Terence Kelly

I forgot to say that your minidisc will update the TOC each time you turn it off. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but initially, when you edit a disk, all the edits are made to a copy of the TOC which has been loaded into the MD unit's memory buffer. The changes are only written to the disk when you turn the unit off. That's the reason why they warn you about battery level so much in recording. If there is not enough power left in the battery to update the TOC when you turn off the unit your recording will be lost, even though the musical information may have been successfully stored on the disk. TK

TOC stands for table of contents. The TOC is the map of where the tracks on the disk are located. It is similar to the directory of a hard disk. You will notice in your manual that it warns you not to disturb your unit while it is writing the TOC. If the TOC gets scrambled, you can't play your disk even though the musical information is there. The TOC allows the minidisc to be edited easily -- your musical tracks do not need to be stored contiguously on a minidisc. The TOC keeps track of all the bits and pieces. I believe the problem you and I have experienced is because SS 3.1 has a problem interpreting the TOC of a minidisc when the entries get a little more complex. TK

Are you sure you did a combine where the two previous tracks had really been written to the TOC of the disK? As long as the combine is done in the units memory you won't have a problem. The failure is not just occasional with my RH10, it is 100%. Do me a favor and try a test where you auto track mark an analog recording and get several tracks. Afterwards, combine two tracks by removing a track mark. Make sure the edit is written to the TOC, then try to upload. I will either get bombs or SS 3.1 will hang as it plays back the combined track. The conversion to wave will stop where the combine was made. To repeat, if SS doesn't bomb, the whole track is uploaded but will not play back over the combine, nor will it convert the whole file to wave. The program thinks all is well, but the wave file will only be the first part of the combined track. TK

I replied to your situation in another topic. You will not be able to upload tracks that include a "combine" edit. This is a bug, not because you did anything wrong. You are doing exactly what the unit was designed to do. Sony needs to fix this problem. Please complain to them directly. Perhaps it has been fixed in the new release of SonicStage? It would seem that very few people actually edit on their MD units in this forum or there would be a louder outcry about this serious flaw. That seems odd to me, since the format was designed for that purpose and editing is simple, quick and versatile on a standard MD. However, neither 1st or 2nd generation HI MD units will do what they were designed to do. Sony should recall them or fix them. TK TK

A couple of questions. Is the posted link for an English version of Sonic Stage 3.2 or only for the Japanese version? Has anyone checked to see if 3.2 upload files that have been edited on the minidisc and include combined tracks? 3.1 will not. TK

gman's problem is probably due to the length of the file. He could try splitting the file on the MD at convenient spots. MBHbaritone's problem is because of a bug in Sonicstage that will not allow you to properly upload tracks that have been edited to include a combine. You will find a number of references to the "proper way to upload" in the forum. "Proper" meaning the only reliable way, not the way it's advertised to work. Sony really seems to have missed some blatent errors in their units/software. From what I can read in the forum. 1st generation units often scrambled files when people edited them on the minidisc. My experience with 2nd generation units shows that the units can now properly edit on the MD, but those files cannot be uploaded to a computer. Easy editing is what sets the MD platform apart from any other and was rock solid on every standard MD unit I have owned. So far, Sony is batting .000 with HI MD on exactly the features that make it a distinctive platform. Remarkably poor performance for such an established company. TK

If you don't want to worry about deleting the MP3 file from your library you can opt to use a regular MD in Net MD mode. You lose half the space, but at these low bitrates you still get 5+ hours of podcast. SS will convert the files for you automatically when you transfer. I have found that to be the least tedious way to make the low bitrate MP3 files work on my RH10. TK

That is true. I actually tried that and you do get a very good recording that way. However, the time element makes it hardly worth the effort. If he has a 920, he already has the best tool out there for easily converting LP's to digital media. In SP the minidiscs are indistinguishable from the original and can then be played back through your HI FI system. To get the same quality with HI MD takes many time consuming steps. Until Sony comes out with a deck, Hi MD is not the direction to go to convert an LP collection, at least not for listening through your stereo system. I don't mean to bash the RH10, it has a lot of nice features. It's just not the best for this particular task. It will do a very nice job of playing those discs made on the 920 for portable listening. TK

I have a 920 deck that I use for archiving my LP collection and recently bought an RH10. While recordings made with the RH10 are good, they simply are not as good as those made on the 920. I believe that is due to superior A/D converters in the deck. You can use the pass through feature of the 920 to feed it's signal into the RH 10. Unfortunately, the RH10 then assumes you are making a digital copy and limits your flexibility on those files if you upload them to a computer. Sony needs to release a comparable Hi MD deck. TK

