Avrin

This may or may not be applicable here, but the manual for my Sony Ericsson mobile phone (which uses a Li-Polymer rechargeable battery) says, that it may take up to 30 minutes for the charging process to start, after connecting the adapter.

Now that I have an RH1, the RH10 is turned into a testbed. 1. Set address 0114 to anything below 80 (7F will do). 2. Disable Quick Mode. 3. Set the Disc Mode to MD. 4. Insert an MD-formatted MD disc with enough free space. 5. Connect a source (analog or optical). 6. Wait for the unit to turn itself off (or remove and reinsert the battery, if you don't wish to wait). 7. With the unit off, press REC and then PLAY (the usual way to start recording). 8. Watch the unit record happily in legacy SP mode. The result is perfectly playable by anything, and uploadable by the RH1. You can't change the recording mode (only SP works). You can't start recording with the unit already on. May be this can also be unlocked. Time will tell. The unit will no longer play MP3s, and SonicStage won't even transfer any MP3s to it anymore. This can be easily reversed by setting the value at address 0114 back to 80.

You're welcome!

Try installing the latest version of DirectX and audio drivers.

Well, SS42 is still available from SONY servers. Just go to the SS43 download page in this forum ( http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=9586 ), choose the version you want, right-click on its link, and choose Copy Shortcut. Then paste the shortcut into your browser's Address bar (do not press Enter at this moment), replace ss43_01_14050 with ss42_02_11020, and finally press Enter. You'll get the web installer for the previous (precious?) version. Or send me a personal message (specifying the required region) if you want a complete installation package (I don't have it, but I know where SONY hides it). But you must uninstall SS43 completely, and clean the PC before installing the older version. The library structure does not seem to be changed between 42 and 43, so this is not a concern, though I still recommend backing it up.

I also do not get what SS40 meant by padding 105 to 132 while transferring. Hopefully not reconverting. When I started the "105 & 66" thread, I was sure that it does reconvert. Not sure now... In any case, there is no way to download 105 "as is" to your NetMD unit using SS. Same as there's no way to download SP to any unit, using this program...

Not that it does not work with the NetMD format, but 105 kbps files are padded, so they occupy same space as 132 kbps ones, plus get DRMed. 66 kbps files transfer as 66 kbps, but also get DRMed. It works, but is almost useless. But transferring 105 kbps files to Hi-MD is a different story. They transfer "as is", are not padded, and are not DRMed. You can get 6 hours 10 minutes of 105 kpbs music on a legacy 80-minute MD disc in Hi-MD mode. Of course, the disc will not be playable on non-Hi-MD devices. As for SS42, it is not worth going back to SS34. SS42 is more stable and faster. And the 105 kbps transfer situation is the same with SS34.

1. Disconnect any ATRAC devices from your PC and close SonicStage. 2. Go to Control Panel->System->Advanced->Environment Variables. 3. Under the "User variables for [your username]" field, press the New... button, and create the variable (exactly as shown, without quotation marks): "devmgr_show_details", set it equal to 1, press OK, press the New... button again, then create the "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices" variable, and also set it equal to 1 and press OK. Press OK again to save the variables and exit the window. 4. Go to Device Manager, and enable the View->Show hidden devices option. 5. Find and remove all "phantom" (semi-transparent) instances of "Net MD", "Sony USB Device" (in Universal Serial Bus controllers), "SONY Hi-MD WALKMAN USB Device" (in Disk drives), and "Generic volume" (in Storage volumes). Do not remove any Generic volumes which are not semi-transparent - these are your hard drives!!! 6. Go to C:\WINNT\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS (or C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS under Windows XP), and manually delete the following files (be very careful in that folder!!!): NETMD031.sys, NETMD033.sys. NETMD052.sys, NETMDUSB.sys, SonyMSDK.sys, SonySDK2.sys, and SonyUSBF.sys. 7. Restart your computer. 8. Download the stable SS42 driver package: http://dl1.aii.co.jp/contents/connect/_dat...r/pa_driver.zip , unzip it, and run Setup.exe. Restart the computer again, if prompted. 8. Plug the unit in again. Remember to always plug in the older unit first. And avoid plugging two units simultaneously. And go back to SS42 as soon as you can.

105 and 66 are still there, but hidden. Just read my old topic: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=15928 The approach was developed for SS40, but works also with SS42 and SS43.

^M0rk^, I am afraid that answering you requests violates the rules of this forum. So, just PM me, and ask for the regional version that you need.

Man, you did the right thing! Some time ago I also had problems with SonicStage (it was unable to play files properly), and the reinstallation of the Realtek AC'97 audio driver solved everything!

Can the unit record by itself? If yes, then the write-protection circuitry is OK (not engaged erroneously), and your problem is a result of a SonicStage glitch.

After having a couple of BSODs with SS43 while transferring to my RH1, I reverted back to SS42, and have no problems ever since.

Well, it is slightly offtopic here, but I solved the READ ERROR with MD discs problem by decreasing the value at address 124 by 4. Then tried decreasing the value by 4 more, and the unit still reads OK. This means that the laser is now emitting 0.40 mW less (when playing standard MD discs in any mode), which will certainly prolong its life. As for power settings, the service manual gives some details on these. But in this case we have to be really careful, since tweaking the laser can only make the unit stop reading discs, and is reversible, while tweaking power/charging settings may damage the unit permanently.

15 minutes ago my new RH1 with a fully discharged battery refused to charge from any USB port of my computer (showing LOW BATTERY instead), but now it is charging happily from its own power adapter. I have already seriously readjusted its laser, completely eliminating READ ERRORs with legacy MDs, and prolonging the laser life. Probably it is time to also readjust its charging settings to eliminate the LOW BATTERY issue.

