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Well, except for now when I pull the audio into Adobe Premiere or another nonlinear editing machine, I have to go through the process of removing one of the channels. It's just an extra step that I could do without. Plus, yes, it would be nice to record in MONO PCM--instead of a twenty minute recording, it would be forty. But I'm not complaining...I think the advancements in the Hi-MD outweigh losing something like mono recording. I do want to point out that the newest version of Sonic Stage makes WinNMD unusable--the drivers make WinNMD not recognize the Hi-MD unit. WinNMD is useless on Hi-MD originating recordings (with Marc's great Renderer), but it still applies to older recordings on standard MD. Any thoughts on novel ways to approach these older recordings? Right now I'm uninstalling and re-installing various versions of Sonic Stage as I need to upload audio. Once I have everything transferred I guess it's a moot point.

Yup. That's correct. I'm not sure why they decided to do it that way, because a mono track is MUCH better for voice recording such as interviews, etc.

Try plugging it into the wall with the AC adaptor, then press the "Stop" button. You should see the battery indicator come on...this means it is charging. -N-

Mine is a US model. It does, however, recharge--it just doesn't "say" it does. -N-

I'm contacting Sony to find out...will post my results here. -N-

Mine has 5mw and I bought it through Amazon.com The Canadian model is also 5, so either one would be an improvement. -N-

How did you put the song onto the two different discs? Did you rip them, record them, transfer them with Sonic Stage, etc... Honestly, nine times out of ten, a problem with audio quality is related to a user accident in creating the disc. Why not do a test? Take a sample track from a CD and record it to a MD in ATRAC and play it on both players, then record the same track from the CD onto a Hi-MD formatted disc in ATRAC3Plus. There are definitely audible differences in the formats, but personally I've found ATRAC3 to be better sounding at high bitrates. -N-

Can be found at: http://www.artie11.com/NetMD/ Version WinNMD1.2.1182 is still freeware, the others require payment but the software author is still unresponsive. -N-

You might try normalizing the mp3 files before converting them to OMG. A lot of mp3 ripping programs offer normalization as an option. As far as compression and bitrate, the less compression you use, the better the sound quality--so for Hi-MD discs, the best thing you can do (aside from using uncompressed PCM) is use ATRAC3 plus at 256 kbps. I would also encourage you to look at your headphones--are you using a *good* set? The Hi-MD units don't have a lot of output power, so you want to make sure your headphones have a low impedance (75 ohms). High impedance headphones will last longer, but on portable devices will sound softer (it takes more power to drive them). The difference in decibels (loudness) for a 75 ohms set and 600 ohms set is as much as 9db. That's a hell of a lot of difference. -N-

I worked as an assistant audio engineer for a regional theatre and we used MD audio as the orchestra for staged musicals. We created the music as Midi Files in Finale, put them through Sound Forge to tweak the samples, and burned them to MD's. Since high-end MD decks can pre-load audio in buffered memory, we created "vamp" tracks that could be repeated endlessly for scene changes, etc. Then, we used a keyboard connected to the MD machine to quick-swap the audio files. I know, I know...nothing sounds better than real musicians...but it was a very easy way to access the audio quickly. No other format has the same capabilities. With Hi-MD and a 1GB disk, instead of compressed audio, we could do the same thing with the PCM data=better fidelity. I know an actor who keeps his headshot and resume on a 1GB Hi-MD disk in case he needs to give it to someone. I don't know if he's ever DONE it, but he carries it... My brother uses his to hold college papers...now he has an excuse for carrying a music player into class. -N-

