1kyle

OK it's real time -- but you can get some real great music from DVD sound tracks (I love Feuer Feuer for example in the opening set from the movie XXX with Van Diesel). No DRM either and it's great on Minidisc. To get round any DRM --the UK stuff seems to be the worst on this 1) Use Dolby 3.2 / 2.0 sound on the DVD -- DTS can sometimes give problems 2) Use if poss a cheap "Supermarket DVD" player --these are the best for avoiding DRM. Output the optical OUT / SPDIF of the DVD player into the "Optical IN" on your DTS / Dolby decoder. 3) Output the Digital OUT into the Optical IN on your Minidisc. unit. The high end gear usually have the DRM stuff locked tight whereas the cheap stuff from China etc is much more lax on this. You don't lose any quality -- the optical is a "Pass thru" -- but the cheap DVD player strips the DRM stuff off. I'm using a CROWN DVD player (Tesco 29.90 GBP !!!! works great). You've still got restrictions with Digital transfer to the computer but if you have got time instead of optical to the minidisc connect to the optical input of your computer soundcard and burn a CD --and then rip it -- although the prob with that is you can only get up to 80 Mins on a "Normal" CD and the DVD soundtrack might be longer --but you can split it. Note if you are using Nero you don't actually have to burn a physical CD -- use the DRIVE IMAGE software included to mount a "Virtual CD" , burn it and then don't forget to "Unmount" it again. Have fun Cheers -K

No prob with the HI-MD unit --Might be the Mike --or even the connection between Mike and unit might not be good / tight either. I don't know about your Mike -- I'm using the Sony ECM-719 with no probs whatsoever (it's the electret version with an internal battery) --Brilliant and unobtrusive piece of gear. The NH1 IMO is still better than the newer units (apart from the small display). Cheers -K

Hi there --mostly it works --but just a little niggle Could you have an option to list the track number OF THE GROUP as well / instead of the entre number of tracks on the MD (especially for 1GB discs where you might in HI-SP mode have 7 or 8 CD's on a disc (more if you are using lower bit rates nice work otherwise and it's easy to get into a spreadsheet -- Don't forget the CR or CRLF at the end of each line !!!!! Cheers -K

Any signal can get corrupted -- extra bits can get inserted / changed due to magnetism / electrical or other interference --ever tried watching Satellite TV in a weakish reception area when it's raining heavily or using one of those TV senders when next door has got a microwave switched on. Fibre optical cable is actually likely to be better shielded against this type of interference than coax since decent fibre optic cable doesn't actually carry a "traditional electric current" like copper wire etc. So whoever came out with Coax is better than optical needs to go back to physics 101. Coax appeared long before RELIABLE optical cable appeared which is probably why it was the preferred medium --and of course you can use longer cable lengths without needing repeater amplifiers (another area where signals can get corrupted). However if you can assume either cable type is losseless and no signal can get corrupted by outside influences then a digital signal is a digital signal pure and simple -- like copying a data file on your computer from one disk to another or to an external drive or even a DVD. You expect your data to be the same whether it's on a CD or hard disk --same with a digital music signal -- the mechanism used to get it from the source to the destination shouldn't normally matter. So the whole argument here should be left "in the Realms of Bovine Scatology". Cheers -K

For about 99% of environments where I'm listening to MD's AT3+ @256 is almost indistinguishable from PCM and saves a lot of HD space on your computer. Until High end Shelf type HI-MD units appear I wouldn't bother with PCM --especially if you are ripping CD's. I'm not saying PCM isn't better --but the "incremental" increase in quality at this time doesn't seem worth the extra effort and disk space of doing it. In any case as no current HI-MD units have an optical out so if you are playing into a high end piece of gear the line out (analog) is a limiting factor so the extra information in a PCM signal will be wasted. In case you are using PCM only to avoid all the DRM crap -- provided you only use "Non Purchased downloaded" music i.e you have only "ripped CD's" in your library then there is actually no problem in copying the library to as many computers as you want -- I've got a post elsewhere on these boards about how to do this and the limitations. As soon (if ever) HI-MD units with an optical out or high quality shelf HI-MD units appear then I'll re-rip everything to PCM. At the current state of the art for ripping CD's AT3+ @ 256K is more than sufficient. (For recording your OWN music --then different criteria apply -- I'm addressing this post to the vast majority who simply just rip CD's for portable music listening). Cheers -K

