ndj Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 Hi, I am a long time fan of MD. I went from Dolby C HX Pro cassette decks to MD in the nineties and never looked back. I have a MD hi-fi component unit and a playback only walkman and have really enjoyed them. However in this day and age of "drag and drop" digital data I am tired of having to record songs in realtime and would like to be able to "drag and drop" songs onto an MD. Are there any new units that allow "drag and drop" with SP so that I could still have compatibility with my existing gear? Also, some of my music is only on minidisc. Do any of the new units allow upload of music to a computer harddrive? If MD becomes obsolete I'd hate to have to transfer my MD music to a future format by analogue recording.Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted May 12, 2005 Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Drag and drop? No. Sony's too short-sighted for that. If you upgrade, you will be able to play back your old MDs and record them digitally in real time only. But you will be able to upload any new recordings made on the Hi-MD. All transfers go through SonicStage. With Hi-MD, you can transfer recordings only in the new Hi-MD formats--PCM, Hi-SP, Hi-LP--from your MD to your PC. With these formats, this is a wonderful thing. But the old MD formats are still stuck on the the disc, and probably will be forever. Sony has eliminated SP/LP2/LP4 recording from the latest generation of Hi-MDs, although those formats will still play back. You can do a digital transfer in real time from SP, LP2 or LP4 by using SonicStage to control and play back the MD through your computer, then using TotalRecorder, which intercepts and records the signal on the way to your soundcard. It's $11.95. Does your component MD have an optical out? You could also record into a PC sound-recording program (Audacity or something fancier) through a soundcard with optical in. External USB soundcards are available with optical in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ndj Posted May 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 Does your component MD have an optical out? You could also record into a PC sound-recording program (Audacity or something fancier) through a soundcard with optical in. External USB soundcards are available with optical in.←Thanks for the info. My component unit (model MDS-JE330) has an optical in only so that's not going to be of much use. What a shame Sony didn't think a little further ahead with the MD format. It was a format with great potential that has never been fully realised and now seems destined to fade away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Rider Posted May 15, 2005 Report Share Posted May 15, 2005 Sony has eliminated SP/LP2/LP4 recording from the latest generation of Hi-MDs, although I believe those formats will still play back. They will play. And music can be stored via SS in LP modes. But it is not possible to record in LP mode with the player only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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