indifference_engine

Thanks Garcou. I can only assume you own one of these fabled beasts?? Re points 2 & 3 if I understand you correctly; Dropping an mp3 onto the unit via explorer and transfering an mp3 via SonicStage are two different processes with different consiquences? In the former the mp3 is not playable on the recorder but can be copied to another PC (without the need for drivers) and played from there, whereas in the latter the tunes are playable on the MD but can only be transferred via sonicstage? Is this correct? As a matter of interest, is a track downloaded via SonicStage accessable via explorer and vice-versa or is it a split-personality-type-thing where each method is invisible to the other? re 6; Point taken. I guess the issue is for how much longer will the discs be produced as there has been talk of the RH1 being the last MD (but unclear about just from Sony or ever?) As an aside, the SonicStage help mentions transferring to/from a "netMD slot". Does this mean that computers could read MDs natively once upon a time? I can't help but think that Sony missed a trick and that the MD should have been the logical replacement for the floppy disc and then things would be very interesting... (remember the dark days of Jazz, Zip et al before flash came along??) Anyway, it sounds like it's just what I need but welcome any other comments Thanks.

Hi All, I haven't been to these forums for a while and it's good to see they are still alive and kicking. I have done a bit of homework reading reviews and the manual but still have a few questions regarding the Sony MZ-RH1. First the history: I have had a Sony MDS-JB980 deck and a MZ-N10 walkman (both netMD machines) for a few years now. The N10 was a replacement for an N1 which broke 3 days after the warrenty expired but sony replaced it free of charge (but that's another story). Anyway, I love both machines and the MD format in general and have used both to record many MDs at various settings (SP, LP2, LP4) using the various inputs (optical, line,mic). Then along came something called "mp3" (excuse the blasphemy!) and I got hooked on the idea of being able to move music around - My (only) gripe about MD was that what went on MD stayed on MD - so I was in the market for a digital recorder that was more compatible with PCs. I tried looking at the usual suspects (CD, SD etc) but none quite fitted the bill. Imagine my delight when I happened upon the MZ-RH1. An MD that could play mp3, upload recordings, was backwards compatible, in short, kicked-ass. Surely too good to be true? Well, is it?? I have read some stuff about the MZ-RH1 but need to clarify/confirm some points before I re-mortgage the house... 1) Can it really upload ANY recording made on my current equipment to the PC? If so, does it do it in an open format (wav mp3 etc) or am I stuck with oma? 2) If using it with HiMD formatted disc, can it play mp3's (and wav?) natively, without conversion to ATRAC? Can this be done with non-HiMD discs aswell? 3) I read that a HiMD disc shows up in explorer as a mass storage device. What happens if you were to drag-and-drop an mp3/wav/oma etc onto the device? Would it acually be playable? 4) Can I attach the unit to more than one PC in order to move recordings between my laptop and desktop? 5) Does it really work? Is it reliable for recordings? 6) At the risk of alienating myself completely, should I still be looking at MD at all or is it a dying technology?? Thanks in advance for the torrent of replies, Doug

Your problem sounds a bit more than just the Windows update snag that I've been suffering. From your talk of Restore Points I gather you are using XP which I have no experience of. However, I would suggest following the un/re-install process outlined in this forum exactly - Unsurprisingly, for such a quality piece of software, SS leaves trash behind. I've also found it can have problems with Roxio CD creator. I read elsewhere in this forum (can't find where now) that the offending article as far as Windows 2k goes is the Security Update KB840987. I uninstalled this and SonicStage sprung back into life :grin:

New to the forum so please bear with me... I too have had SonicStage2.1 start to crash on me whenever I try to convert files to ATRAC3. Tried the usual stuff; uninstalling (as per the instructions), re-installing, rolling back to v1.5 & even OMG2.0 but the problem persists. Tried upgrading to SonicStage2.2 but that crashed upon opening before I could even do anything. Also tried removing and re-installing the ATRAC3 codec to no avail. The only thing I've done in the last week is to update Windows2000 with the latest updates so I'm in agreement with crichton007 that the updates are causing problems (both to SonicStage and my sanity!!) The exact error message I get is "Program Error: Omgjbox.exe has generated errors and will be closed by Windows. You will need to restart the program. An error log has been created" - useful eh? The (Dr Watson) error log gives the error "c0000005 (access violation)" & bunch of hex gobble-de-gook. I could send it to anyone who understands these things. Anyone else had this or know of a solution please help