PLEEEEEASE help with MZ-NE410 NET MD problem!

[deepbluevibes]

Ok, I used to own a NET MD player about two years ago. I forgot the model type, but it was golden, was pretty recent, and looked like the MZ-NE410, but had more buttons besides of course just the ones on the MZ-NE410. I can't seem to find pictures of it *anywhere* however.

Anyways, I was AOK with that one, until my house got robbed and I lost it due to this. I was unable to find this MD player again, so I settled on a "brand new" MZ-NE410, or at least it was new according to onthegopc.com .

I got it, and the first thing it does is clicks like hell when you try to play ANYTHING in it. I tried my old dists, my new blank discs, anything, and it just wouldn't even show anything.

I sent it back to them and they reported that "installing the software" would help, which as i'm sure you know, is bullshit because I told them I had used discs from my previous MD player, and "installing the software" really wouldn't have helped. I did it anyways, it was sonic stage 1.0, which is horrible.

If it helps to pinpoint my old MD player, it came with Open MD Jukebox, and Sonic Stage 2.0 if i remember right.

So now by some miracle, i'm able to actually get the damn MZ-NE410 to load up my old discs. Problem is, half+ of the songs won't even *play*. I know these discs work; I tried them out on a friend's MD shortly thereafter.

In Sonic Stage, 1.0, I tried uploading songs to my blank discs. It would always upload two songs perfectly, then refuse to upload anymore. I tried upgrading to 4.0; now i'm able to upload as many as I please.... as long as they're some mysterious type.

All of my files i'm uploading are mp3s converted to LP4 format; but for some bizarre reason, some of them will *always* work and some will *never* work, crashing both my computer and the MD player program and the MD player itself. I know these worked with my old one, so...

suggestions on why this is happening, what to do to get around it, how to fix it, etc. would be really appreciated

also if you have any idea what my old model was, that would be much appreciated too.

- Operating system version and service pack level: Windows XP, latest packs

- SonicStage and Simple Burner versions: 4.0 (and 1.0 to start with)

- Whether codec packs have been installed on the system: in relation to the MD player or programs, none besides the soundstage upgrade

- the model of the recorder/downloader involved: MZ-NE410

- Basic computer hardware info, including as a minimum: CPU type/speed; amount of RAM installed; USB interface version [1.0, 1.1, or 2.0]: CPU = Intel Pentium 4, 2.0GHZ, 256MB RAM, USB 2.0

- List of applications that were running when the problem occurred: I always have McAfee anti-virus running, as well as MSN messenger, and otherwise, nothing else ever runs besides those, at startup, MSN messenger starts as well, but i always close that off. I scan my computer every week to make sure i'm virus free.

[raintheory]

Did your old model look something like this?

MZ-N505 NetMD ... Doesn't really look like the NE410 but it's the only gold one I remember seeing in stores.

As far as your mp3's that aren't transferring... You could try re-tagging the mp3 files. SonicStage has been known to trip up on certain mo3 files because of their id3 tags.

Edited August 17, 2006 by raintheory

[ZosoIV]

Also, make sure that your MP3's are not variable bit rate (VBR) or at sampling rates other than 44100Hz; SS seems to hate those.

[deepbluevibes]

YES that is the mp3 player I used to have. I cannot seem to find that on ebay/in stores; is it really that rare?

Also, could it be because of my certain model i have now why this is screwing up?

Remember;

-I once had the MZ-N505 NetMD player and it played all of the mp3's i'm trying to upload *fine*

-Those exact same mp3s, unchanged, will not play on my new player, on the exact same discs that I had working 100% on my MZ-N505 NetMD

-Nor will those mp3's upload to my current MD player

so do you think it's more the MD player than the sonic stage itself or? Like since this could be an old version I have of the NetMD series, maybe it's not able to read certain types or?

[raintheory]

I found a bunch of N505's on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Net-MD-Walkman-MZ...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-MINIDISC-PLAYER-M...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Net-MD-Walkman-MZ...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-Net-MD-Walkman-Mi...1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/SONY-MD-WALKMAN-MZ-N50...1QQcmdZViewItem

etc...

I just searched for N505 and it brought up a bunch.

It may be that your NE-410 may be biting the dust. My N420D (similar model) has trouble with random tracks alot of the time... will just sit and show the disc spinning icon but never play the track, though sometimes if i stop the player and restart it will work.

[deepbluevibes]

So then to your knowledge, do different MD players actually allow different tracks? i.e. the one N505 will play mp3's that the 410 may not be able to?

[pata2001]

I got it, and the first thing it does is clicks like hell when you try to play ANYTHING in it. I tried my old dists, my new blank discs, anything, and it just wouldn't even show anything.

OK, sounds to me you got a broken unit. The NE410 is such an old unit. I bought 1 new form radioshack couple months ago, and it is broken right out of the box (cannot spin the MDs). Forget about it, and find a cheap DH710. Not only it's HiMD, it can playback your MP3s matively.

[deepbluevibes]

But it's so expensive.. and it can play them natively yes, but isn't that natively in file size as well, so you can only fit about 20 or so to a HD-minidisc? or did I hear wrong on that?

(i'm used to 3 hours of music per minidisc, etc.)

where do you reccomend for good cheap prices on the DH710?

