1kyle

Actually this is the best system I rip my music to FLAC -- all of it. Now when I want to transfer to MD I create a NERO image audio CD xxx.nrg Needs the Mega plugin pack to handle FLAC but freely available overthe Internet I then in a Windows XP virtual machine mount the audio CD I've created with ALCOHOL 52% - the FREE version as a "virtual CD". Simple burner picks it up immediately and I can transfer to MD straight away. If i've created a copy of an original CD simple burner will get the track info from Gracenote CDDB just like burning from a "Real" CD. Cheers -K

Hi all There used to be a nice MD labelling program for STANDARD MD's on the Forum -0- any links please. Thanks -k

Hi all Seems getting Blanks - especially of HI-MD's is getting harder and harder to source. These people in the UK still have plenty IN STOCK and reasonable price. For EXPORT OUTSIDE the EU don't forget to claim the 17.5% VAT back -- in the UK (unlike the US) prices are nearly always shown INCLUSIVE of VAT / TAX. http://www.tapecity.co.uk/acatalog/Tape_City_Mini_Discs_6.html?gclid=CIKT497siqACFc9i4wodE2dNdA Cheers -K

Thanks I've just uninstalled the whole kybosh on my XP machine -- and re-installed only the drivers, OMG and Simple Burner. Works fine --thanks for the tip. Cheers -K

Hi there Good Idea -- I'll echo that -- I've had several people wanting to know how to use Minidisc (both HI-MD and Net MD) with Windows 7 and not have to use Sonic Stage as a Library. -- You DO need to have it installed however. Windows 7 Does NOT mean that your MD's don't work any more -- just takes a bit of a "Work around". Cheers -K

Hi there How to do it --- instructions 1) ensure your HOST system has FILE SHARING enabled and if it's Windows 7 TURN ON NETWORK DISCOVERY and allow firewall to share files 2) Ensure the XP Virtual machine in the Virtual machine settings has NAT or BRIDGED networking enabled 3) In the VIRTUAL machine mount NETWORK DRIVE with windows explorer - mount the drive or folder containing your CD images 4) now with Alcohol 52% in the VIRTUAL machine right mouse click against the Virtual drive and select Mount image 5) select your image file. MD simple burner should immediuately recognize it and connect to gracenote to get track etc info -- and you can start burning 7) when finished UNMOUNT the image and mount the next one. Note this is better than using the actual CD drive in the Windows XP guest as the Mount / Eject stuff doesn't always work with Simple burner on a Virtual machine -- and in any case it's really FAST burning when using a mounted image Incidentally don't use the Mount image from the VM settings as this also can cause problems with EJECT / RELOAD and simple burner. The Alcohol 52% software has its own iSCSI adapter which works 100% EVERY time in the XP virtual machine. Enc 2 pics of the setup Cheers -K

Hi there I use mine with the RH1 -- works fine with that unit too. You could try here -- although it's 99 USD -- you'll just have to google I'm afraid http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000MC678U?tag=Sony.RM-MC40ELK-20&linkCode=sb1&camp=212353&creative=380553 Cheers -K

Hi there I'll try and reply in "Chunks" 1) use vmware server or vmware player for your virtual machine software -- these are both free and IMO whilst VBOX is good vmware hasn't any problems running XP virtual machines. 2) Install Sonic Stage (4.3) and MD simple burner on your XP Virtual machine - Sonic stage needs to be installed to get Simple Burner to run - http://www.gooduse.com/netmd.html use V2 for simple burner and use the Net MD drivers if you want to burn to LP2 using something like an older but brilliant deck MDS JB980 for example -- an RH1 will probably not need any extra drivers. Sonic stage software load from here (the Sony site) http://support.sony-europe.com/hub/hub.html 3) Install Alcohol 52% Free edition on your Virtual Machine 4) simply copy a CD to an image -- use something like Nero to copy the audio cd to an image - do this on your HOST. 5) connect your MD to the VM 6 now MOUNT the image on the VM with the alcohol 52% software -- you'll see the MD simple burner connect to Gracenote to get the CD info and you can now burn - the MD -- LP2 etc if it's an MD or HI-SP 256, HI-LP, PCM etc if you are in HI-MD mode. Unmount the image again and mount the next one for continuing to burn to MD. -- Simple I have already ripped my CD's to FLAC with winamp - nero with the mega plugin allows me to re-create an audio CD from the FLAC files - if you don't need this step then just copy the audio CD to an image with NERO and mount it on the vm with alcohol 52% http://www.free-downloads.net/programs/Alcohol_52__Free_Edition Cheers -K

