norrad

MD editing is fantastic, especially with a deck. About 4 years ago I decided not to wait for Sony to fix it's software problems and purchased a CDR-W33 on Ebay for a decent price (Less than a high end Hi-MD recorder). I highly recommend them. I do all my editing of live and personal recordings on MD and then copy optically (slow, I know) to the CDR-W33. You can over-ride copy protection on your incoming signal, choose to include protection on your cd or not, and add text directly to cd as well. The cd can then be copied or added into a computer and thrown onto as many MD's as you'd like. I will be downloading SS 3.4 to try it though. I do have a question about 3.4 though - Starting with 3.2 ( I believe, but it could be earlier) you could no longer use SonicStage to "BackUp" a cd. Can you copy (Back Up in Sony speak) CD's in 3.4? I used to purchase a cd, use SonicStage to make a back-up "complilation" so that I could have my copy come out with full text (a standard back-up would not include text if the original didn't) and then copy it to MD with SP and Joint text and I had a high quality, labeled for me to enjoy, the original CD went back in the Jewel case in storage and the full copy with text went into the CD library for occasional use. I was very frustrated with Sony (yet again) when this feature vanished. Speaking of vanishing features, anyone here also recall that back in oh, SonicStage 1.2 for example, you could edit your songs on the computer so long as no copies were checked out? Very handy for getting rid of annoying intro's and outro's on live discs and "art" albums. And when listening on the computer SonicStage had an adjustable EQ that went the way of the dodo somewhere in Sonicstage 2.x. So now there is more than one question: Does 3.4 support full content CD "back-ups"? Does 3.4 include an EQ or adjustable soundfields? Does 3.4 allow editing of tracks ripped from CD's? Thanks, Darron

Hi, Count me in for SP. International or national is fine. Darron

Sorry to ask if it's been brought up before but. . . . . i thought I read somewhere that with SS 3.0 you are limited to how many audio CD's you can record/burn from any given playlist. I think it said 7 times. Any confirmation on this? If true it's pretty assinine, it took SS 2.x to finally get rid of limited check outs for MD and MS even though all along you could burn as many cd-r's as you wanted, and now it's the otherway around? AAAArrrggghhhh. Anyone using 3.0 can you check on this? norrad

vielen danke

drat! i was hoping there might be a back door. Thanks for your reply. another query then, my friend has about the same music files as I do. If he does a backup to a hard disc, can I then restore that database to my new, virgin install of sonic stage? Installing his 40gigs of music in one fell swoop beats endless hours of going cd by cd. now i am grateful i never threw away/recorded over my old SP md collection made on my jb920. regarding AOL, yeah, it's a piece of crap, it freezes and crashes all the time. i should change - but along those lines/arguments everyone should be using a Mac. . . lol.

Hi, I apologize if this has been addressed elsewhere. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have a VAIO NV170 with a 60G HD. 15G on C:drive and the rest on D: My OS froze up and I could not boot my drive. I had to use my restore discs to reinstall/wipe my C drive. My photos, music files, and videos were all on my D drive and are still there. However, sonicstage will NOT recognize the existing database. Any ideas? I've tried loading different versions of SonicStage ( I was running 2.0 before the "crash" ) but nothing works. Thanks for your time, Darron7000@aol.com

I apologize if this has been brought up and answered earlier but I did not find it. Does SS2.0 support unlimited checkouts to Hi-MD only? Or also to netMD? What about memory stick? Anyone know? Thanks for your time. Darron

head to Ebay! alternately. . .i could be convinced to sell you an 8970 if you are MD SP user. the 8970 is the best car md deck ever. single din sized and with HX-DSP it offers amazing sound control. the voice feature sucks, so just don't use it. also, it is pre ASS-XPLOD (ugly ugly ugly aren't they all?) so looks pretty nice.

Hi guys, Sorry if someone has already posted this or something like it, but here we go - how I make my SP recordings. 1. Copy original CD with my CDR-W33 and input text via keyboard. (1a. This will also work using SonicStage ->tools->copy cd->make original compilation->check cd text->use CDDB for names). 2. Record to md from cd player w/ joint text (i use DEJ925 ->MZN910 or r900 or r90) Why? Because with a cd made this way after the initial confirmation to transfer text all subsequent text is transfered automatically!! No more pressing enter at every song. I figured this out after buying CD's (the Raveonettes and The Ataris) that had cd text which all transferred after one "enter". REJOICE! joint text the way it was meant to be - usable and hassle-free. All of the prior complaints about joint text were not really Sony's fault, it is something in the manufacturing of disc's with cdtext. Yes, i know you will say it's a hassle to copy cd's in the first place, but i was doing that before to have back-ups of my cd's (and tapes and records - the W33 is terrific) anyway. Also, you would think that Sony, with their SCMS crazed policies would stamp "copy" on a cd made with sonicstage, but it doesn't, it copies perfectly. All this said, LP2 sounds pretty good to my ears (w/d66's) but I have md units in my home stereo (630) and 2 cars (8970's) that aren't MDLP so I am sticking with slightly better sounding LP because it would cost too much to retrofit home/cars. The only thing i use netmd for is titling. . . and not too much of that anymore. jsut thought i'd share norrad

Well Guest, Many cruisers come with audio systems and speakers AND have a headphone out for connecting to helmets with cb/intercom/speakers. Some even have cd changers! (BMW for example) There are people out there who say just riding a motorbike is "stupid and dangerous." As for the law, they don't know squat. Some idiot cop actually tried to ticket me for wearing earplugs!! I couldn't believe it.

