aeriyn

Um... I'm not sure about this... It sounds to me like the encryption key of SonicStage and the encryption placed on your recorded tracks is different... in which case you'll probably have to redo all your CDs. I could be wrong; someone else may know how to get your backed-up tracks to work properly. Although, I would suggest using MD Simple Burner instead of SonicStage... doesn't leave OpenMG crap all over your HDD, is just as fast, and Simple Burner's quite a bit more stable than SonicStage in regards to crashing and whatnot.

Actually, there is no way at all to transfer files from your standard MDs to any computer via NetMD, regardless of whether it was transferred from that PC or not. Say you have a recorded MD that was recorded via optical in. NetMD cannot send those tracks to your PC. It's a hardware limitation with the NetMD system. Hi-MD, however, can transfer tracks from the unit to your computer via USB connection. Of course, they're stuck in OpenMG encrypted format, and you can't really do anything with them except make more MDs (unless Sony gets off their duff and really does something with this wav converter).

Yes, sort of. The Sony MZ-N10 NetMD unit uses a similar Li-Ion battery to the NH1, yet it has an external AA pack. The circuits in the N10 use the AA first, when the battery is attached, and then use the Li-Ion after the AA is drained completely. However, if the Li-Ion in the N10 is exhausted, the unit will not work at all, even with the external AA battery pack installed. Units which use the gumstick battery draw power from both the NiMH and the AA at the same time due to the similar voltages. The reason for Sony not including an external AA battery pack with the NH1 is unknown to me. It seems like such a high-end Hi-MD unit which most who purchased would primarily use it for recording... an external AA pack is crucial. My R900, which I use for live recording, never is without its external battery pack. Clueless as to why Sony made this blunder. More corner-cutting to reduce production costs, maybe? I'm sure the switching circuits in the N10 added significantly to individual unit production cost.

I've got no idea why that remote (which isn't a very good remote anyway) is so expensive compared to the other, better remotes.

Like I've said many times, this is due to the fact that Sony is a publisher of intellectual property, and they can tightly control the usage of ATRAC codec, since it is always secure digital media and can only be encoded/decoded on their own devices and software... ... Sony doesn't want Sony's music being stolen and used on Sony's devices. Or somesuch thing.

Yes, this unit can be used as a mass storage device, but OpenMG encrypted files are transferred to Sony digital music players (Network Walkmen, Hi-MD and ATRAC CDPs) in much the same fashion. It creates one long file, with the information of titles, groups, etc stored internally, and as such, music can only be placed on these devices with SonicStage. So Mac users should just buy an iPod. :happy: They'll get a lot more out of it, trust me.

I'd like to say sometimes I'm ashamed of my country, but it's really not my country that is responsible. It's those in my country who have the power to change the way we do things, but instead do not, and pocket enormous profits on what would seem like pure idiocy to any rational human being. Greed seems to be the predominant emotion among America's powerful. Granted, I wouldn't mind being rich, not at all (I could finally buy all the MD and otherwise audio gear I wanted!) but there comes a point when a person has so much damn money that there's no possible way they could ever spend it all in their entire life... ... yet they continue to hunger for more. I could go on for hours about the idiotic things American politicians and CEOs do for more money that they don't even really need (I still am shocked by the amount of money Bush and Kerry spent on their campaigns, JUST ON THE CAMPAIGNS) but it wouldn't do any good. These people see dollar signs, and think of nothing else. They don't even think that maybe their actions will kill themselves before they have the chance to even enjoy the fruits of their labors. Most humans of any nationality tend to take action first. They do first, think later... and feel last of all.

I'm not entirely positive that the proper 3-line functions would even work on the NH600D... they might, they might not. But you could always return it. :rasp:

Someone COULD, but you wouldn't be able to play it. OpenMG format has Digital Rights Management all over it, and only plays on the PC it was encoded on.

Yes, this is true. I am not familiar with good brands of line cables... I don't do a lot of recording in that fashion. When I did a lot of live recording (with my MZ-R900) I borrowed a friend's MD deck to send it to my PC via the optical output. So... I'm not sure.

Apparently the prototype photos of the NH600 UK variant showed the device without a remote port. :sleep: But the actual production models seem to have a remote port.

Agreed. :happy: Darn, I was hoping to find another MD-girl on here. :grin:

Hi there. If you stream your live recordings to your Mac via a line cable, there should be no issue of DRM at all, since it's making a recording of what it hears. No OpenMG, no SCMS bits, just straight analog recording. You can record it directly to PCM, even from PCM... which would probably be best. But it is 1x as you know, so it's nothing fast. Analog recordings take a quality hit depending on the sort of line cable you use. If you do this frequently I recommend purchasing a high-quality line cable. It'll help, crappy cables can cause clipping and distortion.