Hi -- I've got a little confused now over what exactly which group of models will play and record what. As far as I have it I think it works something like this. Pre Net MD models -- Record and Play back SP only. Net MD models such as the MZ-N10 will record and play back in SP/LP2/LP4 First gen Hi-MD models such as MZ-NHF800 and NZ-NH1 will record and play back LP2/LP4 and HI-MD modes only (inc PCM) Later models will record and play back HI-MD modes (inc PCM) only . (Don't care about MP3 compatability). I also understand that some newer models don't have a line out --which makes playing in a car radio or other external equipment with an AUX / Line in not possible. As yet no models have an Optical Out. From this dogs dinner of a mess there must be some rather strange shenanigans going on at Sony -- The Minidisc is a very convenient format and much more flexible than Hard Disc or memory type players. So I'm hanging on to my MZ-N10 (net MD) and MZ-NH1 (HI-MD) for now -- I also have the MZ-NHF800 which is useful when I'm travelling as it has a radio as well and uses standard AA batteries so I don't have to worry about re-charging problems. The NHF800 is my "Backup machine". I'm passing on the current 2nd gen stuff untill we are a bit clearer in the direction we are heading. I certainly want a decent LCD screen, a remote and a Line out as a must and ideally I would like at least play back of LP2/LP4 until some decent high end shelf systems with HI-MD come out as well as car units. My Hi end stuff plays MDLP fine so I'm not giving up on that until something better comes along which it hasn't yet. I've got money waiting to burn a hole in my pocket Sony --what are you waiting for !!!! --. Cheers -K

If you have an old 'GHOST' / Powerquest Image of your old system you could restore it -- then run the SS backup tool and recover yiur library that way. It's amazing how many people don't backup their computers regularly with programs like Symantec GHOST or whatever --computers might be more reliable now but they can go wrong and even if they don't Humans will make mistakes --ever deleted files by accident that you need. Otherwise I'm afraid do what the previous poster says --get a six pack (or two or even three) and re-rip the CD's ---- but AFTER THAT DO A BACKUP. I would even suggest doing a backup after 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 so if the import process gets hosed for any reason you don't have to start again. It's amazing that companies which make great hardware have such shitty Software depts. I'm a photographer and use Canon professional digital cameras a lot but the Canon software is amazingly terrible (shades of SONY here). Cheers Happy Beer drinking while restoring -K

Just a possibility -- but sometimes the easiest solutions are the correct ones. Is your Library getting full -- SS shows how much free space you have --- alter the Library Import / Transfer destination to an area with enough space. If you are transferring a full HI-MD disc it's 1GB in whatever format you are transferring . Otherwise as the previous poster says you'll just have to split the tracks --- you can do it in real time with Total Recorder / Nero and a decent sound card. Cheers -K

Please Sony can you bring out a Hi-MD car Radio -- especially since the new MD units won't record in SP/LP2/LP4 (MDLP) formats any more. I have an aging Kenwood KMR radio which will play MDLP minidiscs --- and from Jan 2005 Kenwood have ceased making any more minidisc products so when it's broken it's gone. Here's the message from Kenwood. http://www.justkenwood.co.uk/minidisc.asp Considering that at Hi-MD mode on a 1GB disc will give around 7 hours of playing time it seems a much better solution than having to fiddle around with bulky CD's and a changer in the boot of a car. 2 or 3 of these discs are equivalent to 14-20 CD's -- try carrying those around !!! wheras 2 or 3 MD's will slip into a pocket quite easily. So why on earth have SONY not produced a car radio yet with this capacity --- yet nearly everybody is still making CD changers for cars. Even finding a radio with a front Audio / Line in is next to impossible. I can imagine myself going back to a "cassette"radio (whats a cassette!!) and using the Cassette adapter as it has a line in. Cheers -K

