Mr_Bass_Man

Paradoxically, I agree with you, and disagree with you at the same time (isn't the ability to debate wonderful?). I disagree about low bit rates being only "usable for voice" - to my 48-year old ears, one of the main things which separates digital radio (I am talking about the much-debated UK-standard DAB system) from its FM counterpart is its ability, or rather lack of ability to encode speech satisfactorily (I accept the proposer was probably talking about intelligibility, and I am talking about fidelity - not the same thing!). Wheras I agree wholeheartedly with the comments about removable media. But this I guess is something which either suits or doesn't suit the needs of the individual. "Horses for Courses" as they say here. These days consumers have a wonderful choice, even if some consumers don't really understand the pros and cons of what is available to them ... Apart from being an MD enthusiast, I also own a very splendid NW-HD3. 20GB or so of storage, and the ability to download and play back in a number of formats, including Hi-SP 256k, which I happen to think is a an acceptable trade-off of quality vs file size. I am currently ripping the highights of my CD collection into this format on that device knowing that should I go away on vacation, or on a business trip, if I chose to take the HD3 with me, then quite a large proportion of my CD collection goes with me, and I don't have to worry about taking this, that or the other MD with me! If the hard drive crashes, I still have the original CDs of course! My most-listened-to MDs are in fact either compilations of various genres of music, not to mention some "classic radio comedy", material recorded from the radio, or albums I have downloaded from the net, and which I have never felt the need to buy ...

I have no personal experience of this unit, though it looks like a version of the N420D "downloader" MD unit modified to accept one of the "radio remotes". MD units with radio function have no radio receiver built into the body of the unit, but can accept one of the aforementioned radio remotes (they have a special connector which only fits into suitable units). The radios built into the remotes are fairly basic in terms of sound quality, and it isn't possible to record from them with the "host" MD unit. I have come across one MD unit which has the right socket for a radio remote, but which doesn't actually work with one (from memory that is the N710 but I might be wrong), HtH

Stripping wallpaper ! ! The missus has gone to bed (works early in the morning). Also ripping my latest CD ("musica en el Quijote - Orphenical Lyra") to (pseudo) SP via EAC and Sonic Stage.

It sounds like there may be a fault on your FM/AM remote. If you are unable to either (a) try your remote in another "FM/AM" player (not all will accept a radio remote or ( try your player with another radio remote, you might be able to pick a new or second-hand remote up off the net, for example EBay. They shouldn't be too expensive. I use radio remotes occasionally, and they are really handy, IMHO, even though it isn't exactly a "top notch" FM receiver. Best of luck

I can only add my endorsement to the virtues of the Senn PMX60s. Although I don't have any significant hearing affliction, apart possibly from a touch of tinitus, (usually drowned out by the drone of my PC), and "sensitivity" isn't usually a problem with any headphones for me, I have an aversion to sticking things IN my hears, so I prefer over the ear phones. To me they are very comfortable as well as sonically acceptable (my Technics cans have a better sound, in my opinion). They sound especially good with my R700 MD unit, which seems to have quite a nice headphone amp. I use mine for on-stage monitoring in my "other life" as an amateur musician (probably where the tinitus comes from ), and they do that job really nicely. In fact, owing to the fact that anything "on-stage" has a rather hard life, I have a spare pair in case of accidents.

No, I don't think the problem is change, it's the poor "man (person?) machine interface". Since the latest change in skin I find myself bringing up the profile page of the latest poster, rather than the latest post ... OK so some of it is down to pure incompetence on the part of myself, but I wasn't forever doing that with the previous versions ...

Based on a sample of four (two "original" NH1 cables, one "original" N10 cable plus an "Ebay" cable acquired whilst I only had the N10 unit) it appears that the NH1 cables are the same, or about the same length as the N10 ones, but wit a couple of turns around the ferrite suppressor. They are indeed electrically identical, at least as far as the UK market is concerned. HTH I think it is most unfortunate that the NH1 charging cradle doesn't include the USB connection in the same way the N10 one does. My N10 cradlle is a "permanent fixture" on my desk, all wired up to the PC and ready to go ...

Lummy - that's great. (p. 78 of the Operating Manual) I saw that procedure some time ago and noted that it was aimed at when the N10 has departed this life and is ready for the scrapheap. I didn't twig the Li-Ion battery was "replaceable" in this way. Disembowelling the machine looked pretty "terminal", though from what you say it would appear to be a simply-reversible procedure. Where did you get your replacement battery?

