Hungerdunger

At least the last person who thought this sort of thing was humorous bothered to doctor some photos to make it more realistic.

The RH1 is the only new MD recorder still available in the UK and it is generally accepted that it is the final model ever. 200 UKP is a good price - if you go to a Sony Centre shop you'll have to pay around £50 more. With regard to recording, you can record direct from a hi-fi system in real time, or you can record CDs or MP3s via your computer at faster-than-real-time using SonicStage software (which will be supplied with the RH1). For CD recording you can also use a program called Simple Burner (also supplied on the disc) which is the easiest to use, but doesn't have so much choice in bitrates.

It might help if you told us where you are. (As you didn't mention this, I'm assuming it's USA)

Shouldn't that read downgraded?

I asked this question a couple of years ago when the Onkyo units came out and the answer then was "No", but can I check one thing with you? Is there any way you can set the unit to record from a timer? I use this feature on my old Sony deck to record radio plays etc when I'm out at work, and although I'd like to get an Onkyo deck, I think it might be a waste of money if it can't do this.

Or if you want to be more precise, go here

Watching those, I felt as if my whole life was flashing before me. Well, the last ten years at least.

John - before you give up on the idea altogether, please record a track you know well in true SP mode, and then re-record it in LP2 mode. Have a listen - try to do a blind test if possible. Although "A Whole Lot" says: "LP2 sounds like crap", I think you will find a lot of people disagree with that rather sweeping statement. Basically it's down to your ears. Mine are getting quite old, so for me LP2 or Hi-LP are quite adequate for most purposes. If you are blessed with good ears you may not like the LP2 quality.

The simple answer to your question is "No". However, with MiniDisc things aren't always so simple! You can import a CD in SonicStage and then transfer it in "SP Mode" to your RH1. This will give you a recording which you can play on your R55, but it isn't true SP - it merely gives you a compatible disc. (I believe the bitrate is similar to LP2; perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong) If you were happy to be able to play the disc in your RH1 and on the deck, but not in the R55, you might be better off using Simple Burner in NetMD mode, with the LP2 setting. It is certainly a lot quicker than importing CDs into SonicStage, but a lot would depend on whether your ears are good enough to detect the difference between the old SP mode and LP2. One more thing: if you want to play your recordings on the R55 and the deck, you won't be able to use the new 1Gb discs; you'll have to stick with the old 80 or 74 minute discs.

I find that Juice works well for me, and is fairly intuitive to set up. http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/

I suspect it's a sign that the battery is on its way out. I've got a three year old battery which has had regular use, and over the last few weeks its maximum charging time from empty has dropped to 15 minutes, and the playback time has also reduced. I haven't timed it, but several occasions recently I've run out of juice - something which never normally happens to me. I've tried letting it discharge almost completely before recharging and I've tried keeping it topped up regularly, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. ISTR reading that the Li-Ion battery has a more-or-less fixed life span of around 3 years whether you use it heavily or not - so maybe it's just reached the end of its natural life. Can anyone confirm that this might be the case?

I need to free up some space on my Hard Drive. When I first had my RH1 I uploaded some old tracks MD tracks in PCM mode and also created a WAV copy of each one. IIRC it was because I wanted to edit some of them in Audacity and I believe they need to be in WAV format for that program. Obviously these files are pretty big, so I need to get rid of one format; does it really matter which one. I'm pretty ignorant on this topic, but would I be right to think that WAV files would be more versatile should I want to convert them to another format like FLAC or MP3?

I may be wrong on this, but my experience is that it does show up in "Safely Remove Hardware" when I work in Hi-MD mode, but not when I work in Net MD mode. In the latter case I think it's OK just to disconnect the machine.

Once you've installed and opened SonicStage, click on the Transfer tab near the top of the screen. Then click on the Transfer Mode Settings Icon (looks like a briefcase) in between the two windows. The third option (SP Transfer Mode) is the one you want. By the way, if you are using Vista, you need version 4.3, otherwise most people recommend 4.2.

Obviously I wouldn't admit to using a site whose legality was somewhat dubious, but I can tell you that my friend has had no problems although the last time I he went to top-up his account it was a rather tortuous procedure as Visa and Mastercard refuse to deal with MP3Sparks.

Are you prepared to use the Russian site MP3Sparks? If so, you'll find it here.

I enquired about this two years ago. The official supplier back then was "Seme Supplies", and they were asking £27.54. You can probably still contact them at : special.enquiry@seme.co.uk. I didn't buy one. (IIRC I wanted a spare for my NH1, but ended up buying a complete NH1 which was going cheap instead), so I can't comment on their service.

I think the fact that the first Tuesday in April is APRIL FOOLS DAY should have been a clue!!

I'm not familiar with this model, but as a first step have you tried recording with the AC adaptor connected? I'm wondering whether it has a problem with the internal battery. One of my old Sony's (can't remember which one now) really didn't like recording for any length of time unless it was plugged into the mains or had the "bolt-on" AA battery attached.

If you put in your profile where you come from, we might be able to offer more advice.

Yes, that looks like the right one. With regard to the docking station, have you tried your local Sony Centre? They'll charge a lot more for it than they should, but you could still end up overall with a cheap machine. Also you could keep looking on Ebay - there's a broken NH1 for auction at the moment, but someone has already bid 30 UKP for it with 3 days to go. Just a thought - if your NH1 appears to work when you attach it to your PC, and if you still haven't found a docking station, I could lend you my spare docking station for a few weeks until you track one down, but I really don't want to part with it permanently.

Be careful before you rush out to get that cable - are you sure it's the correct one for the NH1? I've just done a quick search on Ebay (UK) and can't see one there; can you point me to it? Also, even if it is the correct cable I'm 99% sure it won't charge the unit; this has to be done from the docking bay. And finally, your gumsticks won't work in the NH1.

No, but I can believe that around 1,000 people have each visited it 12 times each.

Your problem with justification shouldn't arise just yet; it's when you buy your second RH1 (as an insurance policy for the future) that you really need to start worrying!

I have two issues with mine (which is just over a year old): 1) (I think there may be thread on this already). For no apparent reason it occasionally refuses to switch on. The remedy is to remove the battery, wait a few seconds and re-insert it. I have cleaned the contacts on the battery to no effect, but if anyone has other suggestions, I'd like to hear them. 2) When I'm using the unit itself, occasionally if I press and hold FF, instead of fast-forwarding through the track it moves to the next track (and the next ones if I continue to hold). Same thing happens occasionally with "Rewind". Luckily I bought a back-up RH1 a couple of months ago as an insurance policy, but it's a bit worrying that it should start misbehaving so soon.