. But we're stuck with them.

More bad discs: HiSpace Memorex Stick to Sony, TDK, Denon or Fuji unless you're desperate. You're probably not going to have much choice of disc brands. Also, note, you won't be able to use 1GB Hi-MD blanks in the older units--just 74 or 80-minute discs. ------------------- Make sure your Ebay seller posts a sharp photo of the unit and look at it carefully. Look for paint worn off the buttons or wear around the stick or wheel. If it looks really worn out don't get it, because repairing a broken unit is not cost-effective. I have had good and bad luck on Ebay. One was a complete scam--broken unit advertised as "mint." Another was not working but the wheel that didn't work looked brand new, and I think the seller was just ignorant (and did an immediate refund). Others worked beautifully. Try to get some kind of guarantee from the seller, and test out every function of the unit as soon as you get it. Definitely be careful about the N10. Someone might be selling just the unit without the cradle, or the internal battery might be dead. Also, many people love the MZ-R900, which has a metal case that's more sturdy than most. You'll have to tape the battery latch shut if you're using the unit in a pocket for any stretch of time, because it opens too easily, but it was the top of the line at the time.

Do you actually have someone selling either the MZ-N910 or N10? They are not being made any more. The N10 is impractical. It needs a DC adapter AND a cradle to recharge. The MZ-N910 needs only the adapter. I would hate to be dependent on a cradle. For your purposes the MZ-N707 or even the MZ-R700 would be sufficient. But all of those MDLP NetMD units are going to be old.

Once you have uploaded the file you can also use Hi-MD Renderer to save it as an mp3 instead of converting to .wav. It will save a lot of space. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=20395

Edit/ Preferences/ Audio I/O and uncheck Software Playthrough. On the right-middle of Audacity, past Help, are a speaker (playback volume) slider and a mic (input level) slider. Try raising the input and lowering the playback, maybe even lowering playback to zero. If that doesn't work, why not just plug something into the headphone jack--a connector cord if you have one, or headphones? Silence is golden.

I can't imagine using Hi-MD for data storage nowadays. You'd be carrying a relatively huge device for just 1GB of storage, paying an expensive $7 per GB of storage (or more outside the US) and you'd be putting wear on a record/playback head you are not going to be able to replace. Personally I'd want to reserve Hi-MD use for music. For around $100 you can buy a 250GB portable USB drive, like a SimpleDrive or WD Passport, that's comparable in size to the Hi-MD unit. For the price of a Hi-MD disc you can probably get a thumb drive that holds more. Either one seems like a better way to get the job done.

Set the Recording device--you're going to be recording that MD (sooner rather than later I hope). It's fine to leave Audacity playing back through whatever it was using before. I think you should leave the recording as Microsoft Sound Mapper-Input for the moment and adjust what's going through it to just Wave, as before. Just guessing, but your computer must have a built-in mic, and you don't want to be recording that. Can't help you with the audio settings in Vista, but if you don't have that Volume Control speaker icon in the taskbar, look through your Sounds or Audio settings via Control Panel and see what you can figure out. Also, I found this in a forum where someone was complaining about Realtek. Stereo Mix is definitely what you want. See if you can try the Vista equivalent. "Go to Sound in the Control Panel's classic view Select the Recording tab and right-click any of the devices listed. Check "Show Disabled Devices" and "Show Disconnected Devices". Stereo Mix should show up. Set it as default." http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-s...sound-card.html

Back up, everybody. It plays through SonicStage. No need for Line-in. You want to record the SonicStage playback. So you want Audacity to hear the soundcard--not the mic that must be in your computer picking up the TV and all that other stuff. Open Audacity. Under Edit/Preferences Audio I/O you need to select your soundcard. Every computer has a different soundcard, so you'll have to figure it out, but there probably aren't very many choices. Change the Channels to Stereo-2. Mine in my current computer is also set at the moment to Microsoft Sound Mapper-Input--which may be what it's calling the mixer via Volume Control, see below. But there's also a Sigma Tel Audio soundcard installed. Anyway, do some experimenting if you have to. You don't have to hook up the MD yet--just play a CD or mp3 file in the computer, open Audacity, hit the Record button and you can see if it's coming through. Once you've got Audacity listening to the soundcard, make sure the soundcard isn't picking up extraneous stuff--as it seems to be. The soundcard is like a mixer in your computer, putting through or muting various sources. Right-click the little speaker icon on your taskbar, lower right, and open up Volume Control. Mute (check box at bottom) extra things like PC Beep, MIDI, Microphone, SW Synthesizer, and even CD player--all you want for the moment is Wave that you're going to be getting out of SonicStage. Look at Options/Recording, too, which may be where you need to shut off the mic. Now open SonicStage, connect the MD, play back the track and make sure it's coming through the computer speakers (or headphone jack). Open Audacity, hit the record button, start playback again and--I hope--you're good to go. Don't forget to un-Mute the CD player afterward....

What you need is the service manual, which does not seem to be easy to find. The people who claim to have them via Google [ MZ-N710 "service manual" ] don't look all that trustworthy.

If your other MD will give you PCM, go for it and upload. Total Recorder is great, but Audacity will also record through the soundcard and it's free. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

What may have happened is a bad spot on the disc. If you play back the whole track there would be a gap in it. Put a track mark on either side of the gap and you may be able to upload the two segments around the bad spot. If it's happening consistently your record head might be wearing out. And if the uploading still doesn't work... ---------------- Can you connect the MD and play the song back from the disc through SonicStage out of your computer's speakers? You could record that with Audacity, a very good free recording program. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Edit/Preferences is where you choose the input for Recording I/O (it'll be fairly obvious--might be the name of your computer's soundcard or Microsoft Sound Mapper) and the sliders next to the little mic pictures on the right of the Audacity console are the levels. ------ Can't play back through SonicStage? It's analog time. The Mic plug on your computer is an input. Unfortunately, it might be mono and it might be noisy. You'll have to try and see. Record through Audacity and you can see the waveform going in, and play it back to see if there's static. You can plug your mic into the jack, record something and listen to what you've recorded. Tap each stereo mic separately to see if you're getting mono or stereo. Depending on how important the track is to you, you could get an external soundcard via USB like the Griffin iMic (stupid name, it's not a mic) used for about $15 on Ebay, which would give you a clean line-in input. It looks like a Mac accessory but works fine with any Windows after Windows 98.

European electronics prices are just astronomical. This board has a number of people in England with the RH1. Maybe someone could upload Trellis's discs?

I would suggest that you immediately use the File Conversion Tool on all three libraries to remove copy protection forever. I would not want to trust the internet Backup Tool when Sony shuts down Connect. Once you have run the File Conversion tool with copy protection unchecked, try throwing all the files onto some external drive and pointing SonicStage there to build a library.

No, it's not possible. Hi-MD (not basic MD) is the only minidisc format that allows you to digitally transfer data off the disc. Hi-MD only works with PC or Mac. Look for a flash recorder like Zoom H2, Edirol R09, or even some mp3 players. http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-reviews.html

That would have been sensible, user-friendly and probably not that difficult. But it apparently never occurred to Sony.