Azureal

bluecrab, That is one sweet machine, the 333ES, I tried to snatch it early this morning but was only willing to go to $250 and got beat out with 6 seconds left ... Oh well, I mostly use SP and my 20ES does a pretty darned good job of that. I was amazed at how low it went for, amazing ...

I am interested in the answers to these questions as well. I recently bought a handful of knock-off LIP-4s myself, hoping to extend my ability to power my RH1 into the future. I have heard of the battery in the freezer also, I do not know if there is any real scientific basis for this idea or not ...

Arvin, can you explain the details of this statement?

Thanks NickJay, An interesting solution worthy of consideration, although, much of the music I enjoy is excessively mixed to enhance the stereo effect. I also listen almost exclusively through headphones and I am certain I would notice the monophonic recording. Thanks Arvin, I'll give the 105k ATRAC3 codec a try and see how is sounds. Playback is via Type-S Hi-MD unit, so it should enhance decoding for the best possible sound. I am still curious if anyone knows why the 128k ATRAC3+ bit rate is not transferable to a minidisc, especially the most recent incarnation, the RH1. I wonder about trying to transfer these encoded files onto one of my DAP HD units, hmmm, that's an idea. I hardly use them, but it would be interesting to know if the units could decode that bit rate. Regards,

Arvin, why would the Normal (Faster) recording quality produce better results than the High (presumably slower ...) recording quality, preserving more high frequencies in LP2? I am curious as I am trying to discern what bit rate/codec to use for some recent recordings. I used to love LP2 even in the pre-Type S days of playback, but I find it a bit harsh now. This is likely due to all of the real-time optical SP recording I have done over the past few years. SP is hard to beat according to my ears, but I am trying to fit more music on one disc ... Is it possible to record SP real-time, via optical in, onto an RH1 with a standard MD disc formatted as Hi-MD? This could allow nearly three hours of SP recording on one disc ...

So I have been playing lately with creating Hi-MD formatted standard MD blanks and transferring, via CP 4.3 Ultimate, various music at differing ATRAC3 and ATRAC3+ bit rates. I am trying to find a nice balance between sound quality and file size to fit several hours of music onto a single standard MD formatted as Hi-MD. 256k ATRAC3+ sounds fantastic but I want more music per disc. 192k ATRAC3+ sounds great but I still want more music per disc. 132k ATRAC3 sounds pretty good, but to my ears the ATRAC3+ codec sounds smoother, less interference with high frequency reproduction. 64K ATRAC3+ sounds okay, but it is a bit like 132k ATRAC3 to my ears, not good to me for more than low volume background music. 128k ATRAC3+ would be nearly perfect! Too bad I cannot get CP to transfer this bit rate onto a minidisc on my RH1. Why is this bit rate even available if it cannot be used on a minidisc? Using 128k ATRAC3+ would be the perfect SQ/space fit for me personally, I am disappointed that I can't get it to work ... Any ideas? Thanks,

I am pretty sure that every unit I own has the ability to disable that Beep tone heard in the output when performing operations on the unit. Just dig into the configuration menu a bit, you should find it.

PhilippeC, I could use a copy of the two mentioned applications. I'll PM my personal email to you, if you don't mind, could you please send them to me? Also, would you mind asking Pierre if he has a copy of a utility created by Sony circa SS 2.3 used for conversion of MP3 to ATRAC? The name I have found of the file is: "SMFCUSetup09152.exe", there is a Sony page describing the tool here: http://www.connect.com/download_mp3Conv.html, although the link to the file is no longer working. Thanks in advance for your help PhilippeC!

There is a huge repository of the BBC Radio 1 program "The Essential Mix". A ton of Paul Oakenfold mixes, which I love. http://www.radiotracklistings.info/ Thanks for the other site tips too and for resurrecting this thread! I'll definitely be checking them out.

Hey Guys, Thanks for your efforts, they are very appreciated. I can get by using the Connect Player to perform the conversions. Once again, I really appreciate your attempts at finding the tool.

Well, I have only been able to locate discs for v1.5, v2.0 and v3.0 ... The utility I need is not on any of them. I am also having trouble finding any full installers for v2.2. Every download service I have found online these days is a scam of some sort and I do not trust them. The only version readily available is v4.3. If anyone has a personal archive of old full installs for SonicStage, perhaps they would be willing to share the files with me. Thanks,

Thanks so much, I'll try to track it down ...

