Ripping (nonHi) MD to Computer

[Street_Samurai]

Hi,

I'm -sure- this has been covered somewhere in these forums before but... i can't find it in search... so:

I was an early MD adopter and I have 40-50 albums of my own music, various live session etc.

All of the content is on "first-generation MDs".

About a year ago, I tried to use a HiMD player to offload the content and it didn't work.

Is there a way for me to get the music off the MD and onto my computer digitally (without any DRM protection)?

Thanks for any help,

ss.

[MDfreak]

Hi,

I'm -sure- this has been covered somewhere in these forums before but... i can't find it in search... so:

I was an early MD adopter and I have 40-50 albums of my own music, various live session etc.

All of the content is on "first-generation MDs".

About a year ago, I tried to use a HiMD player to offload the content and it didn't work.

Is there a way for me to get the music off the MD and onto my computer digitally (without any DRM protection)?

Thanks for any help,

ss.

The "magic word" is MZ-RH1.

[Street_Samurai]

Brilliant!

Thanks, I'll pick that bad-boy up, rip my tracks and return it.

(When it comes out of course)

Thank you!

ss.

Edited April 27, 2006 by Street_Samurai

[The Low Volta]

...and by doing that making sure someone out there gets a slightly used unit that might break down earlier...

why not just buy one and use it for recording? Or at least don't advertise such low behaviour... or share with us the store you'll play this trick on so we know which one to avoid

you've gotta love these ppl... talking about something morally wrong with pride, as if they have every right to act this way

(please note a slight ironic tone: I don't really care you stealing from Sony, even though I personally do not agree with the described actions as it also affects the next person who buys your 'used' machine for the full price)

[jaylen]

Yeah, no kidding. It's almost as bad as people who post about selling a malfunctioning MD unit as "new" to people on eBay.

Hopefully, when he/she returns the RH1, they'll re-sell it as open-box. Or better yet, it will come in a blister pack or some other packaging with tamper alert. It will be obvious that he/she has used it and may have to deal with in-store credit instead of cash back or card credit.

lol Makes you wonder if he/she returned that Hi-MD unit after seeing that the transfer didn't work.

[Stuge]

Brilliant!

Thanks, I'll pick that bad-boy up, rip my tracks and return it.

(When it comes out of course)

Thank you!

ss.

I think you should rather keep that unit ..instead of giving it back

[Street_Samurai]

(please note a slight ironic tone: I don't really care you stealing from Sony, even though I personally do not agree with the described actions as it also affects the next person who buys your 'used' machine for the full price)

Listen... if Sony hadn't made the stupid decision to forward lock ---my--- content then I wouldn't be in this position.

I've had ----my---- music stuck on this format for over eight years.

Sony has bent me over and had its way with me for too long... and I'm not giving them a red cent in order to get my music back (I don't think i even need to bring up rootkits and walkmen that can only convert to ATRAC).

As far as a product that breaks: 1) Sony should make them better 2) thats what warranty is for 3) if doing a single rip of my 30 MD discs is going to seriously impact the lifetime of this product then -no one- should bother buying one.

You have way too much time on your hands.

ss.

Edited April 28, 2006 by Street_Samurai

[jaylen]

Sony has bent me over and had its way with me for too long... and I'm not giving them a red cent in order to get my music back (I don't think i even need to bring up rootkits and walkmen that can only convert to ATRAC).

Two wrongs don't make a right.

Samurai are supposed to live and die by honor.

[The Low Volta]

Listen... if Sony hadn't made the stupid decision to forward lock ---my--- content then I wouldn't be in this position.

huh, forward lock please explain! you mean Sony invented MD but already had HiMD in mind, but thinking if we lock the format, then sell a couple of standard HiMD's, then offer the RH1 which can unlock the format we'll sell more... please unblock your head from that tight space where the sun doesn't shine and realize that:

- they hadn't thought of uploading at all at the time they invented MD

- they didn't realize uploading standard MD's was of such importance for a lot of ppl

- they now have actually listened to the MD community (at a time they could have just as well ditched the format entirely)

- they might have needed some time to get the technology to a point it actually allowed the legacy formats to be uploaded

-...

but of course it is much easier (especially on your wallet) to believe in conspiracy theories

I've had ----my---- music stuck on this format for over eight years.

or... "I still have ----my---- own music in a reasonably good quality thanks to this format...and now it will even be uploadable to PC/mac even though that was never predicted/promised"

but hey, who am I to say you shouldn't have recorded your music on tape or something alike and lost it by now or had to transfer analoguely (which you can still do with your legacy MD's as well... they were never really 'stuck' now, or where they?)

Sony has bent me over and had its way with me for too long

noone ever forced you to buy sony in the first place ...or did they? do some research before you buy, that will save a lot of sorrow

... and I'm not giving them a red cent in order to get my music back

hmm...as I said before, your music was saved thanks to them as well... so without sony you wouldn't have to get a new device to upload your old recordings... as there wouldn't have been any uploadable old recordings without sony. [irony]Yeah that seems like a good reason to rip someone off!![/irony]

(I don't think i even need to bring up rootkits and walkmen that can only convert to ATRAC).

no, actually you don't... that's:

- another department of sony

- commercial music (not your own recordings)

- other formats (CD) so not relevant to your planned action/complaints

As far as a product that breaks: 1) Sony should make them better 2) thats what warranty is for 3) if doing a single rip of my 30 MD discs is going to seriously impact the lifetime of this product then -no one- should bother buying one.

well:

1) I agree... but that doesn't make it right for you to shorten the lifespan of the machine for someone else

2) yeah, but the warranty is also for the person who buys and keeps the object... it wasn't invented so that when it breaks after ppl use and return something, it is repairable...please just admit you're planning to do somethig morally wrong and stop making excuses... this really only makes it look worse, you know

3) that is besides the point: it should be 30 rips for the person who pays full price and not for you... heck, buying 10 1gb discs won't deplete anyones paycheck seriously, don't you agree? so why won't you buy me 10 1gb discs monthly? because it is your paycheck and you do not want to give me 10 discs each month even if you can easily miss the money (certainly not after I've nagged about this for so long ) so why would the next buyer of 'your RH1' give you 30 uploads?... again, please quit making (lousy) excuses...

You have way too much time on your hands.

hmm:

- discarding your sorry reasons didn't take much time

- it's not so much that I've got too much time...it rather seems I've got too much respect for my fellow ppl! (unlike some)

[bobt]

Well said Volta, I think you caught all our sentiments on that last post. Some people shouldn't be allowed near technology.

Take care all,

Bob

[rossocorsa]

Going back to the original question, maybe there are other ways of transferring the music digitally to a PC.

Has anyone been able to mod/hack any of the portable MD players to get a digital output? I havn't actually opened one up yet but presumably the music is decoded from the MD atrac format -> then passed to a DAC where its converted to analogue signal -> and then to an amplifier stage before hitting the headphone output.

If the digital signal could be 'tapped' before the DAC stage (it won't be in S/PDIF format but rather I2S) then it could be fed quite easily to an S/PDIF converter circuit (CS8414 for example) or to a sound card (Some of the SBLive cards had I2S inputs hidden onboard somewhere)

The above, however, makes the assumption that the data from the MD is is not decoded to analogue using a single DSP chip and instead has a separate DAC onboard.

[raintheory]

The MZ-1 has an optical output (the only portable that does), but you would only be able to get SP/MONO from it.

Aside from that I don't recall anyone modifying any portable units with an optical output.

The MDS-JE470 Deck (LP2/LP4 compatible) has been successfully modified to provide an optical output...