Mz-n420d- Noises + Unable To Record Certain Songs

[Monki710]

this is my first md as well as visiting this forum. i need help on my MZ-N420D. When i transfer a song to my MD and play it, there alway seems to be a noise that appears suring playback. I've tried using a new disc, battery, and initializing the disc several times. i also have been having problems converting/transferring certain songs to my MD. although the song is compatible and meets the specifications, i cant convert it and sonic stage freezes as well as my computer during the process. any one know how to help me?

Edited April 15, 2005 by Monki710

[tsukkie]

I'm having the exact problem with my MZ-RH910. I used 2 unused 1GB discs and no success. Although my PC hasn't crashed, SonicStage 3.0 freezes for 30 seconds or so when I try to play certain tracks. All of the tracks have scratching noise. Not sure if it's my MD player or the software that's causing this.. My PC is P4 1.8GHz/256MB/Win2K Pro.

[Loperation]

I also have the exact same problem. I've been looking around to see if there's any solution to this but haven't found anything so far. I have a newly bought MZ-NF520D and it's absolutely the same thing. Had a chat with Sony technical support and thay said it happened because the files weren't downloaded from Sony's Connect.com store, which I think is simply BS. If anyone knows how to gte around this annoying situation, it would be much appreciated.

Tried in SP, LP2 and LP4 and it's always the same thing.

[Christopher]

Do any of you have the ffdshow codec installed?

[Loperation]

Yeah, I have FFDSHOW, bit I just figured out how to work around it... using Real Player. Real Player lets you add portable audio devices and then copy MP3 files on them. In the case of NetMD, Real PLayer just converts the file to the format in your desired setting (LP2 or LP4, haven't tried SP yet but I'm guessing it'll work too). It worked beautifully for me and didn't have to use the SonicStage at all. Great sound.

Any questions, let me know.

[Christopher]

If you have ffdshow try this: go to Start Menu > Programs > ffdshow > Audio filter configuration. Then, change the "MP3" setting from "mp3lib" to "disabled". This should solve the problem.

[Loperation]

The Real Player worked even with mp3lib enabled in ffdshow, at least for me. However, Real Player doesn't support group function. In order to create groups, you have to transfer the files on real player and then use SonicStage's group function to bundle the files into groups. In this case, SonicStage (both 2.0 and 3.1)worked without problems.

Another thing is that Real Player only supports LP2 and LP4 file transferring but not SP. SP is necessary for playing files in MD players that don't have the MDLP function. What I did in this case, in case you're interested, was the following:

Select the files you want to record in SP and transfer them through Real Player in LP2 (132 kbps bit rate). After, open SonicStage and use the software's upload function to transfer the files to the computer. If you're going to use the same disc to record the files in SP mode, erase the disc after finishing the file upload. Otherwise, insert a new disc. Then, select the files you uploaded previously from My Library (they are in ATRAC 3 format). Go to Transfers and click on Settings. Select SP mode. Then you just have to start the transfer, sit back and wait 'til it's finished. It's a little time consuming, but a simple way to work around the issue in order to get good sound (sound quality change practically went unnoticed).

[atrain]

none of net md softwares support true sp, they only produce an lp2 marked as sp - at 132kbs so they playback on sp only md but with 50% of the bitrate.

also i'd advise against using real player it is very out of date with regards to md.