MP3 Playback Screwy

[TapTapper]

Hi All!

I have a NetMD MZ-N510CK and I downloaded the latest version of Sonic Stage a couple days ago (what a difference!!).

I bought the MD over a year ago to record from the radio and haven't had problems before. But now I lost my favorite radio channel on Sirius so I decided to go to a Wifi spot and download a couple dozen hours at a time, then transfer the shows to MD. [there's no cable or DSL here at home: very rural]

The radio shows are 3 hours normally, and about 1:45-2 compressed by the archive. I can't move the whole file over to MD straight because it won't fit, so I need compression. I fiddled with some settings so that it will fit 2 or 3 shows, but when I play it back they sould like "Alvin and the Chipmunks".

The only thing that works perfectly is playing the show on the PC and recording to the MD via line-in. But it kind of defeats the purpose if I have to babysit my PC for 30 hours! So I'm looking for a file transfer with compression.

I am only listening to talk, so signal degredation from compression isn't a problem. I even got an MP3 splitter app, but it's a REAL pain in the butt doing that for all the files. The MD would be perfect if I could record my shows in L4 mode, but that appears to be causing the problem.

I spend most of my day driving and I just LIVED for my Sirius station, but now that it's gone my real need is to find a way to grab the shows and convert them to something that I can hear at home and in the car. I generally use the MD with an FM modulator which works great. I have a CD-player in the car, but it can't read MP3 disks, so I'm back to splitting MP3s to get them small enough for an audio CD.

I am thinking that I may have to get an MP3 Player (and do the same FM-Mod thing), but I've looked around and I don't want to spend hundreds of bucks. Maybe $40-70. Ideally I'd like to travel with 8-10 hours of shows. And I'm a PC person, so I don't want an iPod.

Any advice will be much appreciated!

--Tapper

[ROMBUSTERS]

what bitrate is the MP3 in? if its a very low bitrate no matter what you do it's always going to sound bad transcoded.

However using your netMD you could convert the MP3s to WAV, then split them up into smaller chunks, then convert those chunks to LP2 (best sound available to netMD users through USB) and transfer over that way

[Christopher]

Have you tried converting the mp3 file to LP4 with Sonicstage v3.2? What version of Sonicstage are you using?

[TapTapper]

what bitrate is the MP3 in? if its a very low bitrate no matter what you do it's always going to sound bad transcoded.

However using your netMD you could convert the MP3s to WAV, then split them up into smaller chunks, then convert those chunks to LP2 (best sound available to netMD users through USB) and transfer over that way

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How would I convert a WAV to LP-anything before transferring it? Maybe I'm missing some menu choice in SonicStage.

I'm not sure of the bitrate, but it's not just degredation: the sound is speeded up at least 2x, and frankly, I couldn't make it do that if I wanted to!

[TapTapper]

Have you tried converting the mp3 file to LP4 with Sonicstage v3.2? What version of Sonicstage are you using?

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It says v3.1. WHY, I don't know, since I just upgraded 3 days ago. Sony insists on doing an online upgrade (IMPOSSIBLE on dialup), so I took my laptop to a wifi spot and did the install there. The Sony app examined my system and then ran it's installer/upgrade app. If there's a 3.2 I don't have it. And I don't have it on any desktop PCs, either, since I can't drag them around. The desktops only have what came with the MD.

I'm travelling back to the 21st century tomorrow , so if someone sends me a link I'll DL the newer version.

BTW: I am 0.5 miles too far from the switchbox for DSL, there is NO cable TV here (Time-Warner will wire me for $24,000 per mile, my price: $21,000), and I used to have satellite internet until the bird FELL OUT of the sky. I have satellite TV, this place looks like Earth Station Zebra (2 mini-dish, 1 Big dish, 1 dead 'net satellite dish) and I still have to drive 8 miles to get high-speed. So it's not for lack of effort!

Thanks for the advice, all

--Tapper

[ROMBUSTERS]

are you familiar with how SonicStage opperates?

SS basically consists of three stages: importing, converting, transfering

Importing allows you to add files on your HDD or network to SS library. Once these files are added you can go onto the next step.

-in your case you need to import the WAV/MP3 files into the SS library (check out the SS help if you dont know how)

Converting is usually done on the fly although you can do batch converting ahead of time.

-to do converting ahead of time right click on the selected files you wish to convert and click 'Convert Format', then select a netMD useable format (i.e. LP2 (Atrac3 132kbps) or LP4 (Atrac3 66kbps)

-to do the converting on the fly you just do nothing at this point until prompted to during the transfer proccess

Transferring the audio is done pretty simply. While SS is running (or whenever you feel like) connect the MD unit to your PC through USB. SS will find it and be able to interact with it. Highlight the Transfer tab on the top right of SS and click NetMD.

-Once the netMD unit opens select the files you wish to transfer from your library (left side panel) and click the right arrow in the middle of the screen. You can see the end result as SS updates the contents of the disc in the right side panel.

-If you have no already converted your files it will either prompt you to do so now or start converting in a predefined bitrate (I believe the default is LP2 132kbps). You can change this under the options (click the 'Settings' box under the right/left arrows in the middle of the screen).

[TapTapper]

are you familiar with how SonicStage opperates?

SS basically consists of three stages: importing, converting, transfering

-to do converting ahead of time right click on the selected files you wish to convert and click 'Convert Format', then select a netMD useable format (i.e. LP2 (Atrac3 132kbps) or LP4 (Atrac3 66kbps)

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Ha! No, apparently I don't really know how SS operates. I'll try Rt-clicking and see what I get.

Thanks