A440

Your first step is to update to SonicStage 3.2 , preferably with the online installer from www.connect.com . It may be able to read the disc better than older versions.

The NH700 or NHF800 are also good units. No need to carry the extra battery pod that goes with the NH900 since it takes a regular AA battery directly in the unit. For $600 get an MD unit for around $200, get the RM-MC40ELK lighted remote for $75, spend $200 on some excellent small omni microphones from www.core-sound.com or www.soundprofessionals.com, and get an attenuator ($7) from Radio Shack. If you don't think punk-rock sounds amazing with that setup--and it will--then get a battery box with the $$ you have left. Volta is right--take some care of the MD unit. It's not made to be abused.

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=7070

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...t=0entry69102

First do a careful uninstall with the instructions here. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=8071 Then, if I were you I would try installing 3.2 again, ideally with the Sony online installer at www.connect.com unless you have a really slow internet connection. Or with the MDCF installer as a second choice. If that doesn't work, then do the full uninstall again and try your disc and then 3.2. In the past, though, Sony's uninstall has been sloppy, and it just seems more cluttered to install 3.2 on top of 3.0. But desperate times require desperate measures. Another thing to try is the MDac repair tool under Downloads at the top of the page. I have no idea exactly what it does, but it does seem to fix a lot of problems.

There's no mystery to it. The mic and line-in inputs to a minidisc are stereo jacks. If you have a pair of left and right mics, like omnis or cardioids, that go through a stereo plug, you can connect those two mics and you'll hear each mic in a separate channel. Otherwise you need a mixer that will take your mic inputs and send them out through a stereo plug.

No explanation from here--does the ECM719 have a booklet with diagrams of how changing the switch changes the response? But good for you for experimenting. Use what works, not what's supposed to work.

That ain't me, babe. I work about 70 hours a week. And when I do find a customer service person who knows what he/she is doing I am grateful. I'm thinking specifically of Sony Customer Service, which knows far less about SonicStage than it should. And the software vendors who go directly from "Try uninstalling and reinstalling and reboot" (wow, I never would have thought of that) to "I'm sorry, you'll have to do a clean installation of Windows on that machine" with no intermediate suggestions. And let's not even talk about the cell-phone vendor that sells a wireless-modem-capable BlackBerry and....doesn't enable it. "Sorry for the inconvenience." Can you say: bait and switch?

You've pretty much got it, Edwinna, and I hope by the time you're reading this something is working right for you. SonicStage is file transfer and music library software. It copies music from computer onto MD, or uploads your recordings from the MD onto your computer. That's what goes through the USB. If you can play audio out your computer speakers, you should also be able to capture it in realtime by plugging an output into Line-In on the MD. Either an analogue cable (stereo plugs) or an optical cable should work if you can just get the computer to output through it. It's a matter of the settings on your soundcard--under Windows Control Panel in Sound and Audio Devices. For Mac, you're on your own. If you want to record internet audio on your PC, which I think is still a better way, then there's StepVoice, which records in mp3, or TotalRecorder ($12), which records in .wav as well. TotalRecorder is excellent, and the freeware version of StepVoice, the only one I've used, is perfectly acceptable unless you need super high fidelity (and internet radio won't be hi-fi to begin with). www.totalrecorder.com http://stepvoice.com/download.html Once you have those files recorded on the computer, you can use SonicStage to transfer them to MD.

Don't sweat it O-P. Even if SS doesn't get the tracks uploaded into your computer--which seems to be getting rarer--it's even more unlikely to screw up the tracks on the disc itself, so you can always do a realtime recording. Annoyances: Sorry, customer-service folks but I do not want to hear "I am sorry for the inconvenience." Just help me solve the problem and don't waste my time with apologies you don't mean. Of course, "I am sorry for the inconvenience" probably means the problem won't get solved and the company doesn't give a hoot anyway.

