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.

Look at some of the eraser-sized binaurals from Sound Professionals (BMC-2), Microphone Madness, Reactive Sounds, etc. Wear a black shirt, hide them inside till the lights go down, clip them to a shirt collar and anyone who's not right next to you AND looking for mics probably won't see them Or get in-ear binaurals and people will think they're just earplugs. Good luck at the gig.

The affected files might be variable bitrate (VBR) mp3s, which SonicStage doesn't like. You could burn them to an audio CD with Nero and then transfer them from the CD. To transfer directly from CD and bypass SonicStage's My Library, Sony also provides MD Simple Burner--insert the CD, click the red arrow. You can get that here. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=5552 Unfortunately, with Sony's idiot encryption, we are all stuck with SonicStage.

Since my disastrous SS 3.0 installation (in another thread), Sony's best advice is to start again with "the software supplied with your MD" and then try to install 3.0 after that. No guarantees, but it's their best guess. I have misplaced that disc. If anyone has a copy and can either place it somewhere online to download it or burn a CD and mail it to me, please reply either publicly or as a PM. Sony does not have it online and will not, despite my cajoling, send it to me. "We apologize for the inconvenience." OK, Sony, you got behind the wheel of my car, smashed it into a tree and left it completely impossible to drive--I consider that something more than an inconvenience. And, moderators? I strongly suggest you reconsider your hasty endorsement of SS 3.0. Given that installing SS 3.0 has completely screwed up both upload and download capability on a computer that was running 2.3 with no problems at all, BEWARE of "upgrading" if 2.3 is already working for you.

I know SP2 is your solution for all things, Kurisu. But in an hourlong conversation with a Sony software person who seemed to know what he was doing--and who ruled out the ojbsir.exe solution because icv.dat and maclist.dat were in Common Files/Sony Shared/OpenMG, which is where "authenticate database" adds them--there was no mention of SP2. He also tried unchecking everything from Windows Startup with msconfig, to see if some other device was grabbing resources. That didn't work either. Although we did discover that SonicStage 3.0 adds a new program to Startup, SsAAD.exe, that wasn't in SS 2.0. His only other suggestion was that I use the CD that came with the MD player and go back to SS 2.0, then try updating to 2.3 or 3.0 and see if that helps. Unfortunately, I have misplaced or tossed out that disc, since I had 2.3. Is there still an image of that disc somewhere on this site?

Apparently this was a problem for some people who upgraded to 2.3--love that search function--and it was fixed by running the program ojbsir.exe to "authenticate the database" via internet. Unfortunately, this time around that program "cannot connect to the internet," although IE works just fine for me. Incidentally, the Sony hotline suggested that if the problem persists, I should try running SonicStage on a different computer. I suggested they send me one. Anyone else have any other ideas?

It's still a disaster. I plugged in tonight's mic recording to SS 3.0 via USB. "This recording cannot be used as audio disc because it was initialized by a program other than SonicStage." Device/Media Info says the disc is empty. It most assuredly is not, because I can play back two hours of music on it. It offers to initialize and destroy the data on the disc. No thanks. Anyone know how to fix this? Or, is there still a 2.3 installer around somewhere? I miss it already.

The only time you will ever want High Sens is if you are recording extremely quiet sounds. For music, especially amplified music, Low Sens is a must.

Use your good binaural mics. The RS attenuator will lower the sensitivity enough. I used binaural mics--RS--MZ-R700 at LP2 for many a decent recording. If it's ultraloud and may overload the mics, you could also try Mics-Battbox--RS--Mic-In and see how that comes out. For a tryout: How loud can you blast your stereo at home?

The directions in the FAQ--uninstall, remove directories, remove registry keys--didn't work. Sorry I didn't mention that initially. Here's what worked: Since I have a VAIO computer, it has a VAIO recovery tool that allows you to reinstall the factory-installed software. I had it reinstall the original SonicStage 1.6, then uninstalled SS 1.6 and the OMGs with Add/Remove, then ran the SS 3.0 installer. Voila. Funny how Sony's VAIO "customer service" never suggested this. But now my library has two copies of every MP3 album: a Playlist version and an album version. Any suggestions on which I should delete?

Tried to install SS 3.0. The installer downloaded everything (DirectX, Windows Media Runtime, OMG Secure Module, Sonic Stage, Sonic Stage Add-on), extracted everything, and started to install. Partway through installing Sonic Stage (after the three listed before it), it stopped and said "Installation of Sonic Stage has been terminated." No error message. Now. the SS shortcut opens 2.3, which loads and initializes as before but ends up with a black window. TaskMgr shows it running (about 45 MB) but clicking on it leads nowhere; I can close it with Alt F4. SS 2.3 is in Add/Remove Programs but will not uninstall, missing installer file. Trying the uninstall twice, the first time it shows up at 1.73 MB, the second as .66 MB, so the uninstall gets part of it out. The backup tool is still in the Programs SS menu, so I backed up the database. There's no system restore point before the disaster. Win XP Pro without SP2. My computer is partitioned into C: and D: and in D: I have a copy of everything that was on C: from months ago, including a SonicStage installation. I tried renaming the SonicStage folder in C:, copying the old SonicStage and OMG folders in D: into C:/Program Files/Sony (there was no Personal Audio Driver folder in the old installation), and running or uninstalling in hopes it would find whatever it needed, but no response at all. I have since renamed and returned things to where they were before. Tried the installer again, and it said SS 3.0 was installed and did I want to reinstall, and it downloaded everything again and stopped in the middle of SonicStage install again. Oh, and I asked Sony and they suggested System Restore (no restore point) and then threw up their hands and suggested System Recovery. Any ideas, software gurus?