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trager

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  • Minidisc units
    MZ-1, MZ-E25, MZ-R37, MZ-R70, MZ-N710, MZ-NHF800, MZ-NH900, MZ-NH1, MZ-RH1

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  1. OMG I came to the forums this morning with the specific intention of asking if anyone had an installer for SS 4.2! Thanks so much for this.
  2. Hey guys. Thought you might like to see these. I know they're not particularly exotic models, or particularly good photos, but it's always nice to take a look at stuff. Picked these up on eBay UK a couple of months ago. Advertised as 'brand new' - clearly they're not exactly new (there are some marks) but they were pretty reasonable and everything seems to work fine, so I'm happy. Both models surprised me by how chunky and plasticky they are - I thought the 900 at least would be a little leaner/sturdier, given that it was only one step down from the NH1, but I guess that one step makes a world of difference. As it happens I'm getting used to both models, and their basic design may well help them to outlast the metal-cased RH1 with it's uber-fragile wiggly donkle. Feel free to ask questions. Thanks! MZ-NH900 MZ-NHF800
  3. Hello all. I finally picked up an MZ-1 on eBay and it arrived today. Unfortunately, the power adaptor that was packed with it is some random 3v sony power adaptor (which doesn't even fit, so I'm not sure how that happened.) No problem, thought I, as I went into the attic to get my SkyTronic universal adaptor. But no - it doesn't do 10.5v. It only does 9 or 12. Also, of the various connectors it has there appear to be two that fit the MZ-1 ok, and that made me all unsure that I wasn't going to blow the thing up. How frustrating to have this at my fingertips and not know if it works! Cosmetically it's in great condition, although the display seems to have dropped slightly into the machine at one end. Anyway, I was wondering if anybody had any recommendations for replacement power adaptors for this thing. Or whether anybody might happen to have info on or a photo of the connector on the original adaptor. Basically any help appreciated. I'm assuming there's no charge in the battery. I tried pressing some buttons and nothing. And what's the deal with the cr-2025? Does this need replacing before I can use the machine? Thank you!
  4. Thank you! Suddenly everything makes so much sense.
  5. Hi. Sorry if this is covered in a FAQ somewhere. I looked but couldn't find anything. Can somebody explain why my SS 4.3 won't recognise Net MD? (I'm using Vista - on this laptop at least, for my sins.) I had the same problem on my last install of Vista and figured I'd just used a bum SS installer, but it's happening again. I installed using the online sonicstageinstaller.exe a few weeks ago, and when SS is running and I plug in my RH1 with a 'MD' formatted disc inside, Windows freaks out and says detecting new hardware blah blah, and then asks me to put in the CD that came with my Net MD. And when I say er I don't have one, it just gives up and says your new hardware might not have installed properly. Everything's been working fine on Hi-MD stuff. Transfers both ways, no problems. But plug in a standard MD-formatted minidisc and it's all "Windows needs to install new drivers for your Net MD." Incidentally, when you have a Hi-MD-formatted disc in the unit, the "Hi-MD/Net MD" dropdown box in the transfer pane is greyed out. So there's just no way to make Net-MD happen. I never had this problem with 4.0 or 4.2 on XP. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks in advance.
