doclloyd

Thanks... I hear what you're saying about the USB devices. I will be looking into these devices. I'm waiting to see what the company does for Christmas bonuses ... if it's decent enough, I'll have to buy some things for myself...

The subject basically speaks for itself. I'm looking for a sound card that isn't too expensive (<$100 if possible) that has Optical out capabilities (in wouldn't be so bad either.) I currently have a SB PCI128 card. Basic, gets the job done for day to day. Starting to look for more as I delve into music creation on the side (just got ACID Music Studio 5.0). Does it just make sense to get a USB audio device with this functionality instead? Thoughts are appreciated.

yes, there is a car adapter that will work with the NH900. I bought one of the Sony car adapters kits that comes with the tape adapter too. Just be sure to set the voltage on the cigarette lighter adapter to the right voltage for your unit. Check the AC adapter for the 900, but I think it's 3V/6V. It definitely charges the unit while you're not using it... works well for me.

Sound forge (and ACID) can export to Net-MD directly (LP2 mode by default), but not Hi-MD for now. I tried the trial versions and it didn't recognize the portable with a Hi-MD formatted disc in there. Hopefully they fix that sometime soon.

Sorry to bump, but I'm wondering about this topic, since I'm asking for these pieces of software for Christmas. Just want to make sure they'll be useful enough for my needs. I'm just starting to get into audio editing and am looking forward to editing/mixing tracks and recordings into some fun tracks. It's something to do to keep my mind off work

Here's the version numbers from a PC at work that has SS 2.2: SonicStage : 2.2.00.09020 SonicStage Add-on for Connect : 2.2.00.08230 OpenMG Secure Module : 4.0.00.05270 MagicGate Memory Stick Device : 4.0.00.06170 NW-E2, NW-E3, NW-E5 and NW-E8P : 4.0.00.06170 OpenMG CD : 4.0.00.06170 CD Walkman : 4.0.00.06170 Hi-MD : 4.0.00.06170 Music Clip, NW-S4, NW-E7 and NW-E10 : 4.0.00.06170 HDWM : 4.0.00.06170 Net MD : 4.0.00.06170 EMD Plug-in: 1.1.0.84 Playback Plug-in : 1.0.0.53 CD-R Writing Module(ATRAC CD/Audio CD/MP3 CD) : 2.2.00.08230 Px Engine: 1.1.0.367 Would be interesting to see if any changes were made with tracks uploaded from Hi-MD to go directly to CD. Doubtful, since they've released their WAV conversion tool. Look forward to hearing about what's new.

Re: soundforge, does anyone have any thoughts regarding the "new" consumer-based Sound Forge Audio Studio? (Link here... http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/Prod...FeatureID=7874) The other app I'm considering is the ACID Music studio, because it would be fun to play around with making my own music. That, and it has some (but not all?) of the editing features of Sound Forge Audio Studio? (Link here http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/prod...FeatureID=7816) I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts. I'm currently trying out Audacity and it's been alright for my currently basic needs, but I'm willing to entertain pay-for software Plus, direct to MD transfer is cool too.

I think there's just a Register button in Simpleburner. I've never (to my recollection) had to put in any personal info for it. I think the software takes care of it and I get CD info. The one thing I would like it to do is be able to pull in and transfer individual track/artist info. I have a number of compilation discs and so far it will use whatever the main artist name is for the disc and not pull in the artist listed on each track. SS does this just fine, however.

My reading of the mp3 "wrapper" is that it's only affected on the unit itself and the file on your computer is left as is. Regardless, this is pretty exciting. I'm wondering about getting the HD1 now or waiting for the announcement of the HD3 in the US -- or importing one??? My only concern would be having a version of SS that's compatible with it. I would imagine they're offering SS 2.3 here soon as well, since they are selling the new Flash based players with direct mp3 support on the sonystyle.com website seen here We'll see. Sony's shaking things up right before the holidays. I will say I am a bit shocked that they didn't annoucement this product here in the US, where their competition against Apple's iPod is biggest.

Wonder if this means a new version is coming out for the US/Europe... mp3 support for walkmans? Maybe that means for those new flash players that support mp3, you can directly copy files over w/SS instead of that separate program they tout right now. Of course, other additions for the Hi-MD people would be nice too, like not screwing up uploads (hasn't happened to me yet), burning uploaded tracks to Audio CD directly from SS if desired, etc. Only time will tell.

Will this even work for us English-version users?

But I thought all the music purchased off the iTunes Music Store is 128KB AAC format. Am I mistaken on this?

For myself, the transition is relatively painless. I go back and forth between making Hi-MD discs (using existing 80 min discs) and regular MD compilations. The big struggle is not having Hi-MD ready deck/bookshelf equipment. I have a MXD-D5C in my living room and a Sharp SD-11 bookshelf system in my bedroom. A lot of times it's nice to be able to listen to a MD in those rooms. Once Sony (and others) come out with non-portable Hi-MD equipment, I'll be in heaven. :-)

for kicks, you could try renaming the extension to .oma and see if anything comes of it in SonicStage. It may be the same file type info.

Unfortunately, you may be at a loss. You need to run the SonicStage backup tool before formatting your PC and starting over. It's the only way to keep the files playable again later. It all has to do with encryption keys and such... someone else could explain it better, I'm sure.

I didn't have any problems with the convertor not exporting the name of the uploaded file, provided it already named of course. Seems to "work as advertised." What I don't understand, or perhaps this is yet to be seen, is how well they will market this "new" capability of Hi-MD: the ability to do what you want w/mic and line-in recordings. Will they post this info on the product pages for Hi-MD on sonystyle.com (and other country's sony sites). The site they posted it on is hardly well known to most people. Personally, it may help Hi-MD gain more respect in the audio enthusiast community if they post info about the helper apps they have, such as the WAV convertor. Maybe future Hi-MD buyers will just have a copy of the software on the installation CD...

Take a look at this thread. This may be affecting you... http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=6527 Try downloading the appropriate hotfix and let us know if SS loads up then.

I decoded an oma file via himdrenderer and the new tool and both files sounded the same to me (not incredibly close listening though). File sizes were exactly the same, which I suppose is to be expected.

I'll give this a try tonight with some uploaded material and see how it goes on my AthlonXP/2500+. As for the filesize, my guess is it's a pre-defined limit for easy CD recording w/o confusing the consumer. I'm not home yet to try it, but it should be a user-definable limit on the cutoff, if any is desired at all.

Likely not, marcnet. Yours still does optical in tracks (sounds like) and any other .oma file we have on our computers. So it will still be more flexible than Sony's offering. Keep up the good work!

More feature requests... * Easy ability to move the entire library to a different drive or section of the hard drive * No DRM on ripped CD tracks. (sort of goes along with above) most people don't use SS anyway. I'm fine with the restrictions on purchased stuff... * Easy ability to theme the entire app, not just the background I'll think of more later...

I've mounted a Hi-MD disc w/o incident. It labels it as /dev/sda (scsi-emulation)... just like other usb drives. Once I'm at home I'll try out the dd command when I get home from work.

i've connected it to my linux notebook before and it works well enough. haven't tried what you've mentioned yet, but i will when i have the chance...

Where did this snippet come from? Is there a link for the press release? I'm all for improved software for better music management on the PC side. If I had time and enough working knowledge of Windows programming, I'd be all over this. We'll see what "improvements" come... and when. Give it a long time...

Interesting that they don't have an answer for 2000 machines. At least they've found a way to fix their hotfix I'll be patiently waiting.. not that it matters much, since I messed with the ss database.