Ral-Clan

Sorry....but are these supposed to be newly released models or is this just a reference to old information?

Uh, how can an MP3 transcoded to ATRAC LP2 sound better than the original? I think perhaps it is sounding better because the Sony has a better headphone amp & headphones than your mp3 player. However, transcoding from mp3 to ATRAC LP2 certainly is not helping the music, rather the opposite effect.

Yeah, actually I've already tried that and I notice that the head seems make some strange noises. The only DISC ERROR/BLANKDISC messages I've ever gotten were on initial disc insertion (TOC reading). *IF* the disc is read properly upon insertion then I never experience any problem during playback disc. However, when jumping to a new track, or when the disc spins up to read more data, I can hear the laser head giving itself two or three tries to read the audio (a quiet....sssSSSVVVT....sssVVVTTT sound) . Still, I wonder why holding the unit vertically results in a greater likelihood of DISC ERROR messages. I assume it's because of gravity is making it harder for the laser head to adjust itself to focus properly.

Ugh. Does this involve a multimeter and using internal test points? If so I'm not going to go to that extreme effort... I had thought of that, and it seems much easier. I am not sure which motor is having the problem (there seems to be 3 motors in there). This (bad motor/good laser) MZ-R700 will operate most of the time, but sometimes after inserting a disc (when the head assembly returns to the 'home' position), and ALWAYS when retracting the laser (i.e. moving from last track to previous track) it makes a high pitched, VERY loud and unhealthy sound like a whirring-rubbing noise. It will occassionaly give a DISC ERROR while playing or recording and then stop operating, but this usually only occurs when it is working on the outer tracks of the disc. I did try greasing the rails and checking the worm screw but it didn't help. So I assume the problem is with one of the motors failing, but am not sure which one. It might be the spindle motor, but it could also be the motor that retracts/advances the heads. Yeah, I am in Canada and you know how outrageous MD prices are here. Actually I ordered this one from the States for about $230 US but after all the shipping and customs/duty and US-->CAD exchange it came out to about $300CAD, which was still far cheaper than such a unit could be purchased here (regular non Hi-MD NetMD walkmans are still about $120 CAD here). The one interesting thing about my main MZ-R700 (the one I complained about above that has a good motor, but problems with the read/write heads), is that it seems to give the BLANK DISC/DISC ERROR upon disc insertion when the unit is held vertically. When I lay it down flat on a table, it works almost totally reliably, and rarely gives such an error (reads the disc's TOC faster too). For that reason, I am wondering if it is indeed a weak laser problem, or not. I have greased the rails and done a lens cleaning.

To answer your first question: it doesn't blank the discs, it only has difficulty reading them when first inserted....i.e. in about 1 in 5 insertions, it takes a long time to spin up and search, and then reports DISC ERR or BLANK DISC. I was afraid that was the laser that was dying. Frankly, I find 3 years of use a little short for a $300 item. Especially considering it was used perhaps a couple of times a week on average. One perhaps good thing is that I did buy a spare broken MZ-R700 (bad motor, but good laser block) of Ebay last year for about $20. I wonder if it possible to do a simple swap of parts (I have had the MZ-R700 totally disassembled before and am fairly competent with doing fine soldering/assembly work). If the laser finally dies, I suppose I don't have anything to lose. I'm just venting here, but as much as I love minidisc, I'm a little turned off that it's deemed acceptable that these units should only last 3 years, considering their initial cost. I have CD players from the 1980s that are still going strong. I'm sure a solid state recorder would not have this problem....(if one existed at the price point of minidisc).

Hi, I have an MZ-R700 which ocassionally will report DISC ERROR or BLANKDISC upon inserting a minidisc that is full of music. Is there any way to do a manual or service mode laser head re-alignment? This unit is only 3 years old and has been treated well, so I'm a little ticked.

Grrrr.....my 3 year old MZ-R700 (that I paid $300 Canadian for) is starting to get bad headphone jack dropouts, crackle, occassional DISC ERROR messages, and is beginning to make louder motor noises than usual. I too have not abused this unit. I'm hoping it's fixable, but I totally agree that this sort of stuff should either be priced cheaper if it's only going to last 3 years, or made better if they are going to charge the high prices.

I totally agree. Recently I have made up my mind that I'm not going to buy the hype to "keep up with the Joneses" anymore. The electronics companies try to market a culture whereby if you are using some older type of technology, you are an idiot, or a dinosaur, or just un-cool. This is total CRAP. There is no such thing as something being OBSOLETE. If it is still useful in some way to someone, and does the job adequately, then I say use it. I buy older stereo equipment. I can buy a JAPANESE made, high-build-quality, amplifier at a garage sale for $20 which sounds wonderful and has good quality components. True, sometimes there can be small problems with it due to age, but because these older components were designed to be repairable rather than disposable. I can often open it up and fix the problem (and it's good as new) because these units are modular inside. With a modern piece of electronics, it's made all microscopic on a single board, so if anything fails the whole unit is toast. Plus, with my garage sale stuff, if I cannot fix it, I haven't lost a great deal of money. I actually ENJOY using older computers too. I recently got my old VIC-20 set up and am having a blast learning about hobby programming, and hoping to get into electronic design. The VIC-20 is a perfect choice because it is a simple enough device to get one's mind wrapped around, yet complex enough to do a hell of a lot in terms of hobby electronics/programming (it's very underestimated). As for minidisc, I'm sort of happy the I-Pod and Hi-MD has come around. Now I can pick up all those regular MD machines everybody is ditching for really cheap.....yes they may be older technology, but they still sound GREAT and are extremely useful (especially for recording). Plus, if one is broken or stolen, I won't feel as devastated as if I lost my new $400 Hi-MD recorder. I find when I have a brand new, expensive piece of gear (like a portable music device) in my pocket, I am too worried about breaking it or losing it to actually relax and enjoy it! ....and I refuse to feel guilty or "LAME" for using older technology! If it WORKS, use it! And don't buy the hype.

Unfortunately, while the article is positive, it fails to point out the fact that Hi-MD discs are very cheap (compared to Flash cards like SD, etc.) and that recording can also be analogue line in or microphone. Those are two points that really differentiate Minidisc from other removable media devices.

Have you ever tried to get something repaired by SONY? EXPENSIVE. The LCD display on my MZ-R700 cracked (my fault) and I ordered a new one to replace it (I did the work myself). It cost $125 for just the display/front circuit board. After that I decided I am never going to do this again. I'd rather buy a broken MZ-R700 (i.e. dead laser, dead motor, but working LCD) and scavenge parts from it. Much cheaper than buying just the single part from Sony. And, if you buy one MD player with a damaged LCD for $20, and another with a dead motor or laser for $15....you can swap parts and make a fully working one for cheap!

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation uses Minidiscs quite a lot in gathering field interviews/reports. There is also a show where the listeners can submit stories and they recommend Minidisc along with other formats: http://www.cbc.ca/outfront/contribute/capturing_audio.html I also see Minidisc recorders occassionally held up by reporters during scrum sessions when the MPs leave the House of Commons. I often wonder how they avoid the motor noise with those mics connected directly to the unit like that (no extension cable). And just recently at a concert the guy on the soundboard had an MZ-R500 (or something along that line) hooked up to the mixer to record the show.

The actual article should also have an APRIL FOOLS statement placed on it....so that people who directly go there from a link don't take it seriously.

Although this caught me, I'm not sure it was such a good April Fool's joke as it is so close to reality. And more importantly: New users, hearing about the MZ-RH1, and who are considering their first Minidisc machine, are now visiting this site for info. Just by casually scanning the headlines on the main page they will see this fake news item and will not realise it is an April Fools joke....so might decide not to go with Minidisc after all. Even worse, thinking this is serious, they might start spreading this false news about the termination of Minidisc around. Furthermore, the date of the news item isn't even April 1st. It's March 31st....which will further confound people who don't celebrate this tradition - they won't realise it's a "trick". This news item really needs a prominent "APRIL FOOLS" label posted on it.

Augh....and they've taken to calling them 'PRO' models, with requisite HIGH prices to boot. I can't afford/justify the prices of these models. Furthermore they won't garner many first time MD'ers with these prices. I can only assume the MZ-RH1 will be in the $450+ Canadian range. Us poor Canadians....we're really suckered for the Minidisc stuff. I wish I'd at least see one of the MZ-R410 blowouts I've heard about in the States....$45 for a NetMD walkman! I'd pick one up just to use as a cheap playback unit I wouldn't have to worry about scratching up / losing.

Not terribly informative, but at least it's positive toward MD. http://crave.cnet.co.uk/digitalmusic/0,390...49259042,00.htm

Don't use the MIC in on your computer (it is noisy, has a pre-amp, and is sometimes MONO). Use the LINE-IN connector on your computer's sound card.

74 and 80 min disc are STILL about $4.50 to $5 each in Canada at major chain stores (when you can even find them). This is when you buy in a 2 pack. It's really awful. No wonder Minidisc never took off here.,

You're definitely on the right track. There is a simple, free program called NORMALIZE which will do exactly what you want to do in batch mode (i.e. will automatically convert a whole directory of WAV files to the same volume and will also do peak limiting at the same time to avoid digital clipping). It's GREAT. I use it on the AMIGA but apparently there is also a Linux and Windows version: http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~cvaill/normalize/ Also, you use the word "compression" above. Just be aware that digital data compression (i.e. MP3, ATRAC, etc.) and audio compression (i.e. volume compression) are totally different things.

I just wish to add another voice saying: use an extension cable for your microphone. If you plug a microphone directly into the MIC in, you're asking for motor noise problems. If you use an extension cable, 2 feet or more, you will have little or no noise problems, and you can place your mic in any position you want. Also, start your recording in PAUSE mode, and after the first 10 seconds the motor will stop its initial spin-up. Then start recording. The noisiest part is the initial spin-up anyway.

You're kidding, right? A recording made this way can't be anything near good quality. You've just negated the hi-fi aspect of MD recording, not to mention the loss of any stereo imaging! Do you record onto minidiscs at home by holding a microphone up to the speakers of your stereo? Please don't tell me you use PCM mode or a high bitrate to do this, as it would be pointless!

I agree, you are doing this the wrong way. By converting to MP3 and then burning back to CD you are degrading the sound quality ---- rip to WAV instead. Also by using ONLY gain you are introducing digital clipping, which at its worst can sound like little snaps or cracks on the audio -- Use normalization or audio compression (not the same thing as data compression e.g. MP3, ATRAC, JPEG). I believe NERO BURNING ROM has an option to do all of the above.

Doesn't seem to work. The player just says "END" and shows the spinning disc icon. However if you press END SEARCH, PLAY, STOP, NEXT TRACK it does go back to track 1. What an awfully convoluted way of doing something so simple! Can't believe the engineers didn't catch this one (otherwise the machine is great).

I have an MZ-R700, and it's great but there is one slight annoyance: I cannot figure out how to instantly jump to the beginning (first track) on a disk. This is bothersome when you are about 60 tracks from the beginning and want to start the disc over from Track 1. The only ways I have found to get to the beginning of this disc are by jumping back through all the tracks (annoying) or ejecting the disc and re-inserting it. I noticed on my wife's NetMD machine, she can just hold down the play button for five seconds and the disc starts from the beginning, but not so with my model.

No it doesn't. Just transfer the tracks one by one (or two by two with one track panned hard left and the other hard right) via that analogue method. In order sync them all once they are in the computer, record a clap or sharp noise across all the tracks on the MD-8 or MD-4. You will be able to use this clap to visually align the waveforms once in your computer. Otherwise, you can also sync the Yamaha to your multitrack program in your computer via MIDI Time Code or MIDI Clock. If you have the two machines synced, then when you record the tracks over to your computer, they will probably already by aligned with each other. Basically, you want your Yamaha to start playing the audio when you hit record in your computer's multitrack program. Thereby avoiding any random length audio gaps at the beginning of the recording (which is what you get when you do it manually). As for the Yamaha having no digital out: This was never an issue for me. The other MD multitrackers had digital outputs, but their mixing boards were all ANALOG. So the digital-out on the TASCAM, etc. was sort of a gimmick, since the audio had to go through an analog stage anyway before converting back to digital. With the Yamaha, you are merely converting back to digital a few feet further along the chain, once your audio enters the computer's soundcard.....so same difference.

Wait a second. Are you saying that "standard" LP4 is not supported (or exists) at all in the newest versions of SonicStage? What about in Simpleburner? I bought a "regular" Minidisc NET-MD walkman for my wife this past Christmas and beforehand I filled up a disc for her in LP4 mode with my "old" non NET capable MZ-R700. She loves the five hours of music LP4 gives her, and honestly, she CANNOT tell the difference (I certainly can - but she's one of those casual listeners who is okay with LP4). So if we upgrade to SonicStage 3.4 (if and when I get a Hi-MD walkman), will she still be able to create LP4 discs on her older NET-MD with this version of SS?