Hi all I have 3 Black one's -- two (tested once) are in "backup" as I keep intending to use the format for a LONG LONG time. Even though I'm now using Windows 7 I can still copy music to the device using Simple burner via a Windows XP virtual Machine -- I don't use Sonic Stage any more for Library management - I don't need to. Even though I now use a Squeezebox system to stream music I still use the RH1 a lot -- I create on Audio "Virtual" or Image CD using NERO and my FLAC libraries -- just takes a few seconds to create an "Image" CD. I then mount this with Alcohol 52% Free edition in an XP Virtual machine and use SIMPLE BURNER to burn to MD either in LP2 mode or usually HI-SP. NERO will allow FLAC files to be used directly to create audio CD's and the Alcohol 52% software (Free edition) will allow nero NRG IMAGE files to be mounted successfully too as audio CD's. Cheers -K

Hi everybody The easiest way to get this to work on Windows 7 is to use an XP Virtual Machine. The following software is FREE - vmware server or player (the newest version allows you to CREATE VM's as well), Virtual Box and Ms'es Virtual PC 2007. I'd go for vmware as I KNOW it works. So do the following 1) Create and install your XP guest VM 2) install Sonic stage and Simple burner on the GUEST XP VM ONLY. 3) Now plug in your MD device - ensure its connected to the VM and not the HOST OS. 4) Install Alcohol 52% Free edition on your VM - this allows you to DYNAMICALLY mount ISO and Nero nrg image files as DVD's / CD's AND AUDIO CDs too. 5) Now when burning CD's directly to MD -- you don't need to use Sonic stage - just use Simple burner directly. My music library is all CD's ripped to FLAC. I'm using the squeezebox system to stream audio as this plays FLAC directly. I still like to use MD's on the move so this is what I do to get FLAC to MD without needing SS or having to fiddle with my libraries in any way. 1) ensure you have NERO's mega plugin pack installed. 2) create an Audio CD from your FLAC files with Nero and use "Image Recorder" to create the NRG image file. 3) Mount this file on to your Virtual CD device with ALCOHOL 52% on your GUEST XP VM machine 4) MD simple burner will even access gracenote to tag the tracks if your compliation was ripped from a CD - otherwise tag the tracks yourself. 5) Now burn to MD just as you did under XP. Works a treat - and no need for SS either. Works for NetMD and Hi_MD devices -- I've just been using the lovely old silver MZ-N10 device -- brings back great memories and I've actually had some jealous looks from "Ipod users" who've never seen such a "Sexy looking" device. Works too with the RH1 HI-MD and other HI-MD devices. So you can keep using MD's AND run Windows 7 X-64. Firing up a Virtual machine is really simple and doesn't use a host of resources either. MD STILL LIVES on my W7 X-64 system. pic enc Cheers -K

Hi all Long time since I've visited but still very much in the Minidisc camp. I'm running W7 X-64 enterprise Sonic Stage works -- no prob However my advice is to use Windows XP in a Virtual Machine -- works absolutely fine, including Simple Burner Now what I do these days is 1) Have all my Music ripped to FLAC (Winamp) 2) Compile an Audio CD with the NERO mega plugin of tracs I want to transfer to MD and use a "Virtual CD" device to burn my compilation -- works fine on the "Virtual XP machine" 3) Use Simple Burner to burn to MD. I think if you need Net ND drivers however you will need to run them in W7 X-86 in XP Compatability mode It's easier to use an XP virtual machine -- VBOX or VMWARE player (V3 -- you can now CREATE VM's with this) are both FREE. Cheers -K

