raintheory

spam... attempted anyway

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before or not, but I think there may be a workaround to the limitations of the RH1 for uploading NetMD content... TOC cloning. If you are able to clone the TOC of an analog recorded LP2/LP4 disc on to a disc with NetMD content on it, then in theory you will be able to upload the disc using the MZ-RH1. There are plenty of TOC cloning tricks ranging from the ability to restore accidentally deleted content, increasing disc capacity, as well as bypassing SCMS... The bypassing of SCMS is what caught my attention and leads me to believe that you would be able to apply the same technique to get NetMD content to PC. The only drawback that I can forsee is that with the TOC cloning procedure you would end up with one long track the entire length of the MiniDisc. Not such a big deal though because trackmarks can be added prior to uploading with no problems. More info on TOC cloning here: Sony Decks - http://www.minidisc.org/cloning_procedure.html Sharp Portables - http://www-public.tu-bs.de:8080/~y0001729/...lone/index.html Also, I sucessfully modified my old MZ-R700 today and have used it with no problems for TOC cloning. Thanks to the service manual, an eyeglass repair kit, a small set of pliers and a small piece of cardstock paper. The entire modifying procedure took less than 30min.,

You would need some source volume... But you should be able to set the recording levels on the recorder to get it just right.

I think it involved entering test/service mode. Doesn't seem to complicated. I didn't realize until after I sold my deck a few days ago that I probably could have used it for that, lol/.

I d/l the service manual in order to find out where the switches/etc. are that tell the unit when the disc is ejected, and then tore the unit apart to rig the switches so that the unit doesn't realize when I switch discs. Wasn't nearly as difficult as I imagined it would be. There were only two switches, the first one (which I had to physically remove [break]) was the switch that turns the unit off when you press the open lever. The second switch was a little more difficult to find and I had to remove the bottom case from the unit. Once I found it though I just slid a small piece of cardstock paper on top of it to keep the switch depressed even when the unit is opened. As a result, I can now recover any SP/LP2/LP4 tracks that are accidentally deleted, or increase the capacity of my 74min MiniDiscs. Basically with TOC cloning, you first record a disc so that it has one track the full length of the disc (in whatever format your accidentally deleted disc is) and then insert that disc into the modified "cloning" recorder. This reads the TOC into memory. You then eject the disc without the recorder knowing and insert your disc with the accidentally deleted material. The recorder still thinks the original disc is in with the one long track, so you simply rename the track or whatnot, and then press stop and presto! The TOC from the disc with the one continuous track is written to the other disc. Effectively restoring your lost audio (without trackmarks, but small price to pay).

Putting my MZ-R700 back together after dismantling it and modifying it to use for TOC cloning. Works like a charm.

Personally I would recommend uploading the recording in it's entirety and using Audacity for editing. Even with all of it's improvements I still have not ever used SonicStage for anything other than getting music to and from the device. I have had bad experiences editing tracks on my RH10 itself (adding trackmarks in order to delete short parts I did not want) that resulted in my RH10 displaying "cannot record or play" and me being unable to upload anything from the disc. I'm not sure if this would happen on the NH900, but I don't think it would be worth the risk of losing the recording.

Aphex Twin - I care because you do

Working on cover artwork for my upcoming CD release this summer.

Yes but it will play Net-MD recorded content just fine. I think he's wanting to use the RH10 to get the tracks on the discs anyway. I didn't realize the R909 was MDLP, good call

First off just to clarify, 2nd gen Hi-MD can read MDLP discs just fine. The only thing it can't do is record in the "Legacy" formats (LP2/LP4/MONO/SP) using the recorder itself. Though it can record in the LP/Legacy modes using SonicStage. As long as the disc is a standard MD and formatted to "Net-MD" you should have no problems at all transferring tracks with the RH10 and playing them on any MDLP compatible player. EDIT: Is the MZ-R909 LP compatible? If not, you can still use somicstage to transfer tracks in "Fake-SP" (aptly named because it is actually LP2 quality dressed up to play on SP only players).

