Petter156

Even if minidisc isn´t doing nearly as well as portable MP3-players it seems stupid to drop MD completely as it is - still after 15 years - a very usable format. Minidisc is IMO superior for fieldrecording and hobby-type recording. If only Sony would market one of their greatest creations better the situation might be different. If MD really is as widely used in proffesional situations as it seems, it´s unlikely that Sony will just completely slash MD at once.

And I´m thinkin I´ll stop doing this. I´ll just try to keep the recorder connected as little as possible.

I was thinking of getting a few of eBay.

Well after considering it for a long time I finally went ahead and got a new Walkman, the RH10 which I´m sure you´re all familiar with by now. I thought I would post some thoughts on the unit anyway. My previous MD player, the MZ-E60, was working just fine (and it´s been a great companion throughout the years), but the RH10 just seemed so cool. First of I´d like to thank Mr. Jun Ibaraki (Ebay´s 'buyfromjapan') for offering stellar customer service and for shipping my unit a lot faster than I had expected (shipped Sunday, arrived Tuesday afternoon), I can warmly recomend him if you are interested in buying electronics or other stuff from Japan. Thanks also go out to you guys for recomending him as a seller. And the discussions on the MZ-RH10 I´ve been reading on this the forum was what inspired me to get this unit (and Ishiyoshi´s pictorial didn´t hurt either), so thanks. Notes on usage (after a few weeks): I got the blue japanese version of the unit, comes with more accessories than the European model (decent remote, charging stand) and isn´t feature-crippled. The blue/dark-purple color is a lot darker than I was expecting after looking at Ishiyoshi´s pictorial. It´s a very dark blue in my opinion - but still looks great. The RH10 is quite user-friendly. Using only the scroll-button to find a track is simple and serching through a larger number of tracks is also pretty convenient using the search fucntion. Maybe not on par with some HDD-players but still easy enough to keep me happy. Right-hand usage takes a bit of getting used to but works pretty well. I still slide the unit in to my left pocket though by habbit. This is my first HiMD unit and PC connectivity is so much easier than recording real-time with my boombox (I had to move it from my room to the PC and hook it up and then move it back, major hassle). This is a major change and I´m glad I can finally easily take music from my PC with me on the move. PC->MD rransfers are faster than I was expecting, a nice surprise. I recently went on a trip to Stockholm and Tallinn and I loaded up a few 80min minidiscs with music. In HiLP I was able to get ~80 songs per disc – perfect for a few days journey. I´m a bit worried about strain put on the battery. The battery gets charged every time the unit is connected to the PC through USB, yet the battery is an NiMH battery instead of an lithium-ion (or -polymer) battery which you might expect from modern electronics (my brothers Zen Micro has a polymer battery). Navigating through the menu could have been improved. Currently you have to re-enter the menu after each change in setting. I don´t change the settings that often, so it´s not a major nuisance. A separate line-out would have been nice, but this is just a small request. Volume set to full is near line-level, but I would prefer not having to adjust the volume each time I connect it to the stereo in my room. Recording is quick and easy and since I haven´t owned a portable recorder before this is actually a new experience for me. Haven´t done that much recording yet – but I did record a few hours of BBC World in preparation for my english exam. Setting stuff like repeat and shuffle is trickier than on my previous unit, though I guess this is only natural since the unit overall is of a more complex design with a lot more features. It´s amazing how fast the disc starts playing after pushing play, though I just recently realized that was due to the “Quick mode” feature being turned on. I´m not sure how good of an idea it is to keep this on. If anyone has any idea on how much this affects batterylife and the battery´s lifecycle please inform me. Comments about this? No skipping yet. My MZ-E60 would occasionally skip even when just walking with it in my pocket. This was apparently due to the limited anti-skip memory of 20s (I think I´ve even seen somone claiming 10s of anti-shock buffer). The remote is nicer to use than the old RM-MZ2N that came with my MZ-E60, though it is a bit bulkier. I especially like the push/slide PLAY/FF/RW button. I´m not sure I´m really qualified to make sound quality comparisons, so I´ll leave that to others. HiLP sounds just fine to me (at least when on the move), even though I can tell that sound isn´t quite as 'perfect' as HiSP or SP. One thing I noted though is that it was easier getting a good 'on-the-move-in-noisy-places'-sound from my MZ-E60 – just setting MegaBass to step 1 or 2. The Bass isn´t is as pushy as before (lack of a dedicated bass boost probably) so I´ve switched the silicon buds on my EX71´s to the bulkier medium sized ones instead of the slightly more comfortable size small. An equlaizer is a nice feature to have though, I´m not really complaining. The MP3 issue is a sad mishap I wish Sony will correct in future MD Walkmen. Using a custom equalizer setting to level out the high-frequency cut does help to the point that the music is “listenable”, but the same music in HiLP still sounds noticeably better. I wouldn´t mind using only ATRAC files on my discs (though it´s obvious that the bug should be fixed) if only SonicStage would make this part of the transfer process easy. I would like the option to force conversion to ATRAC (HiLP mostly) before the transfer happens. Currently SS automatically favours the files with higher bitrate instead of letting the user select which file should be transfered and I have to go through a process of importing, converting, deleting and re-importing stuff. I would never use SonicStage as my primary music playback software but I would like to be able to select the music I want to transfer within SS itself. Even though the face of the recorder is plastic the overall construction feels solid and is on par with the quality I´ve come to expect from Sony. My MZ-E60 had an aluminum cover and of course there is a difference. But overall the RH10 feels like a sturdy unit and I´m hoping it will last me as long as the E60 did. The surface does get scratches pretty easily but I don´t think it´s not as bad as some people are making it out to be. I´m fully expecting to have the face of the unit covered in scratches in a few years and if scratches are something that really get to you I would be extra careful with handling the unit, or just settle for another recorder. I did protect the screen however, as this is the one part that I don´t want to be ruined. I useda small piece of book covering plastic. It makes the display slightly harder to read in bright sunlight but in lower-light conditions I can´t really tell the screen has an aditional layer of plastic. Currently there are only minor scratches present and they´re not even obvious – this is after a few weeks of sticking the unit into the pocket of my jeans every morning. I can´t really make comparisons to previous HiMD or even NetMD equipment since, up until now, I have only used old-school Md equipment. I can however say that I´m very happy with the MZ-RH10. It´s with me nearly wherever I go. Now I just hope it will last me as long as the E60 did, and that Sony doesn´t drop minidisc in favor of (not as cool) MP3/HDD players. Pictures:

Well, the SB/vritual drive method isn´t really working either. Simple Burner is persistent with doing a drive check before allowing me to transfer the files to MD, and the drive test always fails.

Wouldn´t mind writing a letter of request to the Sony software department myself. Kurisu might know of an adress where some of these people can be contacted, or maybe he could forward our requests. But now that SS is (most likely) being discountinued the future is uncertain.

Thanks, I´ll give that a try. But could someone tell me where I can find Simpleburner as a stand-alone install? Apparently it wasn´t included with SS3.2.

How about trying the newst version of Sonic Stage, 3.2? Should be a link in the news forum.

I do think the MD side of the software development still needs some improvement. And in this day and age hardware isn´t much without at least decent software. Hopefully Sony will loosen up and include DM support with Connect Player.

Yep, this is a bummer. I´m hoping for a "force conversion" option in the next SonicStage release. Maybe Kurisu could point me to a link/page where I could voice my SS hopes to the right people (IE the developers). Currently this is what I go through if I want ATRAC files only on my MD: I import the Mp3´s I want into 'My Library' and convert them to ATRAC. Then I delete the MP3´s from the library (but not from my PC) and re-import the songs as ATRAC files (these are stored somewhere when converted from other formats).

I think he modified a picture of the Qualia-line MD player. Qualia products

Well in the start menu folder I´m seeing Nero Express, cover designer, CD speed, DriveSpeed and Wave editor - but no Image Drive. That´s with the newest update. I guess those with bundled versions can´t get ImageDrive.

Well now I did check the help-file for more information. I ususally don´t have to bother - a lot of software is pretty straighforward and user-friendly and that´s why I wasn´t expecting to find anything new in the intructions for SS. And I didn´t. Now I´m just curious if Kurisu had anything specific in mind when he made his last comment. As far as I can see, there is no setting for what I´m trying to do.

