LPs to MiniDisc Project.

[bsandovalb]

Hi,

Just joined the forum, however, been reading your posts from time to time. I am currently an owner of 2 sony mp3 players (hd5 & nwe-608). I love those two players!...

Happens that my dad has around 200 Long Plays (genre: jazz) in perfect shape he got when he studued in Berkeley California in late 70´s. I gave him an mp3 player and I would like to "digitalize" those discs to be able to impoirt them to his player, so he can enjoy his music digitally

I am aware that needs to be done in real time recording, so I am taking this as a personal project.... my problem is that I am illiterate in the minidisc arena, and do not know what to choose....

all I want is:

-Be able to record from a hi fi systems my dad´s LPs (best quality recording as posible)

-Be able load those files to a computer and store them in mp3?...atrac? (his device is not sony, it is an iaudio)

-Be able to load his mp3 player from the computer -if possible!, so I can keep the mini disc.. jeje

-Mini dic unit must play back files nicely

question:

-where should I go?? I have been looking the latest unit and love the metal casing....but I am open to suggestions.. I am located in Costa Rica, however, I wold probably be able to get any unit trhough ebay or with some friend going to the US -if not me

Thanks for your advice!

ps- It may look to you that I am an excellent son taking care of my dad´s old records ... but being totally honest, it is just an excuse to buy another toy for me, while serving a noble cause, of course

[garcou]

Hi,

Just joined the forum, however, been reading your posts from time to time. I am currently an owner of 2 sony mp3 players (hd5 & nwe-608). I love those two players!...

Happens that my dad has around 200 Long Plays (genre: jazz) in perfect shape he got when he studued in Berkeley California in late 70´s. I gave him an mp3 player and I would like to "digitalize" those discs to be able to impoirt them to his player, so he can enjoy his music digitally

I am aware that needs to be done in real time recording, so I am taking this as a personal project.... my problem is that I am illiterate in the minidisc arena, and do not know what to choose....

all I want is:

-Be able to record from a hi fi systems my dad´s LPs (best quality recording as posible)

-Be able load those files to a computer and store them in mp3?...atrac? (his device is not sony, it is an iaudio)

-Be able to load his mp3 player from the computer -if possible!, so I can keep the mini disc.. jeje

-Mini dic unit must play back files nicely

question:

-where should I go?? I have been looking the latest unit and love the metal casing....but I am open to suggestions.. I am located in Costa Rica, however, I wold probably be able to get any unit trhough ebay or with some friend going to the US -if not me

Thanks for your advice!

ps- It may look to you that I am an excellent son taking care of my dad´s old records ... but being totally honest, it is just an excuse to buy another toy for me, while serving a noble cause, of course

You need an Himd recorder with

1) analog line input: mz-RH10 or mz-RH1 or for the best quality of the ADC and preamplifiers, use an HIMD deck (Only Onkyo's yet made HIMD deck). (you also can use an old school high-end md deck with optical output like MDS jB 940 to drive the optical input of the himd portable unit)

2) If you have the intention of playing the files on a Sony audio device, you can directly record in HiSP (256 kbps atrac3+) for very good compromise in term of size and quality

3) If you have the intention of reencoding the music in another lossy codec (mp3, WMa, OGG, aac...) or if you want the best quality anyway, record in PCM format

[pata2001]

Happens that my dad has around 200 Long Plays (genre: jazz) in perfect shape he got when he studued in Berkeley California in late 70´s. I gave him an mp3 player and I would like to "digitalize" those discs to be able to impoirt them to his player, so he can enjoy his music digitally

I am aware that needs to be done in real time recording, so I am taking this as a personal project.... my problem is that I am illiterate in the minidisc arena, and do not know what to choose....

all I want is:

-Be able to record from a hi fi systems my dad´s LPs (best quality recording as posible)

-Be able load those files to a computer and store them in mp3?...atrac? (his device is not sony, it is an iaudio)

-Be able to load his mp3 player from the computer -if possible!, so I can keep the mini disc.. jeje

-Mini dic unit must play back files nicely

question:

-where should I go?? I have been looking the latest unit and love the metal casing....but I am open to suggestions.. I am located in Costa Rica, however, I wold probably be able to get any unit trhough ebay or with some friend going to the US -if not me

Thanks for your advice!

ps- It may look to you that I am an excellent son taking care of my dad´s old records ... but being totally honest, it is just an excuse to buy another toy for me, while serving a noble cause, of course

Since the end point is a PC, then why don't you just record the LPs to your PC directly to WAV? It saves money, time, headache (dealing with sonicstage) and also preserve quality. Just plug-in the analog out of the hifi system to your sound card's line-in, and record away. No DRM to worry.

[UMWOOFWOOFF]

You are about 6 years too late...

This ship is nearly submerged and people are scrambling for lifeboats...and you're trying to get into the mess hall to have a nice cold one.

