pata2001

Good for you. For me, Gracenote and freedb sometimes work great, but most of the time, it will have plenty of errors, or cannot recognize the CD at all. The method I use is intended for archival purposes, not regular use. I simply rip and encode all my non-gapless tracks to MP3, and use iTunes to organize my MP3s. Creating mixes with iTunes is incredibly simple, even for use with Sonicstage. foobar works great with CUE sheet. you can even compress the WAV file into MP3 or whatnot, modify the CUE sheet to point to that file, and foobar will still keep the track marks and title info properly.

That's the problem. If the software cannot encode directly form the lossless version, you have to de-compress to WAV first, and you loose the tags. It's fine if you just want a single track or 2, but doing that for full CDs takes too much time. Much easier to just mount an image and it will be recognized just like the actual AudioCD. Track info can be easily put on the CUE sheet file, and the mounted image will be recognized as an AudioCD with CD-TEXT.

With cheap DVD writers and DVD blanks, I don't see any good reason for lossless codecs anymore, considering the lack of compatiblity and support among software and hardware. This is what I do with my audioCDs. Software: EAC, and Daemon Tools. both are freeware 1. Rip the AudioCD to a WAV image + CUE sheet with EAC. EAC will rip your CD into 1 big WAV file (preserving gapless if applicable), and store track marks and title/artist info in the CUE sheet. You can store your original AudioCD in a safe place. 2. Whenever you want to "rip" the CD, all you need is the WAV + CUE sheet, and daemon tools. Daemon Tools can mount the CUE sheet, tricking windows into thinking that it actually has an AudioCD. Any software would recognize it as the AudioCD. Pros: -No compatiblity issues associated with lossless formats -No need to decode to WAV. -Gapless is preserved. -Compatible with all software that can rip form an AudioCD. -The WAV image + CUE sheet can be backed up to DVD or any media easily. Cons: -Does not work on MacOS. Currently, there is no way to mount a CUE sheet associated with an audio file in MacOS. There is no Mac version of Daemon tools. If you're going to MD exclusively, then by all means use sonicstage. Note that if you have 2nd gen HiMd units or later, they support native MP3 playback, so you don't have to encode to Atrac. I do still find iTunes really useful. If your music are all in MP3 format (iTunes won't recognize Atrac), you can use iTunes' smart playlist feature to easily create your playlists (you can limit their size so it will fit your MD), and you can simply drag-n-drop the arranged tracks into Sonicstage's playlist creation screen, and viola, Sonicstage will collect all the MP3s and turn them into its own playlist that you can transfer to your MD. Very useful in creating mixes form thousands of MP3s.

Mono recording only existed in legacy MD units. The past reasoning for mono recording was space consideration (in non-MDLP recorder, you have to use mono to get more than 80min recording time on an 80min disc). With HiMD, using HiLP and 1GB media, space is no longer a major problem. If it is for speech, I would just use HiLP since it will be more than adequate. If you want more space, you can use 48kbps.

Dust will get in no matter what, especially for stuff that have lids (Unless you have the MZ-S1, and never open the latch forever). Even for HDD DAPs, where everything is technically sealed, you'll find dust inside it during usage. At least with MD/HiMD, I can just open the lid, spray compressed air into the opening to dust off any dust inside. You cannot do that with HDD DAPs.

Good luck in finding an electronic store that carry MD stuff, especially for a high end like the RH1. I've never seen the RH10, NH1, NH900, etc in regular brick & mortar stores. Before most of them abandon MD, they only carried the low end NE410 clones and NH600D for HiMD.

Your choices are anything with the EL suffix after the model number (33EL, 35ELK, 40ELK)..

2. With OpenMG and early versions of Sonicstage, the tracks you ripped from your own CDs are restricted, meaning you can only transfer them to a portable device (MD, AtracCD, NW, etc) only for up to 3 times. This restriction does not exist anymore with SS3.x. 3. a. NetMD units cannot upload any tracks from your MD to PC via USB. Period. This is not software related, it is hardware limitation. As for now, the only unit that can upload legacy recordings on legacy MDs via USB is the RH1. b. The music in your MD are not in MP3 format. They are in Atrac format. c. Sonicstage cannot transcode Atrac to any other format (MP3, WMA, etc). The only way to do this is to burn the Atrac tracks to audioCD, and re-rip the track to any format you choose, or convert the track to WAV, and re-encode to your format of choice. Both precedures are called transcoding, and in general will reduce sound quality. 4. DAP = Digital Audio Player. Example: iPods, Creative Zen, Sony HD5/NW-Axxx. Most current hard-disk based or flash based DAPs use USB2.0 for data transfer, giving user really fast speed in transfering music (roughly 1 track every 2 or 3 seconds). In contrast, MD/HiMD still use sub USB1.1 speed, which is very slow.

Download the latest Sonicstage (3.4 or 4.0).

You CANNOT transfer MP3s without transcoding to Atrac with NetMD, and I don't think there are any HiMD deck supporting MP3 exist. If you want to transfer MP3 natively, buy a 2nd gen HiMD unit, NOT a NetMD. 1. OpenMG is OLD. Sonicstage has superseeded OpenMG LONG time ago. Currently, there is SS4.0 as the latest version. 2. No check-in/out limitation, MP3, WMA, AAC encoding, in addition to Atrac3/3+. Uploading with HiMD units. 3. What are you going to transfer? NetMD units CANNOT upload, regardless of software. If you want to upload legacy MD recordings (eg. SP), you need to get the RH1, as it is the only unit that can do it right now. Any HiMD units can upload mic/analog recordings. You will need SS3.4 or better. 4. Trasnfer speed on the RH1 has been shown to be faster, but still not as fast as USB2.0 DAPs. Regardless, it is still faster than realtime recording.