Depending on the value of the recordings, you may want to look into "TOC Cloning", may be your only way to save the recording: http://www.minidisc.org/cloning_procedure.html For the procedure described you will need one of these MD Decks: MDS-JE440, MDS-JE520, MDS-JE640, MDS-JB920, MDS-JB930, or MDS-JB940. You may be able to pick one of these up on eBay for a decent price, just be sure it can handle the format you recorded (i.e. LP2/LP4) unless you recorded in SP. In the meantime don't record anything else on the disc! Otherwise you will record over what you want to retrieve.

Crazy stuff, I saw that article a few days ago. Seems alot of people don't think it's real and that it is a hoax or whatnot, but personally after some research and interest in mirages I believe that not only is it real, it is also a very complex mirage that is in fact rare.

The method I have started to use since the DRM restrictions have been lifted somewhat is this (for Hi-SP): - Title tracks on Hi-MD using SonicStage. - Upload titled tracks to PC. - Select all uploaded tracks in My Library, right-click and select "Convert Format..." - Select "OpenMG Audio (ATRAC3plus)", Bit rate - 256 kbps, leave check box for "Add copy protection" unchecked. Click "Convert". - Close SonicStage, go to "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\SonicStage\Packages\Optimized Files" and copy the unDRMed files to a safe location along with a copy of MarC's HiMDRenderer. The files shown in SonicStage can now be deleted, as they contain DRM and cannot be transferred to another computer etc. and then converted to WAV. The converted files are identical copies of the originals (not transcoded) without DRM, MarCs HiMD renderer can then be used at any point to convert these OMA files to WAV. I stopped converting directly to WAV once the DRM restictions were lifted because it can add up (as you see) to a pretty big waste of space when converting Hi-SP Atrac3+ files to WAV.

heh, sounds like something I would do for some of my experimental music..

What bitrate/frequency are the files? i.e. 192kbps/44.1kHz EDIT: You could also try to convert the files to .WAV (using dBpoweramp, free d/l in the downloads section here) and try to import and transfer the WAV files.

Just got an old toy piano from eBay, always wanted one of these!

Are you uploading to the same computer that you downloaded the tracks from?

You're absolutely correct, thanks for catching that one. The first gen units can record (on the unit itself) in SP. SonicStage however, cannot transfer anything in true SP, 1st gen or otherwise.

I think most 4-Track MiniDisc recorders can use either MD-Data or standard MD. I have a Tascam 564 that can only record on MD-Data, but will playback standard MD. The bottoms of the discs are slightly different, but as far as I know they do actually fit in standard MiniDisc players/recorders. Standard MD Recorders just state "red err" or "TOC Error" when an MD Data disc is inserted. But they do fit! At least my TDK MD Data 140mb discs do.. Here are a couple pics of MD Data vs Standard MD...

freak>>out!!!

The contacts for the mic-input may be dirty/corroded, the same thing happened to my 707 after a couple years. To test this do a test recording as bananatree mentions, but while recording twist the mic-plug around a bit. Chances are you will hear the sound cut out on one or both sides, or it will just get crackly. Alternately the mic's plug itself may be dirty/corroded. I'm not quite sure what the best method to clean them would be though... Perhaps someone else can chime in? I know I've seen it mentioned here before.

Most likely you could use a preamp and run a mic into the line/optical-in. I don't personally know of any hack that would change the line-in to a mic in off-hand.

There are many points of comparison. Take, for example, the cost of media: 1gb Compact Flash card -vs- 1gb Hi-MD disc. Fairly cheap removeable media is a big plus in my mind. Also, I believe when the battery of the MicroTrack dies for good, you have to send it in for service. Rather than simply replacing the battery as you would in an MD recorder. Those points, not to mention the fact that Sony has been making portable minidisc recorders for over 10 years would have me bet on the RH1 as far as reliability as well. The MicroTrack is a very young format compared to Sony's MiniDisc. I'd give the MicroTrack a few years of development to get all of the kinks out before buying one. Also I'd wait until the cost of Compact Flash cards drops to around Hi-MD disc levels. Just my opinions though.

yes that would be great@! i'll ask in the dbpoweramp forums as well.