1kyle

I find ripping CD's into ATRAC Lossless (352) is about the best compromise since it preserves space on the computer, can be converted (Losslessly) to PCM, and is the fastest way from lossless to 352 which is what I use when transferring to HI-MD. It's a pity the recorder won't record directly in 352 Atrac Lossless (maybe 4th gen) . Uploading SP stuff doesn't yield any probs for me so far -- remember however not to mix USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 devices on a "shared string" of usb ports --the WHOLE LOT take the characteristics of the slowest device. I found that out when I had my RH1 and a Scanner on adjacent usb ports. RH1 seems to perform adequately in this regard with SS 4.0 I'm still making some SP mode discs as I have a fantastic MDS -JB980 deck and a couple of earlier decks that can "high speed" dub a CD ==> MD digitally. It's nice to be able to transfer compilations to computer as well. I haven't heard of many people having upload problems with the RH1. Ensure you are using USB2 (with no USB 1.1 devices attached on the same string) and you have SS 4.0 installed. Cheers -K

Hi guys -- I could only compare the remote functions with what I could display on the NH1 and the RH1. There might be all sorts of other displays available only for specific models - . As a lot of people got the remote with the NH1 they probably will be quite happy that it appears to function identically with the RH1. It would be interesting to know if this also functions with the M200 as well. I haven't tried it on an RH10 -- there seems to be no point using a remote anyway on that model with its display screen. Now off to look at the World Cup --Eng V Portugal so cheers everbody -K

"Virtualisation" is a great tool for designing/testing Software and using specific Virtual Machines for specific purposes, however running a Windows Guest OS under Vmware on a Linux host doesn't count as a Linux App since you actually have to install Windows and any app ypu want on that Virtual Machine EXACTLY LIKE you were doing a Native Windows install. I'm testing the 32 bit Windows Vista (beta) as a guest OS on Linux If I get any probs Iwon't have hosed up my system as you can then just fire up another VM. The OP was really wanting a NATIVE Linux app. The only thing you can do so far in Linux is use the MD as a pure external Data device but you'll find a usb stick or a camera card in a card reader probably better for that purpose than a minidisc. If Sony ever opens up the format so some sort of SDK is available then I'm sure someone will create some aps. If you have a machine with 1GB of RAM even a modest laptop will allow you to run VM's decently and at near native speed (for Windows XP guest OS you really need a minimum of 512MB RAM to allocate to the guest OS). Cheers -K

deleted --wrong post Cheers -K

Actually some people who are getting on in years and who have fat fingers can't always easily SEE the info easily on a 1 line display and find it awkward to manipulate small buttons. I like the shape and it's great to be able to REVERSE the standard jog dial on the remote (why are these devices always designed for right handed people). For younger people who are into manipulating small buttons as a matter of course (look how often they do texting on mobile phones) then the other remote might seem to be a bit big. However it suits me and I still think that while in EVERY OTHER dept the RH1 has not only matched but far exceeded what I expected the remote was a let down. Cheers -K

I wondered what the DN was I got that on my display as well-- thanks for the answer. Cheers -K

It's really only useful on playback -- if you are looking for a particular track / group / playback bookmark. It's not that fat (RM-MC40ELK) On playback I use Hi-MD a lot at 352 -- that's roughly equivalent to 5 CD's worth of music. On 256 that becomes 7 - 8 CD's. At lower resolutions a LOT more CD equivalents. Unless you are happy just popping in a disk and playing it sequentially from the start Navigation is really fiddly with the standard remote. If I'm using standard MD's (77/80 Min one's) I never bother with the remote as I stick to 1 Disk per CD. I'm still using an excellent Legacy shelf unit at home and I'm actually surprised how good SP (292) sounds on the RH1. Cheers -K

