Help transferring sound files from MD to PC

[biber]

Hello --

I am new to this forum, and also new to the world of HiMD. Yesterday, when I used SonicStage to sucked a bunch of files from my MZ-RH910 into my computer, they arrived in completely mixed up order, with nonsense numbers for names. Is there some way to get the files to land in the computer in the order in which they were recorded, with numbers that vaguely resemble the track markings laid down on the minidisk?

Thanks --

Biber

[A440]

This hasn't happened to me, so I'm not sure what's going wrong.

What kind of files were you importing? Tagged mp3s? Your own recordings?

First, use a decent version of SonicStage, 3.4 or above. You can find them in Downloads on the upper right.

You should be able to get the files back in order by clicking on one of the headers in My Library--Date Imported should do it. It's possible you clicked on a header that scrambled them--the interface is so bad, and that has happened to me. A different header may also get the order back.

Next time, you can also use the Rename function while the unit is connected to change the track names on the disc before uploading, and see if that helps.

[biber]

I'm importing my own recordings. I'm a reporter, and have just switched to HiMD so that I can import files directly. The files were only labeled with track numbers -- about 23 short files (some just a few seconds), and all of them arrived in the computer with nonsense numbers attached to them. I used the version of SonicStage that came with the minidisk, which was purchased in March 2006 (sorry, I'm at a different computer now, and don't know which version it was).

This hasn't happened to me, so I'm not sure what's going wrong.

What kind of files were you importing? Tagged mp3s? Your own recordings?

First, use a decent version of SonicStage, 3.4 or above. You can find them in Downloads on the upper right.

You should be able to get the files back in order by clicking on one of the headers in My Library--Date Imported should do it. It's possible you clicked on a header that scrambled them--the interface is so bad, and that has happened to me. A different header may also get the order back.

Next time, you can also use the Rename function while the unit is connected to change the track names on the disc before uploading, and see if that helps.

[bobt]

I agree with A440, go to at least 3.4, or up, the software that comes supplied with the unit isn't worth it.

Bob

[A440]

The numbered titles I get when importing an untitled group are date and time of the upload, like:

2007-07-11 19:09:14

When you get back to the computer, see if yours are similar, which is why I'm hoping Date Imported will unscramble them for you.

If not, I'd be curious what it is calling the tracks. Use Rename (F2) to cut-and-paste one and send it along.

You should check your version of SonicStage when you can. Sony's development of SonicStage was extremelyl slow and buggy, and not until 3.2 did it make a crucial change: allowing you to upload as many times as you wanted from a disc. Before that, you got one chance at an upload and if you tried again it destroyed the original recording on the disc without so much as a warning. (Shouldn't it play the "Mission Impossible" theme or something?) Even upgrading SonicStage doesn't let you upload those tracks again once they have been marked for destruction.

An old version may well have been packaged with your unit, so upgrade as soon as possible.

Hi-MD has been about 90-95% percent reliable for me--minus a couple of bad discs and one inexplicable transfer disaster--and I do a lot of recording in situations where the unit gets bounced around. It should work for you too once you get used to the quirks of SonicStage. Everybody here wishes Sony had designed software that lived up to the potential of the hardware in the first place, and SonicStage is still annoying, but 3.4 and 4.2 are usually pretty good.

You can back up ultra precious recordings digitally without uploading, but in real time. Get Total Recorder (about $20, Standard is all you need), which records whatever comes through your soundcard. http://www.highcriteria.com/

Then connect the unit via USB, play back the tracks through SonicStage and record them with Total Recorder.

It's possible, but personally I don't do it. SonicStage works well enough.

Edited July 20, 2007 by A440

[raintheory]

if you record with group function on, each file in the group gets numberred as 001-date and time.oma, 002-date and time.oma, etc. per group. (unless you are using an older version of the software, in which case the tracks will be titled as the date & time of import without the 001, 002 prefix.

Older versions of SonicStage get confused with ordering when multiple small files are imported in the same minute (it appends (2), (3), etc. to the end... without a space, so these files show up before the actual first file)

in other words you'll either get a few tracks that start with 001 if you have multiple groups (with newer SonicStage). Or files with (2), (3), etc. added... that show up before the first one imported that minute (with older).

With newer versions:

change the view in SonicStage to "all tracks", then go under Options/My Library/List, place a checkmark in "File Path" under the track window.

Now in the My Library View, simply click on the "File Path" column header to sort files by the file path/name (rather than the jumbled track names).

Sorry this came out all confusing.

Edited July 20, 2007 by raintheory

[rhagan]

I use Sonic Stage v4.3.

I often get jumbled order when I transfer a series of tracks from an MD (LP) into the computer. I order them by date/time, but things transferred in the same minute may not come in in order. So now I rename all the files on the MD while it is connected to the computer BEFORE I transfer them, and if tracks are part of the same composition I append "p1" "p2" etc. to the track names on the MD. If you do not know how to name the tracks on the MD, either slow-rt-click the name "untitled" on each track and the field will open up for renaming; or rt click the name and choose "properties."

Even this does not guarantee that they will be in order in the left panel after transferring, but I can then select the tracks that are same name and "p1'" "p2" etc and combine them. Even if I do not do that, they will be in the correct order when I sort the tracks by name rather than by time recorded.

[biber]

Further to downloading an updated version of SonicStage: not wanting to destroy my sound files -- or my computer, for that matter -- and being a newbie, I'd like to know if it's necessary to uninstall the version of SonicStage that's in there now (3.0, I think) before I download, or whether I should just click and cross my fingers.