mrelwood Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Since it is impossible to learn about the real features from the manufacturer itself, I have to rely on people who have actually used the machine. And since I didn't find answers at the forum yet, I posted this new topic. 1) Can a single Hi-MD disc contain both Hi-MD player playable music AND data? 2) Are there any restrictions concerning the data in the Hi-MD? For example, can I rename "album.wav" to "album.tmp", upload to Hi-MD and download it at my brother's computer? 2.5) Does the data transfer also need SonicStage? 3) If I record music from a digital source (multitracker, digital mixer etc) on the Hi-MD, can I transfer the recorded material (*.oma?) to my computer with fast data transfer, and then use marcnet's wonderful piece of software to make it a regular .wav? 4) How fast is the data transfer to and from the Hi-MD? 5) Do You find it possible that Sharp or others would start manufacturing Hi-MD competitors that we recording people would like more? :cool: Thanks for any answers and/or opinions. I am actually starting to feel that the 320kbps mp3 would be enough, and I would get myself an iRiver iHP-120. It's actually not that expensive anymore.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marcnet Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 1) Yes 2) There are no restrictions with data. You can Copy anything onto hi-md using one PC ... and then copy from that hi-md to a completly different PC 2.5) Sonic stage is not required for data transfer. I basically inserted the USB cable into my mates PC (he dosnt even know what SonicStage is, let alone installed it) and it came up as a removable media drive just fine 3) Use Sonicstage to upload from hi-md to a .oma on your PC. Then use my program to convert from .oma to .wav. Recordings made via optical cable can be converted this way 4) Sllooooooooowwwww 5) Dont know. Sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Stamp Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 I agree with marcnet. His answers are all correct edit: a bit of clarification 4) its supposed to be a meg per second, but its really like 400 kb/s. and whats worse, the more files you transfer over, the longer it takes to transfer. like 40 1mb files will transfer slower than 1 40mb file. its prabably becuase the HI-MD has to keep going to the TOC after each file =/ so i suggest you zip the files up. it will be much faster (and if you do too many files at one time, the hi-md may lock up! happened to me once, trabsfered like 70 mp3's in onw go =/. sonic stage files atrac3 files work like a charm when trabsfering tho =/ go figure.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doclloyd Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Something I've noticed regarding using Hi-MD under Linux systems is that it caches up the contents of a transfer and then sends it to the device. Kind of goofy, but it does end up working, just doesn't seem as smooth as under Windows. (Not that this will affect a lot of you here.) regarding #2, you can easily copy data files to a Hi-MD to upload to your brother's computer. To transfer recorded music, you'll have to upload, use marcnet's tool then transfer the wave via the data portion of Hi-MD to get it on your brother's computer. Hope I understood your question and you understand my answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Thanks guys! I think I start to have more complete idea over the usage I could have for the Hi-MD. Still not sure if the iRiver or other would be better though... How does the old Atrac compare to these new ones, is the sound quality comparable to the Hi-SP? Or is the Atrac+ better quality with the same kbps rate? And if new is better, does Hi-LP compare with old LP2? And how would a 320kbps mp3 compare with Hi-SP? One more thing. Marcnet, You are a genius. I can only imagine how much work Your software has needed from You, and how much people must love having a software to do the things they hoped for, since they were again harshly let down by Sony. I went for the NetMD a year back since I thought it could do the transfers promised. I had the machine returned. I don't Yet know if I'll get myself a Hi-MD(800) or the iRiver iHP-120 (or even the Philips' new one). Either way, I will donate some $. If I end up using the software, and if it works as well as said, I'll put $$. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted October 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 Still one question. I convert a song to atrac and upload it in the Hi-MD. I install the darn software to another computer, can I download the song to the other computer, in ".oma" or any format? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadeclaw Posted October 14, 2004 Report Share Posted October 14, 2004 No. That is not possible. There is only one way to have the Library on both computers: Backup the Library using the SonicStage Backup-program and restore from that backup onto the second comp. One Warning: Doing a restore destroys the existing library on the second computer. Of course, realtime upload is always possible. How that works, is described here: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=6329 (Realtime Upload 1.1 & 1.2 ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted October 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 16, 2004 No. That is not possible. There is only one way to have the Library on both computers: Backup the Library using the SonicStage Backup-program and restore from that backup onto the second comp. One Warning: Doing a restore destroys the existing library on the second computer. Sigh. Well ofcourse. I am more and more baffled about the fact that Sony is just making our lifes difficult with all these restrictions, they should be well aware that they do not actually prevent anything. People who want to make digital copies, will most likely use their CD burners, don't you think! Us people who would actually use the features (legally) are made to go thru all these unnecessary steps, which really sucks big time. I'd like to say "that's it, no Hi-MD for me", but since flash or HD portables haven't yet taken this recording issue seriously enough, I am still undecided. How about the sound qualities? -Aki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadeclaw Posted October 16, 2004 Report Share Posted October 16, 2004 Sound quality is very good according to my ears(Hi-SP). In addition, you can record in LinearPCM, which is identical to CD. And to free your music, there is still marcnet's HiMDRenderer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted October 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 17, 2004 Sound quality is very good according to my ears(Hi-SP). In addition, you can record in LinearPCM, which is identical to CD. And to free your music, there is still marcnet's HiMDRenderer... By sound quality, I was meaning comparisons between mp3, which I asked earlier. And marcnet's program doesn't allow me to transfer music to other computers than where the songs are from, because of the libraries required. -Aki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadeclaw Posted October 18, 2004 Report Share Posted October 18, 2004 It does. As the resulting file is a standard wave file, playable everywhere. Of course, you can compress that and use the Hi-MD to transport the files. Atrac3 vs MP3: Hi-SP ~ MP3@320k Hi-LP@64k ~ MP3@96k Hi-LP@48k ~ MP3@64k MD-LP2@132k ~ MP3@160k MD-LP2@105k ~ MP3@128k MD-LP4@66k ~ MP3@64k MP3-values are approximate and can differ depending on music and the way that music has been recorded. Hope that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latexxx Posted October 18, 2004 Report Share Posted October 18, 2004 I'd say LP2 ~ Lame mp3 96 ~ other mp3 128 See also http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=24735 and http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....=26976&hl=atrac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted October 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2004 jadeclaw, thanks! That was just what I needed! I'd say LP2 ~ Lame mp3 96 ~ other mp3 128 Really? I didn't know the difference between different mp3 encoders were this big. Thanks for the links. Hi-SP surprised me, since I thought it would be "at least as good as old SP". Well, I think this finally answers my original question; no Hi-MD for me. -Aki. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadeclaw Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 There are differences. LAME with the high-quality settings is the best, the Fraunhofer codec quickly following. The worst are the codecs from Xing. They are as fast as diarrhea and the result sounds like diarrhea... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 Interesting point: Sony bought Sonic Foundry. Sound Forge, to my knowledge, still uses the Xing encoder for its mp3 encoding. [both v6 and v7 have Xing with them.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadeclaw Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 That was my experience with the standalone codec from Xing. Of course, it is possible, that the codec included with SoundForge is better, but since I don't own this software, I can't confirm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted October 19, 2004 Report Share Posted October 19, 2004 I have used the encoder with SF6 sparingly, and it sounds okay, but I haven't subjected it to any testing to see if it has the same defects that programs like Audiocatalyst did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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