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Sonicstage 3.4 Debuts With Stunning New Functionality


Christopher

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Well well well, Sony seems to be getting the point, slowly but steadily. Maybe they were so scared when I sold all my MD gear a while ago and bought an MP3 player that they decided to try and win me back ;)

3 must have's left on my list with points which Sony must get right before I buy MD again:

1) Atrac Lossless (or FLAC offcourse ;)) on the device itself.

2) Support for more operating systems, preferably by making some libs freely available and telling us how they work so that we can build our own application around them (I'd kill to have my MD-player show up in Rhythmbox ;)).

3) A Deck! HiFi without a deck is no HiFi!

Yep, it's me, always finding something to whine about. I demand perfection, nothing less ;) And Sony, you can do that, 80% of it is complete ;)

And this post contains a helluvalot smilies ;) See how kind and gentle I really am ;)

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Well well well, Sony seems to be getting the point, slowly but steadily. Maybe they were so scared when I sold all my MD gear a while ago and bought an MP3 player that they decided to try and win me back ;)

3 must have's left on my list with points which Sony must get right before I buy MD again:

1) Atrac Lossless (or FLAC offcourse ;)) on the device itself.

2) Support for more operating systems, preferably by making some libs freely available and telling us how they work so that we can build our own application around them (I'd kill to have my MD-player show up in Rhythmbox ;)).

3) A Deck! HiFi without a deck is no HiFi!

Yep, it's me, always finding something to whine about. I demand perfection, nothing less ;) And Sony, you can do that, 80% of it is complete ;)

And this post contains a helluvalot smilies ;) See how kind and gentle I really am ;)

I completely agree with your first comment. Slowly progress but steadily but I think it is pointless now to try to play catch up. I don't mean to sound hopeless but I think most user like faster things like USB 2.0 and less complicated things anymore. And I completely agree with you with your number (3). If I see a Hi-MD deck that records PCM with digital input and no SCMS restriction on it and is for Pro-user or even if not, I will be jumping all over it and perhaps give Sony another shot. Right now I'm caught up with Rockbox which I just recently implented it on my 2gb Nano and 4g 40gb because of the feature that I like about on it Bookmarking and crossfade on it that I had looking for in an mp3 player. How can Sony top that off? or Keep me off my iPods now?

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i assume you aren't using hiMD then. if it's netMD or earlier then no you cant in anything other than realtime which can be helped a little by marcnet's rederrer program in the downloads section.

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And of course, there is always the option suggested by another poster on this board: that one day Sony might allow the uploading of music on "regular" MDs by putting them in a Hi-MD walkman hooked to a computer.

And WHY should this be a problem for SONY or anybody else?

I've read a whole lot of people repeatedly asking if it was finally possible to upload non-Hi-MD-recorded stuff and, as the answer has been repeatedly given: NO! Your old MD collection is forever doomed to pass through a re-recording process if you want to get it onto your PC.

But the question I haven't seen any speculation about is WHY? I've got my performances that I recorded on MD as a way to easily capture and store in high quality though SONY has stubbornly persisted in locking up this marvellous format. Now, they've opened the door pretty wide at long last but all the long-time MD users are left twisting in the wind - even though we're ready to buy an upgraded unit to gain the functionality.

Anyone care to suggest WHY this might be? I cannot fathom.

economy1

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And WHY should this be a problem for SONY or anybody else?

I've read a whole lot of people repeatedly asking if it was finally possible to upload non-Hi-MD-recorded stuff and, as the answer has been repeatedly given: NO! Your old MD collection is forever doomed to pass through a re-recording process if you want to get it onto your PC.

But the question I haven't seen any speculation about is WHY? I've got my performances that I recorded on MD as a way to easily capture and store in high quality though SONY has stubbornly persisted in locking up this marvellous format. Now, they've opened the door pretty wide at long last but all the long-time MD users are left twisting in the wind - even though we're ready to buy an upgraded unit to gain the functionality.

Anyone care to suggest WHY this might be? I cannot fathom.

economy1

Sony probably thinks "Any music recording on OUR machines is OURS and not that of the person who recorded it, even though the music being recorded isn't ours"

My thoughts anyways, We all know that Sony is famous for making stupid decisions

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Not to defend Sony, but hoping that you can upload from Net-MD via software is like expecting your CD player to read DVDs by simply changing the firmware. NetMD never uploaded anything, to begin with. Ok. Reading the audio as raw data might be possible using a HI-MD unit one day.. but... come on, they have come a long way already.

