A440

Sounds like a bad disc to me. Why not try recording something line-out from your stereo (get a male-to-male headphone cord) to to line-in and see how another disc works.

Sony levels have been adjustable (after the hassle of getting into Manual) on all models since about 2003. It's amazing how old information persists on the internet. Adjusting the level while recording makes the volume of the recording go up and down, obviously. The important thing is to be able to go into Manual to turn off the automatic level control (no good for music), pick a manual level with enough headroom for your whole gig, and leave it alone unless there is some huge sudden potential overload. When set to Manual with enough headroom, the MD recorder will give you a superbly faithful recording of what's going into it. That means you need good mics (better than the Sony one that might be packaged with the M-100, which has no bass) or you should record out of your mixer into Line-In if that is mixing the sound of the whole band. For fancier live recording, you could mix the sound from the board with the sound in the room. That is, put a pair of mics on a stalk high above the soundboard (six inches apart, like ears, for a nice stereo image, and raised to get away from the sound of the audience talking). Then mix both soundboard and mic input into a signal for the stereo Line-In input on the MD.

How about backing up My Library, uninstalling 3.4 and going back to a restore point before 3.4 was installed with System Restore?

The RH-710 only has a Line-In jack, which expects a strong signal, like the output of a mixer. A Mic-In jack would have a preamp behind it, but the Line-In jack does not, so you can't just plug a mic into it. You're going to have to find a preamp or, if you have a loud source, just a battery module. Is it impossible to get another model? NH-700, NHF-800, NH-900, RH-910 and RH-10 all have mic jacks, and might be barely more expensive than a preamp. Here's the NH700 for 70 GBP http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-MZ-NH700-Silver-b...1QQcmdZViewItem

I'm using a battery box these days myself, now that they're as small as the attenuator. But the headphone volume control is still a great low-cost solution. Raf, there are two big differences between the Sharps you mentioned and Hi-MD, which is only made by Sony. Hi-MD will record in PCM--CD-quality sound--as well as compressed formats. The Sharps use compressed sound only. Hi-MD can also upload the recordings to your computer, while the Sharps would have to be recorded (out of the headphone jack) in real time. Hi-MD is the better recording solution now.

Audacity turns any file you're working on into its own format, .aup, as it opens the file, and actually performs your edit on that. Then you "Export as .wav" or "Export as .mp3." Audacity can open .wav and .mp3 files for editing. So you can rip directly to mp3, rather than .wav, or convert after you edit--just Export as .mp3. If you have a lot of .wav files you need to convert to .mp3, download Dbpoweramp from Programs--it converts between many different file types. Converting to .mp3 still changes sound quality, but at higher bitrates (192 and up) most people can't tell the difference between .mp3 and .wav. A conventional CD player may not play mp3 files, by the way.

You don't just need a USB port. You need a USB port and firmware in the MD unit that does what you want. The USB port on NetMD recorders is only for downloading from computer to MD. The USB port on current Hi-MD recorders is also for downloading and will upload new recordings in Hi-MD formats (not your old MD recordings) to computer. They will play back your old MDs, which you can continue to record in realtime with the iMic. They will not upload MD recordings. The only unit that will upload your old recordings is the MZ-RH1, still to be released. Until it arrives, nothing will upload your old MD recordings. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=6330 http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7070 As for under $50...well, best of luck.

Only one unit will upload your old MD recordings--the MZ-RH1, which is not going to be available until May or June. Keep saving: it's going to cost around $300. Under $50 won't even get you a decent mp3 player. http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...tem/SONY-MZ-RH1

Well, it might have been just luck. But I had a disc defect with a black 1GB disc that caused a gap, ruined a recorded song and messed up the upload (in whatever the current SonicStage was back then), and had another, less crucial gap in another black disc. I've never had a problem with a blue disc, so my hypothesis is that with experience, Sony improved the manufacturing process.

I think read only means your computer can read/run them but can't tamper with them. Have you tried installing them? And what driver files have you downloaded, from where?

You can't have two SonicStages. They fight each other. Try www.atraclife.com for the NW-E405. You might start here. http://www.atraclife.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1322

Your first step should be to back up My Library (with the Backup Tool under Programs/SonicStage) and then uninstall and reinstall SonicStage 3.4 with Add/Remove Programs and either Sony's online installer or the offline one in Downloads. Since it's not showing up in the taskbar, maybe it's not installed properly.

I just got some of these. Although the ones pictured on the page are the black 1st-generation ones, I got the (better) blue ones in the mail.

Just to avoid confusion: when Damage says 2G Hi-MD blanks, he means second-generation, not 2 gigabyte. The largest capacity Hi-MD is 1 GB. Memorex and Hi-Space, two cheap MD brands, should be avoided. The only Hi-MD blanks are made by Sony--get the translucent blue (2d generation), not the opaque black (1st generation) if possible.

Yes, Manual Volume turns off AGC. On the sensitivity question, use what works best for you. I generally use Low, but I mostly record music, not ambience. As long as High doesn't overload, there's no reason not to use it.

For use as an mp3 player, the RH1 is probably overkill. Unless you care about uploading recordings from the MD unit to your computer, you might be just as happy with an old NetMD unit (anything beginning with MZ-N) or the first-generation Hi-MD player, the NH-600D (which only plays music downloaded from the computer and does not have any recording jack, neither Line-In nor Mic-In). You would have to convert your mp3s to ATRAC, but if you have original CDs, Simple Burner is fast and easy. But you might also be equally happy with a straightforward mp3 player that also records (compressed), like the 512 MB Iriver IFP-795 or the 1GB Iriver IFP-799. (Both are the size of a thick pack of gum, with a built-in mono mic; accepts a stereo mic or stereo line input, drag-and-drop transfer of mp3s in or your own recordings out with Iriver software). Buttons and menus on the unit are a little complicated at first, but learnable. About $100 on Ebay.

