I think that's one of the most-often-asked questions.
The only way to upload from a MiniDisc to anything is to do a real-time recording. Meaning, you'd have to connect your MD player to the Mac's microphone input port, use something on the Mac that can capture sounds, and play from the MD player real-time. That is THE only way to get stuff onto a computer.
NetMD, the protocol for using a PC (Mac stuff is being developed by third-party folks) to manipulate data on the MD and to download TO a minidisc recorder, does not allow for uploads. There are countless threads on this throughout the forum . . . but the basic idea is that Sony thinks that blocking uploading will prevent the MiniDisc from becoming a tool for bootlegging. STUPID, if you ask me.
As for MD data drives, the MD-Data format is/was not the same as the audio format, and the two are incompatible. MD Data drives can't read the audio data from a MiniDisc. That said, the point is moot, since the drives haven't been made for years and might be available in Japan if your Japanese is good enough for you to ask someone, "Hey, you guys have anything like Ebay where I might find someone unloading a MD-Data deck?"
There is a Sony Net-MD deck made for use with a computer, and which looks like a peripheral, called the MDS-NT1. It's a Japanese unit (not sold in the States, but maybe it's available in Australia or New Zealand). It doesn't look like it's any better than a regular NetMD-equipped MD recorder since it also (by definition) does not allow uploading.
Your best bet is to patch the MD player to the Mac's microphone input and capturing the sound. Actually, that's about the only way to do it now.
Stuart