I think it's hard to tell for most people --you have to use a really good set of phones and ensure your SOURCE was created at good quality such as 352 - certainly no lower than 256. However as others have pointed out the USB, legacy uploads etc makes the RH1 more than a competitor for the NH1. Incidentally the remote supplied with the RH1 is pretty useless. Stick with the RM-MC40ELK supplied with the NH1. Works fine on the RH1. The battery is also the same on both models so unless you need the NH1 keep it as a backup machine and use the battery as a spare for your RH1. Bothe models feature the HD digital amp so that should minimize sound quality differences. If you are "In to" MP3's then you'll have to use the RH1. BTW charging the RH1 "From the Wall" rather than via a computer DOES display time left for charging -- when battery is empty it shows 60 min , reducing each minute until battery is charged. Display then goes out. Cheers -K

There's been some confusion here as to what exactly the RM-MC40ELK remote displays with the RH1. It seems to work exactly as it would on the NH1 -- you get a proper 3 line display (not 1 line as people have been suggesting) and whilst I haven't navigated every possible menu choice certainly on playback it works fine. I rarely use a remote on record so I haven't tested it yet recording. Incidentally it's not worth volume hacking the RH1 (European) since the 4.5mw o/p is fine and you've also got a proper line out. Cheers -K

I bought another RH1 in Brussels on Wednesday last week. They had 5 in stock in the Sony Centre (right near the Grand Place --main square in central Brussels). Shop speaks English as well. Wasn't the cheapest at 345 EUR but if you want one badly -- and you are in town then give them a try. Model is Black, comes with manuals for just about every known language in the Universe and you get both a Continental (2 pin) and British connectors for the mains charger (which you connect to the RH1 via a mini USB connector). Hope this of use to some of you trying to source RH1's. Cheers -K

I'm using SS 4.0 SonicStage : 4.0.00.05080 SonicStage Add-on for Personal Audio Download : 4.0.01.05160 OpenMG Secure Module : 4.5.01.04270 MagicGate Memory Stick Device : 4.5.01.04270 NW-E2, NW-E3, NW-E5 and NW-E8P : 4.5.01.04270 OpenMG CD : 4.5.01.04270 M.S. PRO : 4.5.01.04270 CD Walkman : 4.5.01.04270 ATRAC Audio Device with Intelligent function : 4.5.01.04270 Hi-MD : 4.5.01.04270 Music Clip, NW-S4, NW-E7 and NW-E10 : 4.5.01.04270 ATRAC Audio Device : 4.5.01.04270 Net MD : 4.5.01.04270 EMD Plug-in: 1.2.0.9 CD-R Writing Module(Audio CD/ATRAC CD/MP3 CD) : 4.0.01.05160 Px Engine: 2.4.35.500 I'm ripping CD's into the library @ ATRAC Advanced Lossless (352Kbs). This thing runs slower than a 1 legged dog on a perfectly smooth ice pond. I've flipped over on to another (less powerful machine) and doing the same rips using SS 3.4 -- Much Much Faster. Don't know what SS 4.0 is doing but I think I might uninstall and go back to 3.4 as I've uploaded all my legacy recordings now. Anybody else noticed performance problems with SS 4.0. I'm all in favour of upgrades but surely the BASE features - CD rips etc should not work SLOWER on a newer version. Cheers -K UPDATE Think I finally found the problem -- was actually a Hard Disk problem -- Hard disk (USB2) was plugged into a USB 1.1 slot. This really SLOWS DOWN the hard disk response times. If you mix USB devices on the same "string" / hub / set of connections the WHOLE LOT perform at the slowest device speed. I had a scanner also plugged in to the same hub. Moved the disk to a different set of USB slots --worked fine again. I keep my music libraries on external hard disks. Cheers -K

