Thinking of MZ-RH700 -- Can it do the following?

[sinjin32]

Hi all,

I've recently been reading up on MD recorders and came across this forum. I've found quite a few answers that make the MZ-RH700 sound very appealing for recording our band's rehearsals and jam sessions with my friends, but I just have a few questions:

-Is it very time-consuming to transfer the audio from the player to the computer? Suppose I've recorded a full gig of material. How long can I expect such a transfer to take on a fairly fast and current computer?

-If I place track markers to separate one song from another, will these songs then upload as separate files, or will it still upload as one big, long file that needs to be separated into tracks on the computer?

-I'm basically looking to convert the audio into MP3 format so that I can easily share them with bandmates and friends via email. Can the Sony software do this, or is there another very easy tool recommended for it? Or should I just use LAME or something?

-Finally, I read something in Sony's manual for this unit that implies that I can only upload the recordings I make on the unit to a computer once. I'm hoping I just misunderstood that section. Can't HI-MD recorders simply be recognized as an external hard drive by a computer, therefore allowing me to just drag and drop the recordings as many times as I'd like?

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help!

[Strungup]

Hi all,

I've recently been reading up on MD recorders and came across this forum. I've found quite a few answers that make the MZ-RH700 sound very appealing for recording our band's rehearsals and jam sessions with my friends, but I just have a few questions:

-Is it very time-consuming to transfer the audio from the player to the computer? Suppose I've recorded a full gig of material. How long can I expect such a transfer to take on a fairly fast and current computer?

-If I place track markers to separate one song from another, will these songs then upload as separate files, or will it still upload as one big, long file that needs to be separated into tracks on the computer?

-I'm basically looking to convert the audio into MP3 format so that I can easily share them with bandmates and friends via email. Can the Sony software do this, or is there another very easy tool recommended for it? Or should I just use LAME or something?

-Finally, I read something in Sony's manual for this unit that implies that I can only upload the recordings I make on the unit to a computer once. I'm hoping I just misunderstood that section. Can't HI-MD recorders simply be recognized as an external hard drive by a computer, therefore allowing me to just drag and drop the recordings as many times as I'd like?

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help!

if you put track marks they will be seperate files. if you dont it will be one big file,

Sony doesnt like the idea of you being able to upload download upload, the same song , Their version of DRM ,

There are ways around that.

[A440]

There's no RH700. There's the NH700, which is a great little recorder. And there is the RH710, which does not have a mic input, but does have a line input (from a mixer, etc.).

Transfer time is USB 1.1 and depends on the processing speed of your computer. At most it would be 1/3 the length of the recording--up to half an hour for a 1GB disc, but likely 15-20 minutes and probably even less than that. It's not instant, but it's not awful.

You need to transfer through SonicStage (or the Mac Transfer software), which is the only way to get the files off the disc in usable form. You can't just drag and drop because while you can copy the files, those files are encrypted, and they need SonicStage to unencrypt them. Once you have uploaded them, you can run the File Conversion Tool to remove the encryption.

SonicStage can then convert the files to .wav, which preserves their full quality and can be played back by most players (unlike Sony's own .oma files). Any converter will then convert .wav to .mp3--there's no DRM on the .wav files.

Alternately, Hi-MD Renderer, which you can find in Downloads here, will convert files into various formats--.mp3 and others--once they have been uploaded into My Library. So yes, you can get your .mp3s.

There are no limits on repeated uploads in later versions of SonicStage. Sony lifted that restriction. Just don't install the software that comes with the unit--get 3.4 or 4.2 from Downloads here.

Edited April 18, 2007 by A440

[sinjin32]

There's no RH700. There's the NH700, which is a great little recorder. And there is the RH710, which does not have a mic input, but does have a line input (from a mixer, etc.).

Transfer time is USB 1.1 and depends on the processing speed of your computer. At most it would be 1/3 the length of the recording--up to half an hour for a 1GB disc, but likely 15-20 minutes and probably even less than that. It's not instant, but it's not awful.

You need to transfer through SonicStage (or the Mac Transfer software), which is the only way to get the files off the disc in usable form. You can't just drag and drop because while you can copy the files, those files are encrypted, and they need SonicStage to unencrypt them. Once you have uploaded them, you can run the File Conversion Tool to remove the encryption.