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Hello,

this is not totally clear to me: Tracks recorded with a HiMD device could be uploaded to SonicStage ever since, regardless if they were made from the analogue or digital input. But only analogue recordings could be saved as WAV then (except with Mark's famous HiMD Renderer).

>> OK, I'm confused. I've never been able to upload to sonic stage recordings I've made on my minidisc. What am I missing? The only way I've been able to get things off of my minidisc is to play them and re-record them (say, using Adobe).

You mean if I record using HiMD I can upload using Sonic Stage? I'm going to try it right now.

It worked! Man. Anyone want to purchase a stack of NetMDs?

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You mean if I record using HiMD I can upload using Sonic Stage? I'm going to try it right now.

It worked! Man. Anyone want to purchase a stack of NetMDs?

If you mean NetMD discs, you can just reformat them to Hi-MD format. They will then hold almost twice as much as before and also allow you to upload your recordings.

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I am having incredible issues with SonicStage 3.4.

The user interface is buggy and the software doesn't see my player or existing library - even after running conversion.

It's jittery and doesn't react to any commands.

Anyone else with trouble? I wouldn't mind a full copy of 2.1 if you could e-mail me. I have 2.3 upgrade version only - then I could revert to it. You can't find a download of it anywhere - just 3.4.

I've tried the install 4 or 5 times - same results.

Help.

Tom

tleparskas@cogeco.ca

Win XP pro SP2, AMD Athlon 2600+, Creative Audigy, Sony MZ-NH700, 1 gig RAM, 2HDD.

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What happens with my old version of sonicstage and my files into "My Library"

when I install the new sonicstage 3.4 ??

Can anyone tell me please??

The old version will be deinstalled, the library will be converted after the install of the new version.

Despite the fact, that I never had any data loss during upgrade, I strongly recommend to backup your library, using the SonicStage backup tool before doing the upgrade.

Remember, keeping your backup current is highly recommended anyway.

Edited by atrain
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Sony Canada finally released the installer for SS 3.4.

You can get it here:

http://esupport.sony.com/perl/swu-download...id=2015&SMB=YES

By the way, these guys are obsessed... Look what they give next to the download link:

"Please record responsibly. Unauthorized distribution of copyrighted content is illegal. Do not use this software to make unauthorized copies of copyrighted content or for other improper or illegal purposes." :D

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Hello all

I'm having trouble with batch transfers to my NH1 with SS3.4. Individual tracks transfer across fine but if I try to batch transfer an album or playlist (or several albums or playlists), SS starts off fine, telling me how much disc space I'm going to use, the record light flashes merrily on the NH1, the transfer progress line in the top right-hand corner sets to 0% and then ... it all stops. After a few seconds, the rec light stops flashing on the NH1 and the progress indicator sticks stubbornly at 0%. If I disconnect the usb cable and reconnect only the album art has transferred; none of the tracks.

I also have a pocket VAIO player and there's no such issue with batch transfers in SS3.4. In addition, I had no problems at all with batch transferring to the NH1 with SS3.3.

Steven

Edited by mini-manc
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I'm having trouble with batch transfers to my NH1 with SS3.4. Individual tracks transfer across fine but if I try to batch transfer an album or playlist (or several albums or playlists), SS starts off fine, telling me how much disc space I'm going to use, the record light flashes merrily on the NH1, the transfer progress line in the top right-hand corner sets to 0% and then ... it all stops. After a few seconds, the rec light stops flashing on the NH1 and the progress indicator sticks stubbornly at 0%. If I disconnect the usb cable and reconnect only the album art has transferred; none of the tracks.

This problem had been discussed in great details in this thread.

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=13892

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  • 4 weeks later...

I take all your points, SS 3.4 is definitely a milestone improvement, but I have a question: why on earth can't I record in MD mode with my MZ-RH10 standalone? Is it a built-in, artificial limitation (like many others, undermining development of a mass MD culture and preventing Sony from making zillions of $$$), or are there any more good (=technical) reasons for it?