  6. For what it's worth I've had the same problem. I got an RH1 about 18 months ago. Recorded around 12 1gb discs with it using the optical cable, only doing moderate editing, and by the end of it the behaviour of the jog wheel thing was totally unpredictable. FF and FR have become either unresponsive or too responsive, and pressing enter in the menus is a nightmare, cos it usually goes up or down one option on the way to registering the press. It also tends to register two presses when I only want one, so all in all it's entirely possible I may ask it to do something benign and find it decides instead to erase my whole disc. I too am likely to use this model now only as an uploader. I just picked up a NHF800 and a NH900 nearly new, and I was surprised at how plastic they were. So it seems there isn't much that's especially sturdy in the Hi-MD range, but the NHF800 and NH900 definitely don't feel fragile in the way the RH1 does. It's the fiddliness of the jog wheel that's the problem. It's a gimmick that just didn't pay off. The RH1 and the M200 are very cool looking, very functional, great sounding, triumphant egg shells. As has been pointed out, this model also lacks a group button on the main unit. Given that you can't have it set to line out if the remote is plugged in I think this oversight renders the line out pretty useless, unless there isn't much on your disc. You could never really use the RH1 as a playback deck, which is a bummer given that there's no Sony Hi-MD deck and no longer any alternative Hi-MD portables in the stores. I also complained mightily in a past thread that there is no 'group set' or 'group release' function. Which is a strange oversight. In the long run though, it's clearly the build quality that's the biggest problem with the RH1/M200. Sometimes I pick up my NH1 and just hold it smiling.
  7. Sorry, I should probably clarify this. As pata2001 points out, FLAC is lossless, which means it retains all of the wave information, so its sound quality is not an issue. What I wanted to emphasise was that if the quality of the ATRAC codec was the only reason for MD's amazing sound, then listening to FLAC on a DAP should sound at least as good, or better if you have good ears. However, I listened to FLAC playing through an iPod that was running Rockbox firmware (I forget which ipod model) and it sounded somehow lifeless to my minidisc-accustomed ears. Rockbox is highly acclaimed as a firmware, and as we know, FLAC is lossless, so it became very clear to me that the amazing sound quality of minidisc is born outside the digital domain, and that ATRAC is just a good lossy codec that gives the circuitry as much as possible to work with. Either that or it's all just psychological, which I'm not willing to accept. So then I started wondering what it was exactly - amp, DAC, etc. Thank you, Guitarfxr, for your considered reply. That it's a combination of several well designed components designed to work well with each other makes a lot of sense. I wonder, which are the most influential components in playback from the point where the information is converted to analogue? (Is it right down to the quality of the wire used?) And, also, how could someone go about assembling a clear, comprehensive overview of which MD/Hi-MD units are better than which others for use either in recording or in playback, based on the different components that they contain? This always seemed to me to be something that the MD community would find very worthwhile, as we trawl eBay. I understand that the units manufactured in Japan have a better build quality. Do they record/sound better too? Which model did you buy? How does the sound compare to minidisc? I briefly listened to a NW-A3000 a while ago but I can't really remember my impressions. I look at the A810 and A820 series with great interest, because for carrying music around and listening to it, a flash player would be infinitely more convenient than MD, and if sound quality is not really about codec, I keep going round in my head wondering whether a Sony network walkman playing Mp3s at 320k could sound as good as an RH-1 playing Hi-SP. I'm not really one for buying, trying and returning, and noone I know has a Sony Mp3 walkman, so I have no way of knowing. This is partly what fuels my interest in the exact components that make MD sound so awesome; I'm wondering whether the network walkmans have any of the same DACs, amp circuitry etc. Of course I doubt I could ever follow through on making the move to a flash player, because I love MD far too much, but it would be nice to know whether I'm making a choice based on real sound quality issues or just pig-headed fondness for the physical medium.
