tommypeters

I bought one like this, it has a removable handle - either plug it in directly or use the handle/cable combo. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HI-PER-STEREO-MICROP...oQQcmdZViewItem I haven't tested it against anything else, it has only recorded speech (which will be the main "thing" for it) but that worked well enough.

I would think the first generation MZ-NH1 would be the most drunk-proof.

Maybe the European models now are manufactured differently? Maybe the capping by a special Euro destination code isn't used anymore, seems strange though that they should make changes in the 1st generation units? My unhacked Euro NH600 doesn't have an especially high volume when set at volume 30, but the volume increases all the way up to 30, the increase doesn't stop at 25 as it's "supposed to". Maybe they have removed that capping and lowered the voltage even more (due to the hacking?) so that an Euro player now has the same volume at 30 as it had on 25 before, to comply with French laws? Seems really far-fetched?

It should have exactly the same volume up to and including step 25, then an unhacked shouldn't increase in volume when you go up through 26 to 30, if you don't have EQ on. That's how I have understood it. With a hacked Euro player the volume should increase in steps all the way to 30, but at for example step 23 the volume should be exactly the same as an unhacked player at step 23. However, I have an unhacked European NH600 and the volume does increase all the way up to 30, sound set to "Normal" meaning no EQ. (I have understood it that when using EQ the volume will increase by compressing the sound) Since my player doesn't behave as I have expected I have put hacking it on hold, until I feel I understand how the volume should work on my player. Can anyone enlighten me?

Does anyone know why this decision was made by Sony? First, to not have SP recording - and second, to have the "Fake SP" possibility that may fool many users into thinking that they actually have SP (if they haven't read the manual and never made a real-time recording, and haven't found a forum like this it possible)? Is it that it's just a decision high up not to include it, maybe because it would be so much slower than the transfer speed they wanted to advertise? Or were they aiming for NetMP SP transfer, but there were flaws in the HW design/manufacturing found too late to make changes? Or couldn't USB 1.1 handle it? Or what, any ideas/facts?

The only problem now is that all the songs you play on your MD will be in German...

Thanks, are there any "tweaks" possible (and needed) on these units like the European Volume Limiting on 1st gen Hi-MD units? We have MZ-N710 and MZ-N910, so they're not in the DL section - but if there's anything doable for MZ-N510 (or maybe MZ-N707?) then it may also be possible for our models?

If your old MD unit has a line/optical in you could record in real-time without a computer and get "Real SP" - if not your car unit is MDLP only. It will take 80 minutes to record an 80 minute disc, but of course real SP sounds good while Fake SP/MDLP does not. Just connect to a line out/optical out of a suitable stereo equipment. For a NetMD portable (which you don't have) to record in the dreadful Fake SP mode it's pretty easy. Nothing better than LP can be sent to a NetMD, but that LP "data stream" will be converted to SP by the recording unit which is set to record in SP. Half the quality at full size, brilliant.

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=12031

And since the price is good it is cheaper to let them fly from Australia to almost all over the world then to buy locally Ordered 10.

Do you have XP SP2? If you have that, it seems like the complete SonicStage package didn't install some needed drivers that have to be installed before the RH10 is connected. Otherwise Windows will, as you noticed, some generic drivers which you now have to uninstall (and probably SonicStage as well) and redo everything. I guess you will get more direct pointers abot OpenMG and Personal Audio Driver...

...and now there exists DRM-free OMA anyway...

I think I will install 3.1 on another computer, hopefully it will work there.

I've seen that in Australia Hi-MD disks can be had for AUD$4.95 - which incidentially equals £2.00.

Strange with Hi-MD prices... You could find NH600D on eBay for USD$150 while the NH600 is still dumped in shops here at USD$65 (but of course there's a used NH900 at eBay with a Buy It Now price of USD$488...) so the pricing never ceases "to be interesting"... An NH1 costs 150 dollars more here than a RH10. Sony Sweden still only shows the NH600 as the only Hi-MD in Sweden, I wonder if the rest are imported without going through Sony...? Are there shops doing that in Australia, selling minidisc players Sony Australia doesn't have?

Yes, as I wrote 1kyle's method is if you don't have them connected to the same network...

Try Google search for the model numbers/names in this listing: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Bookshelf_Sony.html

Yes, it's if you don't have the computers connected to the same network and don't feel like burning DVD-RW's. If both computers have an internet connection you could use the Google Mail File System for a password-protected 1GB internet drive.

The TDK MD-RXG (their ES comparable discs) I have are anyway screwed together...

Thanks for your answer. For music I have recorded real-time to get real SP, and for speech I have used LP4. Didn't know there was two variants of LP2, do you mean that a MZ-N710/MZ-N910 can play both? (without any conversion) And for LP4, there's no longer any possibility of ripping to that format using SS3.2 and transfer to a NetMD without conversion? Since the LP4 as you say is bad from the beginning it would even for speech not especially good to first rip it to Hi-LP and then convert to LP4 when transferring to the NetMD. And not space-efficient keeping it on HD/DVD-R with a clearly higher data rate when it anyway should be converted to LP4.

Just as he writes, only the Japanese RH10 has a connector that fits a cradle. The US and Euro models aren't made to use a charging cradle, there's simply no hole (connector) in the unit to match that on the cradle.

There are a few Flash recorders, and while they still are either too expensive, not good enough, partially flawed - there may very well soon come one that "fits the bill". But for many people who travel and both will record and play music in that time - maybe a few weeks - there's only a Hi-MD or a HD based unit to choose between and the HD based units seldom have any high quality settings.

It would feel a little bit more safer if you had been "an oldtimer" here...

If you have optical recordings you need to use HiMDRenderer to get them DRM free, Sony's programs does only allow that on analogue recordings.

Well, I don't know the best way of doing it since I haven't done any mic recordings on my Hi-MD yet - but an analogue mic recording could always be uploaded to the PC and converted to WAV. Then it's DRM free but if you want to create a DRM free OMA file from it I suppose you have to import WAV from a CD (read somewhere that WAV files on HD still get DRM). You don't need to create a physical CD, just burn to an image file in Nero and mount it with Daemon Tools. Reservations for this beeing just out of memory and untried by myself.