infoman

Hi there Having read the minidisc.org guide I see that I might be able to clone the TOC myself. My father has a minidisc desk which he uses to record opera. However the model numbers are not listed on the site. So does anyone know if the models MDS-JE770 and/or MDS-JE470 can clone? My farther has one of those models, although I don't yet know exactly which one it is. Kind regards Tim

Hi there Sorry it's been a long time since I posted my question. I forgot to return as it's one of these issues that I only sometimes think about. I actually have 3 discs with issues. 2 were recorded in LP2 [edit: previous SP wording was wrong] and the 3rd in HiSp. Of the 2 SP discs, 1 failed due to battery dying whilst writting and another due to me accidentally deleting part of a recording on a the disc. I was new to minidiscs and whilst messing around with the options I deleted part of the recording. As I said, both of these were LP2 [edit: previous SP wording was wrong] recorded and in both cases I never wrote to the disc again because I knew that would be fatal. [Edit: I have found the TOC cloning guide on the Minidisc.org Web Site, so I'll give that a read.] So if you know how I can get that back or if a blog/post explaining this exists I'll be interested. The HiSP disc was damaged by some unknown reason. That would need to be sent away but I've always hesitated because I'd have to send them to another country and I'm concerned they might get lost on route or not get returned back to me. If they do lose them then there's nothing I can do at all to recover the recording. Is it possible to clone a disc prior to posting, so that a second attempt on a different disc, by those in the know, might be possible later on? I'd be more likely to get the disks repaired if it was the Sony UK repair service dealing with it. I still however do record to minidisc because it's light and easy and it just about works. I don't want to spend another

Hi there The other evening I was recording a concert. My internal rechargeable battery was low as I forgot to charge it, so I was really just running on an external AA battery pack with my HiMd MZ-NH900. I recorded a short speech last 9 minutes at the start of the evening and that still exists. However the 1 hour 22 minute and so many seconds recording of the concert is missing, along with a possible 0 second track created whilst I switched from auto record volume to manual record volume. What are the chances of the track(s) being recovered? I know the unit was still recording when I reached my car and it was then that I switched off the hold button and hit stop. I don't know what happened after that because I wasn't watching but I don't remember the battery icon flashing before I hit stop. I'm gussing the battery gave out during the saving but I can't be certain of this. What I do know is that when I went to play the recording today, only the first track lasting 9 minutes existed. The disk space is also showing as being free. What are the chances of Sony recovering it? I live in the UK and don't know if Sony UK recover discs. I've read previously that Sony do in the USA. Is this still the case and do I simply e-mail them requesting this service, as I don't live in the USA? If I was to send it abroad, I'd need to do an exact sector copy of the disc first, including all the sectors listed as free, in case they modify it with no luck or the disc goes missing in the post. Kind regards Infoman

Hi there I'm using SonicStage 4.2.02.11020 with my RH900 for mic HiSP recordings I have made. I can delete tracks from my minidisc, title them and title the disc. However when I go to transfer the minidisc record disappears from SonicStage and I get an error message saying it cannot find the tracks. I first came across this problem around Christmas time and at that point I was trying to transfer recording as NetMD to my minidisc for use on an older MD system. I'm not sure whether it would be a driver issue or something else. I've not reinstalled SonicStage because I consider reinstalling a last resort. SonicStage hasn't erased any of my recordings which is good but I have to be careful if it ever plays up, just in case it does. If anyone has come across anything similar or has any ideas, I would be grateful. I still buy minidiscs and use my recorder because I'm not sure if solid state media recorders are small enough yet. I do have a problem with the menu button calling the group function but I can get to the menu if I hit the button right. Trail and error. Annoying but better than not being able to record at all. I am also wondering if the charging function is playing up as recently it appears to be cutting out a short time after it starts charging and I'm having to hit it a few times until it decides it is not going to cut out and instead charging the battery as required. I've bought some new batteries recently since the Sony supplied one died. I got 2 Vapex batteries and the one I used the other night lasted the length of the concert, in addition to a AA rechargeable battery, so it appears to be working okay. Regards Infoman