I am not sure "simple physics" explains very much as the "physics" of batteries is anything _but_ simple. Even plain old Ohm's Law doesn't tell the full story as far as the "fuse" analogy goes, as the "physics" of fuses is similarly less simple than you might at first think. [in the UK domestic consumer plug-tops are usually rated at 13A, and often fused for that same current, however a 3kW electric kettle doesn't blow the fuse (or shouldn't anyway) - it would EVENTUALLY if run for a considerable period of time, which is (or should be) much longer than it takes to boil a kettle full of water. However if that kettle develops a fault - say the insulation in the heating element breaks down - then the fault current will be much more than 13A, and the fuse will (or should) blow very quickly.] It is very not a good idea to make assumptions about whether or not a battery of whatever chemistry you chose is perfect for any particular applications as there is an enormous range of performance of any particular type of battery due to its age, condition, manufacturer, use, etc etc. All you can really do is follow the manufacturers' advice (be it the manufacturer of the battery, or of the equipment it is being used in), and blend it with your own experience. And avoid, if you can "built-in" batteries, as the one built in to my beloved MZ-N10 is really giving me ever so much of a hard time ! ! ! !

Well, your observations have been well documented elsewhere, so there isn't much argument that the (sonic) quality of DAB in the UK leaves much to be desired. However the system used in the UK (Eureka 147) was really designed for mobile use, in car radios and such like, and given adequate coverage (more transmitters are going in all the time improving coverage all over the country), it really ought to be viewed (or heard!) in this context. FM radio sounds great in the domestic situation with a decent hi-fi and a decent off-air signal, in the same situation DAB sounds worse (at best) and "pants" (at worst ... eg. BBC Five Live Sports Extra ...!) at times when the bitrates of some channels within the ensemble are running at 80kB/s or less. However, in a car, FM sounds "pants" for a great deal of the time due to multipath distortion (this is almost eliminated with DAB Eureka 147), if you listen carefully to it. Try listening to BBC R3 FM closely whilst driving round in a built-up area! So it depends on your circumstances. If you have a small portable in say, your back kitchen without an external (ie roof-mounted) antenna, and you are in an area with decent signal strength on both FM and DAB, then in all probability DAB will be the best option. The only "con" as far as I can see (and this really gets me going, I have to say) is when DAB is advertised as "CD quality" or "near CD quality", which, frankly, it ain't and never will be. There are some similarities with the SP vs LP2 vs LP4 vs ATRAC vs ATRAC3 vs ATRAC3plus arguments, of course, and we all have our own levels of tolerance to audio reproduction artefacts.

Well things seem to go in circles. First (ignoring 8-track, etc) there were compact cassettes, basically they were poor compared to open reel tapes, but they were convenient, and could be packaged to be usable by "the masses" (ie non technically-savvy people). They sold like fun. Never mind the quality ... At some point Sony (I think) introduced ElCassette (or something with a similar brand name). They were kind of like compact cassettes but sounded a whole lot better being based on 1/4in tape if my memory serves. But they never caught on - they had come too late. Eventually technology improved and compact cassettes became of acceptable quality even to hi-fi buffs ... Then came walkman, and then clone walkman from 3rd party manufacturers, and the subway was full of people playing music on the move, mostly at fairly indifferent quality, but hey, it was popular. Then came CDs, and suddenly seriously good quality became available to the masses (good!). Ignoring the "vinyl vs CD" argument the average consumer could have his own music system which sounded as good, if not better than say FM radio. And then came MD. Was it to replace the compact cassette, or was it to allow CD's to be transferred to a portable medium? It matters not, the quality was pretty damn good and everyone was satisfied (almost). But people had to transfer their CDs onto MD - OK so it was only like compact cassette in this respect, but ... ... then came portable CD players. Then no-one really needed to be able to record CDs onto portable media as CDs themselves became portable. And then came PCs and mp3 players, and to (mis) quote Sellars and Yateman ("1066 and All That") History came to a Full Stop ... Naff quality (usually), but the average man in the street could drag and drop his mp3 files onto a portable device. They sold like fun. Never mind the quality. In the meantime Sony had invented NetMD, but it was fatally flawed - it needed a tad of brain power to figure it out, and there lurked the dreaded DRM. They sold quite a lot of those, but because of the brain power problem it eventually lost out to the less "cerebrally intensive" drag 'n drop culture of the mp3 player [i am not saying there is anything wrong with drag 'n drop, btw !] And finally came HiMD. Stunning quality, high capacity, affordable media, fewer DRM restrictions, but possibly too late. Finally finally (as of today) there is the promise of the RH1, with even fewer DRM restrictions, sexy design, impressive specification, etc etc. Possibly Sony's last throw of the MD dice? I am sure dyed-in-the-wool MD users (probably including me) will buy this unit, which will probably be the "best MD ever" So, assuming the above chronology is more or less right, what was the fatal step? DRM seems to be the obvious answer.

