Petter156

Thanks for the suggestions. I´ll give those a shot and then get back to you.

After installing Sonic Stage CP 4.0 (on Windows 2000) most of my MP3´s refused to transfer to minidisc. I was going out of town to same morning and wanted my music with me, so I decided to revert back to 3.4. The un-install didn´t properly remove 4.0 so I tried to manually remove everything that the app left behind. After this Sonic Stage wouldn´t install. I tried both 3.4 and 4.0 using both the online-installer and the MDCF stand-alone installer for 3.4. No luck. Even though I deleted all Sonic Stage-related files that I could find and the registry entries the SS installer still believes that an older version of Sonic Stage is present. So, the question goes: How do I completely remove and change everything that Sonic Stage altered in my system? Seems like a tricky piece of software to un-install. I appreciate any help, and sorry if the problem explanation was a bit short. Please ask if you need further info.

... and the unit just became interesting. It will be fun reading all the user-reviews/-comments once this hits the stores. Can´t wait, even though I´ll probably be broke by may and won´t be able to buy one anyway.

I´m not very happy with the battery that came with my RH10 (it´s the only one I have). I´ve tried to use it so that I only charge it when the battery is empty or nearly empty. Someone on this forum even suggested completely discharging the battery once in awhile and I´ve done this best to my ability (discharging until not even the screen will light up). But even though I´ve tried to use the unit (the battery) properly I´m already experiencing issues. When I start charging the unit it only charges for maybe 15 minutes, then stops - without having a full charge. After this I have to put the unit back onto the stand and have it continue the recharging in order to have a full (?) battery. Really annoying. This should possibly have gone in to a separate thread - I´ve been meaning to ask about this for awhile. One of you veteran users should really write a guide on how to properly use and charge your unit in order to avoid battery-issues.

Having used both Li-Ion and NiMH rechargeables I don´t understand why you´d want to use NiHM typer batteries over Li-Ion ones, but please tell me. The pronounced memory effect on NiMH batteries makes them unpractical for day to day usage when you would soemtimes need to charge the unit even though the battery wasn´t empty. The USB-connection is a part of the problem since you have to remove the battery every time you connect the unit to a PC, otherwise the (often half-charged) battery will automatically be charged - straining the battery. This doesn´t seem to be the case with other portable players that use Li-ion batteries.

OK. Damn it... If the RH1 came with an Li-Ion battery and proper MP3 playback, I might well buy one.

Seriously? Li-Ion batteries are available? Are they the standard gumstick type or could it be that your are refering to type AA cells?

Bigger screen like the RH10 has (secondary screen?), correct playback of MP3 files, easier way of tranfering files to the device (this isn´t actually that important for me personally if only the MP3 support worked).

Digital Pitch Control? Personally I doubt they´ll implement drag and drop file-transfers, but I hope I´m wrong. The small screen is a bit of a turn off as well, I really enjoy looking at the big OLED on my RH10. The placement of the screen is a nice touch for the recording community however.

So besides the clock and the aluminum contruction, what´s so great about this one compared to the older models? No Li-Ion batteries No Line-out Should I be interested in this?

How are those specs attractive compared to the current gen models?

I haven´t uploaded PCM-recordings myself but I´m asuming this is normal. Uncompressed audio-files are much larger in size than audio recorded in HiSP.

Thanks Brian, I´ll try out Audiograbber. Audacity is nice, but it is a bit hard for someone inexperinced in audio-work to learn how to use the app properly. A440: I do have some version of Nero, but these tunes won´t be going on a CD - they´ll be recorded on minidisc... of course

Hi everyone. Awhile ago I asked a question of normalizing the volume of a sound-file. Some suggested Audacity, but the simplest alterntive at the time proved to be MP3gain (as I only needed to normalize an mp3 at the time). Now I´m wondering how to do the same in Audacity (as it can handle a wider variety of formats). The normalize filter is there, but it doesn´t let me select a "target-level" (like MP3gain let´s me select the target "normal" volume). Should I just run all my files past the normalize filter and trust Audacity to do the job right. How does the normalize filter work anyway? How can I work on a file in Audacity in such a way that the volume-level of the edited file/song would match that of other music on my hard-drive? The second option I see in Audacity is the "Amplify" filter. I´m not sure this is the correct one to use, though. No target volume level is available here either. The last thing I´m wondering about is how to get two songs to have the same volume-level (kind of the same situation as the first question, but not quite). I have some songs extracted from a CD in wave-format and a single song as an MP3 file. The volume of the MP3 differs from the volume level of the ripped wave-files. Is there anyway I can analyze the volume-level of the wave-files and then get the volume of the MP3 to match that? Any help appreciated. Thanks.

