Tricia

Alrighty then: 1. This morning I couldn't remember if I had erased everything on my spare minidisc, so I popped it in and fired up SonicStage V3.4. On a whim, I decided to use the other USB port on the front of my hard drive. SS started up and it struck me that it seemed to think it was starting up for the first time since I downloaded it, though I have used it a few times as I said here; it displayed a message (something like): "checking to see (something or other) .... deleted rights" (??), then "remaining transfer count will be adjusted". (I'm sorry I didn't write it down exactly, but now I see how the number of transfers can be significant, grrrr!) 2. I tried to transfer some podcasts and digitized cassette tape music to the empty minidisc and it worked! 3. I disconnected the player and put in my old, fave minidisc, then reconnected and could successfully transfer new podcasts and digitized music to my favourite disc for the first time in over a week! Deleted some old stuff, too. 4. All the time this was going on, I was not connected to the internet. I started up the internet connection to look something up, and tried to transfer something while I was connected, and got "The device is write-protected". I disconnected from the internet and then I could transfer. (I'm 99.9% sure this wasn't the problem before, as I almost never connect while I am transferring music). Is this a basic no-no that I was just unaware of before? Is it okay to be hooked to the internet while transferring? 5. I went for a run, and came back and transferred more stuff back and forth! 6. I don't seem to be having any problems whatsoever with the new SS version. So for now, most everything seem to be working okay, and I don't feel sad every time I look at my Walkman, lol. You guys (and gals?) have been so patient and helpful, you rock! And thank you for your kind words, Volta!

Sigh. No go with the new version, either. "The device is write protected".

Aaahhhhhhh, I see. I've been thinking on this thread that "DRM" had something to do with stopping one from transferring copyrighted material, blahblahblah, I couldn't see how it was causing MY problem. But if it has to do with limiting the number of transfers - I have done a heck of a lot of transferring-deleting-transferring over the past year. I'll try this idea (thank you ALL for your patient input to this mp3 newbie/non-computer-literate problem) and see how it works. I hope I don't have problems with the new software that some have reported here.

I still don't understand how DRM would be messing things up on my device (probably because I don't really understand DRM) - just before my run, I used SS 2.1 to transfer some music I had just recorded onto my hard drive from a cassette tape, which I have been doing for almost a year. Just after my run SS 2.1 stopped transferring anything, including the very same artist I had transferred minutes before. But like I said, I can still transfer commercially recorded CDs, with SimpleBurner only. I have never downloaded music from an online music store, just podcasts. I still want to figure out exactly what happened from one minute to the next.

What are DRM woes? I appreciate some of the reasons to upgrade, in general, but I'd like to try to solve one problem before I create new ones.

I really appreciate all the advice! Sorry, I should have made myself more clear - I did try to transfer with SonicStage after taking out the battery as suggested here, but it didn't make any difference. And like I said, SimpleBurner still works for prerecorded music, with or without the battery. I do have the version of SonicStage that came with the device last year - V2.1. I'm not really willing to upgrade to the version offered at this site, after reading the problems people had here with it. Software problems freak me out, and this was working fine for me. Like I said, it worked moments before I went for my run, then didn't work afterwards, but I could use it once to load some songs to the second disc I tried. Again, once, then the same message "The device is write-protected". I didn't drop it or anything. It's a complete mystery. I guess I should take it to a shop or something.

Thanks. The battery doesn't seem to be the issue. Like I said, I can still transfer pre-recorded CDs onto the device with Simple Burner, but nothing with SonicStage. For some reason, SonicStage stopped working from one hour to the next.

Hi all. I'm a new poster. I've had my Sony Hi-MD NH900 for about a year, happily downloading CDs, podcasts, etc. Filling up, deleting and refilling the same 1GB disc. About a week ago I put on a few songs, went out jogging, came back and tried to put the rest of the batch on, about 60 minutes after the first few songs. I got an error message "The device is write protected" - I checked the little white/grey tab - thought "hmmmm .... no, it's not". Couldn't get anything new to load on, with over 20% of the disc left. I did a few google searches, found someone who was able to use Simple Burner with the same problem, so I tried. I can download with SB using commercially produced CDs, but I can't load any other mp3's, or CDs that I've made from digitally recorded LPs and tapes. I took out the old disc, thinking I may have downloaded and erased a few too many times and confused SonicStage into thinking it was full (or something)....tried a new 1GB disc, that worked. Once. Trying to load anymore music onto it got "The device is write protected." I tried to search minidisc.org forums, but I can't narrow down the search function - if there is a thread on this problem already, I would really appreciate a link. Or any suggestions. Thanks for any help! Tricia