There seem to be quite a few instances of dead or dying OLED displays. Should I be worried? (I currently don't have any machines with OLED displays - until I lash out on the RH1 that is !!! )

Well folks, the Argos web site appears to tell the truth. NH1 is on "special offer" at £99.99 where it is available, for collection only. Yesterday I checked on their web site to find an "NH1 brand-new for £99.99 near me" and it said they were available at either Whitehaven (Cumbria) or Consett (Co. Durham) and as I had a job to do in Northumberland today (I live in East Cumbria) I figured that only a "slight" detour via Consett would only add 20min to my journey out, so I did an "Internet Reservation" for today and IT WORKED So I parked up in Consett and walked into their Argos store. Whilst there I checked on their "customer console" whether there were any available, it said not. I went to the checkout and said I had an Internet Reservation #xxxxxxx, and the young lady on the till said "OK sir," swiped my credit card for £100-less-a-penny, and I went to collect my shiny brand-new NH1 for thirty pounds less than they are going for (at least) on EBay at the moment. So, their web availability information appears to tell the truth, the Internet reservation system seems to work a treat, and a brand-new NH1 for £100 seems like a pretty damn fine deal to me, especially if the company are picking up the fuel bill" (May I rot in hell . . . ) Quite a good day, today for a change!

As far as I can tell you aren't doing anything wrong, so you need to find out whether the MD, the cable or the software is at fault. The N420D is a machine I don't have in my collection, but I am pretty certain the Mini-B cable is the right one (if it fits in the socket it probably must be!!) If you are running WinXP it should recognise the unit as soon as it is plugged in ("New Hardware found - NetMD" or similar). If it does the problem is more than likely software (could be tricky ... ) Try the cable with another USB device, eg camera, or even connect the MD plus cable into another PC and see what happens. It is possible you may have an old version of the driver programs which came out before the N420D - it appears to have come out around the time of Sonic Stage 2.0. Recent drivers are available on this forum. A while back I had a similar problem with my JB980 deck where I actually need an _older_ version of the driver file, and someone here very kindly helped me out which got me up and running. If it is something "complicated" we may need more information about your setup, eg Windows version, etc Hope this helps.

Your problem could be caused by a number of things :- 1) Your gumstick battery is developing a high internal resistance with age. Buy a new one. The R55 (I have two, both of them acquired second-hand quite recently so my experience is limited) appears to be quite heavy on batteries anyway (and quite heavy on your foot should you drop it there !! ) and the fact that it has been exercised hard over its life may be the reason why your battery has served you so well up to now. In my experience of rechargable batteries in general, is that the harder they have to work for a living (within reason) the longer they stay somewhere near peak efficiency. 2) Your R55 may have developed relatively poor electrical connections in the gumstick holder (the positive connection is through the hinge on the battery compartment flap - this may cause problems if it becomes oxidised or corroded) - it might be worth cleaning it up with a cotton bud, and possibly the negative connection down deep inside the gumstick compartment. This would probably only affect internal battery life though. 3) Your R55 is just aging, and one or more of the internal components used for monitoring battery voltage has aged, and is feeding wrong information about battery condition into the control circuitry. This might affect both internal and external batteries. 4) Your R55 is just aging, and something is taking more current from the battery than it used to, possibly something like the motor bearings wearing out and taking more power to turn the motor. (This would be common to the drain on the internal and external batteries). You might be able to measure this, and compare with someone else's. Hope this helps

Thanks Kyle, I'll give it a try . . . . . . Much Later . . . Yep, I can confirm that the N10 USB cable works fine with the NH1 Thanks again. Jimbo !!

I suspect the problem is hardware, not firmware. One of my two NH900s has the "famous button problem", the other is fine. The one with the problem works correctly with the remote (and even "sexily" with the MC40-ELK remote ! )

Sony HiMDs use different USB cables, the one for the NH1 is non-standard. It looks rather similar to the one used in the N10, but I haven't dared try them in the "wrong" machines as they are not absolutely identical, and the pins look like they won't take a lot of abuse ... Most machines seem to use the "mini B" connection, which is easily obtainable, but alas not the NH1. They may be available separately from Sony, presumably at a price, or maybe even on EBay (I got a spare one for my N10 that way), though I don't recall seeing one. Best of luck!

There are a couple of ways, depending on the make of your car radio. Some of them have connections for "aux inputs", this is the best way. If not, then there are a number of "FM transmitters" around (check EBay) for a modest amount of money. They do work (or so I am told . . . ) , but don't expect fantastic quality. Some will be better than others, and probably they are all "illegal", but "quality" is relative, and in a car this may be acceptable. There are some MD car radios around of course! HTH