If you're trying to record audio from the internet to your computer, bypass the MD. Here's a recording program for Mac. http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wiretap/ It should pick up what's coming through your soundcard. There was also an older freeware version of it that you may be able to find by searching somewhere. You have to get an output from your computer into your MD. It may be that when you changed operating systems you changed default settings so you no longer were getting optical out. I'm not familiar at all with Mac, but are there settings for soundcard inputs and outputs? See if you can re-enable optical out. The NH900 is made to work with Windows machines, not Macs. If it's brand new you could try to exchange it for the MZ100, which will upload to a Mac. How did you get SonicStage going on a Mac? It's a Windows program. M3u is a playlist, probably sent to tell RealPlayer what to play.

What were you recording to begin with? How loud was it? And are you sure you are using the Mic (red) jack? Is the mid/side setting at 90 degrees rather than 120, so you're picking up what's in front of the mic? Have you tried replacing the battery? If you're up close to someone speaking and using AGC, you should be getting decent levels. Where was the level meter peaking? It should be spending most of its time around the halfway dash or above.

KrazyIvan is talking about a professional-quality recording. If that's what you need, follow his advice. If what you want is for your own use, to review a college course or something, just about any mic will do the job. If you have a small mic that came with a cassette recorder or something, try it. Since you are recording a single source in front of you, a directional mic would be best. Those are called cardioids. Imagine a heart (as in cardiogram) with the point at the microphone and the shape of the heart in front of it: that's where the mic picks up. If someone is speaking from behind you, you'll have to point the mic at her or it will be muffled. You don't need two separate mics because you're not trying to capture a stereo image, just a single source. But you do need a stereo mic--not a mono mic--or you will only get a recording in one channel. So what you need is called a one-point stereo cardioid mic. You can find them at www.soundprofessionals.com, www.microphonemadness.com, Sony or elsewhere. Here's a Sony directional mic that will work. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...egoryNavigation

Dale-- Thanks for responding so fast. I looked at the PDF, and the instructions on p. 35 are about the longtime annoyance of having to go through the menus to set recording on Manual Volume, and then un-Pause to start recording. It seems Sony is trying to encourage people to set one level and leave it. But have you actually tried setting levels on the fly? Once it is in Manual, you may be able to set them as it records.

Dale Greer's review says that with the MZ100, it is impossible to adjust recording levels on the fly. Is this also true on the RH10? Or is it possible he got stuck in AGC? Just curious.

Well, at least one security outfit does know what a minidisc remote looks like. Got the NHF800 past the metal detectors, etc. with a lot of other junk in my pocket (cellphone, keys). But I was track marking with my RM-MC40ELK--MD unit in pocket--when a Stones security guy spotted me. Almost got kicked out of the concert entirely, but persuaded them to just take my disc and call it even. If you're going to try a Stones show, be stealthier than I was.

Borrow another mic and see if it behaves the same way to make sure the problem is the mic jack itself. It should definitely be a warranty repair.

You can find a lot of taper-friendly bands--and a lot of live hi-fi shows--at www.furthur.net They have their own file-sharing software that hooks you up to a list of authorized bands. I feel no moral compunction about recording a show, any show, for my own use. The musicians got paid to perform, I'm not planning to use the recordings (as ozpeter's classical musicians fear) to damage anyone's reputation, and I'm not distributing them (except an occasional uploaded song in the Gallery). There is no way that an audience recording is going to displace the sale of an album, and no way that any fair-minded listener is going to compare a stage performance to a studio-tweaked one for some kind of nit-picking. Artists are control freaks, and quality control is a big part of maintaining a recording career. But a stage performance can be looser and more fiery and better, or it can be an entire rethinking of a song, which is why all those tapers were at Grateful Dead shows in the first place. Also, bootlegs can be invaluable documents. Example from one of the most control-freak bands ever: The Beatles performed live in the BBC studios in the early 1960's: rare live performances without screaming girls. Due to some freakish notion of economy, the BBC recorded OVER those tapes. The only way those performances were preserved was by fans taping them. The BBC asked fans for tapes (despite admonitions at the time of broadcast that taping was illegal) when they wanted to rebroadcast them, and fans' bootlegs were eventually used for EMI's "Beatles at the Beeb" collection. As Paul McCartney once sang, "and what's wrong with that?"