I wouldn't have thought about posting expect for the fact The Low Volta had posted very similar the details back in 2005 so details were out there for the past 2+ years. I have never give my real name though or posted pictures of myself and I don't ever intend to, for obvious reasons. Nor would I revel where I was recording. Germany is a big place. Out of interest do security go searching the internet to find out what people are doing to get equipment into venues? Every so often I hear about drunk people annoying people at concerts by a group I really like. 9 times out of 10 it ends up being the groups tour manager who has to force security to sort it out, as they are just not interested. So if security are not interested in dealing with those serious problems, would they be interested in spending their own free time searching the internet for equipment ideas? They see lots of people taking photos and a flash is fairly obvious but other items less so. I once got stopped for videoing at an outdoor concert, but only because the person in front held a video camera above their head and security saw that. When they arrive to stop them filming they saw my camera. On reflection I should have moved away once he had his camera so visible. I put the camera away when asked and enjoyed the rest of the concert. I don't film concerts very often as you are more likely to be spotted. I only do it where I know I am 95% certain it they won't see me so easily. The same goes with photos, I take more photos if I know they don't mind. But above all I make sure none of this is to the detriment of me joining in with the concert be that singing, clapping, occasional headbanging etc. With 5,000 people get into a venue they do not have time to check everyone fully. I have been to sporting events (not using any stealth at all) where security has not been that thorough. The person I was with, on more than one occasion, as made a point of getting them to do proper job of checking their bag when the first attempt wasn't that thorough.

I would like to thank The Low Volta and others for their comments about stealth recording. Last weekend I went to a concert in Germany were I was told in advance by my friend that they pat you down and check your bags. So after coming here especially to read the advice I'd come across before on stealth recording, I went into extra stealth mode. I put my minidisc recorder in-between two pairs of socks with some accessories in the other socks. I didn't bother using rubber bands as they were not there for very long. I wore some cord trousers with slightly baggy ends so the bulge couldn't be seen in my sock. My SP-BM2 mic was attached to some glasses, complete with the original store plastic lenses as I don't need glasses to see, which I wore. The wire ran down my back under my shirt and with my jumper and coat on could not be detected. Even with only the jumper they could not be detected. The glasses covers were homemade and as such the material isn't quite the right type. It gives a slightly muffled sound to the recordings but it's better than nothing. I assumed I could get croakies in the UK but you can't. So at some point I might order some from Sound Professionals. The minidiscs I hid in a bag of cleaning wipes and I then dried them off later using toilet paper. The attenuator I use is a headphone volume control lead so I just left that in my bag. I also put in a camera into my bag and if they wanted that to go into the cloakroom then so be it. I didn't have room to stealth hide that. As it turned out they didn't check my bag that well and I would have had no problems. However they did pat my coat and trouser pockets so I felt the effort was worth while. Once I got inside I placed the minidisc recorder in an old camera case I always use and attached it to my belt. With a long shirt that covered it. The case just happens to be the perfect size for my minidisc recorder, even offering a pocket in the front for a spare minidisc and battery. For any one interested it's made by Tamrac and in 1999, when I got it, it didn't cost much. Not sure whether they still made them. I don't bother with headphones or remote control because it's another device which I have to store somewhere and another device for the security to find. I was slightly apprehensive before going in but once I hit security I was so busy doing whatever they asked, that I forgot all about that and acted perfectly normal. If you look and act normal, they won't suspect a thing. My biggest concern would be people around be being worried. They are far more likely to create a scene than I am and then I'll be noticed. My friend pointed out the notice on the door in case I didn't spot it about recording and photos. Did he have to say it so loudly. As it was no one heard but they might have done. Just leave me to get on with it. I have a fair idea of what to do, keep quite, pretend you are another concert goer abiding by the rules and 99% of the time all will be well. I've had 1 close shave before, 1 failure (where it also happened to be recorded of an official DVD) and that's about it. Been told to stop taking photos more times than I have recording. That's not to say it won't happen again. Every success is a bonus. It's a shame the menu button on my NH900 likes to operate the group function but with perseverance you eventually get into the menus to set up manual record. One day I intend to get the last portable MD recorder they produced but I'm waiting until no one wants it and it become cheap. Will that happen? Who knows. Until I decide otherwise I'll preserver with this one, even though it can get annoying. Regards Infoman

