Avrin

The entire thing contains two parts. 1. The SONY ATRAC3[plus] decoder that allows playing ATRAC3[plus] files in Windows Media Player (and some other programs). This one is posted to MediaFire. 2. Additional registry settings that simply make it more convenient to play such files in Windows Media Player. These are in the attachment to Post #18 here. The settings are not required if you are happy with manuallly adding files to Windows Media Player.

Welcome to the forums! The unit is a simple ATRAC flash-based player, and, as such, should be fully compatible with SonicStage 4.3 and Vista.

Non-protected means that the files were either not protected during ripping, or unprotected by the conversion tool. Connect/Mora files are definitely not playable (but, IIRC, they are playable by Windows Media Player if an authenticated copy of SonicStage is installed). Haven't checked the RH910 yet.

First of all, the decoder is not mine. It is created by SONY, and included with the free Content Transfer application. And it doesn't need SonicStage or OpenMG at all. You may use it on a system that never had SonicStage or OpenMG installed. Of course, it is only able to decode non-protected files. AFAIK, it works in the same way many other Windows DirectShow decoders (AX files) do, and, as such, may be used by any Windows program. E.g. WinAmp is able to use it, if you add OMA to the list of extensions for the Nullsoft DirectShow Decoder plugin, but it doesn't allow to fast forward, and causes WinAmp to hang on stop or exit. The decoder is initially designed for decoding ATRAC3[plus] files for a subsequent conversion to MP3 in Content Transfer, and not for playing back anything, and the fact that Windows Media Player is able to use it for playback w/o any problems, only tells about the reliability of the player.

It looks like the software is really old (circa 1998), and will hardly work with Windows 7 even if you can find an installation package.

Make sure you have enough space on your C: drive.

The poor thing doesn't seem to play ATRAC3plus, only ATRAC3 w/o gapless support. Even with the ATRAC3[plus] decoder or SonicStage installed on the system.

Looks like all SonicStage 5.x installation packages are completely removed from everywhere, replaced by the new x-Application. But why exactly do you need version 5.2? SonicStage 4.3 "Ultimate" available here at the forums does most of the things the new version does, still supports minidisc units, and has an English interface.

I've already checked several full and upgrade SonicStage installers, including version 2.3, on various servers I know about. None of them seems to contain the utility. Also checked several torrents for the file, but those no longer have any seeders to download from.

The http://sonicstage.update.sony.net site is just a storage server, and you can't use it directly if you don't know exact links. The latest English SonicStage (4.3 "Ultimate") may be downloaded from the Software Updates section of these forums. But it is strange that the unit is not detected as usual. This probably has to do with the PC configuration. The USB port may be connected to the chipset via something like a USB hub, and this may prevent the unit from being detected correctly. Try a different USB port.

They were crazy about copy protection from the very beginning. But this never stopped CD or even MD pirates. Copy control and DRM only create problems for legitimate users, even now.

That's great! But if SONY allowed doing the same without any additional manupulations on two separate single-disc decks/portables via an ATRAC bitstream over optical, things would've been totally different.

Did the deck actually allow copying, and not moving tracks?

What really prevented MiniDisc from becoming a universally used audio media is the impossibility to make unlimited and unchanged digital copies the way you like (no transcoding/SCMS control). This would have made a huge difference. And then, when computer connections were being developed, SONY should have persuaded Dolby to let them use the SP codec on a PC to make copying/editing even more convenient. None of this was ever done. Instead we had a lot of useless DRM prac and all possible limitations and glitches.

Which mode are you using - Hi-MD or NetMD? The Hi-MD mode doesn't require any drivers, and the unit is detected as a USB Mass Storage drive. The NetMD mode does require drivers, and will work with a 32-bit operating system only (there are no drivers for 64-bit systems). You may download the latest available 32-bit drivers here: http://sonicstage.update.sony.net/v4400/JP/download/installer/pa_driver.zip

Keeping SP files on a hard drive has never been claimed impossible. It is only restricted by legal issues with Dolby.

You may import the 148 minute WAV file into SonicStage, convert it to LP2 with copy protection (it is mandatory when transfering in NetMD mode), and then delete the original WAV from SonicStage. Then the program will transfer it even faster, since there won't be any need for a WAV to ATRAC3 conversion before the transfer. And the track will be usable as long as your SonicStage installation is not changed.

Yes, I meant that conversion to SP is only slowing down the process, without doing anything useful. The Format function is only available in Hi-MD mode, but it doesn't actually format anything. It only deletes all files (including possible data files stored on the disk), and creates a fresh set of system files.

The slower USB transfer is related only to SP uploads by the RH1. It shouldn't affect fake-SP downloads, since this function is perfectly handled by any NetMD driver. As for downloading fake SP to different units, the main factor that affects the speed is not the transfer rate of the USB port, but the performance of the unit's internal DSP that has to decode LP2 to PCM, and then compress it to SP. And all Hi-MD units seem to have more-or-less similar DSPs, so there may hardly be any speed improvement with different units. But there is a trick to remove an old recording from a legacy disc much faster. Just fill it up to capacity with a silent LP2 track using SonicStage. It doesn't need any conversion, and it should play as silence after TOC cloning.

Welcome to the forums! An offline installer is here: http://forums.sonyinsider.com/index.php?showtopic=24405

Finally put the 24 bit remasters onto Hi-MD, by directly feeding 24-bit WAV files decompressed from FLAC to SonicStage and converting them to ATRAC3plus @352 kbit/s. The stuff absolutely kicks ass on my NH600 via a HiFi system. Even the DVD-Audio version I've made earlier is not much better.

Try "25" instead of "24". Or even "05".

Finally found a way to get to My Settings. The link is as follows: http://forums.sonyinsider.com/index.php?app=core&module=usercp&tab=core

Do the characters display properly in SonicStage, when the unit is connected?

Most probably, your system still has traces of OpenMG 5.0 (if I understand correctly, you had SonicStage "Ultimate" before). Cleaning up the system is not an easy task, and requires manual file and registry cleanup. And, if the "Ultimate" version, that is known to be less glitchy than any previous one, was giving you trouble, than no other version will probably be any better. There is a tool to remove SonicStage and related files. The tool is included with the Japanese version 4.4, so it is in Japanese. So, on the first screen you need to press the left button (to accept the License Agreement), and on the second screen you need to select the lower radio button (to remove everything), and press the left button again. But the tool still leaves some SonicStage traces. You may download the tool here: http://www.mediafire.com/?vnm5mdzyjd0 Then you may try installing whatever version you want.