Huhm... but only 780mAh. That´s a bit weak IMO. Pata: That´s what I´m afraid of. We should at least have been given an option to turn the USB charging off.

No, I haven´t. That´s a lot to read through but maybe I should. I just went through all the settings I could find. What´s on your mind kurisu?

Well I don´t mind using ATRAC that much (although I guess transcoding should be kept to a minimum), if only SonicStage could handle the transfer of ATRAC files properly.

Interesting... I would have thought that the unit can´t tell what kind of battery is present.

Also, if possible, use Sony´s own SonicStage 3.2 installer (the one that needs a net connection). I had issues with the MDCF packaged installer and I think someone else had the same problem as me; my recorder wasn´t recognized.

Why wasn´t the MP3 issue considerd an acceptable bug to note?

I´m annoyed by this same mis-feature and before we get a Sonic Stage release with a "forced conversion" option, this is the only way I´m getting around the issue: -------------------------------------------------------------------- Don´t use SS as your music library. It´s a pretty okay piece of software for this but since there are other issues with the app I personally just keep my music organized within a single folder. Decide what files you want to dowload to your disc(s) and set them up as a playlist in Winamp (or use any other method for remembering which files you wnated to transfer. Import the MP3´s into 'My Library' in Sonic Stage and convert them to ATRAC by selecting all the files, right-clicking and choosing 'Convert format'. Delete the MP3´s from the libarary but NOT FROM YOUR PC (uncheck the dialog box when SS presents you with a warning). Import the converted ATRAC files from where they were saved (chose a appropriate folder in Sonic Stage´s settings). Transfer. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Major hassle, I know - and I´m not happy about Sonic Stage working like this either. But for now, this seems to be the only solution (I´ll gladly accept suggestions on how this could be done in an easier way). There is also the Nero/Simple Burner method which seems to work pretty well, but apprently my Nero doesn´t come with Imagedrive - so I can´t use this method. Do a search on this, more info should be available on the forums.

I think the MDCF package installs the driver, but then again that version didn´t work for me so I can´t be sure. You should try to contact Sony and explain your issue. I´m sure they won´t mind sending you a CD with the newest version. If I knew of a way to burn all the files the Sony installer downloads to a CD and then modiefy the installer to use those instead I would mail a CD to you myself - but I don´t know much about coding work. Maybe the MDCF package can be fixed/updated somehow? Good luck.

That shouldn´t be a problem. I could just leave the player running over night. By the way, are there any Li-ion gumstick batteries available for purchase? Might as well get a decent batery if I´m going to go on like this.

Continuation of discussion from this thread: http://www.audiotstation.com/forum/showthread.php?p=322607 I would really like to here some opinions/advice on how to make my life easier. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Okay... weird as hell... The converted files apparently have to be manually imported back into Sonic Stage (at least I drag-n-dropped). But even then the newly imported files don´t show up as OpenMG audio - they show up as MP3 with the original bitrates. As if I had just copied the original source MP3´s. But, when I go into file properties (through SS that is) the files show up as OpenMG audio 256kbps (which is exactly what I specified when converting) and MP3 320kbps. If I transfer these files they are transfered as MP3. It is only when I delete the original MP3 files (again from the file property window) and do the transfer that the music is transfered in the correct format/bitrate. But deleting the MP3 this way (as opposed to just deleting it from My Library) actually deletes the file from my PC, and that sucks. It is as if SS prefers MP3 files over ATRAC. I´m begining to see why people dislike Sonic Stage. Why Sony? Why does it have to be so impossible to get things done with your software? I know Sony traditionally isn´t a software or even computer industry company, but this is just ridiculous. If anyone knows a way around this hassle (preferably still using Sonic Stage) I would very much apperciate some advice. Converting my entire music collection to ATRAC is not an option as I don´t plan to use SS as my primary music player. Besides, my brother has an MP3 player - so the original material has to stay.

Are they analog recording through line in or mic in?

Try uninstalling all the stuff that was included with the Sonic Stage install (including SS of course) and reinstall using Sony´s own installer.' I had the same issue yesterday, the 'original' installer solved the problem.