Avrin

There is a more recent version of the MP3 Conversion Tool: ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/DNA/MP3/MP3CONVERSIONTOOL.EXE

No. A classical pianist. It's quite easy - the ovewhelming majority of equipment manufactured for Japan sounds better than their export counterparts. Why should the RH1 be an exception? Remember the service manuals - these always show all models, except the Japanese one. Model differences (e.g., European limiting resistors and/or settings) are specified for all regions, except Japan again. This easily make one think that Japanese models are so different that they require separate service manuals for them.

It's pure logic: 1. A professional musician who has a Japanese RH1 and an NH3D finds that they sound exactly the same. 2. I have an NH3D, and it sounds better than the European RH1. => A Japanese RH1 sounds better than a European one.

I don't. But a very respectable participant of a Russian minidisc forum (a professional musician) stated that his Japanese RH1 sounds absolutely the same as the NH3D.

There shouldn't be any doubt here. It definitely sounds better than the European one, with its software and hardware limitations. And it may sound better than the American one. When I used to repair electronics, I frequently encountered various audio and video equipment manufactured for the Japanese market, and had a lot of chances to compare it to same models manufactured for export. Oh, how these were different (and I'm not talking about TV system/voltage/FM band differences). Some components, which are not actually required for the equipment to operate, but which make very subtle improvements to sound/image quality were always installed in Japanese market models, but were usually missing from export ones. Both my RH1s are European with the software cap removed, but the hardware limitation still present. And the NH3D easily beats them on sound quality.

The silver RH1 is made specifically for Japan, and, as such, probably sounds better than those for the other markets.

Great for us here necrophiliacs that the forums will still be kept alive. Just set address 0113 to 23, and it will title in both Katakana and English.

Other places where unwanted INF files and drivers may possibly hide are the subfolders of "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRVSTORE" and those of "C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\ReinstallBackups".

Spin control failure is only remotely possible in such devices. All recordable media, including CD and MD blanks, are pre-formatted with wobbling groove at the factory. This groove is pressed onto the disc, and cannot be changed. It is used for both navigation and spin control, so it is impossible for improper spin to go undetected during recording - the unit will show an error, and recording will stop. Firmware updating is not possible with minidisc units.

1 mm is a lot for an MD unit. And no setting in the service menu or electronics can be changed separately for different parts of the disc. All settings are for the entire disc. The angle problem is still possible, but it is most probably caused by mechanics. And it sure may lead to malfunctions on the outer part of the disc while the inner part is OK. Erasing/renaming is done completely on the inner part (where the TOC is located), the physical tracks are not changed during this.

Welcome to the forums! If you are absolutely sure that the laser head and the ribbon cable are OK, then the problem may be in the trajectory of the magnetic overwrite head. The head should be just touching the disc surface during recording. It is possible that dirt accumulated inside the unit, or chassis deformation prevent the head from touching the disc when recording later tracks (which are on the outer part of the disc). Another possible cause may be the change of the laser head distance from the disc during its movement. It may have the correct distance at the beginning of the disc, which then starts to decrease/increase as the head travels towards the outer parts of the disc. This should also cause playback problems with later tracks.

As it turns out, the crippled MP3 playback "feature" of second-generation Hi-MD units was not created out of thin air. The transformation applied to the signal is not just an arbitrary decrease of higher frequencies. It exactly coincides with the de-emphasis curve provided by the Red Book Standard for audio CDs. And the pre-emphasis/de-emphasis feature, when used properly, can actually increase sound quality by lowering quantization noise in the higher frequency range (which is most affected by it) by 10 dB. Green - white noise with the de-emphasis transformation applied (using SonicStage). Red - an MP3 of pure (flat) white noise played back on the RH10. A practical use for the improperly implemented function follows immediately: if you have a pre-emphasized CD (the first pressing of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is the most famous example), rip it by a non-deemphasizing program (i.e., not SonicStage or iTunes), compress to MP3 and enjoy perfect sound on a second-generation Hi-MD unit!

Just get another MZ-RH10. And a first-generation analog-amp Hi-MD unit with AA battery (NH600, NH700, or NHF800).

Welcome to the forums! 1. The "data disk" issue may be related to the disc being recorded in an MDLP mode (LP2 or LP4), and the car unit being a non-MDLP one. Make sure you record in the standard SP mode (it may also be called "Stereo" on some units). 2. The "no audio out" problem is most probably related to the unit's output connector being damaged or unsoldered. The unit may still be used for recording. A more-or-less experienced electronics repairman can fix the the output. A personal recommendation for recording - never use the AUTO LEVEL mode. On most SONY units, manual level 23 gives best results. Check the unit's user manual for information on how to set recording levels.

But don't forget that by default all SP uploads are converted to ATRAC3plus @ 256 kbit/s, which you will certainly want to avoid, if you wish to preserve full quality. You'll simply need to configure SonicStage to upload in PCM.

This may (or may not) be related to the name of the file and/or its tags.

With decks, you actually have even less control over what happens to stickers. When you put a disc into a portable, or remove it, you can always see both stickers. If one peels off, you can immediately take appropriate measures and get rid of it before anything horrible happens. But you never see what is happening inside a deck - same as with video cassette recorders. The smaller the sticker, the higher the chance of potential problems. Problems with VCRs were frequently caused by those small stickers with digits or letters on them. Although bigger ones sometimes also peel off, blocking the loading mechanism. What a great way to destroy the overwrite head. The sticker doesn't even need to peel off completely - just the front edge will do. And heat is not the main cause of stickers peeling off. Time is. Some compounds that hold really great initially, tend to get nasty with time, turning into viscous guck.

Even original SONY stickers tend to peel off sometimes. That's why I am not using any, except for first generation Hi-MD discs, which look really stupid without them. Luckily, those are quite reliable. And damage to the unit is more than possible. It all depends on where the label actually ends up after peeling off. When I used to repair electronics some fifteen years ago, a frequent problem with video cassette recorders was loose stickers chewed up inside the mechanism. This required removing them and thoroughly cleaning the mechanism (which can be a pain in the a## with some sticky compounds). But a loose sticker getting attached to the rotating head drum could actually damage the tiny recording/playback heads, since they are very fragile. With minidisc units it is even more dangerous, since they contain a lot of fragile parts. A nasty sticker can easily damage the magnetic overwrite head, get chewed up between rotating parts, possibly damaging them, or stick to the laser lens, dirtying and/or damaging it.

The different mains frequency shouldn't be a problem.

223V should be enough.

You'll need to replace or rewind the power transformer. The transformer for the AEP/UK model is different from that for the US/CND one (see page 61). Other region-dependent components are much less important. It may be easier to buy a suitable AC converter.

Most probably (but I may be wrong), SonicStage will work even with Vista 64-bit, as long as you are recording in Hi-MD mode, since no drivers are required for that. Drivers for NetMD mode don't work with a 64-bit OS. And, in any case, you can always install a 32-bit version of Windows on a VMware virtual machine to get full functionality.

Check this out: ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/PUB/DNA/NMD/MDLP.ZIP.

Aren't you using a 64-bit version of Vista? If yes, then there is no way to install a NetMD driver (for any unit). If your Vista is 32-bit, then, when it asks for the installation disk, simply point to the location where you've unpacked the driver distribution package.

I hope so. The driver for the unit is actually written by SONY. SHARP units originally used BeatJam, but that program is also based on SONY's OpenMG kernel, which processes all communications with NetMD units. So, nothing should prevent SHARP units from working with SonicStage.