If Sony hadn't backed out, I'd say get a deck and record away. But, they never made us a deck. I'm happy with my legacy MD equipment. Hi-MD just never reached fruition, and now the life support plug is dangling out of its socket.

There's literally nothing better to record on, but sadly, who wants to buy into a dream???

[bsandovalb]

Thank you guys for your recommendations, really appreciate it...

The idea of using a mini disc recorder came as I:

1- would like to experiment the Mini disc world before it dies -as some of you are saying, perhaps not - I don´t want people to tell me "did you ever use...", I prefer to taste it by myself

2- If it is such a good format to record music, would sere me to record some concerts I can go to

3- as my dad is old fashion -he still uses cassette player on his car, it would be easier for him to have ... let´s say 5 hi-md with his favorits and just use a mini disc player -i would buy him another unit- to plug it into hs car via cassette adapter...overall a less compicated process for him to just insert the disc he wants or leave them on the car -believe it or not- than creating playlists and searching on an mp3 player database.

4- Since I have already a sony hd-5 I guess I would be able to load HiSP recordings and use the mini disc unit as a recorder and back up player -is it correct to assume that both mz-RH10 or mz-RH1 have great audio playback -similar tomy hd5-?

5- I m also in the process of building my own audio room -now that I am getting married and we are building our house ... So eventually I would search for a mini disc deck to add it to the hi fi systems -need to buy it yet... ooouuuch my wallet!-... in the end, and after reading your forum, looks like would be nice to have some mini discs just for the fun of having a different format and "educate" people that coe to my place (almost nobody here is familiar with it)

[Sparky191]

As a recorder I think theres still a market for MD/HiMD. It maybe that in the future we'll have to order everything from Japan but I think there'll still be units around. I use HiMD to record old cassettes etc. I convert the recordings to WAV. Then edit them as I want, and then re encode them to the format I want.

I use a cassette adapter to my car stereo and it works well enough. I reckon the models with the control stick are easer to use in the car.

[garcou]

Thank you guys for your recommendations, really appreciate it...

The idea of using a mini disc recorder came as I:

1- would like to experiment the Mini disc world before it dies -as some of you are saying, perhaps not - I don´t want people to tell me "did you ever use...", I prefer to taste it by myself

2- If it is such a good format to record music, would sere me to record some concerts I can go to

3- as my dad is old fashion -he still uses cassette player on his car, it would be easier for him to have ... let´s say 5 hi-md with his favorits and just use a mini disc player -i would buy him another unit- to plug it into hs car via cassette adapter...overall a less compicated process for him to just insert the disc he wants or leave them on the car -believe it or not- than creating playlists and searching on an mp3 player database.

4- Since I have already a sony hd-5 I guess I would be able to load HiSP recordings and use the mini disc unit as a recorder and back up player -is it correct to assume that both mz-RH10 or mz-RH1 have great audio playback -similar tomy hd5-?

5- I m also in the process of building my own audio room -now that I am getting married and we are building our house ... So eventually I would search for a mini disc deck to add it to the hi fi systems -need to buy it yet... ooouuuch my wallet!-... in the end, and after reading your forum, looks like would be nice to have some mini discs just for the fun of having a different format and "educate" people that coe to my place (almost nobody here is familiar with it)

I've got my two Onkyo Himd decks directly from japan. They work and sound very good.

The first (MD-105FX) I ordered from Audiocubes easy and fast but expensive

The second (MD-133) I ordered from pricejapan.com: you can get the best price from all japanese e-shops.

pricejapan

(From time to time,the link may fail. just try again later)

Edited June 21, 2006 by garcou

[Avrin]

If you plan to clean up LP recordings using your computer (declicking, noise reduction, etc.), then you'll have to record in PCM (recording in a compressed format will make a mess of declicking). Then:

1. Transfer the recorded files to your computer, and convert them to WAVs.

2. Apply the declicking algorithm first.

3. Apply the noise reduction algoritm second.

4. Edit and cut the files as you wish.

5. Convert them to any format you may possibly like. MP3 is more common, but has gaps (though you may convert each LP side to a single file). ATRAC3plus is much less common, but is gapless.

All this will take ages, even for a single record. If you don't really care about traditional vinyl noises (I don't), then you'll spend much less time on this. You may record directly into HiSP, and edit on the unit. Anyway, get an MZ-RH1 for this purpose. It has much faster upload rates. AND remembers recording settings.

One more thing. HiMD units actually have BETTER playback than any HDD or Flash ones.

Edited June 21, 2006 by Avrin

[Sparky191]

Well it can only be done in real time, ie you have to playback the LP and record it. Personally I don't bother with declicking, noise reduction I don't like the result.

How do HiMD units have BETTER playback?

[Avrin]

By having BETTER amps.

[Sparky191]

Can you give some info on which amps are in which players HiMD vs HD/Flash players?

[Avrin]

No, I can't. But I've never heard of an HDD/Flash unit having an HD Digital Amp.

