Christopher

Hi, welcome to the forums. :sleep: Anyway, this is a note to you: please do not triple post topics in the future, as this is heavily frowned upon. As for your problem, you need to install the software/drivers before you plug the unit in, as it's like that with pretty much any USB device [plug and play is overrated]. Try installing the software/drivers first and then plug it in and report back; if that doesn't work I'm sure our brilliant resident guru and moderator of this forum, iceeedtea, will assist you.

1. Welcome to the forums, please register if you plan on staying. :happy: 2. The misconceptions you've stated - throw them out the window. A common misconception amongst new users is that Minidisc units are prone to failure, "12 months" apparently is the number that stuck with you. That's completely false, since it depends on who owns the unit and how they take care of it. I've owned a Minidisc unit for two years before, a MZ-R700 that I eventually sold on eBay. It never gave me a problem because I treated it very well; do the same when you make the plunge and you'll most likely find the same results. If you buy used, then the aforementioned words lose their validity since you haven't had control over the MD unit's "life". I would suggest you buy a lower-end Hi-MD unit, which is not terribly expensive, and will give you great functionality.

Yes, Sony would have certainly said that this unit would have been a slot-in recorder in the press release or that one *.pdf. I know it appears to be so, but it's not. They abolished that way of disc insertion years ago.

Plain and simple if you're not interested in Hi-MD and live in Europe: Get the Sharp IM-DR420 [about 110 pounds]. That's all you need.

TOC = Table of contents. Each time there is a change made on the disc, a "TOC edit" or a variation on that phrase will appear on the LCD and then go away after a few seconds.

So you want to get the recordings you've made on your MD unit that supposedly uploaded to computer? If that is the case, then I'm sorry you cannot - at least in that sense. I'd delve into that a little more but I want to make sure we're on the same page first.

Well, first off - welcome to the forums. :happy: Anyway, are you aware of the upcoming Hi-MD format? It boasts features that are worlds beyond the current Minidisc format, and would give you greater functionality in the recording sense. The thing is though, it doesn't debut until April. Each Hi-MD disc can carry one gigabyte of data, and has a plethora of recording options available - ones espesically attractive to someone who is interested in recording. Here's the FAQ about it: http://minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html Here's a listing of the units scheduled to sell in April: http://minidisc.org/himd_table.html Of course, there are standard MD options that we can discuss as well, but I figured that you should catch up on this [if you haven't already] and then we can consider the other options.

Not sure, you own the iPod and a MD unit, which one sounds better to you? :rasp:

I like to point out that iPod's have a 30mW output compared a usual standard of 5mW for most current MD and Hi-MD units. I've heard from a good number of people that iPod's sound "flat", but I've yet to even touch or hear one myself. Any iPod owners care to speak about this a little more?

An oldie but a good unit indeed! Here's some more information about it if you haven't viewed this already: http://minidisc.org/part_Sharp_MD-MS701+MS702.html Anyway, 10mW output and Sharp's wonderful recording options. I am sure that you will find great success with this unit. Be careful of the infamous UTOC errors, though! Be sure to write back and tell us your impressions.

Function in what sense? I would check this out: http://minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html

Actorlife, make sure that the avatar is 150x150, and equal to or less than 17.5 kilobytes.

I have hired Majestic, KJ_Palmer + iceeedtea to the moderator team. I may hire one other person, but this is probably good for now. I also added new smilies to the forum, iceeedtea's suggestion that borrows off the Invision format. I will probably add some more to that as well. Please take the time to familiarize yourself with these new smilies. As a closer step to removing guest posts [and a general reminder to those who may post when they're not logged in], there is a javascript reminder that will ask you to login/register when you post under a guest. If you're posting more than a few times, please register. :happy: Also, a few of the graphic elements such as folder icons/etc will change in then next full days to better fit the new look of the forum. The forum may also seem a little bit faster, as I made a few code adjustments. Please private message me with any issues.

The 810 features an optical input. They have not put optical outputs in Minidisc portables since 1992. You would need a male-to-male stereo cable, which is available just about anywhere that sells electronics. As for the application you should use, I'll leave that to the others. Good luck! :mrgreen:

It's listed on Sony's ecat page, aka the Japanese Sony equipment page. Anyway, in regards to one of the inital questions, the HD digital amp's sound has been heard before and is apparently comprable to a Sharp 1-bit digital amp.

I will look into this, but I don't want to delve into the realm of excess. I'm glad you guys like the new look, makes all the work worth it. :wink:

I believe that our friend here is looking for a car MD player. Anyways, I think that the best bet is the Sony MDX-CA580, as it is two years newer than the MDX-C5970 you mentioned and has slightly better features. Welcome to the forum, and please enjoy your stay. You should register, too!

Added - user is online/offline icon to all posts, profile, and memberlist [if you're hidden, it will only show hidden to you, mods + admins]. - moderator name color to yellow, and admin to red. These colors are present just about everywhere. - if a user creates a post and views it afterwards, his views will not tally on the total views. This always annoyed me. I was finally able to consolidate all of the news posts into subforums! Integrating subforums was quite an experience, but it appears to be fully functional. Unfortunately, I accidentally lost three months of news forums and all posts within [11/2003, 12/2003 + 12/2002 I believe]. I am extremely sorry for this, as it was completely my fault since I'm still a little bit inexperienced. Added Buyer + Seller Feedback subforum to Marketplace, as per actorlife's request. Think I'll put some ranks in next.. p.s. The forum was down for about a hour and a half today whilst I was attempting to install a mod for the forums that completely backfired. Due to some brilliant work I was able to restore the forums to it's normal look + everything is a-ok.

Sure they will. It's easily viewable outside through the index [since it's the last replied], and once someone goes to the forum. If anyone is looking at the 'phones forum, this is the top post. Plus, if users press "view posts since last visit", they'll most likely come across this post. Also, if they have e-mail notification for this post, they'll see that too. But the e-mail thing isn't valid to guests, of course.. Speaking of, you should register!

From what I can tell, probably less than $100 us to fix it, but like rain said you're probably just better off waiting for Hi-MD. The N707 is a fine unit, though..and if you find good use out of it then get it repaired.

As of this time the only unit that will be able to write in the normal modes without reformatting the disc is the LAM-X1 desktop system, I believe.

KJ_Palmer is 100% correct in his interpretation of my inital statement. Nonetheless, if you do keep anything on your discs, be sure that you swap the data between the archive disk and a fresh one every 5-10 years to keep the data from facing loss. p.s. Welcome to the forums, please register?

There's a possibility that the lifespan could be not so favorable, but it's like that with optical media in general. I believe the writing/reading method Hi-MD employs [with the heating and such] will not produce a significant loss of life. I've read over alot of information relating to DWDD, MSR and such and I can honestly say I'm speaking the near-truth. About your username, you're going to have to use something else. Sorry.

You're a riot. I dunno, Non-Sony Zone? Sounds dorky. As you can probably already tell, new template for the forum and logo.

You could use Hi-MD as a long term storage device, granted you took extremely good care of the devices you are employing. Also, since lifespan concerning optical media is weary, I would suggest transferring data between discs every 5-10 years.