aeriyn

The BC-7HT charger will charge any gumstick battery.

Is it the English version of SonicStage? If it is, I doubt it will work.

Wow, this is really neat. Wish I had a Hi-MD unit to test it out for myself. Kurisu, man, this really deserves a Sticky. :happy:

Um... by using the wrong adapter, it's very likely that you severely overcharged your battery and now it has just become useless. Make sure you use the correct AC adapter for your unit, or better yet get one of those Sony gumstick battery chargers (BC-7HT).

Hmm. From what I read about the program, all it does is transcode files to a format that's not so DRMed... e.e Weak sauce...

I beg to differ. :grin: Is this what you're looking for? :laugh:

Heehee, me too. Only, I leave the backlight on auto. Useful for when driving around at night. I clip my DS8 remote to my shirt. People often ask what it is, but it takes them a minute to understand that MD isn't an MP3 player. :laugh: With the N10 I once had, I've had people ask me if the remote was a microphone (with the 'phones unpluged). The RM-MC33EL does kinda look like a little microphone... sort of... Course when the day comes that my DS8 is retired and replaced by an iPod Mini... the things are so universal that I won't get nearly the attention as I once did. /cry

Hi there. Welcome to the congregation of people who are too stubborn to accept conventional wisdom. :laugh: Well, what you have there would be a NetMD unit. Unfortunately for you, the NetMD hardware interface is not designed to upload tracks back to the PC once they've been transferred to a disc/recorded the old way. So basically, the only way you can get the music off those discs is to connect a line cable from the N710's headphone/line-out jack to the line-in jack on your sound card, and record via line-in through a sound editing program (even the default windows program is capable of doing this). Problem with this is it's lossy... i.e. the digital signal is converted to analog, then converted back to digital again when it's recorded as linear PCM. The only way to get a true digital rip from standard MD is to use a MD deck with an optical line-out to your computer sound card optical line-in (or one of those dongle things such as the M-Audio transit). Kinda sucks, but I've always thought the whole NetMD thing was kind of like an afterthought; a way for Sony to recycle one technology (MD, which was designed as a replacement for Compact Cassettes) for use against another (MD vs. MP3 players). Hi-MD units, however, have a (slightly) more functional PC connection capability, but since you're not asking about Hi-MD, I won't get into that. Hope this helps you out a bit.

Of course it did. :laugh: You recorded via the analog line-in, and likely with mediocre line cables. That is lossy. However, if you were to record in realtime via the optical line-in, it would be a fully digital transfer and would be lossless (save for what the ATRAC encoding did to it).

Don't dig up old threads. Not a good way to start off here. :whatever:

For all of your purposes, a HDD based recorder would likely be the way to go. I do not know of any HDRs to suggest, but I do know to steer you away from iRiver... the line-in is not very clean.

It's more than that. Also, that's kinda dumb too, since Type-S DSP is a decoding DSP and has nothing to do with recording. Type-R DSP is only in reference to original ATRAC 4.5R recordings (SP mode). The main difference between realtime recording and using SonicStage to encode tracks is that the realtime ATRAC DSP has a lot of time in which to encode, so it does it with the best possible quality available to the codec. SonicStage, however, encodes primarily for speed and is not nearly as good at retaining the fidelity of the original recording. This was such a dumb move on Sony's part; they really should've made it selectable whether or not you wanted to encode for speed vs. quality.

The MZ-NF520D does not come equipped with a backlit remote. The remote used by the NF520D (RM-MC34LT) is the radio tuner remote and it is not backlit on any of its iterations (RM-MC37LT). However, the unit is compatible with the RM-MC33EL (I know this for a fact, having plugged my old N10's remote into the NF520D I bought for a friend of mine). If you decide to purchase an RM-MC33EL, be aware that the radio function is only available with the not-very-good RM-MC34LT remote.

I think you did. :laugh: His post was somewhat relevant, since someone was talking about track divides. Although, that should have been a new thread unto itself. Ah, too late to do anything with it now.