Slightly off topic but you CAN copy the library to a second / third / whatever computer under certain situations --- to do it note the following 1) I don't have any "Purchased Music" so I don't have any copyright issues that DRM will screw up. 2) You need SS 3.0 or 3.1 3) You will need to be connected to the internet for a few seconds at "Restore"time. 4) Any existing music library on the 2nd computer will be wiped out so ensure the library you are copying has ALL your music in it before attempting a restore. So what you do is : 1) use SS to backup your library to a removable drive, DVD, memory stick or whatever depending on the size -- a shared Network disk or a removable external HD is probably the best solution. -- Note that you DON'T LOSE anything on the original computer just beacuse you've done a backup. 2) Connect the removable disk or whatever and then start the SS restore program. The Internet authentication will start --- as I don't have any purchased music the validation will always work. 3) repeat the restore on as many computers as you need. Incidentally once you've got the library on your 2nd / 3rd computer you can still transfer to MD just as you could on the ist computer. I think this method in any case would be quicker and more convienient. Hope this helps -K Added -- in case you've got some of your own recordings I'm not sure if the method above will work-- I only have "ripped CD's" in my library but it should work. If the validation fails on your own recordings then it's still easy to get round -- create a "Virtual CD" of your recording by using the DRIVE IMAGE feature of NERO and then rip the tracks back into your library before doing the backup. -K

Mine works fine for DVD playback --I'm using the laptop version of the Audigy card -- fantastic piece of gear and there's a built in dolby and DTS decoder . I think You'll find it's the DVD player software that inhibits Optical out not the Audigy card. Incidentally while POWERDVD won't even play some DVD's if you try and use the TV out on a computer WINDVD from Intervideo works just fine. I've made some great recordings from the soundtrack of DVD's -- for example I like Feuer Feuer from the start of the movie XXX with Van Diesel. Incidentally you can always use TOTAL RECORDER to get round these type of problems anyway -- there's plenty of posts on this program on these boards. Cheers -K

I've copied my library several times using the backup tool to DIFFERENT computers -- no prob whatsoever with SS 3.1 You DO need to connect to the Internet as the library will need to be authenticated --- I don't have any purchased music in my library so no DRM crud issues here. If your library only contains tracks from CD's etc you should be fine on a restore. I suggest you UNINSTALL SS completely, re-install either 3.0 / 3.1 and then try again to restore your library. If you've got any purchased downloaded music then all bets are off as I haven't a clue about how this works but all my library contains are "ripped" CD's and my own recordings. Cheers -K

SS 3.1 seems to have fixed a major irritant believe it or not. I had a computer crash and had to recover from a "Disk Image" which I had created via GHOST. The image was reloaded from a Bootable DVD. No probs when accessing my library after the restore --- with SS 3.0 I would get some problems and would also have to restore my Music Library again after a system restore. I don't have any "Purchased" music so I don't know how the DRM crud would react to a Disk Image restore -- but for Non purchased musiv it works fine. Cheers -K

Since Sony make some quite nice laptops (Sony VAIO) with some really excellent screens I can't see them rusing to support Macs. I think you are on your own on this one -- however if someone can reverse engineer a driver for it you could then store your music as data on the mac --the mac would just see the minidisc as an external drive. Linux sometimes uses a "wrap around" technique by actually using the Windows driver called from a front end -- this is the only way to get some Wireless Network cards to work on Linux. You'd need to be able to find the hardware command set but somebody I'm sure could hack the Windows driver and fix it for a Mac. Cheers -K

Mine works fine (Open MG audio - ATRAC3plus 256Kbps) is an option to rip CD's from and tranferring to MD I get all the options. Using SS 3.1 Cheers -K