Given the quality of the button design my MZ-NH900, is it worth getting an MZ-RH1? Are the buttons like to fail in much the same way, after a couple of years? My old MZ-R900 only failed because I knocked the recorder onto the floor. That was my fault. However after that all the buttons still worked, even if I could only play and not record. That isn't the case with my MZ-NH900 and I haven't personally damaged it. Also I never had a recording corrupt on my MZ-R900 but I've had one corrupt on my MZ-NH900. May be it's just luck on the part of my MZ-R900. Infoman

Thank you for your helpful reply. Your right it is the NH. I was partly remembering my R900, which I have fond memories of. I have problems with the navigation/menu button but I just put it down to being poorly designed. My unit is just over 2 years old so do you think I have a case for saying the unit hasn't lasted as long as such a device should be expected to last, given that it's out of it's 1 year warranty (UK)? I will search the issue on the forum. I will try the battery advice. I've not touched the internal battery but I have changed the AA battery since I used it and also run it off the mains from time to time so I doubt it will make any difference. I am still interested in knowing whether removing the track mark would solve my corruption. I'm afraid to do it in case I make matters worse. May be it is a FAT32 problem, I'm not sure. I will have to be extra careful from now on. Kind regards Infoman

Hi The following problem has already a post about it: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=17507 However I'm going to list my experience and issues as it may be useful to someone else, or generate new ideas. Am I of course going to try out the advice listed the above post and I'll post back my results. On Tuesday I deleted two tracks from a recent live concert as they contained silence before I plugged in my mic. When I hit the stop button to save my work, it added a track mark. I am using an a MZ-RH900. At this point I was now 1 minute into an 1 hour long track containing part of the concert. This is something my minidisc has never done before. The resulting two tracks now only playing odd noises in clusters of about 3, every 5-10 seconds. It sounds like it might be bits of concert I recorded. They are however, louder than normal. I was fairly certain I won't be able to get the two tracks back as I believe Sony have made it impossible to recover such things. However reading the above post gives me 5% hope. I think something has been corrupted but I don't know what as all the other tracks are still fine. It's about 55 minutes of the concert which is corrupt. The recording must still be there in some form or another. I am interested to know why the stop button created the track mark and I am also interested in knowing what bit might be corrupt? Is it the recording file or some DRM related file? When I tried to replicate the issue by creating a few short tracks on a new disc and deleting some, the stop button behaved itself. May be I should have just taken the battery out and none of the edits would have saved. I haven't made any track mark changes to the disc since as that might make the problems even worse. I am finding in recent times that when I hit the stop button it advances to the next track instead of stopping. I assume minidiscs couldn't corrupt that easily (computer based software problems excluded). I am beginning to think I shouldn't be using minidiscs any more. After all one can't buy them very easily unless they use the Internet. May be I should revert back to tape. Although that's starting to die out, there are more places which sell them. UPDATE: I just tried to play the tracks in Sonic Sstage (ver. 3.2). Track 1 caused Sonic Stage to hang and Track 2 caused Sonic Stage to close down without any error messages. I can play from track 3 onwards as those are not corrupt. I was able to load up the two tracks to my computer but of course track 2 on my computer caused Sonic Stage to shut down without error message. When I tried to convert both tracks to wav. Track 1 became a 44 byte file and track 2 justed caused Sonic Stage to crash.... What would happen if I deleted the 2nd track mark (which first caused this problem)? Would that help or would I make it all worse. What about adding an additional track into track 2 or even track 1? I have no other Hi-MD recorders so I can't use them to play the disc. Has any one ever been able to get Sony to recover discs for them? I suspect not. Kind regards Infoman PS I must thank people for their stealth recording techniques. I don't normally ware glasses, bar sunglasses, so it's a whole new experience.

