MZ-RH1 and Legacy Audio

[Darkflame]

Good afternoon everyone. I just wanted to drop a quick question in hopes the MD gurus of the board could shed some light to my situation.

I currently own a MZ-R50 which I just put on ebay because I ordered a MZ-RH1. My dillema is that I prematurely placed my item for bid without finding out the answer to my solution.

So hopefully you can all help me here.

I am very familliar with the MD format, i've owned the R1, R30 and R50 and since then have abandoned the format until I found my R50 in my closet and it has sparked some new fond love again. So I came here to catch up on the old times and saw the RH1 just came out. I ordered it through Minidisc Canada and am awaiting it's arrival.

I want to know about the RH1's ability regarding legacy audio. I would like to know if the RH1 can write legacy audio to a normal MD via usb.

I have a MD deck (normal MD not HiMD) that I would love to give to my mom because she's horrible with keeping CD's scratch free. But I don't want to have to set up camp in her living room every week trying to get the newest mixes on her unit via optical in.

I understand people talking about the HMD1 and other various data drives that have switches for data and audio but the RH1 is what I had settled on.

I chose the RH1 mainly for using it as a data drive and portable jogging md unit. I don't do concerts or anything for that matter. I just want something to hold my data that not every kid on the block could make use of if I inevitablly lost the disc etc.

Am I better off looking for a Hi-MD deck? or is there some solution that I could use to write atrac files to a normal MD in legacy mode.

Thanks!

[Roamer]

Yes, you can write legacy audio MD via USB like with all others NetMDs and HiMDs. Only issue is that SonicStage doesn't not support real SP encoding (you only get similar quality to LP2 at best).

You can also write all legacy modes from line-in or optical with the RH1.

[raintheory]

Either by using your PC (SonicStage software) or on the unit itself, you are able to record in Legacy formats with the RH1. The only exception is MONO, which can't be done either way.

Using SonicStage you can transfer music in the following Legacy formats: LP2, LP4, and what is commonly called "Fake SP", which is basically the same as LP2 but dressed up as SP for compatibility with older units. Depending on your Deck, you may be able to use the LP modes.

The RH1 really stands out in that it can actually upload those legacy discs to PC. It is the first unit thatg will do this. However, all Hi-MD recorders will transfer to standard MD using SonicStage (the 1st gen can record on unit as well in these formats). If you have a bunch of legacy discs laying around that you would love to backup, or if you plan to dabble with live recording, then the RH1 would definitely be in your best interest.

If you have no need for uploading of legacy discs and recording, then basically any Hi-MD model will do what you want to do (transfer in legacy modes to MD, use as external data drive).