LowMD

Find this program (probably in C:\Program Files\Sony\SonicStage) ojbsir.exe and run it while connected to the internet. With any luck it will restore your digital rights.

The Sony mic is going to be harder to hide at a concert, and the little binaurals have better bass response. So use binaurals---preamp---Line In. Put the microphones about 6 inches apart, like your ears: on a shirt collar, on a hat, on your glasses, etc. If you are going to be listening to the recording through headphones, clip the microphones so that they point left and right, sideways. If you are going to be listening through your stereo, point them forward at the band. For a loud concert, you should probably use the lowest gain you can set on the preamp--it might be -20db, it might be 0. You don't need to add amplification to loud sounds. Use Manual Volume (push Rec and Pause, Menu-->Rec Set-->Rec Volume--Manual) and set it to 18/30, which is unity gain, just as loud as what goes in. Un-pause to start recording. Don't use Stop, which will send you back to Automatic Gain Control (AGC) on recording volume, until the recording is done. If you need to pause the recording, use Pause. Look at the levels while recording--maybe you can test during an opening act. The indicator should be somewhere between the two little dashes. If it's too low, then raise either the manual volume or the gain on the preamp.

The NH600 is basically a player, though you can do a line-in recording with it. It's similar in functions to your R-501 except that it records on Hi-MDs, which can hold a lot more. But make sure someone is not selling you a NH600D. The D means it is just a downloader and does not have the line-in jack, so it would be useless to you without a PC.

Flyingpylon specifically asked about small, hands-free mics and you guys are going on about M/S handhelds and giant golf umbrellas. He needs something like Dex Otaku's in-ear SP-TFB2's or some little clip-on omnis.

Any good basic mic should do this, and all you need is a one-point stereo mic. There's a very cheap one that's always on eBay under "New Stereo Lapel Mic for Minidisc." Sony mics like the DS70P and ECM-719 will also do the job, or the Sound Professionals SPSM-1, or the Reactive Sounds Delta. With anything that plugs directly into the MD recorder, you should still get an extension cord so it doesn't pick up the noise of the machine--it may look high-tech sitting on the machine, but it doesn't sound good.

Here's one. http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Transit-main-1.html

Battery life is significantly better now than it was in '96. With one AA in my NHF-800 (the same as Dex Otaku's NH700 plus FM remote) I can record a three-hour event (in Hi-SP) and play it back a few times. It's a shame that Sony uses gumstick rechargeables and outboard AA packs for all the 2d-generation Hi-MDs when the basic AA worked so well for the NH-700 and NHF-800. See if you can still find one of those for your trek, but if not the outboard AA should power the new ones on its own.

You can't record in mp3 on the unit. Also the MZ-NF710 cannot upload to the computer. You need to use a recording program in realtime like Audacity. It's hard to understand how you're trying to transfer material. What program is crashing? If you're talking about SonicStage, it sounds like you're trying to use a line connection--a cord that would go from MD to radio--rather than the USB connection. The only way you can transfer from computer to MD is via USB. You can't transfer in the other direction. If SonicStage is the program that's crashing, can you figure out what changed on your computer between when SonicStage was working and when it wasn't? Did you install other programs, or move things around? Is your hard drive nearly full? Can you delete any unnecessary stuff? If you have the USB hooked up and SonicStage still isn't working, then: Do a complete uninstall of SonicStage according to this thread, including deleting the directories and registry keys. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=8071 Then get the SonicStage 3.0 installer (link under SonicStage 3.0 in that post above) and do the net installation, and see if that helps.

Happy birthday. I assume you're downloading via USB? Make sure as few programs are running as possible and you are plugged into a USB port on the computer, not a multiple-USB hub. SonicStage needs lots of resources and a direct connection.

Sounds painfully familiar. Sony suggested to Run: Msconfig and uncheck everything from Startup (write down if you had any unchecked before, they'll change their order) and see if something else was interfering with SS. It didn't work for me, but might for you. Someone in another thread also suggested uninstalling and reinstalling SP2. If those don't do it, my further developments are near the bottom of the thread below, but there was a happy ending. Back up your library to CDs or DVD before you start, going through Programs/Sonicstage to the SonicStage Backup Tool. What worked was to uninstall SS 3.0. and install 1.6 (for me) and then SS 3.0 on top of it. If you haven't had a previous version of SonicStage on your computer, then it's a tossup as to whether you should do this. So consider this optional: If you want to, use 2.0 if you still have the disc (or get it on the thread below). Uninstall that with Add/Remove and then manually delete the directories and registry keys mentioned in the FAQ about uninstalling 1.x and 2.x. ( http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=8071 ) Then install SS 3.0. If it's still screwed up, uninstall, remove the same directories and keys as above, and reinstall. Repeatedly. Try not to commit any acts of violence during the rebootings. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=8790 As a fellow sufferer, I wish you luck and I'm crossing my fingers for you.