I HATE touch screens whether on a phone / computer etc etc. Worst of all they are hideously un-hygenic and the best way on this planet of transmitting germs -- on the public touch screens such as ticket machines at Railway stations etc -- you can't gurantee that the person in front of you whose used the machine hasn't come out of a public Restroom / WC and not washed their hands. That aside the MD still IMO has the best sound quality of any practicable portable listening device these days - and you don't even need a computer to get / create good recordings -- I'm still using a CD / MD combo with 4X transfer to rip CD ==> MD a lot of times. (OK I edit the tracks later using SS but only for EDITING and titling tracks but even then I can manage without). If you DO use a computer you can rip a CD to say FLAC, create your own compilation, then create a Virtual CD with something like Ultra ISO or NERO and then use Simple Burner in an XP virtual machine to burn to MD (including HI-MD). Cheers -K

Hi all Just a note that if you are a Windows user the Linux transfer can be made to work easiliy. I'm using Windows 7 (RC). Download Virtual Box (Free) and install your Linux distro as a Virtual Machine under Windows. http://www.virtualbox.org/ Works a treat. (Other Virtual machine software such as VMWARE workstation / Server etc can also be used). Cheers -K

Hi guy -- congrats One thing which seems to be RARELY mentioned is the RECORDING ability of the MD. Most (if not all IPODS) don't do this -- out in the field journalists like to have the ability to RECORD stuff to say nothing of musicians sending out Demo's etc etc. Those people advocating the Solid state recorders miss also two points. 1) If you are in a place with no Internet etc etc you can always "Post" your MD to wherever it needs to go. The disk can also be archived separately from Hard disks -- anybody doing ANYTHING with computers realizes that you need to backup / archive data (includes multimedia) and have at least 2 copies on SEPARATE media. 2) Those newer devices that have those small XD or other solid state cards -- have you ever been out in the field say in a War Zone or on a Windy beach and tried to change one of these tiny cards -- it'll fly out of your hands before you can blink an eye. It's always easy to change an MD. Whilst for "Consumers" MD might be harder to find and is out of the mainstream -- it's still very much a RUNNER in professional scenarios. Some older TASCAM MD PRO recorders are still going strong -- pity they never made Hi-MD versions however. BTW the next time you see someone listening to an IPOD just watch them -- you'll find they are probably spending most of the time fiddling with it or just scrolling the dial all the time. With the larger capacity and hideously compressed music there's just TOO MUCH stuff to handle sensibly. With an MD just pop a 74 / 80 Min disc in Hi-MD mode and enjoy around 2 CD's worth of music at very high quality or a Hi-MD which gives around 7-8 CD's worth at the same high quality. More than enough for a typical day. Also if you break an IPOD there's the whole hassle of tranferring music to a new device - especially with all the DRM crud etc etc. With a MD device just pop the ND into another one -- no computer needed etc. There's still plenty of life in MD yet -- RH1 etc are STILL selling excellently. Cheers -K

Hi all The Windows "XP" compatability mode includes an XP virtual machine so no need of a separate license. Download from here -- you need both the virtual PC and the XP VM image. USB etc support -- no problem now and it's FREE unlike VMWARE and you also don't need another XP license. Your CPU needs to be VT enabled to run this -- the good thing about comapatability mode is you don't need to build a separate Virtual Machine, configure it and install the Guest OS. This is all done automatically in the "XP compatability mode". http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx enjoy cheers -K

Hi there Virtual PC is available now for free and there are ways to create Virtual machines so you can run vmplayer for free (without having to install vmware workstation). However the "XP" compatability mode makes it a lot easier -- and I was adressing the post primarily to people who DO have the newer hardware and still want to run MD programs such as Simple Burner. If you've got a lot of older hardware the chances are you are still running XP so the issue is a moot point anyway. BUT if you ARE upgrading your hardware you'll have your older XP license in any case so that shouldn't be an issue either. (BTW of course you can run VMWARE workstation WITHOUT INTEL VT) but then you can only install 32 bit mode Guest OS'es - not a problem if you want XP. As for the "Home Premium" -- I don't think this will be such a huge seller as some really essential features as RDP (Remote desktop) aren't available. You can RDP from W7 home premium as a CLIENT computer but if you want to CONNECT to a computer running W7 home premium then you can't do it -- you'll need at least the "Professional" version in any case. I rather suspect the "Professional" version will be the biggest seller once people realize how some "essential features" are missing. Still the trial version is based on "Ultimate" which has everything in it so still worth it for a year -- a lot can happen in this time. Cheers -K

