Getting audio onto my car headunit!

[MegatronUK]

Hi folks; first post... be gentle

I've got a minidisc compatible head unit that I got with a car I had imported from Japan, now I've never used the MD part of it and purely just used the tuner and CD part (mainly because I had a big cd multichanger and no minidiscs of my own!). Now I've taken the headunit out of that car and put it into another (a dinky little mk1 MR2 ) and I'd really like to use the fact that I can stuff quite a few minidiscs in the glove box and not worry about taking all of the space up!

My first admission is that I've never ever used a minidisc device of any sort, not to mention recorded anything or transferred any audio to one.

So the question is, what is the most straightforward method of dumping a load of audio tracks onto a stack of minidiscs to play in my car?

A couple of things to bear in mind:

1. The hardware in question is a Pioneer MEH-P9000 headunit. Like this one, apart from the fact that mine is a japanese model which seems to have features the EU/US version doesn't (like both an MD and CD slot, for example!). I don't have any manuals for it, so I couldn't tell you what spec of disc it can play.

2. I'd like to be able to assemble discs via my pc which is where the majority of my music is stored either in high bitrate mp3 (>224), ogg or flac format - i guess something needs to convert these on the fly to the native minidisc format and then dump it down to some kind of minidisc recorder via firewire or usb?

3. I have no other minidisc devices at all - no portables, recorders, hifi components etc..

4. Help!

Any advice gladly recieved

-John

[A440]

Frankly I don't think it's worth it. Your car deck only plays in SP mode: that is, 74 or 80 minutes of music per disc. So each minidisc is going to hold only a CD's worth of music. While SP is a very good-sounding format, getting the music from mp3 to SP is still going to involve a conversion that is going to lose quality from the mp3s.

I suggest instead that you use a CD-burning program like Nero that will turn your mp3s into audio discs playable by your CD player.

But you can do it if you're eager. You would need to get a portable unit that can download music from your computer. That would be either a NetMD unit, which you can find used on Ebay, or a Hi-MD unit.

Look at the Browser tab at http://www.minidisc.org for the many models available. If you don't care about using the unit as a recorder, you can find a NH-600D for under $100 new. Old NetMD units--MZ-NE410, MZ-N505--are even less on Ebay, but look at the pictures for wear. You need a unit that begins MZ-N**. Units that begin MZ-Rxx don't connect to the computer (though just to confuse things, the newest Hi-MD units are MZ-RHxxx).

You'd get a NetMD or the NH600D, install SonicStage on your PC (Windows only, no Mac or Linux), import the mp3s into the SonicStage Library and then transfer the music via USB to a disc in the portable. You'd set SonicStage to transfer in SP--the only format your deck plays, although the portable unit will offer other alternatives.

Edited January 1, 2006 by A440

[MegatronUK]

That sounds fine. I realise the limitations of the discs and the fact that my head unit won't be able to cope with the latest formats or mp3 encoded files... I'm really just looking to use the md features of it as a more convenient cd player (I get sick of burning cd's... they always end up cluttering the glovebox or storage bins in the car - I generally get tires of them laying around and throw them away!).

Cheers for the advice. Since I'm not bothered about using a portable itself to play music etc.. I'll more than likely go with something a bit cheaper... a quick scour of ebay shows plenty of good condition looking MZ-N710 bundles for around £15-£20 ($25-$35)... and also several MZ-N1's. Either of these any good?

[bobt]

Your best bet may be the N1 or first generation Hi-MD, they allow direct recording from your unit, the second generation allows recording from Sonic stage which is probably what you will need anyway since all your tune are on the computer,

Have fun,

Bob

[MegatronUK]

Oh well, I just got the MZ-N710 for £23 (~$38?) along with a handful of 80min discs. I'll see what this SonicStage app is like and if it suits the transfer of my music from flac/ogm/mp3 -> SP mode, before I go buying any more new discs.

Thanks for the help folks.

(btw, I never realised the amount of disc designs out there for these things and how cool some of them look... I guess that's why people collect them!)

[A440]

Welcome to MD-land. That's a great price for the N710. Get yourself a mic and you might be using it for more than transferring music.

SonicStage (get it from Downloads up on the right) will convert mp3s to SP for your discs. If you get a SonicStage disc with the unit DON'T USE IT. It's an old bad version. Use 3.3 from here.

Flac or ogg files need to be converted first to mp3 (or wav if you've got the disc space) to be transferred by SonicStage. You can use Dbpoweramp, also in Downloads.