The symptoms for both contributors sound like the "classic faulty optical block" problem whereby an internal ribbon cable which connects the magnetic head to the circuitry has a hairline fracture in it, caused presumably by the constant flexing of the cable. As I understand it this head is used during recording, but not during playback. If it is sometimes working, I suggest that occasionally the conductor with the hairline fracture makes good contact, but more often than not it doesn't. I have an N910 with this fault. SS quite happily allows the transfer of a track, or tracks by USB, but when it comes to playing back the machine comes up with an error message (sometimes it spins for a while as if it is struggling to find the track), but more often than not there is the dreaded BLANKDISC message. If you are using a machine such as this for playback only, I would suggest putting the tab on the MD itself to "read only" (or "write protect", whichever is the correct terminology). Otherwise accidentally pressing T-mark will probably end in disaster! There is plenty of information elsewhere on this forum regarding this problem, and at least one article on how it might be repaired (much skill needed!) Hope this helps

It looks to me like the MZ-NH700 fits the closest to what you are looking, for, though it does NOT have backlight on either the body (none do) or the remote. This is a "1st generation" HiMD, so may not be available new, though check out EBay. You can always add a separate backlit remote (also see EBay) Hope this helps

Well of course I have to throw my hat in the ring in favour of the N10. The style and overall ergonomics of the unit just happen to ring my bell! It sounds good too. The N1 is also a nice machine, but to me it is much less sexy - a solid piece of engineering no doubt (notwithstanding the "1st generation NetMD Optical Block" issues) The built-in Li-Ion battery of the N10 makes me nervous - Kyle said it is easy to remove - how is this done and do you mean "replace"? Managing this battery properly is the biggest downside of this unit for me. Now the only Sharp machine in my collection, that IS plasticky! Sounds OK though. The NH1 is cute too, and its Li-Ion battery is a removable one, though the 1-line display gives it negative functionality points in my view. And if you really need a boatachor, get hold of an old R55! It's "all metal"!

Elder son (18yo) was the first in the house with MD - he has an MZ-N707, now much battered and bruised, but still working (I've had to replace 3 of the case screws for him). Younger son (16yo) is on his second Creative Zen (4GB I think) - the first failed in warranty (intermittent headphone out socket - looks like a design flaw to me) Wife has an MZ-N510, but doesn't use it much (MD's "too complicated") I have ... well ... an an " ... obsession"

When I set out to make the recording, I never intended it to be a demonstration of the capabilities of any particular broadcasting or recording medium, I just wanted to listen at my leisure to this specific version of Bruckner's 7th Symphony. Listening to the piece in spite of the artefacts has resulted in me ordering the CD from an EBay trader ... However the tangent I found myself spinning off at has certainly been an interesting one! As I wasn't sure how long the recording was going to be (as it turned out it is about 77min long) and needed to record it unattended, I opted for a "longer" format, and recording on HiMD meant I could subsequently edit the recording on my PC relatively easily. The edited version would just fit onto an 80min blank so it seemed like a good idea. However if I could only repeat the exact same exercise but use HiSP instead of HiLP then I would be wiser still! All the good advice about transferring between formats and bitrates appear to be perfectly correct and valid, what intreagues me now is my own subjective tolerance of the various permutations. Having said that, the comment from MattJ about using analogue line in to smooth out the artefacts appears on the face of it to defy logic, but it also appears that we all hear imperfections in a different way. Earlier today I recorded another piece off the radio - this time FM to SP using the line in jack, and the result is virtually indistinguishable (to me) from the original. No surprises there then! Thanks for all the interesting contributions ... [Late Edit :- I now have the original CD recording of the piece in question, and to my ears, the sound is "rather harsh" in places - maybe I have been a little too harsh in my criticism of the various format conversions ... It might even be my ears ! ! ! ]

Thanks all for the comments so far, I find that they basically all make a great deal of sense. The conclusion I reached in the investigation as to where the main quality loss problem was is that it was on the original 160kB/s DAB recorded at HiLP. I chose to record the DAB as I wouldn't have to hover over the machine to adjust the recording level as I would have had to have done if I'd recorded the programme from FM (I get a fully quieting FM signal, and that is generally what I use for listening). The HiLP to WAV to (pseudo) SP conversion wasn't the main problem (that is a worthwhile piece of information in is own right). However I now need to work out which (if any) of the following permutations are acceptable for "demanding" music :- DAB at 192 kB/s (the maximum it ever is) to HiSP (the best bet) DAB at 160 kB/s (what BBC Radio 3 runs at when the DAB ensemble is fully utilised) to HiSP DAB at 192kB/s to HiLP. DAB at either of the above rates to "genuine" SP missing out the NH900 but recorded directly onto my JB-980 (or the JE-510 for that matter ...) I would imagine from advice from the contributors, whose opinions I value is that only the first option stands any chance of producing truly satisfactory results. Actually now I think about it, I could arrange side-by side simultaneous recordings with one of my MD decks recording the FM receiver via analogue line in ... Up to now I have stayed clear of the "LP2 quality" argument as I generally find that acceptable - a peronal / subjective thing, I know.