A440

HiMDRenderer. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=12683

I can't open Morlok's zipped files with WinZip or Winace--both claim the archive is damaged. Could someone PM me the unzipped .oma file? I've gotta see this for myself.

Marcnet's HiMDRenderer (see the separate topic under Software) makes realtime recording a little easier with a NetMD. If you have tracks already separated on the disc it will record them as separate files, while just straight recording with Audacity will give you one long file you have to edit again. Realtime means that if you've made a two-hour recording, it will take two hours to record it into your computer. But if you lay out a little extra money upfront and get a Hi-MD, like the MZ-NH700 deals from http://www.minidisco.com or http://www.minidisc-canada.com, you can transfer the recording to your computer like a digital file, in a few minutes. You'll also get a better-quality transfer and have more recording time per disc or the option of having CD-quality (PCM) recording.

The Sonys are more like earbuds. The Shures are true canalphones--deeper, snugger, and I would guess way more isolating. Sorry to say, I don't have the Sonys for comparison. But I did have a pair of highly touted similarly shaped Sony earbuds a while back--whatever the predecessor to the EX71 was--and I was mighty unimpressed. Bloated, flabby bass, sharp highs, weak midrange. Not a lot of isolation. I have Shure E4 (same as E4c with gray cable, not white) and I think they are magnificent. They create a good sense of space for in-ear phones (though not as much as big outside-the-ear phones), every instrument sounds musical and I can listen to them on the subway or in an airplane and hear every bit of the music. They're a little dangerous for walking around in the street though, because the outside world is almost entirely shut out. I've had Shure E3s as well and was quite happy with them, but the E4 are better: richer-sounding and more spacious. (The E4 come with an attenuator you could also use for mic recording with your MD.) The cord is thicker than the Sony, and that's a good thing. They're sturdy, for constant use. They're based on the in-ear monitors Shure made for musicians onstage, where they really have to hold up. They arrive with half a dozen different kinds of earplugs, and the sonic results you get vary greatly with the shape of your ears. I find them very comfortable using the largest gray flex sleeves--soft rubber, probably a lot like the Sony. Look at the Shure site and you can see the various plugs in the kit: yellow foamies, harder clear rubber (3 sizes) and the softer gray ones (3 sizes). I've fallen asleep wearing them and awakened with no discomfort. My MZ-NH600D and NHF800 both drive them as loud as I want. I don't know about impedance specs or things like that, but my impression is that with the isolation the canalphones provide, you don't have to get as much raw volume as you do in headphones that leak, so it's actually better for your ears. The Sony specs sound like fantasy to me. The MD is only putting out 20-20K, and unless you want to give the earbuds to your dog, 20K-23K is not going to matter. Is $349 CDN really the cheapest? That's close to full list price ($299 US) in the USA. Try Froogle and see if you can find a discount. Mine were $178 shipped, but I just checked that link and it's expired. A lot of US merchants offer price-matching down to about $170-180 U.S. At near-list price, you should be able to try them and return them if you don't like them. But you will.

Atrain, it does happen in SS 3.3, so I'm also happy for the workaround. Donnageddon, there's a 3.3 installer in Downloads or, for best results, you can use the Sony online installer. There are only minor changes between 3.2 and 3.3, though, so if 3.2 is working well you might just want to leave it alone. But anything below 3.2 should be upgraded for the capacity to upload more than once.

stripped of inhibiting DRM in the "optimized files" folder. OK, someone make this ultra-clear to me: Does this mean you can copy these .oma files as data and then play them on someone else's SonicStage? I.e., you CAN back up your library (of your own analogue recordings) and move it to another computer?

Dbpoweramp, the all-purpose converter, is also in Downloads. Might be a little faster than Audacity, and you can do a bunch at a time.

Note that you will have to find old models like the R37 and R57 used, looking in places like Ebay. If they've sat in someone's closet for 10 years, great. If they've been knocked around, not so great. Look carefully at condition and consider whether the seller is trustworthy. I never had a double-digit R model, but I also found the MZ-R700 had nice big controls and was a good solid unit for recording--still with no upload capability. For a new recorder, the NH700 will suit all your needs, including running for a long time on an AA battery (a Duracell or a longer-life rechargeable than the included one). Minidisc-Canada http://www.minidisc-canada.com/shopdisplay...iniDisc+Players and www.minidisco.com have good deals on it.

This is a wild guess, but try reinstalling or updating the driver for your computer's soundcard. Maybe there's some incompatibility or conflict with SonicStage.

I'm running SonicStage 3.3 on Windows XP Pro with SP1 and without SP2. Not sure if I have the M$ hotfix noted above. But there have been no problems with it at all (knocking on wood).

I would guess that Windows Media Player is getting its ATRAC codecs from SonicStage, so SS would have to be installed too. I'd rather post high-bitrate mp3s, so people considering MD who don't have SonicStage can hear how they sound.

