cochra1

Sorry people, problem now solved; think I was being a bit thick. I just needed to turn off my web accelerator (and I also disabled my firewall for SS), then the restore tool worked fine! Got my library back!

Aaaaargh! I had a serious PC upgrade a few weeks ago (new motherboard and processor), and now my SonicStage won't work. I had v4.2, so I uninstalled it, and installed v4.3. Same problem occurs. If I double-click the SonicStage shortcut, I get the following message: The selected music file cannot be played back because the system information has changed. Click OK to automatically close SonicStage and open the SonicStage System Information Restore Tool. (Error code 00004e2e) So, I click OK. Then I get small window telling me 'Step 1. Database authentication. SonicStage will authenticate your database on the internet'. Quite what constitutes 'authentic' I have no idea. After all, SonicStage is freely available; it's not something you would steal or 'crack'. It's just something you get supplied on a CD with your player, and can update to the latest version on the net (which is what I did). Anyway, fine, so I click the 'Next' tab as instructed. Then for less than one second, the word 'Authenticating...' is displayed, until suddenly another even smaller window opens, with the words 'SonicStage System Restore Tool' along the top bar, no writing in it, just a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark in it, and an OK tab. So I click OK, and nothing happens. I'm just left with the original little 'Database authentication' window and the Next tab. And so it goes on. I can't open it, I can't authenticate it. Reinstalling hasn't helped. The Sony site (as most of you know by now) is useless when it comes to customer support. Any ideas?

Surely using headphones to get a line signal would be deafening would it not? Why would you want to plug headphones into a line out socket ( or a socket configured for line)? If it's an issue with the AVLS on European models, this can be overridden easily enough on most players (I did this for my NH600. And my RH1's AVLS is just turned off via a menu option).

Russia? Tubes are available all over the world, they're used in the music industry in millions of products from guitar amps, to condenser microphones, to audiophile amplification and many other things. They're not hard to find by any means. What is hard to find is advice on the net about which tubes are best for what, and what sound they have. I've decided to wait till my new mic arrives before I invest in a new tube. I've just ordered a Rode NT2-A. Can't wait to get it!

I would say that MD/Hi-MD is definitely the last medium you should use for long-term storage. MD Walkmans only have a finite lifespan. Inevitably they all break down in the end, through no fault of the user, and as we all know, the format has now been discontinued so replacement players will be extremely hard to find in the future. Then you might have no way of reading the data on the MDs. Your idea to put a Walkman in the deposit box with the discs would minimise this danger. But is it really worth all this?! There's loads of cheaper, more convenient, faster alternatives out there for data storage. You can get free data backup over the internet (or pay to have bigger capacity) for example. As long as you back up your data at least once (or twice for mega safety - on your chosen medium) you'd have to be extremely unlucky to lose your data.

Would highly recommend investing in an external hard drive for your backups. They're a zillion times faster than minidiscs, and far cheaper in terms of memory for your buck.

I'm sorry, but reading how Sony selectively disable certain features on some MD units to justify selling them cheaper just reinforces my belief in what a horribly cynical sh!tty company Sony is. I love minidisc and Hi-MD - it is (was) a fabulous product. But it was completely mismanaged by that bunch of tossers known as Sony. Sorry guys, just letting off steam! Best of luck in enabling those hidden features.

I must be missing something important here. You're listening to music in LP2 format (ugh!) but, hey, the discs look nice.

Thanks for that - I am familiar with that site, but always assumed they specialised more in guitar amp tubes. But I'm assuming you're suggesting some of these tubes would be fine for vocal preamps also.

Unfortunately nothing's built to last anymore. Sony know as well as any other company that it makes good business sense to make something that will ultimately fail within a fairly short time, forcing the customer to buy the next available product or to pay for the failed product to be serviced. MY RH1 is still working fine about a year after I bought it. But I don't predict it will last more than another couple of years, given the heavy usage it gets. The remote failed after about 6 months and after exhaustive enquiries on the sony website, I was eventually offered a replacement for £109. Forget that, I'm not that big a mug! Such is the contempt that Sony has for its customers. My NH600's jogwheel finally gave up the ghost after about 2 years of regular use. Happily I found a replacement remote (RM-MC60) for 20 quid on the net, and the sound quality through it tells me it is thankfully a genuine Sony, not a counterfeit. The charging capacity issue is just another symptom of the deliberate lack of durability of electronic products today.

Yeah - the AKG C1000S that I use is not the warmest of mics either - but I used it for a while before acquiring my preamp, and there is definitely an added harshness that was not there before. I've actually gone back to just using the mic inputs on my mixing desk, which is a characterless cold sound, but clean. I'll try one of those tubes you suggested.

Thanks for that Sparky. Yeah, I was thinking of keeping my RH1 and NH600 for recording, and getting a hard disc unit for more convenience in listening to pre-recorded stuff - but a line-in would have been a nice bonus! But since the newer models apparently do not support ATRAC (I'm gutted!) and they play back with gaps, it seems I'm just going to stick with my HiMDs for now. I'm starting to think now that Sony are just plain stupid. You absolutely sure ATRAC is not supported now? Only, it is mentioned in the product information on Amazon.co.uk...

Thanks. As far as I'm aware (and I have the box here at my home in Sheffield, although the unit is in London where my band is based) it's just called TubePre. Yeah, you're right, it uses a single 12AX7. It's so hard trying to find info on the net - there are a few places selling tubes, but they all assume the buyer is an expert! Can't find anywhere that says 'this is good for warm vocals, this is good for whatever, etc etc'. I find the unit sounds too harsh as it currently is. It was very cheap though (about £65 if I remember right). I'll do some googling for 12AU7 tubes now. Thanks for the tip. If you have any more advice based on the unit I have, I'd be happy to hear. Arigatou!

Nice link, thanks! The effort that goes into those babies. I'm actually on the lookout for a replacement tube for my cheapo Presonus preamp, which despite being apparently 'award winning' has always been disappointing to me. As a musician yourself, do you have any suggestions for nice tubes? It's primarily for vocals, rather than instruments...

I'd have bitten the seller's hand off if they were HiMD discs, but a quid for a second-hand standard 74 or 80 is just not worth it, IMO.