Man, what you are doing is actually the same thing that I have been thinking about for some time. Though it is not only classical music in my case. The main problem is that Hi-MD units will probably not be around in 5 to 10 years, and those, which we already have will probably die by that time. Unused Hi-MD players may also die, and you'll be left with great discs with no device to put them in. What I suggest in your case (and I am going to do that thing to my LPs), is to digitize your music, and convert it to MP3s in decent quality (one LP side per file, so as to keep them gapless, which is crucial for classical music). Then put those MP3s onto whatever media you like. Just make at least two copies of each on different media (HD & CD, or CD & DVD, or whatever). This way you'll be sure that your collection will always be playable. The only problem here is with digitizing. Hi-MD recorders do that "like no other" ™. Seriously. The quailty of ADCs in Hi-MD recorders is really really high. But then you'll have to record in PCM, transfer to the PC, export to WAVs, edit, compress to MP3, etc. All this will take ages, but you'll have the best possible quality. Another way is to digitize using a computer, but you need a good sound card and cabling, to avoid introducing noise and distortion into recordings. In this case again, digitize to WAVs, edit them, and encode to MP3s after editing. One more comment. Good brand CD-Rs have a really good life span. And aluminum CD-Rs are better than gold ones, since the CD format specification was based on aluminum, and gold was introduced much later, exclusively for advertising purposes. My personal current maximum statistics for media that I own (the oldest ones, good genuine brands): LP record - 52 years. Plays excellent. Compact Cassette - 30 years. Plays good (well, it never played as excellent as the LP). CD - 17 years. Plays excellent. CD-R (data, not audio) - 10 years. Reads excellent. DVD+RW with video - 2.5 years. Plays excellent. P.S. If you have already started backing up in ATRAC3, you may continue in this way. Make sure you strip DRM from them, or they will not be playable on anything, except the original SonicStage installation, that you used to transfer the tracks. Even if devices will not be available, programs will. There are ATRAC3 codecs for both Windows Media Player and Winamp. Just back them up also. The only possible danger here is that future operating systems will change to such extent, that WMP and Winamp will no longer be around, but I think that the probability of that is negligible. But I strongly suggest the MP3 way. The LP-mode bitrate will not be adequate for some classical music, while in MP3 you'll not be limited by Hi-MD specifications.

Turns out the problem still had to do with electronics adjustments. Just turned the MD reading laser power down by 0.20 mW to match that of my RH10, and the READ ERROR is gone for good for all lid positions. Checked by inserting all of my 23 legacy MDs in a row - no errors. And the unit now loads MDs considerably faster. And the laser will probably live longer. EDIT: Increasing the MD reading laser power by 0.20 mW on my RH10 does not lead to errors...

Nice!!!

Just gut two READ ERRORS on my RH1 bought only yesterday. The errors appeared when loading Hi-MD formatted 80 minute legacy discs recorded on my RH10. When I insert a disc for the first time, a READ ERROR appears. When I remove and reinsert the disc, it plays just fine. No problems with 1Gb Hi-MD discs though. And a look inside the loading mechanism revealed a compact and much less reliable structure than that of the RH10 (which inherited it from the NH900). The battery can be seen from the disc compartment, which means an easier way for dust and dirt to get inside the unit. And I will probably never like the crazy ejection force of the RH1. But the sound of the unit is impeccable.

Heh, using the RM-MC60 to switch between groups, and then setting line-out through the menu again proves MUCH faster than using the jog.

Finally got an RH1 today! Well, the unit is really, really, really good sounding, and almost perfect. The only not well thought-of thing in it is the location of the input/output jacks - on the left side and too low. When I plug a standard cable to output the sound to my HiFi system, its minijack lifts the unit quite a bit. On the other hand, the minijack on the supplied remote is quite small, but just as you plug the remote (the RM-MC38EL in my case), the line-out mode is gone from the menu, and the unit switches itself to the Headphone mode. But guess what? I tried the "useless" LCD-less RM-MC60, which came with my old RH10. Turns out that it does not affect the menu, and the mode, as long as you don't touch anything on it (the HOLD switch serves perfectly to prevent accidental touches). Now I have a nice small jack, a cord going straight to the back side, AND the line-out! And the RM-MC60 does not add any noise or distortions, since it does not have an LCD circuit, and its button cicruitry in nothing but a bunch of resistors.

ru_stray! THIS IS URGENT!!! They have the RH1 in stock: http://www.onlinetrade.ru/cash/info/34325.html !!! And for a decent $380. Already ordered one. Details later. Will be probably sold out by the end of the day. ADDED: Got it!!! Wow, what a sound!!!

I think that you should clear the C: drive, since it used by SonicStage during transfers. As for the fact that you are having access errors in the middle segment - the errors of an aging laser may be randomly distributed. Today it's the middle segment, tomorrow it's the last, etc. I may be wrong though.

pojam, try adjusting your unit as described on the previdous page - this may help. Or may not. As for the RH1, Sparda is right - it hasn't been here long enough. But if you look at today's market for electronics, you'll inevitably see that devices are made in a cheaper way with better looks, and marketed more aggressively, not taking into account any previous mistakes. From a technical point of view, the RH1 uses a different optical pickup block, the ABX-U2, as compared to the RH10, which uses the ABX-UJ. Is it better or more reliable? I don't really know (don't have an RH1). Let's hope so. PS. My RH10 is 11 months old, used really heavily, and does not give me any problems (knocking on wood), except for the OLED wear, which is also present in the RH1.

pojam, look here http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?s=&am...st&p=115881 for a recent discussion of exactly this problem.