rei-gouki

... sounds like it it's probably the Quickmode. That function keeps the buffer fresh to play "immediately" on play being pressed. Otherwise, the buffer will empty and require filling which requires the disc to spin up.

ok, the Low Batt indicator is still not showing for the NH14WM. It still charges up in about 2.5hrs. And it played LP2 for a little over 10hrs (10.5hrs is the rating for the NH10WM) Has anyone else been getting this from their NH14WM? If not, I'm thinking I got a crap one.

RobA posed a Q about MZ-NE410 and remotes at http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=13302 Can someone who knows give the guy a hand?

Unless the RH10 has that as a new feature, nope. It's there as an indication of a break in the recording.

hmm... just noticed http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=4038 which could hold a better answer than what I've been giving.

I have no problems with you asking that here, but I amleaving the final say to the thread starter and the mods.

:/ I'm no tech but I would say you're right about the TOC writing. The area is accessed and the contents read into memory when you load an MD. It's a little puzzling that it erases an unprotected MD's TOC, though... I haven't had all that much experience with the N707 and SS. I've only made a couple of MDs in that method (with SS 1.5 then again with 2.x) so I'm not completely sure when the TOC is written in a transfer atm. My recent experiences with the NH900 suggests that the TOC is held in memory (like when you edit track names and it doesn't write until you hit stop) until the you request that the disc be ejected by pressing the stop button right after a transfer. On the NH900, it also wrote the info held in buffer if it was left in idle too long while connected to the computer. I think this is probably due to the TOC area being near the center of the MD and to write TOC after every file would involve the head going all the way to the cetre area then all the way back to continue writing. Not good for the drive and doesn't help write speeds any. From you first and second post about the MDs that are made, it appears that there is no viable TOC written as they won't play on another deck so reinserting them to the your N707 with the tab on and it still not reading does not mean that it's still erased - the TOC could just be not present... unless I misunderstood and you can make MDs that are readable by other decks if you eject it before when you think it erases it...? But no TOC does not explain your N707 deleting MDs without the write-protect tab on. Or reading it when it's on. Otherwise it would be easy to suggest that the wormdrive is not quite right and it just isn't able to access the TOC area to write or read... Given that you inherited it, any chance you can talk to the previous owner about it? Or is this a "it's yours if you can fix it" deal?

Check the shrink wrap around the negative terminal as well in case it's interfering with the MD's contacts with the battery. Just shave it if it's covering too much of it.

By that you mean that you insert an MD with something on it in, then put it in another deck and the MD is found to be wiped? Is there any difference if the MD protect tab is on?

The Sony LIP-3WMB is ONLY used by Sony's top of the line MD units, to my knowledge. They may be using it with other devices now but as far as who uses it, it'e not like the NH10WM/NH14WM gumsticks which a number of other companies have taken to as well. Sony is the only one using and is also the only one producing it. You will have to go to their website to get one or a retailer specialising in Sony poducts (minidisc.com.au has them in their catelogue, for example). Regarding the way it's being used... I think your problem is that you attached the AA to a full Li-ion. As far as I know, the power sources are separate. If the AA is connected, it's the only one being used. The quick test would be to attach an empty AA bay with a charged Li-ion, and see if it plays. If it doesn't, connecting the AA bay automatically disables the Li-ion. Play with the switch on the back as well, the one for the internal battery. Depending on the results of these little tests, you may find yourself having to be more diligent about switching the Li-ion off when you aren't using it. There was a random observation someone made that the AA was charging the Li-ion, but that's probably not the case. It's possible that they are connect unless the battery on/off on the back is used. It's safe to say that you probably shouldn't connect the AA unless the Li-ion is flat. Another test you should try, perhaps, is to turn off the Li-ion or remove it then attach the AA and see how long that goes for. It should be close to what the manual says. Another, is perhaps check if the "Quick Mode" is on That's equivalent to a laptop's standby function and drains the battery a fair bit keeping RAM powered. If the AA lasts approximately as long as the manual says it does, there's no problem with the NetMD shorting somewhere and draining the battery.

A quick update about the NH14WM. I had been getting weird times from it. I'd charge it for about 2.5hrs (a little short, based on calculations) and it's run flat FLAT with only a little warning. It'd show one bar or blink a little before cutting out and then not starting up at all. From my experience with the NH10WM (and previous MD recorders), there's meant to be a "Low Battery" screen and other such warnings so I thought this was just plain dodgy. On inspection of the contact terminals, I found that the negative terminal at the bottom of the gumstick bay had 2 contact points in the NH900. Then comparing the NH10WM and NH14WM, I found that the shrink wrapping on the NH14WM covered a larger portion of the negative terminal (thought nothing of it before even though I noticed it was a little different). On closer inspection, it appeared that the contacts were in contact with the plastic wrapping and not the metal surface. A minute or 2 later, I had shaved off the extra wrapping around the negative terminal and reinserted the battery (this is just after it cutout and wouldn't start up again) and it displayed a "Low Battery" warning as the reason it's not starting up, where before there was nothing at all. Charging it now to see if that fixed anything else like the life the battery is meant to be providing as well as a proper low power warning. I hope this helps the next guy so don't charge the MD as many times as I did before working it out...

It's interesting reading suggestions that would require bending, if not breaking the laws of physics up there. Having a HDD too isn't a bad idea. It would basically reduce MDs to an archival media, though. It WOULD allow for a lot of custom tinkering as there would be space to keep additional codecs for new file types as they appear. This could also be a simple way of separating files that willl have DRM and files that don't. You buy a track via connect and it d/ls to a Hi-MD. You d/l a random DRMless file like an mp3, and it goes to the HDD. ... and edit function in a deck for the car? LOL I can see you going out to the garage every time you need to mess with the TOC. Allowing drag 'n' drop will likely not kill off SS. The iPod has iTunes, remember? It would be nice to have, though. And yes, upload of recordings of SP/LP2/LP4/Mono would be nice. Lossless... from my experience, they never have a reasonably predictable file size. Given that Sony seems to like predictable sizes, it probably won't appear at all as a recording format (I can see the implementation... the "RecRemain" keeps dropping at unpredictable rates LOL). In Australia, Sony appeared to do 2-3 generations before introducing something new and that new thing was a reaction to something that appeared in the market. mp3s led to LP2/LP4. HDD led to HiMD. I remember hearing a rumour that Sony didn't even conceive that consumers would adopt any higher a compression than SP due to losses. An external AA adapter should never have been dropped for the NH1. A small screen should never have been adopted for the NH1. A colour screen for all/nearly all models in the next generation would be nice. I mean, they have it on most mobile phones now so why not? OLED would be nice. Either a full switch to Li-ion or return to Ni-MH gumstick. I don't mind either. I just want Li-ion to come down in price if they are sticking with it. IMO, a new external design is NOT as important as the internals. There were a few good designs in some of the older models and from the look of some of the new ones, they are really scraping the bottom for designs. I'm not completely certain, but I don't think Bluray is compatible with MO technology. While the energy could be comparable, the frequency is more UV than IR. But I would be curious to know how high a capacity a disc the size of an MD could go if the laser frequency for Hi-MD was taken as the minimum as opposed to the maximum. Any increase in capacity of the medium will likely remove the ability to read normal MDs. Other things... make the screen a touchscreen and have it cover all of one face of the MD recorder? There's always room for additional buttons on the side and switches the back. A speaker or two would be useful here. Australia never got premastered MDs. Probably one of the reasons the format didn't really take off. A friend bought a player... and then found he had no way to get music onto the MDs. I did see a stereo by Pioneer that had MD and CD in it around the time of the MZ-70/MZ-90, but generally speaking, an MD player was useless unless you had access to a recorder. Releasing music in MD format would generally remove the need for an invasive DRM program (rootkit, etc) as they could define what their drive can do with the MDs. Given that Hi-MDs could hold 94 min of PCM, a CD could be put on a Hi-MD without converting the file format. So, yea, there's probably some life left in the Hi-MD. Given the stupidity of the rootkit fiasco, there should really be a budget cut and refocus on electronics such as MD *cough* like that'd happen -.-;;; *cough*

hmm... on that charger issue, does anyone know if any Ni-MH charger will do as long as the gumstick has contact with the terminals and doesn't move during charging?

Ah. Thanks. I did not know that. I've never used iTunes... though I did accidently install it one time when I was trying to get Quicktime on an XP machine ^^;;; I'm not completely sure about the syncing aspect. I had a friend access their iPod with iTunes on a different computer to that which they normally used and didn't really find a problem getting tracks on to it. Of course, the iTunes on the second computer wasn't already setup for another iPod, which may be the key. But if it is, I would say this is one of the advantages of it - no problem accessing files you downloaded prior to your computer crashing leading to a reformat or something. I didn't upload anything at the time, though, so I can't say if DRM would have popped up then. I should probably point out that the files in question were mp3s so there would not have been DRM attached. Effectively, from that, and from numerous other sources, DRM should not in any way stop the average user from doing something any normal person should expect something like a portable recording device to be able to do. The utilisation of a database to store information about a file, I agree, is very useful. It effectively standardises any file to a set of attributes a user can enter (the functionality you speak of). The only thing is, as mentioned by lamewing, is that if the files are still accessible via UMS, that it's leaving the back door open. I, for one, don't mind. I find it important to have such things as a backup in the event things go to pear shaped. DRM attached to a file purchased through iTunes is perfectly understandable. It's like registering a shareware program. You would like some sort of stamp on it that it was yours and that you paid good money for it. I suppose it also gives an excuse not to share, but some things you care so much about, you want to share. I do agree that Sony seems to have hired monkeys to do their design work of late. The RM-MC35EL I got with my NH900, though it's spiffy, does look a step down in quality when I compare it to the RC-MC10L I got with my N707. The choice to have a single line display on NH1's main unit, removal of the external AA ability, and some functions allowed only via remote on the NH1 is also something that makes anyone who cares about the MD pause and wonder what the heck is going on in the design department. If you used the backup function that comes with SS, you can restore the db to some extent, however, it seems to need to connect to the internet to verify licenses or something. The annoying thing about this is that it makes a copy of everything in the "My Library" section which take a lot of space. It perhaps would have been better to just backup the database like some playlist or compilation. This is a drawback of removable media - the legacy of media that came before it. HDD and flash move with the times just because it's all in there. When you upgrade, you don't risk getting a pile of storage media you can no insert into your new device. But to look at how old MD vs HDD is by comparing how old the physics practiced is is just phallus brandishing, here. I don't know about other countries, but a few years ago, Sony tried to flog "cheap" MD recorders in Australia. Ran on 1 AA. No remote. No charging ability. Full plastic case. Effectively an MD version of a cheap cassette walkman. The problem was that it was about 30% cheaper and still was 100-200% more than the cheap cassette walkman. From what I've heard, the idea went like a lead balloon. A friend interested in delving into the world of MD asked about them at which point everyone I know who owned one told her that though they were a good intro model, it was oer priced and that she may as well fork over the extra bucks for what would be considered the "normal" range of MDs. Well, she went and got the cheap MD anyway and was looking to flog it to upgrade 2 weeks later. That the upgrade was to a better MD was a good thing, but it was so easy to see it go the other way and become disenchanted with the media just because they were that bad for the price that was charge (comparatively speaking). The fact Sony has not changed the focus of their advertising *cough* is something of a concern. Competing directly against the iPod and their HDD ilk will definitely bury the MD. Microcassettes and their recorders are still around. I don't see why Sony isn't taking a crack at this area of the market given the recorder size is comparable. Given the screens on the current players, I'd love to see one come with a wave editor, even if it just cuts tracks up to remove ads like the MD does. The removable media does mean that you lose less if you lose the unit - just the MD in the player or a couple more if it was in a bag with an MD pouch. The bad thing I see about it, as it now allows file stoarge, is that it puts a limit on the size of a single file. If you had to move something larger than 963MB, you're buggered, unless you split the file. I personally have not had to except for the once or twice. However, my sister is in an area where she will encounter 1GB+ files regularly making the portable HDD to be a lot better. That said, the singular cartridge should probably not be below 5GB, currently. But as for "removability", HDD players could make the same claims of "unlimited" as well if you consider the computer it d/ls from to have no limit to it's ability to expand the size of its HDDs. Just takes a bit more mind to do so than buying a few MDs off the shelf at a music store and slotting it into your recorder. On a side note, apparently at one stage, IBM found the upper limit of HDD tech was 2GB before a way was found to seal the cylinder. DVDs hold 4.3GB in data, and Bluray discs are 27GB max. Imagine they never got around the 2GB HDD problem. We'd have the OS on the HDD and everything else would be on O/MO and other (like iomega's Zip) media

ok... From what I've read about the RH10, it will not record SP/LP2/LP4 through the mic/line-in ports therefore your recording should be one of the formats introduced with the HiMD recorders that will upload. To upload via USB, you will need to install Sonic Stage (should be provided on a CD with your MD recorder) to a computer with at least the requirements specified by the user's manual and it should be fine. It should be even more fine if you install Sonic Stage 3.3, the most recent version of the program. I say "should" as there are some reports of bugs, but that tends to happen so you shouldn't consider that a negative until it happens to you. Equipment varies so widely that it's difficult to presume whether you'll be fine or not. There has been no huge world turning discoveries of rootkits in the program so it should be safe... (if any one says "famous last words" there's a 2x4 that would like to meet you ) With regards to the disc you can upload from, it's as the above posts say.

From the sounds of the H1xx and H3xx, there're advantages to both. i could liken the difference to be similar to the 1st Gen and 2nd Gen HiMD where recording in legacy formats were removed from the line-in and mic. Such differences seem to be causing some on the forum to keep their older MD units (me included). The palming off of "grand designs" to conspiracy theorists is quite ignoring the possibilities. Whilst there is no real reason to take heed of any such observations given that they tend to be out of out of the hands of the people at our level, there's equally no reason to consider opinions of such views to be quack. They have been conceived and are workable. They also aren't the only possibilities. Usually, the answer is far simpler then any speculation would have it, but "usually" is not 100%. Might I ask Sparky191 for information about the iPod DRM and how it's... invisible? to the user? I do still stand by my statement that DRM is visibly a Sony thing as mp3 and wavs don't store DRM info, thus making the choice to not allow their players to play mp3s until recently appear very much so that DRM can be applied. The quality of the MD recordings does support the prices Sony pins on the recorders, but that is quickly becoming another thing of the past. The best thing perhaps would be to just ditch DRM, charge a little extra, and have the extra cover their perceived losses in the music branch... though perhaps they reach that conclusion already given the allowance to disable DRM marking in SS 3.3? All this speculation really doesn't mean much, though unless there's something to compare it to such as iPod and other portables...

Firstly, the N10 is a NetMD, so you're in the wrong forum. And looking at the specs of the MZ-NE410, so is that one. First question is, do you have the manual? I could then refer you to pages so you can refresh your memory on specific steps later on if you forget. Now on to the help... sorta. From what I remember, the N10 was basically the top of the line of one of the NetMD generations (2nd?). The short version for the differences is that the N10 has everything, the MZ-NE410 has the minimum. Now, I'll concentrate on what appears to be important to you - the portable record ability of the N10. The N10 has 2 ports on the side where the remote plugs in, a red rimmed, and a white rimmed. The white rimmed is for recording from another audio player. From the sounds of your habits, you won't be using this one for a while. The one you will need to know about is the red rimmed one. This is the mic input. If this is, and I think it is, a powered mic plug (has "plug in power" in brackets next to it), you can use mics that say they take power from the recorder. You'll just have to follow the instructions for the mic when you get that. Personally, I have 2 mics I use with my MD. Both are from Sony. The ECM-T6 is a mono lapel mic that runs on a CR2025. It has a cable so the mic can be a fair distance from the MD. The ECM-DS70P is a stereo mic that take power from the recorder. This one has no cable so unless you used an extension, the mic is right next to the MD. Using a mic, your wife will be able to record at a seminar. Recording involves setting the recording speed SP/LP2/LP4/Mono. Note that "mono" setting is "SP" quality and you fit about the same amount of audio as if you recorded at LP2 (which is stereo but at a higher compression). Seminars and other talking events can typically just use the highest compression of LP4. An IMPORTANT note is that NetMD CANNOT upload the recorded tracks from the white or the red rimmed ports so you won't be able to get the tracks off the MD via Sonic Stage. You will need to use a sound card with a line-in and play it to the computer in real time and record that output with an audio recording program such as Audacity. There's also usually a program provided with your sound card if it does have that function. So to directly answer your question, you need at least a microphone to plug into the MD. You may need more depending on what you want to do with it afterwards. And as to what else you can record... that's probably best left up to your imagination. Just remember that water and electronics don't mix and you should be ok, generally. The N10 battery... looking at the minidisc.org ino sheet... Li-ion. This is reserved for the top line MD units. It's also only made by Sony. Though I heard that some generic battery places are looking into it, this is a battery that only Sony uses, and Sony reserves it for the top unit in each generation. Personally, I woud have like the NH1 to have the N10's screen and ability to attach to an external AA, but that's another story. The short end is that you're stuck with buying the battery from Sony, paying their exhorbitant price. The maximum quality going to your NetMD is 132kbps which is LP2. That's what you should always be using for any music. The LP4 setting should only be used for talking. The SP setting in Sonic Stage is still just 132kbps quality at SP compression so older MDs can read them. That's really all you need to know. I do recall a 105 or something LP2 setting. Don't worry about that one. Sorry I don't have more. Sleepy. Probably best to pass the baton back to you to ask about anything you need more info about. The setting of the record speed comes to mind, but is probably better left to after you've read the manual and thus can ask specifics.

The Gaffer Tape article would suggest that DRM is only perfectly effective against people who don't seek means to circumvent it, further backing the view that it's there to spy on the honest citizens... But inking the second session is a pretty old trick.

Well, they hampered the technolgy with DRM to prevent it being a top quality pirate medium. Not sure why they kept it up even after CD burners were mainstream, but they most definitely are letting go far too late given the HDD/flash boom due to their convenience and lack of DRM. A good question perhaps, is whether Sony ditching DRM for SS and NetMD would have made any difference to the flash (and HDD) flood (pardon the pun). The presence of cassette recorders still on the shelf in the catalogue that got this thread going would suggest a "yes"... but what do people think?

I note that the link to Groklaw in the above post suggests that "Thanks to Sony, there are now millions of people who just got knowledgeable about DRM overnight." Though it was probably a little on the cynical side, on that thought, it's also entirely possible that parts of Sony engineered the rootkit to force a change. But that scenario looks a little too much like the story of Ghost in the Shell - Innocence, I suppose, in terms of hurting the customers to force an internal change. But then if that is true, there are elements within Sony that deserve our thanks and support for making such a botched DRM that everyone is now under the spotlight. On another note, I read that there were problems with d/l to iPod... would the same discs be problem free getting onto MD/HiMDs? That *would* be an certifiably evil method to make MDs matter again.

A point of note here is the Blizzard seems to do fine getting people to buy many copies of the same game with a similar yet not type of lock. It only matters when connecting to battle.net One key for one computer at one time. Sony hitting the panic button, probably. Give us something to fix it NOW!!!. Muzzy's rant mentioned above adds a bit of fuel to the fire with a Sony director on the F4I board... I believe, "We are doing it to protect it therefore we can do whatever we like, including break it, to that effect." rings many a bell with most people... Unfortunately, knowing it doesn't seem to prevent it as it keeps popping up... Well, mutual respect between businesses would cause them to do so. F4I develops a piece of software to Sony's specifications and finds that antivirus software put up red flags. To save the work, afterall, they seem to already have cut corners using GPL code, they contact the AV companies and tell them, "We made this software, see. It's for Sony, see. Can we be on the exclude/ignore list?" If you had respect for Sony, what would you say? And if you still say no, I'm sure Sony's vast pool of lawyers want to talk to you. Unfortunate but true that a lot of things, if not everything, boils down to a lawsuit these days. Symantec probably just requested that their name be removed. It doesn't really detract from the story. If you think about it, the way it's worded now means Symantec doesn't get the lion's share of the blame, which is fairer in a sense. Why let the others go unscathed/lightly singed? It's true that the random net user won't be able to correlate between the statement "big antivirus companies" with names, but the only other way to be fair is to list all of them. And as for the comment I saw (and forgot to quote) about the debacle affecting Sony only if it makes a decent dent in their coffers, the same sized dent will probably cripple them. And the clearing of upper decks... it's highly probably that those up there have an airtight contract to make of with millions when they leave or are fired. Clearing too many at a time will also probably crippled them.

Well, yes, it does export in SP. That isn't in dispute. But the bit that's important is that the track's quality is, at maximum, a 132kbps ATRAC3 which is LP2 grade as stated by KJ_Palmer.

From what I've gathered from around the forums, there is no way around that. But, I don't know if any of the hacks/plugins that allow playing of omg/oma files on things such as winamp check or ignore DRM when they access and decode the file. But if it does ignore DRM, you could theoretically dub the files out via analog and reimport into SS and convert to wav this time. You can compress to some non-DRM format to save a bit of space from there.

I can't comment about the US situation but in Australia, MD technology costs a fair bit compared to the others... well... did *points at the sales currently running* The fact that it exceeds the quality the average music listener would accept adds to it's fringe/specialised status making it unlikely to appear in any "Best Buy" catalogue. Not to delve too much into economics, but "best buys" tend to be centered on the popular products just because the more people buy it, the less the manufacturer needs to charge for it to make a tidy profit. The lower the price, the better value for money it is. I think the only way to get HiMD/MD into those catalogues is to cause them to be viewed as a different category of portable player. There are flash and HDD, new to the market, and the old cassettes mentioned in your post. What happened to MO? Or should everyone pick on the oldest reason of all - DRM?

Download link for the N10 service manual at MDCF Get that. If you don't understand it, don't tinker with it. A few members have made paperweights because they didn't know what they were doing.