Semi-pro/prosumer...

That´s speculating pretty freely since nothing has been confirmed and since Kurisu isn´t giving any more details. We can hope though...

Huhm... too bad... I was hoping for some real ideas and talk from actual representatives of Sony. I don´t like this uncertain situation. Oh well... I guess we´ll just wait and see. Hope you had fun Kurisu. CES is one of those conventions I would really like to visit. Gadget heaven!

I don´t necessarily need to know the exact technical details of MD works (although someday it might be interesting to read up on the matter), all I know is that minidiscs work. The format has worked for over a decade and the disc,s and the units themselves even, have proved to be very sturdy over time. I think I remember trying to clean the actual disc all those years ago, but it might be worth another shot. It´s a great album.

I agree with Flunx here above. The HDD players of today are much more robust than previous models but there´s still a risk of hard-drive failure if you are a very active person. Lifespan? All my MD´s still work fine (except for the only pre-recorded MD I ever bought - a Fatboy Slim album where "bits and peices" of the sound is missing. Never buying pre-recorded MD´s again) and I imagine they´ll work fine for years and years to come. With a hard-drive based player I wouldn´t be so sure. Exactly! Trading would be so cool, and I actually traded/borrowed MD´s with a mate at school just a few years ago. Imagine if a majority of the pupils at your school/your co-workers used minidisc. You could swap discs with so many people and probably get to know a lot of new bands. The possibilities! Trading/swapping with MP3 players? Oh yeah I guess it´s possible; start up the PC when at home/work (and only through your computer), connect to MSN/a hub-type P2P app, try to remember what song(s) you were interested and try to persuede your mate to search through a gazillion songs on his super-cool IPod and then just wait for the songs to transfer. Much more of a hassle and not nearly as social as swapping discs. Damn... now I´m not hoping for the survival of MD, now I want everyone to convert

My units: ZS-M35 stereo in my room for listening at home MZ-RH10 for everyday on-the-move listening. It´s with me all the time, and a great player to carry aroundI also had an MZ-E60 which I used daily for years and years without problems. Sold that when I got the RH10, it worked fine and is currently making someone else happy. The ZS-M35 is also pretty old (standrad MD´s only) but it still works perfectly. I have nearly all the albums I own recorded onto minidisc simply because there wasn´t anything as good as MD when I wanted to replace my portable CD player. MD´s are just more convenient to carry around than CD´s. Minidisc is also a more verstaile format than MP3 and any incarnation of an MP3 player, IMO. Try to cut costs, reduce the line-up or something - but please Sony, don´t kill minidisc! There simpy isn´t anything to replace it, and not everyone wants music players that can carry around hundreds of hours of music. Keep MD alive!

I´m glad to see that so many old and new MD-users have decided to voice their opinions on the matter, hopefully someone important will see that community of MD users is very much alive. And secondly; it´s not doomsday yet. A lot of posts in the thread cry about the death of minidisc, but so far we have no official information. Kurisu obviously knows something, but I would like to hear something official before I call the time of death.

I hate this insecurity I so hope that Sony won´t drop the format completely. And regarding a petition; I support that. We should at least try to voice our opinions.

Well, guess I´ll know tomorrow... Hope it´s at least not terrible news.

This is a quite possible solution, especially after recent complaints on various quality issues with Sony models. A slimmer product-line with more expensive models. MD might actually become a very novelty standard. This would of course once and for all remove minidisc as a format used by 'regular people', kids that just want their music on the go. Some think that the mainstream battle is already lost. I also agree with one user here about being tied to a PC. I love the fact that I can listen to music thorugh my computer while browsing the web or working (and I would be even happier if I could listen to minidiscs conveniently at the computer), but I don´t want to be forced to handle everything through my PC. If minidisc does become an expensive novelty format I´ll have to re-evaluate my sitaution. I do love the idea of being an MD user even after this, but the next few years are going to be financially exhaustive - buying new discs all the time is already pretty expensive.

So I should never set my recorder to a really low level setting (in order to be safe from cuts/distortion caused by higher volume peaks in sound) and then normalize the volume afterwards as this won´t help???