  8. Ok guys, I'd like to jump on here and ask a big question, if I may. For a while, I've wanted to start a thread called something like “Why exactly is it that Minidisc sounds so good?” The main substance of my post would have been along the lines of the following: I've listened to several ipods/MP3 players/multi-codec jukeboxes etc. and they never sound anywhere near as good as either my late 90s MD portables or my NH-1 and RH-1. In fact many of them sound positively awful, as if I'm listening to music through a cheap PC soundcard. What exactly is it about portable minidisc recorders that makes them sound so good by comparison? Not being much of a techy, I've never really understood it, and I've worried that it's all psychological because I do love the character of Minidisc, as well as the fact that it doesn't require a computer. For a long time I figured it must be the ATRAC codec, but after listening to FLAC sound awful on a DAP, it has become clear to me that it is actually something to do with either the DAC, or the amplifier, or something else that a Hi-Fi (rather than computer) company like Sony knows how to manufacture well. So can somebody explain, for the benefit of us laypeople, which bit is really making the magic happen? I've read this thread with fascination so far, and it makes me want to expand my question. If you can explain which part of the machine is the most important part for sound quality, can you also point the way to where someone can find out which recorders/players have which of those parts, and which of those parts are the best? That is, has anybody put together a list or chart anywhere that shows which MD and Hi-MD models have which DACs/amplifiers/etc.? I've done Google searches and found passing references to Burr Browns and things, but I can't find very much information that really helps me understand why these machines sound so good in general, why some are considered to sound better than others, or which sound the best. I realise this may be a dumb question, or else it may be a very vague question, so I do apologise. But I've kept coming back to these machines for years, and I just can't quit. So I really want to know what types of components are most to blame for my Minidisc obsession, and if possible, I now also want to know exactly which of those components are in which machines, and which machines I should seek out if I want to travel the golden glistening listening road to Minidisc Heaven. Thank you sooo much in advance.
  9. trager

    Mz Nh1 Crash

    Wow. These are the exact two problems I've had with my NH1. I bought it just over a year ago from my brother, who'd had it for a year but not used it much. This is precisely what started happening to me. I haven't tried cleaning anything internal, but after reading this thread - http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=18187 - I used a pencil eraser to shine up the contacts on the battery itself, and now the problem occurs much less often, very rarely in fact. So I would definitely recommend trying it. (Of course, it may simply be that having the battery removed for the time it took to do this was the real solution. I couldn't say.) This is the thing that really freaked me out. I've been meaning to post about this for a while, to see if anyone else has experienced similar difficulties. When I first got the NH1, I filled three 1GB discs with tracks recorded in Hi-SP via optical cable. When listening back to one of them one day, the sound disappeared for about 10 seconds during one song. When the sound came back the song was still going, 10 seconds further on, as if nothing had happened, i.e. it didn't pick up again where it left off. I remember the same thing happened on one other occasion – I'm afraid I don't recall whether it was on the same disc or not. The whole thing was very *disconcerting* indeed, because I'd never used 1GB discs before and I didn't know if maybe they just weren't reliable, or if my NH1 was faulty or damaged. (I've only just started using the 1GB discs again after buying a new RH1, and I'm happy to say I haven't had any problems.) This afternoon I dug out the disc that had the problem, popped it in the NH1, and listened again to the track I remember cutting out. The same thing happened in the same place. What I also noticed this time, however, was a great deal of clicking and whirring coming from the machine right from the beginning of the song – much more than is normal. Bizarrely, these noises actually stopped long before the point where the sound cut out. I have no idea what this problem is, and I am very interested to know if anyone has any thoughts on the matter. The only thing that I can think is that it is a fragmentation issue. I have a feeling that when recording this Hi-MD I used the move, divide, set, release etc. functions quite a lot, trying to get everything just where I wanted it on a disc that was bigger than any I'd used before. So maybe I was just asking the System File to remember too much, or telling it too many things at one time. Is this even possible? I would have thought you'd have to do a lot of editing before this would ever be an issue.
