geestring Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 hi im new to minidiscs... quick question... with sonic stage... when im importing music into "mY library" is it just an instance to the original files on my computer... or is it copying them and pasting them into a my library folder?actually is it possible to point "My library" to a specified directory? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 (edited) Your user controls are under Tools/Options, including the location of where to save things. Look at some of the Advanced options tucked away, too. Before MD units played mp3 directly, SonicStage was definitely making its own copies of music that was imported, because it had to convert to ATRAC. I'm not sure if it is making a second copy of the mp3, but my guess is that yes, it is. Why don't you search with Windows Explorer and see if there are two copies of the mp3 in different places ?[Edit: Guessed wrong. See below. It just points to where the mp3 is or was when you added it to My Library.]When you delete something from SonicStage be sure to UN-check "Delete this music file from the computer" or it will delete your source file too. Edited February 21, 2006 by A440 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geestring Posted February 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 (edited) hmm whats the newest sonicstage.. i think i have 3.0 Edited February 19, 2006 by geestring Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted February 19, 2006 Report Share Posted February 19, 2006 The latest version is 3.4 . Upgrade as soon as you can. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=14137 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geestring Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 what does the Hi-SP mean on my lcd screen?also whats the lowest bitrate without noticing a drop in sound quality? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Right about now would be a really good time to consult the manual that came with your unit. Or at least take a look at the FAQ. http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.htmlHi-MD units record in PCM (CD-quality), Hi-SP (256 kbps) and Hi-LP (64 kpbs). Scroll down that FAQ to see the recording time in each format. Any compression affects sound quality. Whether you'll hear the difference depends on the headphones, your ears, your environment and your tastes. So you'll have to do your own test. Simple Burner is also on your SonicStage CD. It's a program that lets you put a CD in your computer and copy it directly to minidisc on your unit, without adding any files to your computer. Install it and copy CD tracks at various bitrates, and see what you think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geestring Posted February 20, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 ok i get it.also.. sonic stage sometimes freezes or crashes during transfers... i dont know if this is normal...and is it normal to hear the mindisc player making mechanical sounds?supposedly 64kbps Atrac3plus is equivilent to 128kbps mp3? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 You need to isolate exactly what makes SonicStage crash--which kind of file, when it happens, etc. It could be anything from other programs running simultaneously to conflicts among drivers and codecs to bizarre hi-tech voodoo curses. Yes, the player makes mechanical sounds. There's a disc spinning in there and a head accessing parts of it. Is 64kbps equivalent ATRAC equivalent to 128 kpbs mp3? Compare for yourself and see what you think. (Get the Winamp plugin from Downloads and play two differently encoded files through Winamp, or download two files to your unit. Convert both fresh from the same CD--don't convert a 128kbps mp3 to 64kbps, because the double conversion would definitely make it sound worse.) If you're satisfied with Hi-LP, that's all that matters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dex Otaku Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 I'm not sure if it is making a second copy of the mp3, but my guess is that yes, it is. Why don't you search with Windows Explorer and see if there are two copies of the mp3 in different places ?No, it doesn't. "My Library", for all intents and purposes, is a database only. Tracks should only have one file associated with them* unless you have transcoded them to another format using SS. Also, if you move tracks on your hdd, SS will lose track of them, since My Library is really just an index of pointers to the files your have added to it.* - notwithstanding the SS bug that adds the same tracks to the library multiple times [creates duplicates] if you add playlists containing the same track Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geestring Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 all my music is mp3 on my harddrive.. I converted it to 64kbps atrac when putting on the player... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Then your music has been converted twice: first to mp3, and then again to Hi-LP. It loses something in each conversion. Since your unit also plays unconverted mp3, why not download some and see if you can hear the difference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny mac Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 I would suggest upgrading to the newest version of Sonicstage: 3.4. This might help with the freezing or crashing and will also allow transfers at 192 kbps my bitrate of choice for sound quality vs. space.Sonicstage does not make a duplicate of the original MP3 unless you want to transfer it as ATRAC to your RH910 - in this case it has to convert. If you go into the settings you can tell it whether or not you want it to keep this ATRAC file for future transfers or discard it to save hard-drive space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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