At this point in time, you can't do that. Your linear PCM recordings are not recorded in the standard .wav format, but rather in Sony's OpenMG format complete with lovely Digital Rights Management, regardless of the fact that you recorded via analog source (microphone). The only thing you can do with them is make more MDs with them, or burn them to an ATRAC3+ CD for use in Sony's ATRAC Discman products. The current method of taking digital recordings from the Hi-MD unit and placing them in a usable format is detailed here. Slow, and kind of a pain in the ass, but it works quite well. Eventually, you will be able to strip the OpenMG from these files (recorded via analog source) with a utility that Sony calls the Wave Converter; the true test will be when the utility is released. I'm sure this will put a bit of a bad taste in your mouth concerning that rather expensive NH1 you just bought. It's stupid that Sony didn't include full functionality for this sort of thing, but what do you expect... it's Sony we're talking about here.

Same here. My Japanese friends tell me that you can find collector MDs everywhere, in electronics' stores and other such places. Here, the only MDs I can find are Sony Color Collection 5-packs and those awful Memorex clears. Finding any MD units other than the very lowest-end models is hard (only one store in the entire city of Birmingham carries a high-end MD unit, that being Tweeter carrying the N10/E10, although I have seen NF810s at specific locations on occasion). The only Hi-MD units I've even seen here were the NH600D and the NHF800. MD is obscure and invisible in the US. When I showed my coworkers my DS8 and the MDs it reads, they were amazed. None of them save for my friend Ricardo (who is somewhat knowledgeable about audio stuffs) had even ever heard of MiniDisc before. Although, now that I reflect on the incident in question, MD has a certain cool factor. If I'd have produced a pink iPod Mini instead, I imagine I'd get a lot of anti-Apple remarks. Reminds me of how I used to feel. Damn, I wish I had the money to order one.

:laugh: You just had to throw that last little bit in there, didn't you? That's what I want. :whatever: And it has to do with more than sound quality. ATRAC SP mode is fine sound quality for me (with portable application). It has to do with not transcoding, with not recording the slow way, with not having to worry about strangling DRM and many, many other things (such as 4gb of storage, I can fit a lot of 192-320kbps MP3s in 4 gigs...). Yeah, I'm not skyther. :grin: I don't require all my music to be in Apple Lossless to listen to it. But I do like my portables to be easy to use; one handed operation is almost a MUST. It's very difficult to juggle a portable unit, my purse and discs when changing media... with HDPs that's not a problem at all. Accessiblity aside, the iPod's got the power I need to drive better 'phones, while my DS8 is quiet even on 16 ohm 'phones (although, this has a lot to do with the 4-pole deal, the volume is quite acceptible with my MD33S 4-conductor 'phones). I'm just going to miss that battery life. Really going to miss it. Average six hour battery life = ebil. I like not having to charge/switch batteries except once a week or so.

I'm sure. :laugh: You want an explanation for my hatred of "custom" audio, do you? Well, I live in the ghetto part of Birmingham, AL. All I have to do is stick my head outside and I feel a painful throbbing develop in my sinuses... ... and I know some guy with twenty thousand subs and an amp powerful enough to supply electricity to New York City for two years is driving around somewhere. :laugh:

True in the US and Canada. But these units aren't being released in the US and Canada. They're being released in Japan, where MD is a very powerful contender in the portable audio market. I know several Japanese people, and out of all of them, only one owns an HDP. The others all have MD players for on-the-go, and decks or bookshelfs for the at-home listening and recording. Premastered MDs are still readily available in Japan (albeit only of the most popular artists/bands). Player-only models are almost nonexistent in the US, where MD is primarily for the niche market of amateur recordists and musicians. My DS8 (Sharp player-only model) is a Japanese model. I've never seen any of the newer player-only units for sale ANYWHERE in the US, with the notable exception of the E10 (despite the fact that it totally sucks). Even I, who was once a semi-hardcore MD fangirl, am starting to see the extreme limitations of my MD equipment as playback units. I keep seeing a pink iPod Mini in my dreams, and it makes me want to scream at the fact that I can't afford it now (and likely for a long while to come). There are still many, many things about MD that I will miss when I finally switch to iPod mini and retire my DS8. I'll miss the remote (yes I know ipod has a remote but it blows), I'll miss the long battery life (sometimes I'm out for longer than five hours you know e.e) and I'll definitely miss the cool factor of the import MD blanks I have. I <3 my TDK "ho" discs. But since I don't record anymore... it may be time to sell the lot of this stuff, and just move on to what I should've done in the first place.