[ZosoIV]

But it's so expensive.. and it can play them natively yes, but isn't that natively in file size as well, so you can only fit about 20 or so to a HD-minidisc? or did I hear wrong on that?

(i'm used to 3 hours of music per minidisc, etc.)

where do you reccomend for good cheap prices on the DH710?

1GB Hi-MD discs hold between 45 hours (48kbps ATRAC3plus) and 94 minutes (1411kbps 16-bit LPCM) of audio. If you're used to using LP2 on MDLP discs, you'll get about 17 hours of LP2-encoded tracks on a 1GB Hi-MD, or roughly 250 4-minute tracks. For non-critical listening (i.e., on the bus, etc) you might be able to get away with Hi-LP (64kbps), which would give you something closer to 500 tracks or 34 hours on a single disc.

DH710's can be found on eBay every now and then for about $120.

[deepbluevibes]

oh shit, nice nice, thanks for informing me of that... now i can't decide between 30 or 120... ><

[deepbluevibes]

One more question guys; which is better in your opinion?

(i only want to listen to music, but have ability to have all types of mp3's converted/direct mp3 placement on Hi-MD's)

Sony MZ-DH710 Hi-MD Walkman Digital Music Player

or

Sony MZNH600D Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman

??

[raintheory]

The DH710 will play back mp3 files directly (though there has been some debate, as well as tests showing that the mp3 support is lacking in some of the higher frequencies... though theoreticaly this could be counteracted by boosting treble in the EQ), it also may be a little sturdier than the other... though I'm not sure about that. Also I think it has a line-in (i'm not positive on this though), so you could record in real-time from anything with a headphone jack/line-out.

The NH600D would be USB transfer only, and won't play back your mp3s directly (they will have to be transcodd to ATRAC). If you can find a killer price for it like I did, definitely worth it. You can probably find the NH600D for a good bit less than $100 on eBay. It will definitely fill your needs (with the exception of direct mp3 support).

Edited August 18, 2006 by raintheory

[A440]

You'll be perfectly fine with the NH600D. It will play all your old discs, and you would just run your .mp3s through SonicStage the way you did before and it plays them.

It will also pack way more music onto an MD than your old N505. And it runs a very long time on one AA battery. I've dropped mine more than once and it has survived.

Please, uninstall that horrible old SonicStage off your computer and install 3.4 (from Downloads here) or 4.0 (from Sony online). It's better in every way.

[deepbluevibes]

The thing is, the NH600D I can only find for exorbitant prices new OR used (at least 120+, not counting shipping) and the DH710 I can find for 100, with shipping added in, brand new, at most places.

So with that factored in, would you still reccomend the NH600D?

Now you mentioned the battery life; does the DH710 run poorly w/battery life or?

Thanks for answering all these, I really appreciate it

[A440]

Either one will work for you.

Though I'm somewhat baffled by the "MZ-DH710."

The MZ-DH710 looks the same as what the minidisc.org equipment browser calls the MZ-RH710, made in 2005. Amazon and Cnet seem to think it's the MZ-DH710, but then again, Cnet also thinks it's a flash player. java script:emoticon('', 'smid_5')

At www.minidisc.org under Browser you can compare units, but there's no MZ-DH710 there.

http://www.minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

The browser also says the MZ-RH710 has Line-in, but some of the websites say it's USB-only, while MDCenter.nl claims it has a mic input, which I doubt.

http://www.mdcenter.nl/redirect.php?file=h...opic.php?t=1209

The NH600D only downloads via USB. If the minidisc.org listing is right, the RH-710 has an advantage over the NH600D: it can record in realtime from a powered source (CD player, radio, etc.) through a Line-in Jack. In Sony's bizarre numbering system, a 7** unit should have some time kind of realtime input, but there are so many conflicting specs online that you should just take a look at the thing and see if it has a white jack that probably says Line In (Opt) . (A red jack would be a Mic jack, connected to a preamp to boost the lower signal from a microphone. I doubt the RH710 has that.)

The biggest difference, as noted above, is that the RH710 plays both ATRAC (the minidisc format) and .mp3, and the NH600D only plays ATRAC. In practice this is a minor difference: every song still has to be transferred via SonicStage. And mp3 playback on the first RH units had weak treble. However, if you have mp3 files on your computer that aren't high-quality to begin with, and you have to convert them to ATRAC to play on a minidisc, their sound quality will also erode. But if you were content with the way they sounded on the MZ-N505, they'll sound as good or better on the new unit.

The MZ-NH600D is a 2004 unit, and it's one of those things that stores barely carry. But Ebay is full of new sealed ones bought from various closeouts.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?f...title=MZ-nh600d

Here's one for $105 shipped, and if you want to play with auctions you can probably do better than that; I got mine for $60 shipped.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Sony-MZ-NH600D-HI-...1QQcmdZViewItem

Occasionally, though not at the moment, you can find some unfortunate person who has listed the MZ-NH6000 by misreading the D, and who's getting no bids as a result. You might also try searching that.

The RH710 claims equal or better battery life compared to the NH600D, and from online specs it seems to also run on an AA battery, so I'd suspect they're equivalent on that front.

Either unit is a major improvement over the MZ-N505 as long as you just want a player, so I'd suggest checking price and availability. The "DH710" for $100 shipped should also be well worth it.

Edited August 19, 2006 by A440