Are you compressing mp3 songs down to Hi-LP? Perhaps this is the result of the double compression. Try ripping a .wav file from a CD and copying it to the MD in Hi-SP and Hi-LP and see if you're still getting the same effect.

You'll have to reset to Manual when you insert a new disc. So you might as well hit Stop between songs, or during a drum solo.

Welcome to live concert recording. Now you can see why we're so fond of this medium. And it sounds like you were standing in a pretty ideal spot.

Our long nightmare is over. First, thank you Ishiyoshi, for SS 2.0 . I would suggest that this site keep things like that tucked away somewhere in case they are needed. I don't think we're going to find them on www.oldversion.com. Googling Sony, I also found something called SOASST-00877601-US.EXE which may be the same thing or a 2.3 version. Ain't no way I'm going to run it, though. I'll be happy to attach it if this board can take a 19MB attachment, or someone more ftp-savvy than I am could Google and download it before Sony remembers to delete it. Anyway, 2.0 didn't work after I reverted back to 1.6. . It couldn't find its target module either. Other SS updates, like the one I got from Minidisct and SS23eng.exe, also missed their targets. So I installed SS 3.0 on top of 1.6. (Rombusters, I suppose retrieving 1.6 counts as a system recovery.) Couldn't read the MD. Uninstalled 3.0, deleted the directories and keys as in the old FAQ about 2.x, and reverted back to 1.6. Somehow files related to the battery, SXBIOS.dll and BSNTSBS.dll, disappeared, but I had them tucked away in my backup and pasted them back where they belonged. Strange, but that problem didn't recur. Then reinstalled 3.0. This time it could read the attached Hi-MD, but my 3.5 gig Library was gone. Ojbsir.exe (to authenticate the database) couldn't find the internet connection either with broadband or dialup. The backup tool didn't find what it wanted in Packages. I had the library backed up onto a DVD. Pointed the backup tool to that, ran it, it connected to the internet and I had My Library back. Unfortunately, SS 3.0 had decided to stop reading the Hi-MD again. It was also not unloading after being closed; omgjb.exe was still running in Task Manager, but clicking on the shortcut didn't reopen SS. Ran the 3.0 installer again, which said I didn't need updating but--thank goodness--allowed what appeared to be a complete reinstall: DirectX 9, Windows Media 9, Music Server something-or-other, OMG Secure Module, SonicStage and SonicStage Add-on. After the reboot, Win XP Pro left Norton Internet Security disabled--something I had encountered before during the many reinstalls. But on another reboot, Norton works, I have My Library, the Hi-MD is recognized, and I an incredulous. I'm still expecting it to collapse at any moment, but so far so good. Setting a Restore Point right now. And hey, Dex Otaku, I told you so, but don't be Ssaad. Anyway, while I do run Norton, Spybot and Ad-aware regularly, this is not a geeky-clean computer with a new OS; that would probably have voided my warranty, since every time I call Sony they ask whether I have installed any new software since getting the computer. Uh, yeah. But this computer had been virus/spyware free and functional before this and I hope is now stable again. I realize SS is a complicated program, but sheesh, it shouldn't have been this knotty. One thing for the computer fiends to follow up on is the revelation that maclist.dat and icv.dat are the files that authenticate the database. And in the words of the I Ching, perseverance furthers. Personally, my next upgrade will be SS 5.2 or above.

The 37.2MB SS 2.3 installer doesn't find its "target module" after I've reverted to SS 1.6. Neither does a 2.0.0.x update I found at Minidisct. It's a VAIO computer, about 6 months old, 1.6 GHz, 512K memory, Win XP Pro, plenty of space on the two drives it's (factory-)partitioned into. If that's not compatible with SonicStage, and a long talk with Level 2 Sony support can't solve the problem because they don't know exactly what they're installing either, then, well, I would hesitate to recommend 3.0 so blithely. When the Sony guy who was explaining to me about authenticating the database said "SsAAD.exe, what's that?" (it's in your Startup now, Dex Otaku), it did not fill me with confidence. I had no problem installing versions up to 2.3 either, and you guys were gung-ho on it, which is why I was willing to try a .0 version. But as far as I'm concerned, 3.0 is malware. Now my NHF-800 is a glorified cassette recorder, and Sony won't even help me implement its own solution. You can see by this forum that people have lost libraries, etc. If I do get this working I have no doubt my library will be gone too, although I made a DVD backup. As I noted in the other thread, when I tried to run Ojbsir.exe to authenticate, it couldn't find the internet connection, which is broadband with no proxy. Other readers, there's no shame in leaving 2.3 in your computer if it's uploading and playlisting properly. I wish I had. Meanwhile, if anyone can post the 2.0 disc to an FTP or MySpace site or something, I'd appreciate it.