Hi Leon, Thanks for replying. The manual I looked at said the same thing. And I thought this was odd as everyone always seem to say that Pro decks have defeatable SCMS. I was hoping to find someone who actually had access to one as perhaps they actually are defeatable but Sony didn't want to include it in the manual. I thought I saw a post a while ago where in a signature it stated that the member had an MDS-E10 and a TASCAM cd recorder that he used for making copies. I had hoped he would find this. norrad

Hey, maybe I can help. You say you made live recordings, did you use mic in or line in from a soundboard? If so, you will then be able to easily transfer to your computer digitally if you have an optical in on your sound card. Your recording will have no copy protection on it since your original recording was NOT digital. Hope I was helpful. There are other people on here who know much more about transferring to computer and if you have specific questions you should search through the forums or start a new thread. norrad

I am looking at purchasing one. I had always believed that Professional products from Sony had menu defeatable SCMS. I have seen this posted numerous times. HOWEVER the manual for the E-10 contains the same SCMS section that all sony md units have. Which is to say that you can't make any second generation copies. I have an SCMS stripper and two decks at home but it is a bit of pain to use as it strips away EVERYTHING but the audio, meaning track marks have to manually reinserted. Lately I have been doing this: CD digital out to 630, digital out to stripper to 530 so that I end up with md A with SCMS and all track mark TOC and md B w/o SCMS or track marks. At first I thought, no problem, I will label md A and then clone it's TOC to md B. Well, there is a problem, the SCMS is in the TOC. When I clone A to B and then try to copy B to C (new md) I get the SCMS "CANNOT COPY". If I don't clone A to B and manually track mark B then I can copy to C WITHOUT stripper. In order to avoid all this mess I was looking at purchasing an MDS-E10 (as the E-12 lacks optical in/out) hoping that a menu defeatable SCMS would just ignore SCMS bits and still let track marks through. Sorry about the length, but does anyone have access to an MDS-E10 and could confirm if SCMS is defeatable?? Any conclusive help would be deeply appreciated. norrad

I have a pair of Sony SRS-Z500 for travel and I am highly pleased with them. Originally I had the Z750 model but it was larger and too bass heavy in hotel rooms. There is only a volume knob, no tone or bass/treble adjust. The 500's are lighter, smaller and still pack impressive sound quality. That's my opinion, hope it's useful. norrad

Sorry, Anytime you make a digital recording on Sony consumer MD units it is marked as copyrighted and a first-gen copy (unless you have an SCMS stripper or Sony Pro model). All of your discs from you copied from your computer WILL have SCMS on them. Don't know why you are so worried though as you recorded them from your computer as much more compressed that ATRAC most likely. Not many people can or will save music at around 400kbps to their harddisk. norrad

have you checked the equipment browser at minidisc.org?

I have found an answer and will post it in case anyone here is interested. The MDS-S40 and 50 do NOT allow TOC cloning! They both eject the unit on returning to user mode. Seeing as how the MDS-S41 is just a slightly different version of the S40 I think it is safe to assume it will not allow TOC cloning either. norrad

I think it's worth it to go for a 520 instead of a 510. I have both and beliee I can hear a difference in quality. The 470 mentioned will have atrac type R in slow play recording which should be a little better than the atrac 4.5 in the 520, but I have no complaints about the 4.5. Also, when you get into mid level decks you will gain an optical out which the 3xx and (i believe) the 4xx decks do not have. I won't get a deck without it as I often make duplicate md's for myself and my buddy. With an optical out going to another home deck or a portable recorder you can make 2 optical copies simultaneously which I find really handy. just some thoughts, hopefully you will find something helpful. darron

Hi, I have an MDX-C8900, an MDX-C670, and a MDX-C800REC. the last one is an ugly xplod unit, but it isn't as ugly as some and it records/edits, which is pretty cool on road trips. The 8900 is my second favourite (8970's rock!!) and is a ES model, very clean looks. Let me know if you're interested in any. norrad

hi, i have a JE630 and 520 at home and use TOC cloning a lot. problem is that i travel for work and want to be able to serious editing and copying on the road. i have a mzr900 i trael with. i recently purchased on ebay an MDS-S39 (supposedly pretty much the same internally as my 520) the equipment browser here says TOC cloning is possible, BUT IT ISN'T. when returning out of service mode with a disc inside it will always eject. i like that the MDS-S series is smaller than trying to travel with my JE520, but I need to be able to clone TOC's. The browser also says that the S40, S41 and S50 will let you you TOC clone, can anyone confirm this? i don't want to buy another piece of equipment and then have it not TOC clone. 1. MDS-S39 will NOT allow TOC cloning. 2. Can anyone CONFIRM if the MDS-S40, S41 or S50 will allow TOC cloning? Thanks for your time. norrad

hi, tried holding AMS knob on md side (and reconnecting power), tried AMS knob on cd side, tried both AMS knobs together, tried AMS and stop buttons on md side. . . no luck.

hi, can't get into service mode on my new toy. Any advice? thanks