Hi I've currently got a MZ-NH900 recorder and recently got a SP-BM2 mic, along with some glasses, which are not used for seeing. I use this set up to record of concerts and other events. It works very well. It was thanks to people on this forum that I now use this set up, especially the idea of using glasses as I normally don't ware such things. Now that the MZ-RH1 has come along I was thinking of selling my MZ-NH900 and getting one because I have quite a lot of lageacy live recordings on LP2 and LP4 format. When I mentioned this to a friend yesterday he said minidisc is a dying format and that I should look at portable multitrack compact flash recorders. Eg. M-audio MicroTrack 2496 (http://www.thomann.de/thoiw2_maudio_microtrack_2496_prodinfo.html?partner_id=82764#fpix) What do others think? Personally I think flash will eventually be the future of recording. However, does any one think it is as good as minidisc right now? The battery only lasts 3 hours in this model and some of the events I record, such as cricket matches, last up 6-8 hours. There may be other models which are better than that though. Of course if I get such a thing I won't be able to upload my old LP2/LP4 recordings but does that really matter. Thanks Infoman

Hi I am going to rock concerts on Monday & Tuesday and urgently need to get hold of a stealth microphone (i.e. small) that will capture loud sounds. I live in the UK and can't order anything over the internet as it wouldn't arrive in time. I did order a SP-BMC-2 from sound professionals, on 28 October, thinking that was plenty of time for it to arrive, but unknown to me they only sent it on the 11 November and it still hasn't turn up. It will probably arrive on Wednesday and if so that's to late. If only they had details on whether items were in stock or if your despatch has been delayed. Still none of that is of any use to now. I did have a Vivanco EM216 but that has never been very good and I currently can't find it. I don't wish to buy another and spend £30 on something that isn't very good. So if any one has any ideas please post. Even if I have end up having to buy another Vivanco, it would still be a useful debate for other people who live in the UK and don't want to get things delivered from the USA. People don't always want to pay the customs duty, along with the hassle of having to go to the storing office to pay. I only ordered the SP-BMC-2 mic because a lot of people said it was good for it's price and I wanted to get something other people have used so I can compare recording quality better and improve my own. It will be useful for the future should it ever turn up. However I need it before then. Thanks Infoman

I think I solved the problem. When I ran the 3.2 installer again it wanted to look for the SonicStage disc. I just clicked okay as I don't have any discs since it's an internet donwload. However since then I found that the temp directories had the uninstalled SonicStage files. To my surprise they were still there. Therefore I just unzipped the SonicStage parts that hadn't instaled and ran the different setup programs that come with them. Hopefully that will solve the problem. Not sure why it stopped towards the end of the installation. Unless it didn't like the build up of Spybot allow regestry changes questions. I allowed them all at the end rather than when the question came up each time.

Hi To install SonicStage 3.1 or 3.2 I believe you need to have installed SonicStage 2.0 first. or not have a program called Spybot running I recently reinstalled my computer and choose not to install SonicStage 2.0 that came with my HiMD 900 device. Instead I decided to install SonicStage 3.1 from Sony's European website. I am running Spybot so I have to confirm registry changes which I do. When I came to use SonicStage this morning I noticed it hadn't installed. I then found out about SonicStage 3.2 so I tried to install that. It took a while to download and even longer to install. When it came towards the end of the installation and I got a messaging saying cancel. And it stopped and went no further. Either SonicStage install doesn't like Spybot or you need to install SonicStage 2.0 first. I know it says update on the 3.1 webpage but it doesn't say you need to have SonicStage 2.0 installed first. I prefer to have as few installations as possible so wanted to by pass the SonicStage 2.0 installation. Now I read that you can upload tracks without fear of losing them I then read that you can't do any track marking changes to your HiMDs as that will prevent it from uploading to SonicStage correctly. Every time I read something useful about Sony's HiMD's I read something that stops you doing something useful with it. I wonder where the uploading problem exists? If it's on the MD unit then one would need to buy a new unit if the problem was ever solved. If it's a problem with SonicStage then may be Sony will solve the problem for all units. Do they want to solve the problem? Is it worth the money spent on trying to solve it? I mean I only found about this problem 10 mouths after I got the unit. Most people buying these units won't be aware. By the time they find out, they probably won't be able to return the unit to the shop to get a refund. I don't want a refund myself as I still think it's a best device to record things to. The only reason I've not bought a MP3 recorder is that I don't think they are as good yet. I have been e-mailing someone who has a Nomad Jukebox recorder and what I heard of their recordings seemed to be fine. However they are CD walkman size machines. They won't fit into my camera case. I love the way I can put my unit in a camera case and go off and record without to many problems. The problems only come when I try to get the recordings onto my PC using Sony's software!

