rossgallichotte@earthlink.net

I will look into this as a solution. I have ordered a serial port card with vista 64 support. We'll see if that is any help. it may be that without a driver for the MDS-PC2 I'm out of luck to cleanly record while Im at work. I have the old windows Xp computer whichI can reload the windows 98 if thats the only way. Just the troglodite method. Maybe there are some MDS-PC3's out there also. I will let ya'll know next week if I make any progress..... thanks to all for the insight and effort. R

lets see if i can make a little more sense of this. you may be very close The control AII cable minijack at each end plugs into aport on back of MDS unit it uses only one of 2 ports available .The other end plugs into a "sony vision touch CAV-50 C" which has a RS232c serial port cable (9pin)(female)which used to plug into a serial port (male)on back of old computer!. the new computer has only USB's so I got an adapter RS232c (male 9 pin)to USB cable and plugged it into new computer which still doesn't recognise the new hardware. Sony provided a CD called MD Editor 2 which one downloaded and it made monitor look like a editing suite with 2 columns for editing,it also had the manual and a"picture label maker" portion to it so you could make sticky labels for the discs. all these items were included in the original kit.Soft ware being on the disc. The old computer had a 9 pin serial port card on it. Tthe new computer has only USB's. My brother tells me to try and open an expansion slot on new computer and put in a pci slot serial port card that works with vista 64 which we found on the net for 50.00 bucks.. but the caveat is that there still may not be driver for the soft ware? but at least the computer could recognise the MDSPC2. additionally your handshake analogy may be correct for when i went to get a transfer cable to move files from XP to Vista the double ended USB cable would not work on Vista 64bit although it was labellled specifically for XP to Vista the company Belkin(Best Buy) apolgised for neglecting to say it wasnt compatable with vista 64 also i can disconnect the "line out" optical cable and see a red light coming out of it. The MDSpc2 has 1 optical line out. it has 2 optical line ins. there are also analog jacks ;2 line in and 2 line outs. L&R in , L& R out all RCA jacks and additionally one of the jacks "line out" R is labelled variable .My brother suppossed it was possible if the computer recognised the hard ware with the serial port connection that any newer editing type audio could be used to replace my MD editor portion such as Roxoi or this "soundstage" which you refer to. you wrote That's a point - can you do INPUT via optical? Eg play something back and hear it on the PC speakers? That will be a function of the volume control for your sound card and will probably be mapped to something weird, as most people don't even try to do this. yes i could do optical input to the MDSpc2 but dont have capability on computer but your point is well taken if i were to get a new sound card( with optical outs) also suggested by brother( computer guy but not familar with MD or my unit but clearly understands they are not talking to each other ...unit/computer) however the sound system is currently a Sigmatel chip on the mother board using microsoft drivers that updated after dell had installled theirs. sigmatel STAC 92xx C-major HD audio is the sound card or chip,I understand howto go about disabling old sound system if i install a new card. are there any current recorders that do something similar to what I am trying to accomplish ? Is this "soundstage" used on a computer ? R

Bob, your point is spot on. R

THX for some insight Okay lets try these all at once. yes I get a Din Unlock C71 code. old sound card was "Creative Sound Blaster 5.1" and was terrific. Current computer is a "Dell" XPS 420 with each category(memory, hard drives etc. all up graded-sound built in on the board I think which I was told to avoid but that's what it came with it. I'm not sure if I can trade out card or add an extra sound card (?) and I can't find a name in the device manager for sound. you ask software? not sure what you mean by that? what do you mean by quick scan thru?and I wish I had one of these (a MDS-PC2?). Dual boot may be possible ...I think I can get the beta(or even the pre beta from a relative to try out) for windows 7. would it be worth while to reload 98 back into my XP computer to see if works since its my spare now just a bit of PIA though! Sinus:Im trying to get it changed, it was from 3 years ago and when I logged in it wouldnt recognise my old password or allow me to reregister to the same email address. I'm no audophile and even less a computer geek but a fair knowledge to follow some of these hints. Please in general be really specific as almost all my computer knlowledge is in CAD CAM usage and less in the computer itself. I am unfamilar with any of the newer MInidisc recorders or editors or if they exist , however, I am reading the site about HI MD and some of the ATrac stuff.... are there any better units more suited to my newer computer or is minidisc not well supported by sony as I have heard both and parts of this site still rave about it. I really liked it back when as I could keep albums discretely on individual discs as opposed to lumping massive amount of music on single units such as IPods and other MP3'ds, which I may do as well but mainly I would like to get tried true to run again at least I understood it enough to to work it. R

I purchased my MDS PC2 ....10 years ago and recorded 250 albums onto minidiscs. It used my computer for all the editing features and had the editing screen on the monitor. I had Windows 98 at the time. I upgraded to Window XP and never got it to work again. I recently upgraded to my new computer and to Vista 64 bit. I have rehooked up my MDS-PC2 and still have difficulty getting all (most) its features to work. I even sent it back to the regional Sony repair service center in Los Angeles and they swear it works fine so it must be me. 1. I cant get the MD editor to come up on screen although the computer has downloaded it (from the original disc) successfully. I have the manual in PDF form. 2. If I plug head phones into it, I can hear the music but have no control over the volume but it is sufficent to hear it at a reasonable level. But I used to be able to crank it up big time. However, it won't push any sound thru the computers sound system which works on CD's and DVD's really well ....5.1 channel sound card. Because of the changeover to a new computer I had to get an RS232c adapter cable to USB to connect it. The connections are as follows: from the back of the unit 2 optical cables are receieved by a Creative Labs digital input/output module CT4800., which in turns plugs into the input on the sound card with a mini jack plug. Also from the back of the unit from a port labeled A1 II another minijack is received by a Sony Vision Touch CAV 50 module which has an RS232c cable coming from it which is now plugged into the new RS232c to USB adapter cable and into the USB slot on the computer since it no longer has a serial port to connect to directly. On the face of the unit it has an ATT red lighted letters which I believe is the attenuator. There is no mention of this in the manual. If one incorrectly connects the unit one gets a DIN UNLOCK 51(?) message in the scrolling window. This is not mentioned in the manual either. I never used the hand held (like TV)remote unit so it will work independently of it. With so few connections and fairly clear if brief directions in the manual it should be idiot proof ,however, I have met my match! Do I need an updated a driver ? Does it exist? Is my new cable the problem? Is it not compatible with newer operating systems? Surely there is a genius amongst you that can help. I have a carton of 500 mini discs waiting to be fillled up ..if only! Hoping for miracle Ross

I have a Sony MDS PC2 recorder. I was using Windows 98 SE to run it but have updated to Windows XP and now I need to down load another driver .Where can I get one? TIA Ross