...and when you do use the windscreens, use a tiny piece of doublestick tape on the side (not the end) of the mic to hold them on, because it's amazingly easy to knock them off and lose them, as I have learned from experience. They're not easy to replace. For an outdoor show with unreserved seating, try to find an acoustic sweet spot. Especially with big outdoor shows, you have to get back a bit from the stage so the PA plus stage amps are both reaching your ears/mics. Near the sound booth is usually best, and keep your distance from chatty people, who will sound even louder and more obnoxious on your recording than at the gig. Imperfect acoustics and quiet neighbors are better than the perfect spot with constant conversation. I'd still start with the same settings as above. But look at the levels, and if the peaks aren't reaching the left-hand dash, then nudge up the manual volume a bit to 21-22/30. You don't ever want the peak to hit the right-hand dash. Do try to remain vertical during the show....

Try it yourself with your own mic, and see how much noise touching the cable adds. With mine the noise, if any, is overwhelmed by music--the cable is under my shirt, run through belt loops to an MD in my pocket or a belt pack. I don't drum along on the cable, obviously, but I'm sure it's not perfectly still either. Wipe off the plug before putting it in the jack. Personally I wouldn't mess with the inside of the jack. For a little belt case to hold the MD and battery pack, your best bet is your local camera store. They have cases of various sizes made for photographer's practical use, and you could see what holds your units best.

I hope you can do it yourself with MDX-400's very clear instructions, since it sounds like you're better at home repairs than I am. If you still want to try the head cleaners, I don't know where to get this sort of thing in Israel. I'd try Froogle (at www.google.com) with the model numbers for the head cleaners. Sony MD-8HCL TDK MD-HLC1SF Maxwell MD-CL

You can get the blue Hi-MD discs from this guy now in the USA. http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-1GB-1-GB-5-PACK-H...1QQcmdZViewItem I just bought a 5-pack and they shipped cross-country in two days. They are much better looking than the opaque Hi-MDs, and they're back in the old plastic sleeves, not oversize. Haven't yet recorded on them, but fingers are crossed.

Next time around, convert to mp3 for your archives. Mp3 files can be copied with no restrictions. Someone is bound to point out that there are other compression formats, like .ogg and .flac (which is high-quality and lossless), but not every player supports them. Instead of using Sonic Stage, rip your files to high-bitrate Mp3 with, among many others, Windows Media Player, Winamp, RealPlayer, MusicMatch, iTunes, etc. or with dbPowerAmp (just a converter, no library). Then, to get the mp3s onto MD, have SonicStage "import" them as you need them. When SS transfers them it will make .oma (ATRAC) copies. There will be some quality loss, since you are taking a compressed format (mp3) and compressing it again (to ATRAC, unless you have a 2d-generation Hi-MD), but if you start with high-quality mp3s--a bitrate of 192 or higher--then you should have something listenable.

There are a lot of cleaners: they're shaped like a MD, you just pop them in. I'm not recommending these retailers, just thought I'd show you some links. Shop around. Sony makes one: http://www.x10.com/electronics/allcategori...ny_MD-8HCL.html TDK makes one (though this seems like a high price): http://www.audiocubes.com/product/TDK_MD-H...ns_Cleaner.html Maxell makes one: http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/productDeta...gcfkmdffhdfif.0 Even RadioShack makes one: http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?cook...duct_id=44-2000

Eh? What was that you said? Seriously, I go to a lot of live events. By loud I mean rock band in a small club loud, or arena show near the speakers loud: probably about 100-105 dB, near the limit of the MD-powered Panasonics. If I can feel the pressure of the bass in my ears, physically, then I know my recording is probably fried. But I have often gone to shows where the highs were so piercing I used earplugs, and the recordings via attenuator came out fine.