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Native MP3 capability without SonicStage?

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Fujur

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Hi all,

I'm trying to have NOTHING to do with SonicStage... (reasons are obvious: it sucks).

N00b question: Does the latest generation of HI-MD players that state they can play back MP3s directly allow me to just copy the MP3s as files into the disc for playback without going through SonicStage, or do I still have to use SonicStage if I want to player to play the files as music??

Regards,

-Fujur.

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Hi all,

I'm trying to have NOTHING to do with SonicStage... (reasons are obvious: it sucks).

Blanket statments such as the above are not really necessary. Sonic Stage does not "suck" as you say. If you have a specific issue please post in the Software forum and we'll try our best to help you out.

But in answer to your question, you still need to use Sonic Stage to be able to transfer MP3 audio files to 2nd gen Hi-MD players.

Edited by richyhu
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Thank you for the answer... Hmm.. That's sad. Not only direct support owuld have been convenient from the transfer angle, but I was also thinking of getting a car unit that supports USB storage devices and perhps hooking up the HI-MD to it. It owuld have been wonderful - Having the same media for in-car and portable, plues the HI-MD works off of th USB power.... But most importantly I wanted to bypass SonicStage. There are very many other more flexible applications to sync file-based music devices (I like MediaMonkey and I also use MagicMusicMixer to create the mixes). Adding SonicStage to the mix created a nightmare of a process to keep thing in sync for me.

As far as my blanket statement. I should have said SS sucked for me, and it may or may not have worked well fo rother people. Personally, I have had nothing but problems with SS since early versions up until 2.2 where I just created some MDs and never touched the thing again. I still have a *very* sour taste from spending many-many hours on the phone with support, with three different computers and two different OSs - all different problems. I really like and use my MiniDisc *daily* and all the models I've had were neat, but the SonicStage software is -in my opinionated opinion- extremely buggy. I just downloaded version 3.3.. I'm a little scared to install it, for fear of messing up my system, but I'll probably cave since I want to get some new music in there from this new machine.

I don't quite undersand what the native MP3 support adds in term of functionality. Just transfer speed and avoiding re-encoding (and degrading the quality)?

Please elaborate.... (actually on second thoughts don't bother - such blanket statements are fairly poinless and only lead to unecessary arguments)

But in answer to your question, you still need to use Sonic Stage to be able to transfer MP3 audio files to 2nd gen Hi-MD players.

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Sonic Stage is not the ideal software, but general consensus is that from 3.0 onwards and espcially with 3.2 and 3.3 much has been done to address a lot of the issues:

- Unlimited uploads

- ability to switch off DRM on tracks transferred to MD units

- new bitrates added

etc..

I would seriously recommend trying 3.3 and hopefully it will get rid of some of the "bitterness" ;)

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Thanks! I'll give it a try without so much anxiety!!! :D

Let us know how you get on and if you do have problems - please post and we'll try our best to help you out.

I don't quite undersand what the native MP3 support adds in term of functionality. Just transfer speed and avoiding re-encoding (and degrading the quality)?

Yes the main advantage is no need to lose quality through transcoding.

Edited by richyhu
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probably a little too late, but i installed SS3.3 on my system and nothing went wrong. i havent had any problems. i use it a lot latley because i just got this md player, but it works perfectly. i just wish my brother hadnt lost the original cd that came with this, i found everything except the cd lol. even the little case for the original md that came with it. anyway, from what i can remember SS2.0 didnt seem to have any problems on my comp but then again i only used it once or twice to make an md for him. 3.3 seems to be really good though, i just wish it didnt need such a fast comp, it runs fine on my desktop but my laptop uggh thats another story. anyway, im out, cya all later.

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Having had a brief play with 3.3, I can say it is a major improvement over previous versions.

The new 'lossless' Atrac codec sounds sweet, although I think it takes up more room.

64kbps (Hi-LP) atrac lossless, 25mb a track? Eh? :blink:

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