Karl Myer

You're a gentleman and a musician, rayzray. You're right-on about the A-minor, on "DREAM...maker," and "we're AF-ter the same rainbow's end." It's a pleasure talking with you.Thanks for clarifying HBD. I'm old -- I don't know these things.

Thanks, bobt! I always enjoy reading your posts.

Thanks, I think, rayzray. HBD = has been drinking [?] MDB = multidimensional database, miniature dwarf bearded, message-driven bean [?] Sorry, you'll have to translate -- I have no idea what those mean. Thanks again for your thoughts on Moon River in the thread "Moon River, Is the most beautiful song" (Posts 26 and 27). In the coming year may all your Bm7b5 chords become Dm6 and resolve nicely into E7.

Thanks, 'bobt' and 'the wizard of oz'! (For wishing me happy birthday in The Official Happy Birthday Thread.) And thanks to the moderators and regulars of the forums for all their help and support since I joined in February. Most of the help has been through searching the archives, but some 'just in time,' timely, such as kurisu's thread back then, "Minidisc Canada Having Nice Sale." That sale was still the lowest price I have seen on the MZ-RH1 ($270 US). I enjoyed kaiwai's post yesterday, reviewing the RH1 he just bought. He emphasized the robustness of the MD system -- not just the RH1. He said, "it does one thing, and does it well." He was quickly corrected in Post #2 by Guitarfxr: "get a decent Microphone and find out what it is REALLY good at." Many times I carry my MD player like 'kaiwai' describes, a couple hours a day. It doesn't need to be coddled as, say, my portable CD player. I'm so glad to have found this website and discussion group. On my last birthday, MD had been long-gone from my consciousness for years.

Thanks, 'bobt' and 'the wizard of oz'! And thanks to the moderators and regulars of the forums for all their help and support since I joined in February. Most of the help has been through searching the archives, but some 'just in time,' timely, such as kurisu's thread back then, "Minidisc Canada Having Nice Sale." That sale was still the lowest price I have seen on the MZ-RH1 ($270 US). I enjoyed kaiwai's post yesterday, reviewing the RH1 he just bought. He emphasized the robustness of the MD system -- not just the RH1. He said, "it does one thing, and does it well." He was quickly corrected in Post #2 by Guitarfxr: "get a decent Microphone and find out what it is REALLY good at." Many times I carry my MD player like 'kaiwai' describes, a couple hours a day. It doesn't need to be coddled as, say, my portable CD player. I'm so glad to have found this website and discussion group. On my last birthday, MD had been long-gone from my consciousness for years.

I'm glad you mentioned you changed my subtitle -- I did not notice, and don't think I ever would have. I'm sure I'll benefit somewhere down the line when someone searches. Possibly I will be able to help that person. I was impressed with your restraint yesterday, by the way. Hopefully you will receive some sort of apology.

Thanks for the suggestion, A WHOLE LOT (I'm not being sarcastic). Sometimes the most obvious methods are the ones we overlook. It wasn't long ago real-time was how everything was copied. And thanks for splitting the topic, Rich. My question may attract more suggestions by being titled appropriately. If you can, would you consider changing the title to "Transferring e-audiobooks to Hi-Md" (instead of audiobooks)? I think people confuse the two. There is no problem copying audiobooks-on-CD to any device at any bitrate. The problem is downloadable audiobooks -- e-audiobooks. You would have been justified splitting the topic earlier. I was expecting it a few days ago. Anyway, our moderators do a fantastic job, I feel, and 99 percent of us are very appreciative. I was sorry to hear you criticized so severely yesterday. It must be very frustrating trying to keep everyone happy. Karl's edit: On second thought, Rich, the way you have it titled is better than my suggestion. Nobody would search for e-audiobooks -- they would search for audiobooks -- and your full title makes clear what the topic is about. Also, you did split the topic at the right point, I now notice. Thanks again.

Thanks for the suggestions, 2-J and Guitarfxr. I downloaded and installed Switch, then downloaded an e-audiobook. Right-clicking on the e-audiobook icon gives a menu which includes the choice: "Convert with Switch." I left click on that. Switch opens with the e-audiobook in its "List of Files to Convert." For "Output Format:", I choose .mp3. I press the button "Convert". I get boxes saying "Loading wma file" and "Saving audio file", then an "Error" box saying "Cannot open file. It is possible that the file is protected with Digital Rights Management (DRM) which limits where the audio file can be used." So, I'm assuming it is an impossibility to get these protected .wma files onto the MZ-RH1. Thanks again for the help, though. It was good exercise and a learning experience.