Had a little chance to play with this just to say it's BETTER by far than I expected. Will post a review later = am working at the moment an an OUTDOOR shoot so not much time on the Net. Suffice to say that the Time stamp feature is BACK, SP upload to PC works MP3 playback is fixed (I'm not a huge fan of MP3 formats but it certainly is fine at 16 bit 44.1 @192, 256 and 320 kbs - MP3 files created from ATRAC Losless ==> WAV ==> MP3. MP3 created via LAME. No MAC software yet - at least I didn't get any so hopefully can download some later. Not sure whether that's just my unit or a general problem. Must rush now but full review and some pics later. Just a quickie - forget the supplied remote as the RM-MC40ELK seems to work fine (haven't checked every function most most of the "Usual" one's work). The Normalisation is EXCELLENT as well more later. Nice one Sony. (For once) Cheers -K

Happy Birthday My Package is HERE (arrived yesterday - one day late) but IT's HERE. I'll be trying it out later this weekend- I'm off to Old Trafford to see Chelsea V Liverpool in the FA cup semi-final today so won't have too much time for posting as I have to catch a train from London to Manchester and since there will be a lot of Footie fans on the train it's not the best environment to try out a piece of new gear. Cheers -K

Hi there - I believe I DID mention that you would get a generation loss but so long as the original recording quality was fine the amount of degradation would be very small indeed - and now you'd have an "Infinitely copyable disc". Using a Computer optical input on a lot of sound cards just ignores SCMS so you shouldn't run into that problem. Another method is to use a DVD player if it has Optical IN and OUT. The Optical Out will strip off any SCSM bits in any case (or at least the most common DVD players will). If you are lucky the DVD player might just route the (optical) signal as a Pass through as people often want to route Audio to separate decoders like DTS, 7.1 or whatever. Anyway we shall soon be able to see what the RH1 is capable of but sneak previews seem to suggest that it WILL upload genuine SP recordings to the computer even if you might have to re-label the music again. Cheers -K

AFAIK USB downloading in NetMD mode never did SP anyway (LP2 and LP4 only) so the RH1 should work. The "SP" isn't as others have pointed out "True SP". You could (if you have access to a shelf unit) copy the MD via Optical out on the shelf unit to optical In on the MD unit. This will work for ALL legacy modes and you can record in whatever mode your MD recorder is capable of. Another solution (again you need an Optical Out) is to record in PCM mode on your computer and then you can import this into SS and then transfer to as many discs as you like. You'll get one generational loss (SP ==>WAV) but if your SP recording is reasonable you'd be really hard pushed to notice this. An RH1 WILL upload Genuine SP recordings not made by SS. Cheers -K

I'm not sure about the Jury rules in the US but in the UK whatever happens in the Jury Room is BY LAW 100% secret and penalties for breaking it are SEVERE. Unless the US justice system is a bit more liberal in regard to Juries DON'T ATTEMPT TO TAKE THE MD RECORDER INTO THE JURY ROOM. Any replays that the Jury need of the trial, Witness statements etc etc can always be called for by asking the Foreman of your Jury. I suspect that if the case is a long one you can take a certain amount of "personal" entertainement to be used in a Hotel etc. You might be allowed also to deposit stuff in a Locker before going into the Courtroom. Remember also that Jury Selection is part of the judicial process and as such potential recordings (doesn't matter that you only want to use the RH10 as a player) could compromise the justice system, so explain what the device is and why you want it when you report to the Courthouse. If you are lucky you might be allowed to take it in but I would be very surprised if you are still allowed to have it at the "Interview Stage" if you are likely to be quizzed as a potential juror. There would be many people interested in the "Banter" or conversations going on in that room where you and other people are sitting waiting to be called for Interview. A MD with some of that info on it could make or break a case depending on what was said. For example a person's private predjudices could be captured which was hidden from the Jury selection panels such as "Hang 'em and Flog 'em", or "Give them 50 years". It might seem Boring and Trivial to you but to a high flying attorney / Lawyer some of this info could make or break a case. Don't whatever you do try and "Sneak" unauthorized gear into the Court. If it's a high profile case and a Mis-trial is declared you are not only in Serious trouble from the LAW but there could also be ramifications from "Other Interested Parties" and I leave that to your own imagination. As a Photographer who'se often done PJ assignments on all sorts of topics I can assure you that what I'm posting here is NOT B/S. Don't do anything stupid. It's not worth it. Even on fairly trivial cases. ASK FIRST. A few days without music sounds bad but it's better than risking losing something else. Cheers -K