LOL. :D That's a good one.

Yes, that is correct. If you plan to keep the PC (I have a Celeron 1GHz PC that is still useful for internet and bittorrent ), then go OEM to save some money. If you will ditch the PC, then it's better to buy retail than wasting that OEM copy. If you have an old win95/98/ME CD (winNT/2k for pro), you can get winXP home/pro upgrade retail. OEM version used to be much cheaper, even compared to the upgrade version, but that's not the case anymore (Eg. WinXP home, OEM: ~US$90, upgrade retail: US$99, retail: US$199). Oh, and consider if you actually need winXP pro. If you cannot think any differences between pro and home, then just get the home version, which is cheaper. I have 3 PCs with winXP home, and no problems whatsoever. I have seen people using XP pro just because of the name "pro," they only use it for internet/gaming. Of course, 99% of those people use a pirated version...

Although $20 is a good price, IMO it's now worth it to get into legacy MD units now, especially if you are starting with HiMD units. LP4 is okay, but the quality of HiLP has been improved in SS3.4 that it is probably superior now compared to LP4. Still, for $20, why not.

Just arrived yesterday. Super Eurobeat The Best of '90s Super Eurobeat presents Super GT 2006 Super Eurobeat Vol. 166 and 167

Very cool mod, the fact that he/she cut off the bay so the deck fits perfectly.

Yes, but not all the time. Check the hard-drive manufacture's website. I have a seagate SATA2 HD that are not recognized by my motherboard. Turns out I have to put a jumper on the hard-drive if I attach the drive to a SATA 1 controller.

You came to that conclusion based on your stock bud as your reference. Change the headphone, do the same comparison again, and the result might be different. Sound quality assessment is not a "fact" and is always subjective. The "more bass" might be just enhanced artifacts due to transcoding from MP3 to Atrac. But hey, if that's the way you like it, that's fine. IMO, having to encode/transcode my music twice is just too time consuming, and reduces the overall SQ.

Well, there you go. If your stockbud is an E808, that's the problem. It's a sucky stock bud, at the level of iPod stock bud at best. What you are experiencing might be just placebo effect. Want better bass? Get the Senn HD212 pro headphone, or Sony MDR-E10 for earbud. Using the HD212pro, I usually don't use any EQ, or have to reduce the bass on the EQ of my portables, because sometimes it's too strong.

I have the same problem with tracks purchased fron connect. The customer service tried resetting my count mupltiple times, but every time I downloaded the tracks, they still have 0 transfer count. I gave up (they were free using some codes anyway). At least connect allows you to re-download the songs (if it actually works). iTunes doesn't even allow re-downloading. However, you can simply copy purchased tracks from iTMS to back them up, and they will be usable when you copy them back, since iTunes will just re-check whether you are the purchaser or not when you log-in. Much more user-friendly than Connect's DRM where you have to use the backup tool, and tracks may/may not work when you upgrade the software. Another reason not to purchase DRMed music.

Are you talking about the tracks you purchased from Connect? Some tracks from connect do have the classic check-in/out limitations on how many times you can transfer them. As for tracks ripped from your own CDs, there shouldn't be any restrictions. Maybe the tracks were ripped using an old SS where there was the check-in/out limitation? I don't know if that limitations will carry over to SS3.x or not. For now, whenever you rip a new CD, make sure you uncheck copy protection on the bitrate selection setting.

I don't know if you guys already know this, but Sony discontinued their consumer HiMD website: http://www.sony.net/Products/Hi-MD/index.html Instead, they renew the site under the broadcast and business page, featureing the RH1: http://bssc.sel.sony.com/BroadcastandBusin...imd/index.shtml Is this the sign Sony is changing their focus for HiMD?

http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6064016.ht...64016&subj=news http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/

Very interesting findings. It would be great if we can also see the difference between High and normal for Atrac. Excellent post.

Yeah, it's sound horribly stupid, but if we don't do anything, the RIAA will make the law to do what they want. The RIAA and some senators are already working on the DMCA2. Under this new law, it will be plain illegal to have a backup copy of anything. It will be illegal to have a device that can circumvent copy protection (eg. a PC). In fact, it would be illegal if you are trying to circumvent a copy protection, regardless of whether you succedd or not. Meaning, let's say you search google about how to copy a DVD. That action itself will become illegal under the DMCA2, and the government can take your PC as "evidence." Under the bill, it also require ISPs to keep and disclose server traffic (something that the RIAA has always wanted). To make even worse, the senators/representatives that support this tack the word terrorism with the bill, with a reasoning that copyright infringement actions support terrorism. Sound stupid? It's real, and nobody seems to care, until it is too late, just like the original DMCA. I'm not joking about the DMCA2. Go read other tech sites and forums. The problem is the general public is easily swayed by the word "terrorism," and congress don't have a clue about technology. Jane/John Doe doesn't care as long as they can listen to the latest hip-hop/pop star. IMO, in the end, there will be 2 tier of contents, copyrighted contents that nobody can touch/use under the DMCA, and Cretive commons contents that will probably grow if the DMCA2 is passed.

Err, that is not something new. The 3xEL/ELK remotes have always had reversible/removable clip. The 40ELK's clip is reversible, but not removable. However, the display itself is not reversible, so for some people, it is still "upside down."