Converting a long file to .wav takes a lot of resources. First, do you have free space on your disc and in memory? Try shutting off every program you don't need for the moment. Disconnect from the internet, shut off browsers, security apps, music players, everything you can, and try again. Press CTRL-ALT-DEL once (not twice!) to pop up Task Manager. It might not work. If you uploaded it with 3.3, then you could try inserting a track mark and uploading it again as two smaller files. With 3.3 you can upload repeatedly. Files that were uploaded with older versions of SonicStage were marked as uploaded and that was your only chance. Don't try it again, because it might wipe them off the disc. Your best bet for high fidelity with those tracks is to put the disc in the recorder, connect with USB, play back through the computer with SonicStage and use TotalRecorder to capture the digital signal (in realtime) as detailed here. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=6330

SonicStage doesn't know you're backing up your own library. With a different installation of the program on a different computer, it thinks you're trying to copy someone else's library. And all its encryption and digital-rights paranoia is specifically designed to prevent that due to Sony's copying paranoia. Re-ripping is all you can do.

Two problems with a one-point mic that just sits on the MD. 1) It picks up the whirring of the unit's motor. 2) You don't get much stereo separation or depth. Better to use the setup described here: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&sh...indpost&p=83960 Get the mics and a Radio Shack Headphone Extension Cord with Volume Control as an attenuator. (It looks a lot like my avatar.) Turn the volume knob on the attenuator all the way up, to its maximum. The key is Manual level rather than AGC. AGC is not made for music. You need the disc in the unit and REC and PAUSE pressed simultaneously (blinking display). MENU/REC SET/REC VOLUME/MANUAL and set it to 18/30 to be on the safe side, 20/30 if it's quieter. Un-Pause to start recording (display starts showing elapsed recording time). If you can watch the display, the levels ideally should be bouncing up to just above midway, or you can push up the recording volume just by turning the wheel. Don't fidget with it though, because you'll hear every change. Look in Live Recordings to hear some recordings done this way. In my own album (In Tune With A440) there's one called "Better than Norah Jones?" You can later upgrade to a battery module (Mic-->Battery Module-->Line-in is the connection) but you may find this sounds just dandy.

Upload to the PC and you can use Audacity (from Downloads) and Amplify or Normalize to crank the volume. Both will also amplify the hiss. But you can then use a high-frequency filter to cut the hiss. It won't be as good as starting with a better recording, but it's worth a try.

The MZ-M100 is Apple compatible if you upload PCM files.

Are you running a lot of other program simultaneously, or do you have an older computer with a slower processor and limited memory? SonicStage needs a lot of resources, and it falters and delivers bad sound if it doesn't get them. Shut down things like web browsers, email programs, windows skinning and anything else that might be using your computer's processing power if you don't need them at that moment. Open Task Manager (right click an empty space on the taskbar (bottom) and click Task Manager) and look at Applications and Processes to see what's running. Use Google to check out some of the less comprehensible filenames. Windows always warns you about shutting stuff down, but unless you shut down something like Windows Explorer or some of the Microsoft services you should be OK. You can also do Start/Run : msconfig and look at Startup items to see what's loading automatically as you boot up. Again, use Google on the non-obvious file names to see which ones you really need, and uncheck ones you obviously don't, like qttask (Quicktime Taskbar) or iTunes service. I have an HP printer that tries to load half a dozen things on startup--unchecked them all and can still print with no problems.

An eyeglasses repair kit, available at your local pharmacy for about $2, should have one or two screws that fit. Or you can go to Sony DAPC itself and pay about $4 per screw.

Here's the classic suction-cup pickup: http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.js...rentPage=search Or this one that gets the signal from the line: http://www.shop.com/op/~Gemini_Automatic_T...73-prod-9111252 Probably mic-in for both.

The specs on the Olympus look interesting: http://www.videodirect.com/olympus/voicere...us-ws-320m.html but not stellar for recording music. You're going to be recording in .wma, which is compressed. It must be significant compression if the best quality gives you 35 hours of playback with 1GB--similar to Hi-LP. The best quality frequency response is 100-15,000 Hz, which loses some bass and highs. The built-in microphone and preamp are made for speaking voices: dictation, conferences, etc. So it's hard to tell what's overloading: whether it's the little built-in mic or the preamp. On minidisc, line-in lets you bypass the preamp if you have a stronger signal, but the Olympus doesn't seem to have line-in. Your best possibility is to experiment. 1) Try the Sony mic by itself into mic-in--maybe it won't overload and the preamp can handle it. 2) If it still distorts, that would suggest preamp distortion, so try it with an attenuator (Radio Shake Headphone Extension Cord with Volume Control) to lower the signal into the preamp. Unfortunately, the attenuator makes the mic more likely to overload with the loudest music so you might have to... 3) Turn down the band.