Being one of that rare breed of English guys that can speak Dutch (I've often had assignments in Belgium and Holland) I can only say that the review is absolutely MOUTHWATERING. IF only we'd had this at the start (SP upload). The official English review will be WELL worth waiting for. If you have any particular questions concerning the review ask here and I'll try and answer what the review says IN ENGLISH. This piece of kit is going to be a HUGE HUGE winner. One thing for sure that will please MP3 fans. The RH1 can handle sampling rates of 32 and 48 Khz as well as the standard (CD rate) 44.1. Whether sampling at 48 khz is worth it for CD ripping is a moot point but since music doesn't always come ripped from CD's or lower quality places like Itunes / Connect etc this could be of use for your own recording gigs. Can't wait for mine now. Cheeers -K

What you could do on your device (assuming it works like the RH10) is to say define a GROUP on it say LVL1, then add your Title (the album) then the tracks. You AFAIK can get more than 1 album under a group. Drag 'n Drop unfortunately hasn't been in SONY's methodology on MD players / recorders for years (however for playback at MP3 the SONY ERICCSON walkman mobile phones W800i, W810i, W900i) all support Drag 'n Drop for MP3 and will play files at 320 kbs if you want. But you can on MD have TRACK, GROUP, ARTIST,ALBUM on the RH10 (press the search button). There should be a similar feature on other models (you might need to use the remote). So you should be able to organise the music on your MD player at least to that level. That means you should have at least 3 levels of hierarchy available before you get to the actual track. One of the problems with Classical Music is that you usually need more info than the original MP3 tagging and play list was designed for. However IDv2 will add more features. Cheers -K

A lot of my CD's don't have CD TEXT so the only way to get the info is via the (internal)serial number which is effectively the key for the DB lookup and either CDDB or much better the freedb. Is there a simple MySQL type query one can submit to FREEDB for example giving the serial for the lookup For example the CD has this info on it : Serial : 0109BF63 CDDB : 62106608 given that info I should be able to loon to the site with the CD info and submit a query like SELECT * FROM <DB name> where SERIAL eq 0109BF63 and CDDB eq 62106608 ; These 2 numbers are generated from the CD title somehow - no idea how it's done. I should be able to get the info back. I need to know the actual database name and the variable names but this type of app should work. I would like then to save the info retrieved into my own database so I could use the track info etc for other applications without say having to re-rip a CD with NERO etc to get this info. Anybody got a simple internet query program that would simply return me the basic info that CDDB / FREEDB returns as a simple text file (or even a series of strings which I could save as a file. Linux would be fine if necessary. Note I DON'T WANT any RIPPING software. I just want the CDDB information which I can then save as TEXT or as an EXCEL spreadsheet or even html. Most of the applications I've seen always need to import tracks into some sort of library for example MonkeyMedia. Cheers -K

It's really easy to remove and replace. The manual shows how to do this quite clearly. All you need is a set of those tiny "Watch Makers" screwdrivers to undo 2 tiny screws ro remove the jog dial. The battery just disconnects from the ribbon connector. Put a new one in and you are done. Cheers -K