This has been a problem since the dawn of NetMD and OpenMG. Sony has never allowed true NetMD transfers of actual 292kbit/sec ATRAC audio (stereo or mono). Either version on either player transfers a "compatibility mode" which is upsampled LP2 (thus, does not take advantage of the quality capable by SP mode recordings). It's also transcoded so you take an even deeper quality hit. >.>; It's techically worse than LP2. No clue why they didn't allow true SP transfers via NetMD. More of Sony's odd behavior, I imagine.

It is interesting... uploading with an actual NetMD unit is not possible due to the design/firmware of NetMD, but with Hi-MD it is eminently possible... so why can't it be done? Food for thought, definitely.

Since you'd have to record both methods in real time, it would be better for your quality to record your LPs to Hi-MD directly with a good quality phono to minijack cable, in Hi-SP. I'd record in Hi-SP, because likely with that compression rate you would not be able to tell the difference between the LPs and the Hi-SP recordings. Hi-LP you might notice a difference. Why didn't Sony include a 192kbit/sec and a 128kbit/sec recording mode? I'm not too pleased with the limited choices for recording bitrates they offer. :whatever: Also, by recording analogically in Hi-SP mode, when Sony's Wav Converter is released, you CAN upload Hi-SP (analog) recordings and convert them to .wav files to be encoded as MP3s or whatever. :happy: So it may be in your best interest to check that out. Btw, most of the online stores are sold out of Hi-MD media and are all on backorder. Just like MD of the old days, discs are expensive and hard to find. Good luck though, and I hope you enjoy your new Hi-MD unit (when it gets there)! Oh, the picture in your sigline? Is that you? If so, you're cute. :happy:

Hi there. To begin with... 200+ discs?! Oh my... that's going to take a long time. :sleep: Secondly... what you are considering doing, is not wise. For one, LP4 sucks quality-wise... and if you record from an LP4 source into your Hi-MD recorder via analog line cable on Hi-LP... it's going to sound even worse. LOTS worse. Analog record + transcoding = BAD. Your best bet for getting your music is just to get all your CDs and rip them fresh to Hi-MD with MD Simple Burner. It'll also be a lot faster. :happy: As for Hi-MD media, you can order them from Sony's website, as well as several other online stores. Audiocubes carries them, as does etronics.com (in single unit, 5 or 10 quantity). I've not yet seen any Hi-MD discs in the US yet, not at ANY stores save for those discs that come bundled with the units. But of course, I don't really care because Hi-MD is of no practical use to me. :rasp:

The deal with Sony is, they are a unique maker of consumer electronics. Not only do they make devices that are capable of utilizing unsecure digital music, but they are also a publisher of intellectual property (music). To me, this equates as Sony doesn't want Sony's music being stolen on Sony's devices. Or somesuch thing. The unfortunate thing is, MD is a versatile recording format and would be quite useful, and probably make Sony even more money, if Sony would not worry so much about people stealing Sony's music and playing it on Sony's devices. Besides, most people I know would rather buy the CD than steal music off the 'net. I buy all my music (all the music available locally, anyway... I have no real choice but to download all the J-Pop I listen to, and even then I'm amazingly picky about bitrate) because I want something better than badly ripped 128kbps joint-stereo MP3s. >.>;

According to Sony, the wav converter will be able to decode ATRAC3plus 256kbit/sec recordings done analogically (that means no digital recordings will be convertable) via line or microphone input. This sort of confuses me, though, because Hi-MD is capable of recording linear PCM... so why not subject it to the converter? At least put in a method for stripping the DRM off it so it can be used easily. I mean, this should make things a lot easier, but it seems to be a very awkward method of addressing the issue.

The N10's battery life is short when you first get it. Mine was. There's nothing wrong with it. It has to do with the long-term storage of Li-Ion batteries. You can't store them at full charge, lest the battery oxidize and is ruined. Likewise, if stored at no charge, the lithium will plate and the battery can explode (!). All you really have to do is charge it fully, use it, charge it, use it, charge it, a bunch of times. After about a few weeks of "breaking it in" the full battery life should be obtained. :happy: Sending it to Sony was probably not a good idea, but if your new unit has this same problem, just be assured that it's, well, mostly normal. A lot of people here have had the same problem.

I would guess it would decrease the battery life quite a lot. It came close to cutting the life of my N10 down by almost a third. So I didn't bother using it (I'm patient enough to wait the 4 seconds while it spins up). :happy:

Agreed completely. One of the things I liked about my N10, you could connect the USB cable even without the charge stand.

Ugh, that's so retarded. Does Sony just expect us to buy these just because they make them? Sheesh. That's just sloppy.

Not according to the photos. http://www.minidisc.org/images/sony_mznh1_avwatch4.jpg The usb cable looks plugged into the stand to me. >.>;

The NH1 does not have a usb port on the main unit. >.>; it's on the charge stand. Or rather, it has a port on both... but... why bother? transferring tracks with sonicstage while on battery power is annoying.