Hi all Great news for Windows 7 users who would like to use convienent applications like Simple Burner -- great to rip directly to MD without going through Sonic Stage or having to dual boot XP or use a Virtual Machine. Microsoft will make a W7 "XP compatability" mode version avaliable for download this week as a beta (means you'll have 1 YEAR of FREE testing before you actually need to buy Windows 7). This works essentially by having an "embedded" Virtual PC in W7. But unlike having to install Virtual machine software and define a Virtual machine configuration this will work by you being able to install the applications directly from the Windows 7 desktop. It won't work for TV / Video / intensive games but for things like MD, older printers and scanners etc etc it'll run fine. I hope to try it later this week. (SIMPLE BURNER BTW does currently work on an XP virtual machine running under Windows 7 but this new approach from Microsoft looks great). Here's one link http://www.sevenforums.com/news/8091-windo...e-download.html Cheers -K

Hi there I suggest you do the following 1) Connect the MD to the computer via a USB IN DATA MODE. Don't start SS / Simple Burner or whatever. You want Windows to treat this as an external hard disc. 2) Re-format the Disc (in data mode). Windows will just think it's an external 1GB HD. 3) Now try either in your unit or in SS to Re-format the Disc for MD use (SS) . MD discs IMO NEVER break -- in all the years of using them I've NEVER had a defective disc --have even still got some of the old 60 Min one's still working. 2 HD's seems a Lot -- can't believe that they are defective unless you let a Truck run over them. Cheers -K

This Format is still born before it's even started -- Dead as a Dodo. If only Sony had opened up MD before the RH1 came out and allowed SP up and downloads. Any "New" type of CD format is doomed to failure these days --especially in the current economic climate. Cheers -K

SS has four hideous drawbacks 1) The Library can't Span volumes -- so unless you can organise all your music on to a single disc (also not always a good idea since if the disc gets erased, broken or stolen then you've lost your entire library). 2) the database is a proprietary format -- I don't mean the ATRAC music (or content itself) but the actual data base - so if it gets corrupted you can't really undo it. 3) You have to use the built in Backup / restore program for backing it up and restoring -- annoying thing also on restore you have to connect to the internet where the program will check for any DRM content. 4) you can't "Share" the database accross systems so its no good as a "Music Server" - won't work for example with XBOX, Squuezebox or other media streaming devices. I save all my music as FLAC tracks in my own "Albums" spread across multiple volumes and store the "addresses" in a MySQL database. When I want a track or Album the MySQL database just points my web browser at the address and then I can play it, retrieve it or do whatever I want with it. This way I can span as many volumes as I like including Network shares. I use SS only for uploading MD recordings in WAV which I then convert to FLAC and store in my own database. If I want to copy music to MD I burn the tracks I want to an ISO image (Nero will burn FLAC directly to an audio CD, then I mount this ISO as a Virtual CD using Virtual Clone drive or similar software for the mount process. I then transfer to MD using Simple Burner. I sometimes use SS for editing the tracks on the MD but that's all. SB downlaods at 256 kbs in Hi-SP which is fine for portable listening. If I want SP recordings I burn my Virtual CD to a CD-RW and then use a deck to copy it to SP at 2 or 4X (real time). If your deck doesn't read CD-RW's then CD-R's only cost cents per piece -- do it like that or using your audio streamer use the optical out into the optical in on the MD recorder in real time -- no big deal as I don't tend to make a huge amount of MD's any more -- just a new compilation every now and then which I can easily do in Real Time -- SP is still the best format IMO although HI-SP is pretty good, SP maintains compatability with my MD decks. I never keep any music in the SS library. These days of cheap large disks it might be worthwhile keeping everything as WAV rather than FLAC but for me "The Jury's still out on that issue. This to me seems the most flexible system - maintaining MD's usefulness side by side with the more modern technology such as Audio Streaming etc etc. To build up the MySQL database just devise a few tables with some foreign key fileds linking them together. Although you can store music (and Video) files in the data base itself as BLOB's (Binary Large OBjectS) it's better to store the file name and directory where the music track exists in the data base as a reference to the music itself. The Sql is simple -- you need such things as album, track title, artist, year etc etc. Anybody can do it --MySQL is Free and excellent documentation. Works on Linux AND Windows. Just devise some simple Queries on what you want to retrieve and your web browser will do the rest. There's loads of good GUI's for MySQL and a load of "Canned Queries" that you can use as a template -- you don't need to be a pro IT developer for this sort of stuff. You'll also need some functionality for updating the data base if you delete, change, move or add files -- fairly simple as the application is not complex and you won't normally have more than 1 concurrent user i.e YOU. As a Bonus here you can even store all this stuff on a LINUX server. The data and database itself doesn't have to be on Windows -- the Windows machine is just the client. Finally by having "Discrete Music tracks" you can just drag and drop these to other players etc without any further processing. Getting stuff out of SS to copy to another player was always a hassle and loss of quality in transcoding a lossy format to another lossy one. FLAC like WAVE is lossless. Cheers -K