The dbpoweramp page says it's compatible with Win95 and up. Try its version. http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc.htm

Any Hi-MD with a mic jack. NH700, NHF800, NH900, RH910, RH10. Recording function is the same on all models. Variations are in other features. I'm in the minority, but I dislike the NH900 because Stop and Pause--two very different functions--are on the same button. The cheapest with full recording functions is the NH700, still a total bargain from: http://www.minidisc-canada.com/shopdisplay...iniDisc+Players For starters, Sound Professionals BMC-2, with clips so you can attach them. http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/SP-BMC-2 Or get better ones as your budget allows. Look for a full frequency range: 20-20,000 Hz. Two mics that you can separate are better than a one-point mic for stereo realism. Get omnis rather than cardioids unless you are absolutely sure you need directional mics. Cheaper cardioids tend to lack bass response. Two things can overload when recording loud music: the preamp in the unit, which is very touchy about bass, and the mic itself, which can overload with extremely bassy music. You can use an attenuator--small, cheap, effective--to record through mic-in or a battery module--more expensive, a tad quieter, good only for loud music--through Line-In. An attenuator lowers the signal from the mic to prevent the MD unit's mic preamp from overloading. With superloud music, though, the mic itself can overload. A battery module provides power to the mic, which expands the mic's dynamic range and prevents the mic itself from overloading. It also allows you to go through the line-in, where there's no preamp to overload. But only with loud music that's providing a strong enough signal for line-in. Radio Shack is the most easily available attenuator (Headphone Extension Cord with Volume Control, 6.59). Get two--eventually they wear out. With consistently loud and bassy music the battery module will do better. Like this little thing: http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm Look at the Live Recordings gallery to hear some actual results. That's what they're for. See uploading information. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=6330 You can, but you'll get a weird phasing effect with the difference between the live and headphone sound. Better to watch the level meter with a flashlight or, if you've got the money, the RM-MC40ELK remote (about $75 on ebay). And best to find a good setting and leave it alone. Whatever the soundboard out jack is to a 1/8 stereo miniplug. Connect via line-in.

Ah, yes, the intolerance of the left: another bromide straight from Fox TV and talk radio propaganda. That's the best you can do? Your own name-calling? "Oooh, you disagree with me, you're intolerant, nyah, nyah." No, you just have no answer for my arguments. Pathetic, as promised. Oh, I forgot, the right is so tolerant, unless you want to teach evolution, or do scientific research that could save lives with stem cells, or claim the right to privacy in your own body. Pat Robertson, beacon of tolerance. Samuel Alito, champion of sexual equality. What a bunch of tolerant guys. Man, I wish I was invited to their parties, they must be wild romps. Eschelon, you should read "The Celluloid Closet." Until recently, homosexuality in the movies was nothing but abusive doomed gay relationships, or evil homosexual killers (c.f. "Dressed to Kill"). I don't tolerate specious arguments. I don't tolerate appeals to "standards of morality" that assume some eternal natural order prevailed in 1952 (when of course there were no homosexuals whatsoever). I don't tolerate the extremely peculiar notion that homosexuals have to behave any better than the heterosexuals who were, last I looked, still running things. You're welcome to feel as uncomfortable with or uninterested in homosexual love as you want. No one's forcing you to see the movie. Stop pretending anyone is. I still don't understand why other straight guys are so freaked out by this. It's one movie a year out of hundreds. I don't think it's going to end the procreative urge, destroy heterosexual marriage, or turn your children into....cowboys. Who, come to think of it, spend a lot of time alone with the guys.....

I hate to see this sort of spew on this generally civilized board. But some things should not go unanswered. You're all upset about the "catechism of political correctness"? Has your reality check bounced? We've got GW Bush in the White House, fundamentalist Christians tweaking health and education programs, openly homophobic platinum-selling rappers (who spend an inordinate amount of time with their "boys" if you ask me) and yet another generation of high-school kids who regularly use "faggot" as the paramount insult. There are horrible high-profile cases like the Matthew Shepard murder and uncounted incidents of more petty harrassment that the politically correct brigade is trying, rightfully, to end. But just open your eyes and ears: There's more than enough dumbo machismo around to prevent your precious children from being indoctrinated by the pervasive PC conspiracy. Society's "standards of morality" are always changing. Once slavery was considered moral. Once women couldn't vote. Once full rear nudity on broadcast TV was considered immoral. Change happens. Get used to it. Homosexuality is absolutely normal for people who are wired that way. I'm not one of them. But their "gut reaction" is every bit as valid as your gut reaction, and every bit as insignificant. People who have a gut reaction against blacks or Jews or Asians or fat people or redheads or Minidisc users have an equal right to their gut reaction and an equal responsibility to keep it to themselves in any way that might impinge on someone else's rights. Sure, there are political-correctness extremists who are as stupid as full-tilt homophobes. You can find idiots everywhere. That doesn't justify a return to intolerance. I'm not particularly interested in "Brokeback Mountain" myself. No one's saying you have to go see a movie or get something shoved down your throat (interesting image, Greg) if you don't want to. But don't go pretending some kind of natural or moral superiority to those who do. It's just your reflexes. Other people's are different. It completely baffles me that the overwhelmingly straight majority is so fearful of a few gay lovers. Go ahead and flame--you'll only make yourself look more pathetic.

You need the hardware. The Mac software only works with the Mac units.