Hi Thanks for all the replies. May be I'm asking for to much. I would like to edit on MD and upload the tracks and then convert them without having to do time consuming editing on my computer. It takes a while to cut and paste sound files. I've now taken to recording as one long event and not bothering to split into tracks on my computer it took so much time. On one recording I deleted part of a sound file during the copying and pasting. I thought it had been pasted when it hadn't. It's very small but still noticeable. Therefore I prefer just to upload to it when I can. Uploading is faster and it leaves me more time to use the computer for other tasks. I have tried HiMDrender but I found it was repeating bits of audio at times. I would not be able to sort that out so easily or quickly. I know the program is free and that I could never do anything as good. I can't even write programs like this but as a user I couldn't have the repeating bits of audio. May be newer versions (since 0.22) have improved and I am sure they are trying their best to improve but until it happens, it's no use to me. I just want a hassle free quick recording/uploading system with minimal errors to the final files. Surly Sony could provide that? Yes I knew what I was taken on when I got the device but I still hope that there will be a simple solution around the corner. As I said may be I'm asking for to much.

Hi I sent an e-mail to sony and below is their reply along with my e-mail below it. I have removed names for privacy reasons. I wanted to sound as if I didn't know anything much and I have even replied again saying that if the source is analogue then why the problem? Surely the machine must know this or could be told this? With all this great technology that exists these days. I also pointed that I didn't wish to downgrade the recording further with no analouge cables. Still here is their reply. Dear Mr xxxxx If you have an old Mini-Disc recording that you wish to copy onto Hi-MD so that you can then use the 'Wav conversion tool' to convert it and burn it onto a CD, this needs to be recorded in an analogue manner and not via an optical cable. I would therefore recommend that you attempt the recording again, although this time by using analogue audio cables instead of an optical cable. The WAV Conversion Tool converts OpenMG Audio format files to WAV (PCM) files. This software is only for use with OpenMG Audio format files that have been recorded through the MIC or analog (LINE IN) input of a Hi-MD device and uploaded to SonicStage software. These convertible tracks recorded through Hi-MD can be converted to WAV format files using the WAV Conversion Tool. I hope this information is of assistance. With Regards Sender xxxx -----Original Message----- From: xxxxx To: xxxx Subject: Converting an analogue source recording to wav Dear Sir/Madam Firstly could you please make sure that no marketing or contact is made from Sony or other companies, other than replying to this e-mail, via my e-mail address. My computer runs XP and I have my own HiMD recorder and access to another HiMD recorder. I have an analogue recording (via a microphone recording a church service) on an old minidisc, recorded at LP 2. As I cannot upload the track directly to my computer I decided to copy it to another HiMD recorder via an optical cable. When I uploaded the HiMD recorded track, wav convert wouldn't list it. It did however list other analogue recordings I had made directly to my HiMD recorder. Do you know why this occurred? I thought wav converter was suppose to convert all analogue source recordings? The original recording is from an analogue source so I found it rather strange that it was not listed. Can you suggest a way around this problem or I am doing something totally wrong? I also have some legally made analogue recordings on HiMD which I wish to transfer to another HiMD before I upload them to my computer. This avoids having to checek the tracks in and out, and the chance that if I forget what I've done, and do it to many times, all my tracks will be lost. Will I encounter the same problem? Thank you for your help in advance xxxxx