One way to get round this (assuming you don't BUY any music from any download service) is to use SS 3.0 to BACKUP UP your library and then restore it on to Computer 2. Ensure you've uploaded your MD music to your library before you start. What actually happens in this case is that on Computer 2 any existing library is replaced by the one you are restoring (from Computer 1) . You need a short connection to the internet before the restore beginbs --this just checks for authorisation for "Purchased" music -- which I don't have any of so the authorisation always passes. I use this a lot as I travel a bit and want to copy music to my laptop. It's a round about way of getting your MD stuff uploaded into another computer but it works. I agree with most posters that the DRM stuff really sucks when it makes it a hassle for you to distribute YOUR OWN MUSIC. Incidentally your Music Library on Computer 1 is not affected in any way by the copy to computer 2. It still works just like it did before the backup -- and you can backup and restore as many times as you like. By judicious use of this method you should be able to "upload" your MD stuff to as many computers as you want. If you purchase music and have purchased tracks in the library then all bets are off as the DRM will probably hoze it up bigtime -- but for non purchased music method outlined above works pefectly. There's no problems uploading music from SS TO the minidisc --you can do this as many times as you like from whatever computer the library is on so the trick to get music (or recording) FROM an MD is to COPY THE LIBRARY !!!! (via the SS backup and restore). Whilst it's only a partial loophole it saves messing around in Real Time and of course you do get 100% digital copies. Cheers -K

Thanks for the link -- but for SS 3.0 users (English) the Mp3 plugin for 3.0 is available -- the link is on this board somewhere so you can use this meantime while waiting for SS 3.1 in English to appear. I don't use MP3's myself so I can't say whether it works or not but I haven't had any probs with SS 3.0 which is available -- when upgrading ensure the Open MG module is also the correct level or you won't get the PCM options in SS 3.0 Cheers -K

I haven't got any purchased music -- only CD's which I've Ripped and stored in in ATRAC3 Plus (256kps) format. The quality of these is fine for almost all listening -- and with over 600 CD's in my library it would be relatively pointless to keep them all in PCM / WAV format. ATRAC3+ at 256KBS is more than good enough for almost all types of listening and especially for any type of listening on the move. I don't have ANY trouble backing up from Computer A and restoring to computer B . What happens is that the program needs a connection to the Internet to validate your DB -- in the case of CD's which don't have any problems unlike "purchased downloaded music" from connect or elsewhere the validation always works and your library will be reloaded on to computer B Note that any existing music library on Computer B will be erased by the restore. You can transfer tracks to MD without problems. You still however won't be able to upload tracks to the computer FROM the MD if SS determines that the MD has already uploaded tracks to a different computer. (I'm using SS 3.0) BTW the computer with the original Library (Computer A) of course still works --just because you've backed something up doesn't mean that the original program will stop working. I've done this loads of times as I also want to have music files on my Laptop which I use when travelling or at worrk as well as my main desktop computer at home. Cheers -K

Hi everybody I usually save music in the SS database as ATRAC3+ 256kbs -- I find this much better than any of the MP3 formats I've tried especially for Classical music with a large dynamic range. Now the library is getting fairly large now so is there any way of spanning ot over multiple discs so that for example I could have subsections like String Quartets / Instrumental on 1 Disc, Choral music on another etc etc like any sensible data base system. I'm sure even for the MP3 users at lower compression this question will eventually arise -- even tha largest of hard discs will eventually get filled up. Any computer gurus out there --- help appreciated. BTW copying libraries between machines provided you don't have any copyright problems works fine with SS 3.0 -- as I only copy / Import CD's to the library I don't have any DRM issues so it works OK for me. Thanks -K

Kenwood still has MD car radio -- it's MDLP but at LP2 that's still around 2 1/2 hours per disc (or 2 - 3 CD's) so taking say 3 or 4 small discs with you isn't a problem and should be more than enough for usual trips. Sound out is great as well -- I'd love a HI-MD car player but my Kenwood works fine for the moment. (also has FM, MW and LW) -K