Sorry for the (semi) double posting, but I'm getting desperate. I recently filmed a movie and recorded the audio on MD. This was fine, considering I was planning on using WinNMD to upload the audio. Well, for some reason, the software website is gone, and the author isn't returning email. It's what I get for not buying it the moment I stumbled upon it. I tried rerecording the audio onto Hi-MD to upload--which, for my purposes, will not work. The additional compression is just unacceptable. I am SO desperate to get WinNMD right now--it seems to be the only solution for getting these files onto my computer. I have tried every way possible to contact the software author but have received no response. I would use Audition or Sound Forge, but I have over 40 hrs of audio to upload and it has to be individual clips. I hate to do this, but does anyone have a copy of WinNMD that I can get? I have the temporary use version, but I need to unlock it--I would gladly pay the software author if possible, if not, I'd gladly buy someone's (working) copy. I would also add you to the special thanks in the credits (and this forum, which I've read for about six months now but never posted). I have to get a rough cut of a movie by next week and the only thing left to do is replace the scratch audio with the actual tracks. Please contact me if you can help! Thanks, -N- njc596s@hotmail.com

Sorry, should have been clearer: The source audio was a mono MD recording from an old player. I was rerecording it to Hi-MD in order to upload it. Which, for my purposes, will not work. The additional compression is just unacceptable. I am SO desperate to get WinNMD right now--it seems to be the only solution for getting these files onto my computer. I have tried every way possible to contact the software author but have received no response. I hate to do this, but does anyone have a copy of WinNMD that I can get? I have the temporary use version, but I need to unlock it--I would gladly pay the software author if possible, if not, I'd gladly buy someone's (working) copy. I have to get a rough cut of a movie by next week and the only thing left to do is replace the scratch audio with the actual tracks. Please contact me if you can help. Thanks, -N- njc596s@hotmail.com

Nope. In my manual, page 81 talks about using the Adapter and a dry battery and discusses the heat output from the AC adapter, but makes no mention of recharging. I should mention that I bought my 800 about two days after it came out. I wonder if this is an issue that has been corrected? Could you check your manual for the Synch related issue as well? I've tried making Stereo Hi-MD recordings as well...nope, no matter what the setting, if there is an 1/8 plug in the Line In, Synchro is on. Anyone else notice this? I'm considering contacting Sony Tech Support to find out if it might be a hardware malfunction, unless someone else can corroborate the issue. By the by, I use MD to record dialogue for ultra-Indy movies. It's not quality enough for a FILM, but a great option for low budget DV projects. Hi-MD promises to make uploading the tracks a lot easier too. In the future I'll use uncompressed PCM on 1GB discs, upload the files, convert them (thanks Marcus), and drop them straight into Premiere or Final Cut. Pretty simple--a lot easier/faster than rerecording an analog source onto HDD. My only issue is that the last shoot I did before I got the Hi-MD unit--and since Win NMD is gone, I've got no way to get the tracks to the PC without rerecording them. Grrr... -N-

See my post under User Manual Errors. I think it's a problem with all Sony products utilizing Line In recordings. It doesn't seem to be an issue on a source coming through the Mic In. -N-

According to Sony's manual, Synchro recording (auto track marks after a period of 3 seconds) is only available on an Optical Line In recording. Unless I am just completely inept, this is an egregious error. As a matter of fact, the reality is completely different. I have been attempting a recording that is a single track at around 120 minutes. The recording is from Mono MD to Hi-MD over a Line-In. The track is spoken word, and contains many silent moments. Regardless of whether Synchro is turned on (SONY claims it can only be enabled in Optical recordings) an auto track mark is created every time there is more than three seconds of silence. I have found that no matter the source, if a line is plugged into the Line Level (Analog or Optical) then Synchro is turned on and cannot be turned off. It can be disabled for Microphone recordings only. Has anyone else noticed this? Another discrepancy: there is no mention of my unit acting as a recharger. On a hunch, I installed a NiCad battery into it, plugged it into the wall with the supplied power convertor and pressed the "stop" button. Sure enough, it recharges the battery. The manual states to only use alkaline "dry" batteries and to replace promptly when exhausted, making no mention of the recharging capabilities at all. I was actually going to use WinNMD to record onto my PC, but it looks as though that website is gone and I get no response from its owner via email. Hi-MD with Renderer looks great and works well for Hi-MD, but WinNMD would really be the best solution for my older recordings on standard MD (no recompression). Sigh. Anyone have WinNMD and a way to pay the software author for the use of the software? -N-