SonicStage can then convert the files to .wav, which preserves their full quality and can be played back by most players (unlike Sony's own .oma files). Any converter will then convert .wav to .mp3--there's no DRM on the .wav files.

Alternately, Hi-MD Renderer, which you can find in Downloads here, will convert files into various formats--.mp3 and others--once they have been uploaded into My Library. So yes, you can get your .mp3s.

There are no limits on repeated uploads in later versions of SonicStage. Sony lifted that restriction. Just don't install the software that comes with the unit--get 3.4 or 4.2 from Downloads here.

Thanks for the information and advice. I didn't realize that it used USB 1.1. Oh well... I suppose can do other things while it's transferring. I already bought one via E-Bay, so it's too late to go back now

It seems like these things have been steadily increasing in price... perhaps I'll just sell it again if that trend continues because a much faster transfer rate would be very handy.

Edited April 18, 2007 by sinjin32

[A440]

... perhaps I'll just sell it again...

Nah, you'll be hooked. Especially if you're doing line-in recording. Mic recording is a little trickier, in the same ways it is on other handheld units, but once you get the hang of it you'll be happy with that too.

Part of the transfer rate limitation is the speed of reading the minidisc itself. For casual recording, like a rehearsal or a jam session, you'll find that the quality of Hi-SP is quite good, equivalent to a high-bitrate .mp3 (better than iTunes). And those files are pretty small--nearly 8 hours per 1GB.

The only other recorder in the same price range as first-generation MD is the iRiver H120 (20 GB). Transfer is easier--true drag-and-drop, and USB 2.0--but recording has glitches.

[sinjin32]

Nah, you'll be hooked. Especially if you're doing line-in recording. Mic recording is a little trickier, in the same ways it is on other handheld units, but once you get the hang of it you'll be happy with that too.

Part of the transfer rate limitation is the speed of reading the minidisc itself. For casual recording, like a rehearsal or a jam session, you'll find that the quality of Hi-SP is quite good, equivalent to a high-bitrate .mp3 (better than iTunes). And those files are pretty small--nearly 8 hours per 1GB.

The only other recorder in the same price range as first-generation MD is the iRiver H120 (20 GB). Transfer is easier--true drag-and-drop, and USB 2.0--but recording has glitches.

Thanks again for the reply. I received my MZ-NH700 last week but foolishly forgot to purchase any media at the same time. Man, those minidiscs are hard to find, but I finally wound up with one on E-Bay. I've played around with the recorder a bit but haven't yet had a chance to record our rehearsal, which will likely be *loud*.

I imagine I'll be setting the microphone up for low sensitivity of course. Do you think I can get away with the unit's automatic recording volume adjustment, or is manual really the only way to go?

[A440]

I imagine I'll be setting the microphone up for low sensitivity of course. Do you think I can get away with the unit's automatic recording volume adjustment, or is manual really the only way to go?

Even at low sensitivity, loud music is probably going to overload the mic preamp. You really need to go through a battery module and line-in, or out of your mixer and into line-in.

If you don't have a battery module, then try plugging the mic directly into line-in--if your band is that loud, it just might work.

You have to use Manual. Automatic is for speech, not music, and it will make every drumbeat go whoosh and sound horrible. Don't waste your time with it.

[greenmachine]

If you don't have a battery module, then try plugging the mic directly into line-in--if your band is that loud, it just might work.

Only with a dynamic or self-powered mic - all condenser types (including the most common electret) require a voltage to operate, otherwise they won't output anything - you will record silence.

[A440]

I forgot to mention. If you need to do this immediately and can't wait for a battery module by mail order like this one:

http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm

or, in Europe, the one by Greenmachine

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=14388

Then go to Radio Shack and get a headphone volume control, technically speaking an attenuator. It looks quite a bit like my avatar and costs about $7. Maplins in England has something similar, a VC-1.

Mic-->headphone volume control with volume fully up-->Mic-in with level at 16/30 to 20/30, depending on your mic and your loudness. Try a test recording.

And for more minidiscs, try Tape Warehouse.

http://www.tapewarehouse.com/catalog/CatFrame.cfm

Category: Digital Audio

Product: Minidisc-Audio

and look for:

SCM HMD1G HI-MD DISC [#2724264569]

Those are real Sony discs--no one else makes them--at a good price.

Edited May 1, 2007 by A440