:laugh: Of course people are interested in car audio. But never in my entire life have I seen a custom car audio system that was balanced for tonal qualities and didn't sound like a 300-pound fat guy farting to the beat. Actually, the stock stereo and speakers in my car sound about ten billion times better than a few of the guys at work that I know who have 2 10-inch subs, 400W amps, etc... Even with all that money spent, the system sounds no better, even worse, than what came with my car from the factory. The lows are so strong they make the body of the car shake... Not my idea of good sound. Now I'd love to see a new generation of custom car audio enthusiasts who went for actual sound quality, not how many eardrums can I burst with my bass.

Although, standard MD is a tried and tested format that has been around for 12-13 years. Also, not everyone needs Hi-MD. People who have MD decks and such may want to buy a new portable that still functions with their equipment. Or something. Sony (and other companies) may continue to develop new models of std. MD as a sort of "phasing out." I still believe that the first-generation Hi-MD products are a gateway to something (hopefully) making more sense. I kinda am a bit confused about Sony's direction with this stuff, but I'm pretty sure I've bought my last MD portable in the form of my DS8. Unless, of course, the 2nd generation Hi-MDs have native MP3/AAC support. xD I might be swayed.

Wow, dex, that was in-depth. By the way, flash memory type media is very durable, much tougher than it appears (save for SmartMedia, which is the most fragile of the bunch). My father is a photographer and his CF cards occasionally take some serious abuse when he's out shooting in the field (usually hostile environments like the desert, forests, etc). There was some test on the internet that showed flash memory cards nailed to a tree which data was still recoverable off of. I don't think MD can do that. :laugh: I agree on the point about hdd fragility, although Skyther has told me that he's accidentally dropped his iPod several times and it still works beautifully. The only thing that really burns me up about HDPs (especially iPod) is the short battery life. After using MD as my primary portable format, I got used to the 30ish hour battery life using SP mode... the first actual MP3 player I bought (Rio S30S) has less than 1/4 the battery life. I would be always carrying an AAA battery with me wherever I went. Btw, I chose MD as a portable format (well my aunt sort of chose it for me when she gave me my Japanese R900 for Christmas in 2000) before MP3 players were widely available; I believe Diamond Rio's very first solid-state MP3 player with 32mb was one of the few available, at the low-low price of 300USD. :laugh: HDPs didn't even exist yet. Also, I didn't have a computer at the time, where MP3 portables would be completely useless to me, I could record high-quality audio digitally off my parents' DVD player via the optical output. I haven't bought a Hi-MD. I likely will never buy one. My last MD purchase will probably be a used ATRAC 4.5 (or type-r) deck so I can get digital record from the recordings I make with my R900 to my PC without having to do the whole DAC thing. Come next year's tax return, I'm taking that check to pair a pink iPod Mini with my Shure E2cs (until I get a pair of Etys, muahahahaha) and likely my DS8 will be shelved, or sold. I'm going to miss 30+ hours of battery life, though. I consider it a fair trade, however, for with my purpose of owning a portable, iPod is far superior (I'll just have to remember to toss it on the dock every night). :grin:

Car audio is for noobs. :laugh: I haven't found a "custom" car audio system yet that didn't have incredibly bloated, crush-your-head bass... which is of course what all these rap enthusiasts are really after. Shake-the-car-body bass, never mind that the output actually sounds like shit. It's a shame it's illegal to wear cans while driving...

omfg... Stop posting pointless comments. This is getting really old.

rofl That's oddly true for most normal endusers. Most people don't obsess over sound quality like the audiophiles among our number do. Hey, even I'm annoyed with LP2 mode now, and I was a strong proponent of it for a while. But after it trashed Shiina Ringo's album "Muzai Moratorium," I was pissed off and started eBay-hunting for an MD deck. Several of my friends can't understand why I'm spending 180USD on building a headphone amp (they were like, "headphones need amps?! wtf?!") and searching for a CD deck, and so on, or why I drool over an iPod Mini + Etymotic ER-4P/X combo... ("the fscking headphones cost more than the player?! that's whacked!") Some people just don't get it... :laugh: