KJ_Palmer

Hi-MD renderer is a very useful utility, written by one of our members (MarCnet) for converting tracks in ATRAC (.oma) format to other audio formats such as mp3, wav and FLAC. You can get it from the downloads section here at MDCF. Unfortunately the .oma tracks have to be already on your PC (rather than on the MD), before you can use it. so it's probably not much help in this case.

You're probably best off not using SS version 4.3 with XP - it's really meant for Vista machines. 4.2 is very stable - you can get a European full installer here, or US version here or, since you're 'only' using a NetMD machine, 3.4 can be downloaded here in the downloads section and should be fine. You should do a full uninstall first.

Some units, especially portable MDs and CDs with a radio feature can change the FM frequency interval/range through a menu option. Having looked through my own M333NT's manual I can see no such option. It may be possible by entering service mode, or might be best to contact Sony.

Well, I use one of these cases for my RH1. It fits nicely in the jacket pocket, though you could also attach it to your belt, and has zip pockets for the remote and accessories. They ship to US/Canada etc too. Hope that may be of interest.

The NH710 can play back MP3 files 'natively' ie without conversion to ATRAC, though you still have to use Sonicstage to transfer them from your PC to an MD. There was a slight problem with the playback, where the treble frequencies were somewhat recessed. This could be 'cured' to an extent by applying more treble to the equaliser. By the way the equaliser has to be enabled in the Europe/UK version by applying the 'hack', which also removes the EU regulation volume limitation. Once this is done, the RH710 is a formidable player/recorder (albeit without mic in), well worth going for at that price. You can use a standard MD remote too.

No, your mic won't work with the line in, assuming it's a standard dynamic or electret mic 'powered' by a small battery. For speech, you'd need an external mic pre-amplifier to amplify the weak signals from the microphone, which means extra batteries and the box for the circuitry. Better to get a recorder with a mic input. Some even have a built in microphone.

The mic included in the NH700 bundle is a stereo mic, though probably won't give as much stereo separation as those binaural mics you were looking at. It seems to be a fairly good, general purpose mic though.

Perhaps a setting in Sounds and Audio Devices in the Control Panel needs changing? Other than that, an audio utility like the excellent (and free) Audacity will help to boost the volume of your sound files once you have imported them to Wav or MP3 etc.

Find the volume control utility on your computer. It's probably in the Entertainment or Systems Tools section under the Programs - Accessories menu if it's a Windows PC. You can control the line in level under volume control. Also make sure the volume on your Sharp MD is turned up to maximum - this gives 'line level' output on the unit. Hope that helps

What bitrate(s) were you converting from and into? I find that 256 or 320 ATRac 3+ TO 160 or 192kbps mp3 is quite listenable to on my MP3 player and hi-fi. I listen to mostly classical music too. Of course the transcoding will result in some degradation but the results from Hi-MD renderer don't seem too bad at all.

After transferring 100+ old SP recordings (mostly optical) I haven't noted any particular problems with the RH1 upload procedure. Conversion to Hi-SP will result in slight degradation due to transcoding and the slightly lower bitrate but the sound quality is still excellent. Uploading direct to Wav/PCM will obviously give the best quality though.

Press the big red Record button in Audacity and that will capture what's being played through the sound card. You'd want to make sure that 2 channels for stereo are selected in the Audio I/O Recording preferences as I believe the default is mono (1 channel), and the input level may need adjusting so it's not too loud or quiet. Press stop after each track, deleting any blank lead in and out, and probably some normalisation would need to be applied. The recorded track can then be exported to Wav or MP3 or whatever.

You can record in PCM on 'normal' MDs with your NH700. Just make sure you choose Hi-MD mode from the Option - Disc Mode menu on the recorder, and PCM from the REC Set - REC mode menu. You can record 'seperately' to the two channels with your mono mics by using a mono - stereo splitter and place the mics close to each interviewee. There will be some overlaps in the recording, but should be more separation than usual. Something like a SonyECM MS907 stereo mic should also give some left-right separation. Hope that helps.

Same here - only the 12KHz tone was audible my (43year old) ears...

I've also got a couple of RH710's - well worth picking up while you still can. Add a remote and do the hack as above and you'll be one happy bunny.

The charging cradle's only good for the N1, though the other accessories - remote, AA battery holder, adapter, optical cable etc. can be used with many (though not all) portable MD units.

The first MD player MZ-2P also had optical out, they pop up occasional on ebay. In fact I bought one last year very cheaply. Had some trouble reading 80 min discs though, so I sold it on.

On your N10 you can use LP4 mode which should give you about 60-100 tracks, depending on song length of course. The quality is generally poor, but may be acceptable. The manual should tell you how to select LP4, if you still have it.

Ok - hope that helps you enjoy your Walkman even more - long live MD!

1 - Connect the NH600D to the PC, put your CD in the CD drive, press and hold the download button for 2 seconds and after a few minutes you will have a new group containing the tracks. 2 - From the menu - select Main Play mode - Normal. Then select Sub Play mode - Shuffle There are more details in the manual - which can be found here...

Oh shame, well how about that guy on ebay - p&p was only £2.50 for the 6 Hi-Md's...

Shasonic (Hi-Fi Surplus) in London's Tottenham Court Road had packs of 2 for a tenner, a few weeks ago. I've been meaning to pop down there and stock up while they still have them. Otherwise they do seem thin on the ground. I bought 2 packs of three on ebay from a guy in Hong Kong a couple of weeks ago for £23, which seemed very reasonable, and they came very quickly.

With a NetMD unit such as yours you can only do it by first 'recording' in realtime to your PC. It's covered here - in the Software/FAQ section. Open the link and scroll down a little to NetMD users bit.

There's plenty of choice, though you'll normally have to look on eBay etc for second hand bargains. My personal favourites are the Sony MZ-N707 and N910, which are my last two Net-MD only units, having moved into the Hi-MD world. Both going strong despite plenty of battering. It's probably best just to avoid the lowest-end of the market, as the cheaper ones may not be so robust. For Sony these are these are usually the ones with 4 or 5, eg. MZ-NE410, or with a D in the name, eg. N420D which are downloaders only, ie. can't record realtime. Hope that helps.

Yes, shuffle mode is right there on page 44 of the RH1 manual...