JeffS

I agree with campeknobi, you're going to get mixed results depending on where you ask. I've been a long time MD user and am currently on the fence between HiMD and an MP3 player. Since you're keeping budget in mind, I would highly recommend going with MD. The expandability and cost of discs, make it the most afordable way to go allowing you to scale from a little space to a lot of space. MP3 with removeable are more expensive, and so is the media. Don't get me wrong, MP3 players have their place, and are good at what they do (depending on the player). HD units are more expensive upfront, and you've got an active hard drive in there to worry about, not cool if you're going to be very active (running, jogging, gym) while using it. Flash based players are great for active, but are more expensive for less storage, and you're at fixed amount of storage before being tied to your computer. I'll assume that too much INXS even with todays mp3 players would still be annoying :laugh: (sorry andy, couldn't resist) Sound quality isn't an issue if you're going for a higher end unit, but this also factors in again to price. Some of the better sounding MP3 players can be pricey, while some of the budget minded ones, sound like junk. This is also a subjective issue. To further complicate things, you also need to factor in what headphones you'll be using in order to judge sound quality. A player with bad sound, but really bad headphones, you won't notice, but if you get a better set of cans, you might be disappointed in your player. As far as sound quality, if you're going to be using stock headphones with either unit, SQ is not a major issue. Even at lp4 on MD, you probably won't be disappointed with the SQ. I used decent phones with my 510ck and recorded most stuff at lp4, and it sounded really good through my Sony EX70 (current model is the EX-71). When I upgraded to better headphones, I was no longer as happy with the sound, and started recording at lp2 on the computer, and SP via optical. I don't know if this gives you a better direction to go in, but hopefully it will at least help in your decision. I'd recommend MD for portable player within a budget. High end HD mp3 players are great, but head over to www.headfi.org in the portable section, and you'll see some really neat stuff. Look around and you'll also see people carrying portable units with amplifiers, custom built interconnects, and portable rigs worth $1000 USD and up. Sound quality matters to these people and squeezing every drop out of your gear can get pricey. Good luck, and let us all know what you choose. -Jeff

If you can dig up schematics for the remote you have and the remote that works for your player you MIGHT be able to rig it up. I doubt it would be easy, but if you like to tinker, go for it.

Nope, That remote only works with MD units designed for a tuner remote. If the extra grooves were filed down so that it slides into a regular MD remote port, I question if it would even work on the unit it was made for. Dump it quick and get your money back. -Jeff

better yet, use touchtones so that you can play from the earphone into the handset and have the himd actually dial the number...

check out www.headfi.org head over to the DIY section, and you'll find lots of great info on this and similar tweaks. In short, it's been done, and you can create much higher quality cord than shipped with the phones. Then it's all a matter of opinion as to whether you can hear the difference between stock, and you're home made super high grade custom job :grin: Seriously though, building your own interconnects (which is pretty much what this is) is easy, and you'll be suprised at the increase in quality you can get. I don't have these phones, so I can't speak as to the stock cord that came with them. I'm just a tinkerer who never turns down a chance to disassemble things in my house. -Jeff

I don't think it would have a negative effect, save for the output volume level. More than likely, to get the sound you want to hear after the equalizer, you'll need to run the output into a good amp. Personally I try to use the gain on my portable, but I've got it figured out for where my preference is with the headphones I use. It's in a moderately noisy environment, so this isn't exactly audiophile listening at its finest. I hope to pick up an amp in the next year, but I'm waiting to try upgrade to the nh900 (or its 2nd gen replacement) and try out the built in HD amp that is in there. good luck -Jeff

Yeah, there is a free version, that bugs you to upgrade all the time. annoys you with ads, and rips at a snails pace. But other than that, it's got an interface that make SonicStage seem like the greatest program ever written. :grin: -Jeff

Yes Works great, but there are a few catches. The LCD display won't show all the information, so while you can still use the equalizer function, you won't be able to see where the level is set. It's pretty easy to just count how many button pushes up down and over, to keep a mental note while you're setting it though. Also, the melody timer only displays the 10s column, so again it's counting button presses. the PDM doesn't work, because it loses it's memory when the system loses power. And the system loses power when you open it. On the up side, Line Out works great, EQ works great (see above), Timer, the function to speed up and slow down (forget the name of it. all work great. It's a worth while hack. I'm not sure if there were other functions added, It's been a while since mine has been at it's factory settings. I started a thread about the hack specifically for the 510 quite a while ago, but it should be easy to search for and find. Also, I wasn't able to do the hack without the remote. You can get into service mode, but the navigate, I needed the remote. I also had and older firmware (1.2) so that may or not make a difference. the hack is the same for all versions though. good luck -Jeff

