L7R

You are very welcome.

Why didn't you tell this at the first place?! Anyways, you know what to do and you'll get perfect quality.

Those are exact ways what we are talking about. Thanks for the summary! I mean complicated if using MD to soundcard=wav and then conversion process and then sonicstage or whatever you want. At first I used to do this way, but later I found this straightforwarded MD-->MD better way, and less time consuming. Nice to know hmph -renderer can convert optical recordings. But then you should use PCM when recording from md to md to avoid unnecessary conversions.

I have never used hi-md Renderer, btw.

Yet another way! There are almost numerous possibilities. As we see the world if minidisc is way too complicated as it should be.

The quality loss of analog recording is very, very small compared to digital if you set recording levels carefully (manually). Check the level meters and try to find optimal volume level, but avoid clipping/distortion. That's what I've been doing for all my old md collection -analog recording between two portable units. You can record them straight to your computer if you have good quality soundcard and recording software (like cool Edit/audacity) but I found this too complicated and time consuming.

Right! I'm sorry to tell but portable MD units doesn't have optical outputs (some very old ones had, though). So, analog copying is only way between two portable units. Heres a pic of the cord what you need between two portables: It's standard 3.5mm-3.5mm connector cord (or 1/8" in U.S) Plug is same than in most earphones. [attachmentid=496] I don't really know. For recordings made by OPTICAL, surely it's possible to burn them to DVD, but for example if you want someday re-install your operating system, I don't know if sonicstage will accept those files again? If somebody know, please tell us.

PT has those slow and melancholic songs little like pink floyd, too (which I like, as a fan of pink floyd) These two are not very good songs and these both songs are NOT nearly like rush. How did you happened to choose these two? I think best connect when compared rush and PT is that both bands members are really good musicians and song intonations are very complicated on both bands. Of course PT members aren't THAT good as Peart or Geddy Lee but in my mind, both bands share some same characteristics. Melodical but complex, in the same time. PT is more melancholic than rush with those quiet and "low spirit" songs, of course. I think porcupine trees two latest albums are more like Rush than their earlier albums. As I'm from Finland and english is not may native language , so I really don't listen lyrics much, so there could be a difference too. I found PT just few months ago, when they released Deadwing. I immediately bought In Absentia and was really surprised that there's another band in the world, who sounds good AND plays good. Like Rush (or Pink Floyd or Yes)! Happy listening! btw. Here are few PT songs which reminds me of Rush. These are from In Absentia: Wedding nails (!) Sound of Muzak (!) .3 The creator has a mastertape (!) Strip the Soul Drown with me Blackest eyes (!) from Deadwing (these are maybe more straightforwarded than songs on "in absentia" or rush songs but good, imho): Shallow Halo Open Car Start of something beautiful Deadwing

With sonicstage 3.2 you can upload recordings made by optical or analog. Could you tell if there's optical out in your md-bookshelf/deck? Or what model it is?

Oh, I didn't remember that at all as here in eu, there's no such a thing.

I suggest you to grab some of these HiMD recorders and use atrac3 (or3+). That way you'll keep the same (or better quality) what you have used to with your previous units. And you can format your old discs to ~300MB size.

Wecome to forum! If your hifi-md has optical out, just plug it to NH600 via optical cable. If not, you can do this with 5$ analog cable. I prefer HiSP(256kbps) so quality still remains good. After that you can transfer them to Sonicstage, if you want and store them in your computer.

This might sound stupid but personally I like old (74&80min) blanks more than new 1GB. There's just too much space for me. I found 300MB perfect size. I can put 4-7 CD's to one disc with very good quality (LP2). I have 12 HiMD discs and barely use them. They are good for compilations, though (or maybe if you want to put whole AC/DC discography to one disc.) In the future I'll buy only standard discs.

Neil Peart is A Drummer God! Maybe you could try Porcupine Tree. It's only band what I know, which came close to Rush. Their two newest albums are really, relly good. In Absentia (2002) & Deadwing (2005). They are really good musicians too, imho. Currently listening Apocalyptica - Reflections. Song called "somewhere around nothing".

I've copied about 60 SP MD's and I can confirm I have combined/divided/deleted some material in all 60 discs (and I use auto track marking). Of couse I've updated TOC many, many times, during this process. All I can say everything's worked flawlessy. At first about 20 albums, I used wav and converted later to HiSP in SS. Now I record straight to HiSP. No difference what so ever. Only little complain is what I've mentioned in my earlier post about titling in SS and how it prevent further editing in unit itself (or SS).