Hi there you won't be disappointed but do save your existing OS first. I should do an "Upgrade" -- this depending on the software you've installed on your machine will take around 2 - 3 hours. A New install will take around 30 Mins --but then of course you have to re-install all your apps again plus fixes, find serial numbers etc etc. Also an upgrade takes care of compatability problems where possible. Cheers -K

Great News that most of the very very popular (8.9 inch) "Netbooks" are shipping with XP installed and NONE are shipping with VISTA. (VISTA would be a bit of a dog running on these). Some come with Linux but in general XP HOME is installed on them. Even Microsoft has been overwhelmed by the popularity of these -- and there are literally 100,000's now out there with XP HOME installed. SS and Simple burner work absolutely 100% on these. Users also aren't going to want to install a NEW OS with a computer only 2 or 3 months old so we might get a Windows XP SP4. These netbooks alter the whole timeframe of the lifecycle of Windows XP . Incidentally I've run W7 (32 bit) on one of these --works fine but don't even think of trying VISTA especially on a 1GB RAM netbook. Mine's got 2GB but even then I'm not running VISTA on it. Taking a Netbook also to a live gig is fine -- these almost slip into your pocket -- great devices and here in the UK you can even get a FREE one by signing up to some mobile Broadband services --even in a recession you can get some bargains. Cheers -K

Yes (but only 32 bit===>32 bit or 64 bit ===> 64 bit). You get Windows 7 Ultimate whatever version of Vista you upgraded from. Works an absolute treat. (Backup your VISTA OS first of course so you can restore if you don't like VISTA) Cheers -K

Hi guys just to report that anybody thinking of switching to Windows 7 -- I can report categorically that the latest "easily" available build of Windows 7 -- Build 7022 (original public beta is build 7000) works fantastically well and leaves VISTA (even SP1) behind for dust. SS works as well as most Audio programs. Winamp is fine. I use VLC (from Videolan) for playing most Video material -- it's small, FREE and has nearly every audio and video codec known to man or beast. Forget Windows Media manager --it's a dog and there's a nasty piece of spyware inside reporting usage to Microsoft -- but it does come with a caveat --this information is gathered purely for statistical purposes --well if you just believe that --'Nuf said. For mounting Virtual CD/DVD's NERO's DRIVEIMAGE no longer works. You can use SLYSOFT's Virtual Clone Drive on W7 (32 Bit version). Simple Burner unfortunately won't work (didn't in VISTA either). However works fine in an XP (or Windows 2000) Virtual Machine. I actually like Simple Burner as it saves me having to use SS. I only use SS essentially for "Editing" MD tack titles and uploading WAV files which I convert to FLAC and then delete from the SS library. There is a get around to go from XP==>W7 which I'll describe in another post. However I recommend going to W7 as soon as possible (even if the current builds expire on Aug 1 2009). W7 is what VIST should have been. Both the 64 bit and 32 Bit versions are great -- only 32 bit version is available in Build 7022 however. Cheers -K

Hi guys Running Windows 7 Beta X-64 with a Windows XP Virtual Machine -- No problems at all in using Simple Burner on the XP Virtual Machine. I Burn some tracks from a Flac library to an Audio .ISO (using Nero / simiar) and mount this as a CD on the Virtual Machine. Then I use Simple Burner to burn tracks to MD ---Hi-SP is fine for 99.9999% of purposes. So even Post VISTA you can use your MD without Sonic Stage -- note on your VM you will need Sonic stage (or at least the Open MG module) to be installed but you don't need to keep anything permananetly in the Library. (You can even make this stuff work with a Windows 2000 Virtual machine but it's easier with XP). Cheers -K