I couldn't find any thing on this in the archives. I know SS won't allow COPY between two computers but what I want to do is MOVE my music library from a Desktop to a Laptop without having to re-create the whole thing over again. I've got about 500 CD's in ATRAC3 (256K) on one library. Can I do a backup and then restore it on to the laptop. I'm not bothered about any existing libraries on the laptop as I don't have any. Is there any other way of getting the CD's (paid for legally by me and not copy protected AFAIK) on to the laptop without having to import all 500 of them. I'm sure there must be loads of people who have a laptop and a desktop and would like to use their music while travelling with the laptop. Is there another way for example EXPORT a library from one machine to another --this would still preserve DRM by only allowing 1 machine to be used. What happens if you decide to UPGRADE to a newer machine --surely you don't have to re-create your library all over again. Help appreciated Cheers -K

Yep -- but there's also a downside to this as well unless you do some fiddling. If you've been a sky customer for some time you could get a relatively cheap upgrade with a built in Dolby decoder. I prefer just the plain optical out where you can use a separate decoder (Dolby / DTS etc) if necessary. I route the signal into a cinema decoder as well --some movies have great sound tracks to record -- but when they use DTS there's some Macromedia or other crap in there that stops the optical out from my decoder from giving a signal into the minidisc recorder. The Dolby 3.2 encoding yields "recordable" sound however. For most music (Radio) on the Sky system optical out works fine --but the source isn't always as good as you would expect. BBC R3 and Classic FM are pretty good but for the rest a decent FM receiver still seems to sound better IMO --probably due to the fact that the better sound quality (in theory) from the satellite shows up how horrible some of the source media really is.

Installed SS 3.0 on a Sony Vaio laptop. -- Looked fine, nice GUI etc etc. Functions all worked fine and sound seemed crisp and clean --even on LP2 . Now try and use NERO for normal DVD burning (Data not Music). SS closed properly etc and Minidisc recorder unplugged. Keep getting message from NERO --- Abort Write Power Calibration Error ??????? Tried on SEVERAL DVD's --no joy same error each time. Anyway uninstalled SS 3.0, re-installed SS 2.3 and everything is fine again. DVD re-writer in the laptop is a Pioneer DVR-12D. God only knows what SS 3.0 is trying to do to the hardware --Power Calibration Error ??? hope it's not some undocumented Spyware or DRM they've added to this program. Grrrrhhhhhhhhh BTW using Nero 6.6.0.8 and Windows XP with service pack 2 applied. Cheers -K

Hello everybody -- Sometimes I'm still using a Net-MD MZ-N10 (for non HI-MD disks it's a great 2nd unit even thinner than the NH1 HI-MD unit whic I think is great. On the back of the unit it has TYPE-S which I'm not sure what it means or does. I've also got an old cheapish Mini Bookshelf system (MDLP) which has TYPE-R stamped on it. Can anybody explain what these mean and what do they do (if anything). I'm also sure it's been posted before but for 80 and 74 Min mimidiscs (and I've still got a few of the original 60 minute one's) I can't hear any discernible difference between LP2 and HI-SP --and LP2 gives a few minutes extra recording times. On the 1GB discs of course you have to use them in HI-MD mode. On DECENT equipment and speakers is there any noticeable difference. Even PCM doesn't sound very different (if at all). -- Of course this I know depends on the original quality of the source but I'm usually ripping Classical Music CD's -- not MP3's etc so the original CD quality should usually be very good. (Real sound -- not just "Measurebating". Cheers -K

It arrived yesterday -- No extra tax of any kind paid. Works a treat -- does EXACTLY what it is intended to do --also works with AAA rechargeable batteries. Only one prob --all the instructions are in Japanese --no English available but it's pretty clear from the pics. I'm using it with the NH1 to connect you'll need the USB cable that came with your NH1 --plug the USB end into the reader and the other end to the minidisc unit. Press the Check to ensure everything is OK then press Copy. Great piece of kit. Cheers -K (I don't know if it works with the NHF 800/900 -- but I can't see why not -- the USB end goes into the unit while the special connector goes into the minidisc unit so you need the USB cables that come with your minidisc unit and not a normal standard USB cable.) Cheers -K