  10. Ah. No. That's definitely a plus with the RH1.
  11. Hi Yesshows91. I'm not sure if anyone has managed to work out how to do this yet, but as far as I can tell, it's not possible to perform Group Set or Group Release on the RH1 at all, only Group Record, then Group Move/Delete and moving a single track into or out of a group. I too have only recently bought the RH1, after using the NH1 for about a year - only rarely with a PC, and as much as I love it, I'm disappointed by the functionality in this regard. It's such a small thing that's missing but it makes such a big difference. The fact that the general 'Group' system is fully implemented makes me think this is more an oversight on Sony's part than a conscious decision. Mind you, the whole menu system seems strangely set out, in that titling can only be done on the remote, but Move and Erase can only be done on the recorder - accessed via a long press on a small button that doesn't feel like you'd want to press it too hard too often. I too was expecting the RH1 to be the NH1 with extras, but it seems this is not the case. It pleased me no end when Sony switched their marketing focus away from the 'MP3 generation' and started targeting professional recordists and the like, but it seems that somewhere along the line, Sony forgot about a third group - the people who want a reliable portable music solution that doesn't *require* them to use a computer - the kind of people who went out and bought R70s and R90s. I myself do sometimes use MD and Hi-MD for recording, and so occasionally I connect to a PC, but for the most part, I simply want to make copies of CDs using an optical cable - something that's been possible with minidisc for nearly fifteen years. And if you're using a 1GB disc in Hi-SP, you're gonna need to use groups. It no longer seems to occur to Sony that the entire functionality of the recorder should be available to users without a PC. They're now leaving gaps, almost as if the RH1 is a computer peripheral. Notice that 'Using the recorder with a computer' is now the first thing in the manual, whereas in my N710 and NH1 manuals, it's one of the last. If I wanted to use a PC all the time, and only wanted something to play music, I imagine I'd go and buy something with an 'i' at the start of it. So perhaps the RH1 is only so impressive because it's very pretty and an improvement on the 2nd generation machines? If you're not a recordist, and you don't want to be connecting to a PC as a matter of course, I'd say the NH1 is probably a better bet. It feels much sturdier if nothing else. Even if you are a recordist, unless you have a box of recordings on legacy discs I'm not entirely sure what the RH1 offers you that the NH1 doesn't. (Although I'm no expert.) Many people seem to be plugging their MC40ELKs into their RH1s anyway, for on-the-fly record levels. And as for native MP3 support, to me that seems like buying a house because they said you could keep the curtains.
  12. Thanks for your help, guys. I guess it's just not possible. I tried plugging the 40ELK into the rh1 but it still doesn't give me the option. I think you're right, RoGeR - my preference for using optical over USB is just not in fashion anymore. I always saw hi-fis and computers as separate things, you know? First time I saw usb implementation on a md I pretty much ran in the opposite direction. I do appreciate the upload side of things though. Ah well. Cheers anyway!
  13. Hey everybody. I hate to post with a comparatively trivial/boring matter, but can anybody tell me how to create a group on the RH1? (I'm not using SonicStage.) I recorded four albums on four separate occasions via optical to a 1GB disk, each time with Group Record on, and then I took Group Record off so that I could record 15 or so b-sides from various CD singles without having to do so all in one go. Now I want to group those b-sides together as 'Group 5,' but I can't find the Group Set or equivalent function, and I've looked through the manual twice. Am I just being really dumb? I'm confused because I remember this being as easy as pie on the NH1 using that oh-so-well-loved MC40ELK. (Edit - Group Set - STR/END) Could it be that the RH1 won't allow you to collect together already recorded tracks as a new group - that it will only let you record new groups and then rearrange them? Surely not! I'm kind of confused. I've tried to find this information in the FAQ and via Google etc. and I can't. Any advice very welcome indeed. I'm still something of a newbie so please don't flame me if this post sucks! Which I guess it may do. Thanks.
  14. Hello all. I'm new so I hope you don't mind me jumping straight in with a request for help. I'm having the problem with my NH1 where occasionally if I, say, step too vigorously from the road to the pavement, the power cuts out completely for a moment and the player resets to its last saved settings. I notice this has been mentioned before... ( http://forums.minidisc.org/lofiversion/index.php/t18597.html, http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=18187, etc. ) ...and I take it that the solution lies in cleaning the contacts in the battery compartment. As I am rather inexperienced with such things, however, I was hoping someone could give me some tips on how to go about this. (How to access, what implements/fluids etc.) I had the same problem with my N710 a couple of years ago, but on that occasion I had an extended warranty to fall back on. Not so much this time. Could anybody give me any advice? I would appreciate all suggestions. Thank you!
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