I don't know if it works with simpleburner2, I haven't tried it yet, but checkout the thread in the netmd forum regarding m3u2sb. The guy who wrote that wrote a minidisc labeling program. It's supposed to pull the track listing from what's on your disc. It get's the info from simplburner. It hasn't been updated in a while, so that's why I'm not sure about sb2. -Jeff

You can, but as I recall talking to them, when I first heard about the hacked drives and software, it's VERY expensive. I've got one of the data drives sitting in a closet collecting dust because I currently have no use for it. Unfortunately, it was very cost prohibitive to have it converted by them. Mind you this is coming from a consumer perspective, not somebody in the recording industry. I'm sure there are people out there willing to pay thousands of dollars for this feature; I'm just not one of them. Do you know if their price has come down? -Jeff

ygm

Variable Bit Rate. an mp3 that's say, 192 VBR, will use upto 192 bits but use less when there is less information to encode. So they save space. -Jeff

simple burner (ripping directly from cd) real audio (I wouldn't say it's better but at least is not sonic stage) real isn't actually that bad, but for ease of use, I find SS to be more straight forard. YMMV -Jeff

Do a search in the forums for sony image library. It's a package that needs to be installed on your system and you should get everything working. I had this problem when I reinstalled my system, and loaded SS/SB from downloads, vs. from the original cd. good luck -Jeff

I've been using er-6is for a few months now and my 510 can drive them perfectly fine. Actually I have yet to find a source that couldn't power them. Hoping to upgrade to an nh900 in a few months. -Jeff

This sounds like an issue with the source file. I'm guessing you're converting from mp3, and probably VBR mp3s at that. I've had issues with VBR files that SS (any version) just does not like. For those files rip them out to wav or burn to cd/image and use SS to import from there. That should get you back up and running. Currently I have my music collection in iTunes, using CBR mp3s at 192. Since it has to be transcoded to lp2 there isn't much getting lost and iTunes is decent for music managment. I just import what I'm going to copy to MD, and delete all the files afterwards, including omgs. If you're still having problems transcoding, select the files and do "convert format" first, before transfering to disc. I've had a few times where it does the conversion on the fly, that it's errored out and crashed SS. Good software can be so hard to come by these days... -Jeff

make 2 images -Jeff

It would have been an improvement if they would have just added a simple crossfeed. Maybe even adjustable crossfeed to deal with some older recordings. -Jeff

If you're concerned about cable quality, and you're moderatly handy with a soldering iron, you could easily build your own. checkout: http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=52044 easy step by step, and depending on materials you use you can get some VERY nice cables for a fraction of what you would pay comercially. good luck. -Jeff

I'd be happy with an update to allow importing of apple lossless or flac. of course anything Apple is a dirty word at Sony -Jeff

nope. I was in a similar boat as you, but mine was from rebuilding my comptuer and a clean install of the OS. my SS database got corrupted, and none of the suggestions, including uninstall and reinstall would fix it. So I did a clean install of the entire system, but unfortunately, the "key" to the music was gone for good. You might try the backup function to export the music, so it can be reimported to SS, but it's going to A) take a lot of space on your drive, and probably won't work. the backup is a last ditch effort. Now I archive everything as mp3 and transcode to lp2 to make a disc. Not the greatest, but iTunes actually makes a decent music manager. good luck -Jeff

the volume control while recording will only affect the volume of the headphone out that you are using to listen through. To adjust the levels you have to pause the recording and then I believe the volume keys control the recording level. double check your manual to be sure, it's been a while since I've recorded anything that wasn't optical. -Jeff

ygpm

My guess is that just having a sony repair person take a look at it would cost about $100. If you're willing to spend that much, you can pick up a MZ-N510CK, which would be a similar model, but also has the NetMD feature. The came out over a year ago at $125, so they should be fairly cheap now... -Jeff

pick up some decent rechargable nimh batteries at your local store. Rayovac has some that charge inf 15 minutes (using their special charger) The unit will charge any nimh battery, but it will charge it at a much slower pace. It's not a "quick-charger" like some that are out there. I believe, but I may be wrong, that the battery you listed is just a 700 mAh battery. You'll have much more recording/playin time with something a little more modern. 2000 mAh are much more common these days. It will take longer to charge in your recorder that the specified times listed in the manual, but it will last longer too. good luck -Jeff