dancicero

Can I assume model numbers higher than 510 are newer? Once I bought the 510, I didn't pay attention to newer equipment. My old deck was working just fine. Seems logical that a MDS-JE530 would be an upgread over a 510, but it doesn't hurt to confirm. Dan

Mine did that too. I just learned to live with it. Dan

I've used my Sony MDS-JE510 minidisc deck for a long, long time. Around Christmas, it wouldn't load a minidisc. (It made a lot of clacking noises and wouldn't load the disc.) I took the cover off the unit yesterday and took a look at it. A small piece of plastic and a little spring were laying in the casing. Looks like the drive is toast because I certainly can't repair something like that. So now what do I do? Looks like no one is making a new deck. I can get a new one on ebay, I guess. I'd like to just replace the drive because that requires nothing more than taking our four bolts and two ribbon connectors, but I don't know where to go to get that. One other thing I was thinking ... I have a portable. I could transfer my (large) minidisc collection to the computer, but that's going to take a lot of time. Got to record in real time and I don't have software that will let me do that easily. (The software's probably not that big a problem. There are lots of programs that will allow me to separate tracks, name them and then burn them to CD. It's just a pain to do it.) Any suggestions? Dan

No offense taken to anything posted here. My rant here regarding uploading was more of a byproduct rant. My biggest beef is with the inability to handle the secure files used by OverDrive Audio Books. It would be really cool if I could download audiobooks from my local library and listen to them on my MD. Now I'm learning that those audiobooks are provided in a format that almost nothing can use, including the ubiquitous iPod. I've been a big MD booster since I bought my home deck all those years ago. Like I said, I use it almost every day. I guess the biggest worry I have is that the format is going to die one of these days and then I'll have to find a way to transfer all those files again! (Of course, the format's been around for, what, fifteen years or something, so I guess it's inevitable that it will be obsolete one of these days.)

I guess you can call me a whiner, but that doesn't do anyone any good either. I used to do a lot of live recordings of family members playing music. These recordings were made outside, with a small casette recorder. Those tapes, needless to say, sounded awful. The MD deck I bought was perfect for this job. I could just let the tapes run, edit them, equalize them a little in the process to get rid of some of the noise, etc. It was a great solution to what had previously been a really big problem: dubbing and editing these things using two tape decks. The MD deck allowed me to move tracks around, delete them if I needed to, re-record stuff that turned out now sounding so good. That was in 2000 or so. If I remember right, there was no NetMD yet, so no software to worry about. Your point that we should have known we couldn't do this MD-to-PC transfer was never part of the discussion at the time. I still have that deck, use it almost daily and would buy another one if I needed to. I really think MD is a tremendous format for what I'm doing: digitizing all my analog music. I put the turntable in storage and will do the same with my tape deck soon. By the way, none of the options you mentioned for recording the LPs was readily available back then either. One thing I don't like about the deck is the track naming functions. Entering every letter onto the MD through the remote is a slow way to do anything, so I take the MDs and -- until last week -- used OpenMG Jukebox 2.2 to edit the track names. Now I've got SonicStage because I had hoped to download OverDrive AudioBooks only to the MD. No go, of course, because of security nonsense. OpenMG worked fine for this stuff, by the way. I never had a problem with it. To suggest it's whining to be seeking a way to transfer these files is silly. This forum exists in part to allow people a vehicle to do just that. All I'm trying to do is make more use of devices and media I've already bought and paid for. Dan

Jen: I completely agree about this issue. I recorded my entire LP collection to MD and edited all the track names and whatnot. That was a huge time commitment, which I didn't mind because playing the MDs is a lot easier than playing those old LPs. Problem is, I can't transfer those files to the computer for further transfer to CDs or even to play them from the computer. I have a Sony NetMD NZ-707, which cost me a fortune when I bought it back in 2003. I don't want to buy a new player simply because of this issue and something tells me, even if I did, there would still be problems. I'm sure there are teams of lawyers with all kinds of good reasons why I shouldn't be allowed to transfer music I purchased in one format and recorded for my own use in another, but the reality is it's very frustrating. Dan

I contacted OverDrive Media regarding my question. Here's the response I got: "Thank you for your interest in OverDrive Audio Books. We have found that this device is incompatible with OverDrive Audio Books based on the descriptions from the manufacturers website. The website does not list DRM protected WMA files, the format of our Audio Books, as a supported file type. Please let us know if we can provide more information." Regarding iPod, OverDrive Audio Books can't be transfered to them either. Same problem with the files: DRM-protected WMA files. Dan

Thanks! I downloaded and installed SonicStage 4.2 today and just tried to transfer the file: no go. This time, the message is simply "Transfers are not allowed." Burning to CD, although it would probably work, is not really what I want to do. If I burn it to a CD, then I might as well just listen to the CD. Why transfer from there to MD? And real time? Nah. I'd rather not tie up the computer doing that. This is really disappointing. I'd looked forward to using my library's new service. Now I find I can't do it with MD. For audiobooks, looks like it's time to buy an iPod. Dan

My local library provides downloads of audiobooks. There are a couple of formats, but the most common is OverDrive Media. I can download to my PC without any trouble at all and I can listen to the audiobooks through the Windows Media Player. I can also see these files in OpenMG Jukebox. When I try to check them out, I get an error: Cannot find the license to playback. According to the documentation for OverDrive, I should be able to download to a portable audio device like an iPod ... but seems I can't download to my MiniDisc. Can anyone offer some ideas? I have a Net MD Walkman MZ-N707, OpenMG Jukebox 2.2 and a Windows PC running Windows XP.