[Sparky191]

What do you think they have. Low Definition Analog Amps?

[Avrin]

Don't know about low definition, but the simple fact that internal HISS NOISE in some of these units is considered NORMAL tells us something.

Edited June 21, 2006 by Avrin

[Sparky191]

Is the Hiss causes by the amp though?

[Avrin]

By what else may it be caused? By the DAC? Very unlikely...

[Sparky191]

Impedance matching problems and poor shielding, or poor quality components like volume controls etc. I'm guessing. My HiMD doesn't have a HD and I've no hiss. I don't think any of my portables do, Flash or HDD. Or more accuately I can't hear any with my lo fi earphones.

Edited June 21, 2006 by Sparky191

[Avrin]

Your guess may be right - all these also add noise to some extent. But the main source remains in the amp.

My HiMD also doesn't have a HD, but doesn't have hiss either. Though I frequently play it through my Hi-Fi system.

Edited June 21, 2006 by Avrin

[Terence Kelly]

I do believe MD is the way to go for converting LPs to a digital format. Most computer software fails to detect the gaps between the tracks properly, especially with Jazz or Classical music. It's much faster to edit and title the tracks on the minidisc. I've had my best results with Sony's top of the line home deck - JB980, but most portables will do a good job. If you do want to put it on a computer then get a Hi MD portable. They are designed for uploading. If you want to stick with minidisc then a legacy unit will do. The best sound I have ever heard from any portable unit is from my Sharp DR7, and I've listened to a wide range of HD, HiMD and flash players.

TK

[Sparky191]

Its not bad at the gaps. Not perfect though. I import the files as waves and combine them usually. Then I use CDWAVE to edit them as I often want a different length of silence at the start and end of the track than SS has created/allowed. It will also alow me to use lame or FLAC or WAV to encode the finished recording. I just like CDWAVE though. Nice simple app, but hugely useful. http://www.milosoftware.com/cdwave/description.html

By having BETTER amps.

OK fair enough I don't think that MD/HiMD are the only DAPs out there with decent amps though.

Edited June 21, 2006 by Sparky191

[Avrin]

I would probably also add that HiMD units have really good ADCs. So the resulting sound quality when recording from analog is excellent.

The funny thing is that they also have really good resampling abilities. I tried recording from a DVD-Audio, feeding 48 kHz/24 bit into my MZ-RH10 via optical in. It did not care about any DVD-Audio copy protection, and converted the signal into its native 44.1 kHz/16 bit without any hearable aliasing effects.

Edited June 21, 2006 by Avrin

[bsandovalb]

thanks for all your replies!

What I am planning to do is:

1-Buy a HiMD recorder/player for me to be able to record my dad´s vinyl LPs. I will record in hiSP to make my life easier, and edit on the player -I actually like to vinyl "noises"-

2-Will buy another heap HiMD player for my dad. This way I will give him the recorder HiMD´s and will just switch them as he wish -as if they were CDs-

Does this sound good?

I am looking towards the RH1 unit -for recording- + ???? (player for my dad?)

Any other suggestion?

PS-- by the way, I believe that the only HD DAP that has a digitalamp are the kenwood ones, supposidly they are the best sounding units -never sold in the US, and quite expensive-... however, people has reported there´s always a low hiss

[A440]

Recording on Hi-SP will give you eight hours per MD, so you would want to group your collections.

But it seems like your dad is going to end up with a stack of Hi-MDs that he can only play on one device. What happens if he loses it or it breaks?

You'd be better off recording to CD to MD in PCM (best sound quality), uploading to computer, and burning to CD. It's more time-consuming, but then your dad would have CDs that he can play anywhere.

Or, for this project, Pata2001 had the best idea: record directly to your computer--get a Griffin iMic if you need a line-in--and then use CDwave

http://www.milosoftware.com/cdwave/

to split it into separate album tracks, and burn to CD.

You can get yourself a MD for recording live music anyway, but it's not the best method for this project.

[Sparky191]

The reason I use HiMD for my own recording of cassettes and other sources instead of my laptop or PC is that its just easier to put the HiMD beside the source than the laptop or PC. Also I reckon like Avrin that the ADC (audio to digital convertor) in the HiMD is better than in my sound card I use with my PC or Laptop.

[Terence Kelly]

Or, for this project, Pata2001 had the best idea: record directly to your computer--get a Griffin iMic if you need a line-in--and then use CDwave

The computer would work if it's near your turntable, but this would take more active attention. Computer software is easily fooled by the wide dynamic ranges and starts and stops in classical and jazz music. Editing on the computer for the purpose of just splitting tracks is much more combersome than using the minidisc directly. That's one of the strengths of the format. Put on the LP, walk away. You can mark the tracks in two minutes anytime later. If you want to burn a CD you do have an extra step, but not one that takes active attention.

TK

[Sparky191]

I dunno. Personally I prefer CDWAVE to using the HiMD to do it.