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I take all your points, SS 3.4 is definitely a milestone improvement, but I have a question: why on earth can't I record in MD mode with my MZ-RH10 standalone? Is it a built-in, artificial limitation (like many others, undermining development of a mass MD culture and preventing Sony from making zillions of $$$), or are there any more good (=technical) reasons for it?

This was done to cut costs on all 2nd gen HiMD recorders.

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hey all, i'm brand new here on your forum-and i shold start off by saying i know very little about comps in general. i have a net md player and i want to upload a bunch of discs onto my PC. they are all in LP4 mode and were recorded in analouge. Is is possible to get these discs onto my comp...? i have sonicstage 3.4...can i do it with that or do i need another program..? some instructions would be muchly appreciated!! :D

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Hi,

I'm uncertain what the excitement about SonicStage 3.4 is all about. I installed the program on two different computers, but found to my utter dissappointment that it refused to upload music from my old minidiscs via either my MZ-N1 or MZ-RH910 to the hard discs of these computers.

I was under the impression that I would finally be able to consolidate the music from my enire minidisc collection - dating back to about ten years - via my hard disc onto two or three HiMD minidiscs.

The music recorded with my MZ-N1 or MDS-JE530 recorders show up with an icon consisting of two music notes, but the bacground of these music notes is blue and grey. Music that has been recorded with a HiMD device like my MZ-RH910 displays these note icons with a solid blue bacground and transfer flawlessly.

Does anybody know of a work-around to transfer the music from my old minidiscs to the hard disc of my computer via SonicStage 3.4?

Thanks.

Gerrit.

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Now as a Reminder @ glbuys and others:

NetMD-Recorders do NOT upload anything.

1st and 2nd Generation HiMD-Recorders upload only Recordings created on a HiMD-Recorder with a 1GB-Disc or a standard disc formatted in HiMD-Mode.

By using SonicStage3.4, tracks downloaded onto a HiMD disc can be reuploaded.

3rd Generation HiMD-Recorders (MZ-RH1) can upload recordings made on old recorders (SP,LP2,LP4) but NOT tracks downloaded onto a standard disc from a PC using a NetMD-Recorder.

Reason: It could be stuff purchased through the Connect-Store.

Hope that clears it up.

Merely installing SS3.4 doesn't give you 3rd-gen capabilities.

Edited by jadeclaw
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I am new to this forum but not new to this sonic stage prooogram. The link to the new 3.4 ss installer is hooorrible!!!!! Please update your link so that those who are trying to use it can. Thanks

wilkywilk

Welcome to MDCF and we apologize for the inconvenience. I have fixed the link - please utilize the link at your earliest convenience.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am somewhat confused about the possibilities of MDs. Ive read a bunch of postings, but it is still not clear for me, whether the followings are possible with an rh10 and SonicStage 3.4.

1. Record files with a mic on the RH10.

2. Upload files to the PC.

3. Burn OMA files on a CD for archiving (and remove the files both from the MD and the harddrive).

4. Edit uploaded OMA files on the PC with Sound Forge/other editor software. Save various version.

5. Share these OMA files with other uses (by email, on CD), etc. So they can listen, edit, convert, etc.

6. Be able to read those archived OMA files later, even after an OS reinstall.

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1. Yes (Not much to do with SonicStage actually ...)

2. Yes

3. Yes and no. Convert Atrac recording to remove DRM. I haven't found a way to remove DRM from PCM recordings. But as long as you can save them as WAV ...

5. Yes (if you encode without DRM)

6. Yes (see above)

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I see some contradiction between 3 and 5. I understand that if I convert to WAV, I can completely get rid of SonicStage, and do whatever I want with the file. But the idea behind the archiving (point 3) would be to save the original version without recoding, so conversion is not an option. In 5 you say i can share it with others if I encode wo/ DRM. But what about my own recordings (point 1)? Can they be shared with others (ie. not have DRM in them) wo/ recoding? If yes, what stops me from archiving those files?

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The trick is that you should reencode the Atrac track with the same bit rate and untick the box for the DRM (so it is not really reencoding, more getting ride of the DRM). Then you can archive the unDRM'ed file. That trick doesn't apply to PCM AFAIK, but as I said, PCM can be converted to WAV (and then FLAC).

And :

4. Yes, the latest SoundForge should support Atrac. But Atrac is only supported by Sony software, so I don't think it is that wise to archive in a proprietary format for the long term ...

Edited by Roamer
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  • 2 weeks later...
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