Here are some of the rules from the library's page: Burning an eAudiobook file to a CD for listening to on a CD player is not allowed. If you do burn an eAudiobook file, encryptions on the eAudiobook file will make the file unusable. You can transfer and listen to eAudiobooks on a wide range of portable devices, including portable music players, portable media centers, Pocket PCs, and even select smartphone devices as long as the device supports playback of secure or protected wma files. Note: Most devices do not support the playback of files lower than 32 kpbs, so you must download the CD quality file if you are going to transfer and listen to the eAudiobook on a portable listening device.

One thing I had been mildly disappointed with the MZ-RH1 is: it does not support the e-audiobook format. Before I was aware of the RH-1, I used to think: "I might someday buy a portable listening device that supports e-audiobooks, but, I certainly would never buy one that doesn't support it." (E-audiobooks are audiobooks that are downloadable from public libraries.) I recently learned, however, Apple iPods don't support e-audiobooks either.

And their reaction to minidisc, whether they just happen to see the player, or you mention some aspect of the system in conversation, is to criticize. That amazes me. Knowing as little as they could possibly know about it, yet they feel a need to denigrate, and always in reference to their preferred method. I don't criticize their choice of music reproduction. I'm thankful to Steve Jobs for bringing portable music so into the mainstream. I no longer feel like an outsider or member of a readily-identifiable fringe group when listening to earbuds in public. I'm suspicious, though, all of a sudden so many developed this incredible love for music that they always listen wherever they go. Some form of crowd-psychology is involved, it always seems to me.

I'm glad to know your background experience, Guitarfxr. Your comment, and Sparda's, bring this thought to mind: You can actually do things with MD, besides mindlessly downloading tunes endlessly.

Congratulations, my friend, on your acquisition! You seem to have a fine appreciation and understanding, and after only 24 hours! It took me years to come to a full realization of its wonderful fit, finish, and overall feel, and I still marvel at its flawless performance. I always considered its sound superlative, as well. I never could fathom the virulent criticisms directed against it from the very beginning. It has always been a pure pleasure listening to it. It is truly a thing of beauty.

podmed2, I can tell you my experience. I am currently backing up my 1993 through 2001 MiniDiscs onto DVD-RAM's, mainly following advice given in these Forums. It has been a long process with a steep learning curve. I acquired an MD capable of uploading legacy MD's to PC (Sony MZ-RH1) three months ago, and it is only in the past couple weeks I emerged from the sweat / many tears phase into the dawn of possible success. Numerous times I was at a dead end / precipice with no way to go forward. Then, some piece of advice would appear in this Forum, or, thinking hard, some insight came, allowing continued progress. What impressed me, through it all, is the stable, trouble-free nature of MD --both recorders and discs -- compared with CD-R, CD-RW and DVD-RAM. MD has been simply flawless, and my original MD's are much older than my oldest CD-R's. I don't know enough yet to give advice, so don't be overly influenced by these thoughts. There's still a lot I don't know, and my problems may have stemmed from my own lack of common sense. If I back up a second time, though, (another thing I learned here: back up more than one place, time, and on more than one medium) I am considering backing up to MD. I think it was "wizard of oz" on this Forum who first gave me the idea. The robustness of MD will tide us over until a future perfect archiving medium appears, whether MD continues to be manufactured or not.

What an excellent memory you have! Thanks for taking the time to write such an interesting response. Minidisc has opened up a new world of possibilites for me. I'm impressed Sony has put so much development into a system that people, at least in the US, have only ever been dimly aware exists at all. After all these years it's still the only format to meet my needs. And whatever new use I come up with MD takes in stride and performs with elegance. I'm impressed when I see all the varied products Sony manufactures, all leading edge, and meanwhile MD lacks nothing and is not a backwater in the least in its engineering development. Someone at Sony believes in MD. Where would we be without Sony? As someone in this forum said recently, there is obviously a lot of thought that went into Hi-MD and the RH1. And that's been true from MD's beginning. It is so encouraging to me that people care at Sony to make MD shine -- they certainly wouldn't have to based on sales. I hope they make tons of money on the rest of their fine products. In the years I fell out of touch with MD I just assumed it had been eclipsed, never suspecting it to be still exciting and vibrant.