If it's a very old headunit, then it probably only plays in the original minidisc format: SP. Minidiscs recorded in LP2 or LP4 (or Hi-MD formats) won't work. Test it by recording a CD to the MZ-N510 with Simple Burner set to output SP. If that doesn't work, maybe the headunit just isn't working.

Both of those are the same microphone capsules as your current ones in different housings. So they will probably sound about the same minus whatever filtering effect your ears provide--perhaps a little more open all around. It's really a question of which feels most stealthy to you. You don't need bass roll-off for anything that's not loud club music--and as far as I'm concerned, not even there. Have you tried taking your binaurals out into American streets? How do you like the results? (Using Manual level, of course.) There's so much ambient noise in a streetscape that I would think you're fine with the MD's own mic preamp. Recording very quiet natural sounds, like crickets or birds, would be a different story--there you might be better off with a preamp going through Line-in. The cheapest preamps I know of are Church-Audio, on Ebay (or as a member of MDCF). Sound Professionals and Microphone Madness also make them. With their gain turned off, current preamps double as battery modules, in case you ever need to record a loud source: Mic--Preamp(no gain)--Line-In. But are you going to have a battery supply in the Himalayas? You'll also need them for the MD itself. Don't get anything with an unusual battery. Here's a guy who does ambient recording with super-duper (and super-expensive) mics: http://www.quietamerican.org/ Here's his eloquent advice on mics: http://www.quietamerican.org/links_diy-mics.html

Look through the Config menu and try Register CDDB. If that doesn't work, try using Winamp, play Audio CD E: (or wherever) and let that connect to CDDB. Then, strangely enough, SonicStage might find CDDB too. No idea what the actual cause is, but this has sometimes straightened out Simple Burner/SonicStage for me.

What happens below (or above) the specs depends on the mic. They either ignore the other frequencies or pick up the sound at a much diminished level. Distortion would ruin the signal you did get, so that doesn't happen. Yes, the basic Panasonic capsules are about $2. But you need to get a few so you can choose two that have closely matching output, since they vary. You also need the other parts, a soldering iron, heat-shrink tubing and a steady hand. http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dk...=507300&Site=US

Bass won't be a problem through Line-In. The preamp behind Mic-In is what's sensitive to bass--you're bypassing it with Line-In. Bass roll-off takes away some of your recorded music. You can't get it back because it was never recorded. Even at a bassy show, it's better to get a high-fidelity recording and then, if you have to, limit the bass with EQ when you play back the recording.

It may well be a codec problem. Some versions of FFDshow don't play nicely with SonicStage. But if it's not, it also might be a Windows multitasking problem. SonicStage needs a lot of computer resources. If you were web-surfing, reading email, playing video games or doing anything with graphics, SonicStage might just have stuttered a bit as your computer tried to cope with all the demands on its electronic brain. Try running SonicStage with as few other processes going on as possible.

The RH1, which is not available yet, will upload old MD recordings. No other unit will. Otherwise, all Hi-MD units will do what you need. Switching from Auto Gain Control to Manual levels (what you're talking about in 1) is done through the menus on all units, and will be slightly easier on the RH1. As for 2), uploading in the newer Hi-MD formats works through all Hi-MDs (but NH-600, NH-600D, DH10P and RH-710 don't have microphone inputs). Sony was slow to improve its software, which is why complaints are all over the internet, but the latest version, SonicStage 3.4, is largely reliable. Solid state recorders are available--do some research on the Iriver IFP-799, which you can probably find for around $100. Maybe that's your husband's ideal dictation device. It has a built-in microphone or takes an outboard microphone, and uploads as easily as drag-and-drop. (It's also an mp3 player.) The recording quality is fine for voice, but not as good as MD for music, even through its line-in--the same exact setup I use for MD came out sounding worse on the Iriver. Voice is easy to record--a narrow frequency range, not that much sonic information to process. Music is a much more complex signal to capture. All digital recordings are not alike. They vary according to how much information is stored for a certain length of recording: kbps, kilobits per second. To save disc space, most recorders use compression: mp3 for some recorders, ATRAC for Sony. Little handheld digital recorders have limited storage space, and often use highly compressed, low-fidelity recording. The higher the kbps, the higher the recording fidelity. Mp3 recordings might be 48 kbps (bad FM radio quality), 128 kbps (nearly decent music quality) or upward of 192 kbps (hard to distinguish from CDs for people without golden ears). Hi-MD's record PCM, which is CD-quality, but you only get about 90 minutes per 1GB disc. Hi-SP, which is pretty good-sounding compression, puts about 8 hours on that same disc. There are quality solid state recorders like the M-Audio Microtrack and the Edirol R1 and R9, but they are newer technology, still working out bugs and ergnomics, and minidisc is cheaper and smaller.

A preamp will amplify the music. Your music is loud enough without it. The Juice Box will do your job, but it's about as big as your MD unit. For the same price, I get great results with this Microphone Madness module, which still puts out 9V, from three little lithium 3V batteries, but it's only 2.1" x 1.3" x .5" (like a car-alarm remote). http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm

You shouldn't have any trouble with a Duracell, and there are also higher-grade Duracells like Max or Ultra. I do like Duracells better than Energizers--they drain more smoothly and don't suddenly shut down. Power to the mic is a very small drain on the battery. A new Duracell still won't run out before the disc is over. As for the battery module, it depends on your mics, but I find no drop in volume with my Microphone Madness module at about 20/30, even if I'm just recording speech. http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm But if you're not having any distortion problems with your recordings as is--no bass or drums?--then stay with what works.