DAB was hailed as the next best thing in Radio broadcasting. If you live in the UK DON'T BOTHER getting a DAB radio unless you are absolutely desperate for a few of the extra stations. Due to the financial constraints of cramming more and more stations into the available frequencies the quality is nothing like as good as the current FM as the bit rates have had to be substantially reduced and even some of the quite "Low fidelity" repeats of even BBC 3 (Classical music service) on the INTERNET sound almost as good as the supposedly High Fidelity quality of DAB. The "flagship" BBC R3 Classical music service now only transmits at 128 kbs. It used to transmit at 192 presumeably to entice people into buying gear. Now for MP3 listening I would regard 192 (sampled at 16 bit 44.1 KHz) kbs as the BARE MINIMUM acceptable for serious high quality listening - note this is for AT HOME listening through decent separates. I'm not thinking about portable players used on the move. I would tend to use MP3's at 256 or 320 kbs for using on a decent piece of gear. Added to the fact that DAB is MP2 not MP3 so the 128 kbs of a DAB signal is SIGNIFICANTLY inferior to an already dubious quality of a 128 kbs mp3 signal. So the whole execise has been yet another con by the Music Industry to bolster it's revenues. Added to the reception difficulty in a lot of places it really isn't worth bothering with, especially if you have access to a Satellite Dish. (Cable systems are another issue. Some might be OK whilst others might add more compression to conserve bandwidth so they can supply more customers. I really don't know as I don't have cable where I am). The best sound IMO (not always true but so long as you know in advance when a decent quality transmission is going out) is via Satellite. BBC (and other commercial) Radio programs are transmitted "In the Clear" from the SKY satellite and with the new (HD TV enabled) digiboxes can capture Optical out which is the best way IMO of recording to minidisc. Some experimental programs go out at 256 Kbs and there is some talk of possibly trying AAC+ (MP4) A great pity as the initial promise of this medium (DAB) could have given very high quality indeed at lowish cost. I think "The Humble CD" will still be around for longer than people have predicted as nothing else comes close in music quality or transferrability for 99.999% of the population out there. Here's another comment from a UK source agreeing http://crave.cnet.co.uk/digitalradio/0,390...49257709,00.htm Cheers -K

I've often imported stuff from Japan with no English manuals etc and got them working. I can recognise baisc menu settings like Language and English in Japanese characters I don't think I'll have a problem with RH1. Got enough access to Japanese speakers as well. The limited SS functionality won't bother me initially. The device can be used as a recorder TOTALLY AWAY FROM A COMPUTER. Real time will also work for transferring both ways (although transferring to computer will be Analog if not using SS). The device managers and full SS functionality will be available later I'm sure. Cheers -K

It all goes back to OHMS LAW (Power consumption in WATTS = Current in amps * Voltage in volts). For the same power consumption in watts if the voltage is slightly lower (1.2 vs 1.5) the battery will have to supply more AMPS. This means it will drain slightly quicker. The device won't have any problem using 1.2V vs 1.5V but for a given power capacity it will of course discharge quicker as it has to supply more power. For those who've ever been in the US -- that's why it's difficult to find electric kettles a 3 Killowatt electric kettle in Europe @ 220 volts will draw 3,000 / 220 amps = 13.5 (probably need 15 Amp fuse In the USA if you can find one it would need 3,000 / 110 or nearly 30 Amps. The size of the wire would have to be HUGE as well to avoid heat loss in the wire. This is no "Conspiracy theory". Merely simple physics. Cheers -K

A little trick for people importimg to SS with eventual transfer to MD with Track and Album info. Sometimes the Gracenote CDDB doesn't have the CD info and it's often a pain to submit new info. Easy way to often find this info is to use NERO and import the CD as WAV into a temporary folder. Selecting USE INTERNET DB NERO searches through more music databases such as FREEDB and can usually find the track info. Now having got the track info etc as WAV files import into SS. Finally you can transfer to MD with track info etc. Cheers -K

As I'm going to be using this essentially as a recording device I'm not too bothered with things like Play Back settings / music uploads etc etc. For purely Music playback there are certainly other options available and as I NEVER use things like Itunes, Connect etc etc. For what I need the device for I'm sure the current SS 3.4 will be fine until an English version is available. You can set the RH1 Language settings to English and quite a few other languages (even on the Japanese models) so that part of the problem is non existent. For legacy recording upload @ SP I've still got the JB980 with optical out so apart from a little bit of hand editing tracks - can be done even in SB so you don't need to transfer anything to SS library. How the final software handles SP transfers will be quite interesting to see later however. I like the idea of being able to RECORD still in SP since this stuff often gets played on legacy equipment. Cheers -K