Ok, so I have found reference to an actual tool created by Sony to perform the exact function I need. I just cannot find the install file ... Check this out: http://forums.sonyinsider.com/index.php?showtopic=11908&st=0&p=72271&hl=SMFCUSETUP09152EXE&fromsearch=1&#entry72271 And a reference to the tool on an old Connect page: http://www.connect.com/download_mp3Conv.html Does anyone know where I can find the insyall file named "SMFCUSetup09152.exe"? I have a dozen or so old SonicStage installation disks, I will dig them out and look through them to see if the tool was included in an older version.

Yeah, thanks. That is what I have been doing and it is a lot of mouse jockeying. I guess I can take this route. I am still interested in knowing if anyone has any details of the OMG libraries. Thanks bobt

Is anyone aware of any utility already created which will perform batch conversions (trans-coding) of MP3 files into oma ATRAC3plus format? I have ended up with a large number of MP3 files which I wish to import into SS for transfer to various MD and Sony DAP devices and perfer the ATRAC format. To my ears, even a trans-coded file sounds fine. I want to be able to point the tool ad a directory structure of MP3 files and let it rip, resulting in a new collection of high bit rate oma files. If such a tool does not exist, I have the capability to create one but will need to research the appropriate OMG libraries to perform the conversions. Is anyone aware of any documented API details for the OMG libraries included with SS? Thanks in advance.

I think that is a fair assumption. I picked one up on Ebay two years ago and the internal battery was dead. At the time I was also able to pick up a replacement lithium ion battery for around 20 bucks shipped from somewhere in China. It was a difficult battery to replace, but I managed and the unit still works great, it hols a charge for 12 - 15 hours of continuous playback on a single charge. I have an E10 which needs a replacement, or will eventually will, it uses the same intrnal battery and I have not been able to find any on Ebay at all. I would be interested in finding a source for them as well.

I suspect the operators of the board are trying to conserve bandwidth by not permitting the transfer of any images. Several times over the past few months, this site has become unavailable with an error message that "Bandwidth has been exceeded" or some such similar message. All of the little icons and avatars and other images add up to a lot of transferred data for even a simple page like this. The site sure does not look as nice this way that is certain. I have a business account for several websites I operate which permits unlimited bandwidth for a monthly fee of 9.95 US dollars, offered by 1 and 1 (www.1and1.com). This might be worth looking into as a solution to the hosting problems ...

That's nuts, that unit probably sold for around $200 US when it was first released. I can't imagine anyone buying an NH700 for nearly twice the price of and RH1.

I am afraid that will be tough to confirm, perhaps you can find the manuals for a couple of similar devices and see if there is information about the format. I was reading about the Yamaha you mentioned and it seems like there may have been a standard at the time.

I found this on eBay: Yamaha 4 track MD recorder $150 buy it now price, pretty reasonable if it works! That was on the first page of this search: Multitrack search on eBay. Good luck! Can you tell I am bored tonight? I should be watching Chuck! Here is an even nicer unit: Sony Multi track recorder, this one is an auction with a reserve of $99US. About 4 days left on the auction.

Here is a good place to start: http://minidisc.org/multitrack_table.html. I see one of these every once in a while on eBay, they can go for anywhere from $100US to over $500US. AFAIK, the multi-track recorders using the data MD format did not store the ATRAC recording in any format similar to what a standard MD player/recorder could read, you would almost definitely require one of these devices to extract the audio from the discs. I do not even know if the devices manufactured bydifferent companies could read the other's recordings ...

BIGHMW, I took your advice and picked up two lots of 80 minute MDs, 52 new discs total. 22 Sony Gold, 30 Sony ES. With shipping, I paid about $3.25 per disk. The market is getting tighter for the highest quality disks, I don't want to run out!

You're well on your way Giant_Rick! Keep up that frugal attitude and you will be ordering before the end of the month! Have you decided where you intend to buy your unit?

I remember checking this out a few years back. The app does not transfer any music data via USB, it only uses the USB connection to perform control of the disc for playback and to retrieve the track title info. You connect the analog outlut of your MD plaer to the line input of your sound card and the app controls the playback and recording. It is all done in real time. It actually looks like a nice app, especially if you have a lot of recordings to transfer back to the PC.

I remember reading somewhere here or on the T-Board that the silver RH1 was sold only in Japan and has a cap on the output levels. I also remember reading that this could be modified in the settings via the service mode. Most of the silver ones I see on eBay are very pricey, around $500 US with a high shipping cost bringing the total cost to as much as $550 shipped new from Japan to the US. But they sure look nice! I picked mine (a black RH1) up from Minidisc Canada earlier this year for about $310 US and $15 US shipping. I have not taken it out of the box yet! :-D Here is a link to the site, it looks like they have the Black M200, but are out of stock on the Black RH1: http://www.minidisc-...iDisc+Recorders