[MegatronUK]

Thanks once again, I'll post my results once I get both the NetMD and my headunit setup.

I've got all of my music on a dedicated 1Tb raid server up in the attic, so my pc is generally pretty sparse so that I can do video/audio conversion or editing without tons of clutter, there should have plenty of room for ogg/flac -> wav conversions.

I guess I've just got to hope that this head unit still actually plays MD's... it probably hasn't been used in 4 or 5 years and never once in the time I've owned it ;-)

Edited January 1, 2006 by MegatronUK

[zerodB]

If your car head unit can only play SP mode, you will get a lot better sound quality if your record your music in real-time using the unit. This is because SonicStage can only handle LP mode data, and when you use SonicStage to record an SP disc, you end up getting LP2 quality (132kbps) at the same bitrate as SP (292). It's like converting your 128kbps MP3s to FLAC - crap in, crap out.

It sounds like a hassle I know, with all your music on your PC, but you'll find that SonicStage is pretty slow at writing SP mode discs, not much faster than realtime anyway - that's because all the encoding to SP is done by your unit and not the software. It's an issue all we die-hard MDers have been complaining about ever since the PC-connectable MDs (NetMD) arrived on the scene. It's been rectified with Hi-MD (the latest format), but that's a different kettle of fish.

I would recommened realtime recording with your unit, either digitaly (via an optical cable - connected to a DVD player, CD deck, or PC soundcard - if your soundcard even supports optical out), or through an analogue input (from your PC if you want!). The input jack on your unit will accept both digital/analogue. Usually, if you record, with a DVD player or CD deck, the digital signal will sometimes take care of trackmarks for you, otherwise you will need to add them manually post recording. Once you've done the recording, you can use SonicStage or Simpleburner (the NetMD software) to title your tracks.

I'm not sure whether you will notice the quality difference in the car, but it's worth a shot. Another option open to you. And yes, I too do like the smallness factor of MD. Let us know how this works out.

[The Low Volta]

if it is for in-car use only...don't bother with realtime recording, fake-SP (LP2) sure is good enough for listening amidst the engine sounds and you can use all the nifty PC shortcuts

[MegatronUK]

@zeroDB, is that right?!?

I don't want to get into the innards of SonicStage here as I know thats another sub-forum... but:

I've just done the following:

Track 1 'Ooh la la' from Goldfrapps Supernature album in flac format (3m 24s).

Written to disk as 44KHz, 16bit PCM via Winamp diskwriter plugin.

Uncompressed WAV file imported into SonicStage.

Set Tools->Options->Transfer->NetMD->Transfer Settings

Checked 'SP Mode'

Transfer Settings->Advanced

Checked 'Ask me each time' for formats that it cannot transfer directly

I then transferred the file (took about 1m, 30s). It appears as 'Stereo' in the right hand column and during playing on the lcd display without LP2. Is this actually encoded at LP2 quality???!!! If it is, then that's madness!

BTW, the MZ-N710 seems to work perfectly :-)

[zerodB]

Yep, that's right. What happens is that SonicStage will convert the WAV to an ATRAC LP2 bitrate, and then send that to the unit. The unit will then decode that LP2 data into SP mode.

So yes, you get SP data on your minidisc, but at LP2 quality. You got it, it's madness.

[MegatronUK]

Right, well I won't be having any of that then! Optical it is. Pretty sure I've got an SB Audigy sitting around somewhere that I can use for optical out (if not, is it possible to go from spdif to optical? - as my other soundcard definitely has spdif).

So I guess the procedure is:

Load up desired playlist in Winamp/other player

Make sure Optical Out is selected

Set NetMD to record

Press play in Winamp

Let it go and when it has finished, fire up SonicStage and edit the track names?

Will the device detect the individual tracks from Winamp, or will I have to do some of that blank track insertion malarky?

[MegatronUK]

Ah... just found a cheaper solution than a digital spdif <-> optical convertor... the Xitel DG2 and a 7 port usb hub on ebay for less than £20... I've been needing a hub anyway ;-)

[MegatronUK]

Quick update... the SP recorded tracks play fine in the headunit; sounding surprisingly good considering I've still got the crappy 18 year old Toyota speakers in the car!

Honestly I'm im just happy that this headunit still actually plays minidiscs! It could have eaten discs for all I knew!

New speakers (Infinity Reference and Kappa), amp, sub and a usb-optical soundcard on the way to see what kind of quality we can get