Actually no. If you rip Cds on one computer to atrac, and put them on the HD unit, you can copy them to another authorized computer. The files do not have to originate with Connect for this to work. I have a faster computer at home and have used it to rip cds to Sonicstage. I can transfer those files to another authorized computer in Sonicstage without putting them on the "data" side of the hard drive. This is a sensible move on Sony's part. It makes it much easier to keep a backup of your library on a second computer and saves a lot of time. TK

I agree. It seems like Sony could have supported true SP in sonic stage very easily. The DRM thing makes no sense. Sony Connect does not use the new formats for its downloads. It uses LP2. Sony should have supported analog uploads from older minidiscs as well. SCMS would have clearly identified files that might be problematic. The whole DRM thought process seems off to me. You can easily make analog copies of any music that are far superior to anything you can download from current music services. Anyone wanting to bootleg can do it easily. The current scheme seems largely to foil those trying to use their devices legally. Is 128K MP3 or 132K Atrac really worth all the protection? TK

I have noted this exact problem with my RH 10. (see "Upload Error, RH 10") I have reported it to Sony and they are supposed to be working on it. I have heard from a person with an MZ NH1 who had the same problem. Since you have a 910, it must be a problem in Sonic Stage. Please report this to Sony so that they will realize it's not an isolated problem. TK

I'm not sure why Connect wouldn't be available in Norway. Isn't it just an internet address? I can verify that you can transport your music between up to five computers using your HD unit. It works fine with my NW HD3. It doesn't work for mp3 files though, only atrac. I don't know if that's a bug or intentional, since you can easily move your mp3 files using the HD unit as a straight hard disk. TK

You would think that specifying the bit rate and mode would work but it doesn't. The lowest atrac bit mode is 48 khz and if the MP3 is lower than that it won't convert automatically. I would think that SonicStage should be upgraded to recognize which MP3 will play on the Hi MD units and to automatically convert to Atrac if they won't. Interestingly, those low bit -rate MP3 files play just fine on Sony's NW HD3. TK

I encountered this problem when I tried a few old time radio shows that were 32 khz MP3 files. SonicStage does not convert lower bitrates to higher bitrates automatically and doesn't seem to be aware of what MP3 files the RH10 can or can't play. You have two options using SS. You can convert your MP3 files manually using the convert file option. However you must delete the MP3 file from your library and reimport the ATRAC version. Otherwise SS always tries to transfer the original mp3. The other option is to set a disc as NetMD in the RH10. SS knows that NetMD players can't play MP3 files and will automatically convert them to atrac when you transfer them. That's the option I've used more often. It's not as tedious. TK

You may be running into the same error I have encountered on my RH10. Have you edited the tracks before uploading? SonicStage consistently fails to upload tracks that have been combined on my RH10. It hangs at the point the tracks on the minidisc were combined. TK

Actually, SS 3.1 allows you to divide and combine tracks. I haven't tried it extensively but the simple tests I made did work. They warn you that editing tracks in PCM might take a while. TK

I missed seeing this topic and just posted about this exact problem with my RH10. The problem occurs when you edit the tracks so that they are combined. As long as there is only one directory entry for a track, SS uploads it fine. Would you report this problem to Sony Support. I did and they seemed to think it was not happening to others. Maybe a few more complaints will get them to look at it. Check out the "RH10 upload error" to see my post. TK

I recently bought an RH10 (US version). I have used minidisc for 4 years now for gradual conversion of my large LP collection to digital formats. The new HI MD units, with their ability to upload files to a computer quickly and to record in PCM seemed like a nice upgrade for my purposes. The first thing I tried was uploading a test track, and it worked fine. Then I recorded a MET broadcast, setting the auto track mark at 5 minutes so that I could easily maneuver in the opera. (Hi MD's capacity is great for this by the way.) I then edited those tracks to match the numbers in the opera. When I tried to upload them, SS (3.1) bombed with an Omgjbox error. After some fiddling it turns out that SS can't deal with tracks that were combined on the minidisc. I'm guessing there is a problem with reading the directory. If the minidisc directory has only one entry for the track, it uploads fine. If it has more than one, SS bombs or the files that are uploaded hang when played in Sonicstage. The hang occurs where tracks were combined on the minidisc. The RH10 has no problem playing the edited tracks correctly. Can anyone duplicate this problem? Sony support promised to get back to me by now, but has not. It sounds like a software problem to me, but I want to make sure it's not a problem with this unit. TK

That's right. You can use standard minidiscs in NET MD mode, using atrac 3 codecs. The RH 10 won't record atrac3 through its line or mic inputs, but it will through sonicstage. I just happened to notice that the character matrix was correct when I had an older disk in the unit. TK

I can't offer any solution, but I too reported this problem to Sony support. I have a US RH10. Interestingly, if you run it in NET MD mode, the character matrix is properly displayed. TK