vore Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 I, like so many others are saddened by the loss of this incredible technology. Sadness only after my anger subsided. I use mini disc for only one thing...I record radio shows off satellite radio. I don't download music from the internet. I always used my mini disc deck to record the show and I would play it back and edit on my portable. For the first time yesterday I attempted to use Sonicstage to transfer my recordings to my computer so that I might transfer some of my own personal recordings to a DVD. I found out I can't do this unless it's done in real time. All the speed and dexterity of the medium is hampered by Sony's paranoia that eventually led to it's demise. I have close to 2,000 mini discs...(Yeah, that's two thousand). Please don't say anything, my brother already thinks I'm nuts.Like Sony's beta format and now Sony's MD technology it looks as though Sony's Blue Ray is loosing out over the HD DVD wars. Sony is famous for it's narrow minded, short sighted consumer approach with marketing. I wish the developers of this incredible technology had a say in the way it was marketed."Love the gadget, hate the gadget maker."I am the proud owner of:MDS-JE470 Deck (2 of them) One has been going for over 5 years recording 6 hours of radio shows per day, 5 days a week. Simply incredible!!!MZ-G750 (RIP) My first mini disc recorder. 4 years of dependable service. I will never throw it away!It now lays quiet next to my other portables in my MD drawer. Used 7 days a week for at least 10 hours each day. Dropped at least 10 times over it's life. It still turns on but sadly it has developed a form of Atrac Alzheimer's. Yeah, it knows theres a disc inside it, but it simply can't find the TOC. I'm hoping my healthy portables can communicate with it through electronic osmosis and transfer some of their Katra.MZ-NF610 4 years oldStill going but I've noticed a bit of editing problems. Dropped 4-5 times but these units seem to be unbreakable. It's on 7 days a week 10-15 hours a day. Again, incredible!!!MZ-NH700 (2 of them) one silver, one blue.Purchased these to take over for the 610 just in case. Great editing as always but damn the controls are tiny.MZ-NH600I could not resist the price. Damn the controls are tiny.MZ-DN430PSHC Backup for listening only, no editing. Damn the controls and screen are tinyMZ-NF520D Backup-Backup for listening only, no editing. Damn the controls and screen are tinyI downloaded a great (free) audio editor called Audacity. Check it out athttp://audacity.sourceforge.net/I'm trying to see if I can use this program instead of Sonicstage. You will also need to DL the dll. Instructions are on their web site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 The RH1/M200 can transfer your legacy recordings to PC via SonicStage. However, it is the only model that will do this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vore Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 The RH1/M200 can transfer your legacy recordings to PC via SonicStage. However, it is the only model that will do this...Great to know, thank you....I will check it out.Great to know, thank you....I will check it out.Yikes....$350.00. That's what my original MZ-G750 cost me. This is the only way I can transfer my library of md's quickly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 (edited) Great to know, thank you....I will check it out.Yikes....$350.00. That's what my original MZ-G750 cost me. This is the only way I can transfer my library of md's quickly?Faster than realtime, yep...The realtime method via analogue is what most of us here have been used to using for years, before the advent of the RH1. Any Hi-MD recordings you make with any Hi-MD recorder can be easily uploaded/archived, but for the legacy recordings from older units you are limited to realtime, or the RH1. Edited August 20, 2007 by raintheory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vore Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Faster than realtime, yep...The realtime method via analogue is what most of us here have been used to using for years, before the advent of the RH1. Any Hi-MD recordings you make with any Hi-MD recorder can be easily uploaded/archived, but for the legacy recordings from older units you are limited to realtime, or the RH1.I found a site on the web that sells the MZ-200 with the microphone for $318.00. I thought the RH1 had the mic included. It must be the other way around. I'm checking into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russell Letson Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Minidisc Canada still lists the RH-1 (no mike) at US$304.85 plus shipping--http://www.minidisc-canada.com/shopexd.asp?id=734I recently bought a backup unit, just in case. And be thankful that your unit of choice isn't the wonderful B-100, out of production and available *used* on eBay for $200-300 or new for $389 (and up!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 * Moved to Software Discussion Section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vore Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 I found a site on the web that sells the MZ-200 with the microphone for $318.00. I thought the RH1 had the mic included. It must be the other way around. I'm checking into it.So the RH-1 hos no mic included that's fine. But the M200 MD has a stick battery and replacement batteries are 30 dollars??? I really have to rethink all this.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 (edited) The M200 is the RH1 plus a DS70P mic. Exact same unit. Yes, it takes a stick battery. The battery is rechargeable--not $30 per use. You can also find what are probably Chinese counterfeits of the battery on eBay that seem to work pretty well--at least, I don't see anyone here yet reporting that they have done any damage. If you are using the RH1 to upload, your computer will power it through the USB, so battery is not a worry for you. Audacity, which you mentioned up above, will record in real time through your computer's mic or line jacks. It will not upload faster than realtime, as the RH1/M200 will. If you've got 2000 MDs full of radio shows, the RH1 will save you unbelievable amounts of time for uploading. Edited August 21, 2007 by A440 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbaldguy Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 I have bought cheap (i.e Chinese-made) NH-14WM's, they don't work well for long. I find the gumstick cells to be very disappointing, in general, nowhere near the 300 charge cycles Sony claimed, even on the "good" ones I have owned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenmachine Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 I have bought cheap (i.e Chinese-made) NH-14WM's, they don't work well for long. I find the gumstick cells to be very disappointing, in general, nowhere near the 300 charge cycles Sony claimed, even on the "good" ones I have owned.Unlike Li-Ion, Ni-based rechargeables need maintenance to work well for extended periods. They particularly don't like repeated partial (dis)charge. http://www.batteryuniversity.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vore Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 The M200 is the RH1 plus a DS70P mic. Exact same unit. Yes, it takes a stick battery. The battery is rechargeable--not $30 per use. You can also find what are probably Chinese counterfeits of the battery on eBay that seem to work pretty well--at least, I don't see anyone here yet reporting that they have done any damage. If you are using the RH1 to upload, your computer will power it through the USB, so battery is not a worry for you. Audacity, which you mentioned up above, will record in real time through your computer's mic or line jacks. It will not upload faster than realtime, as the RH1/M200 will. If you've got 2000 MDs full of radio shows, the RH1 will save you unbelievable amounts of time for uploading.LOL...I know the battery isn't 30 bucks per use,,,,Jeeze if that were the case Sony (and us) would really be in deep doo doo. I was just saying that 30 bucks for one battery is steep. I'm used to the 10 for $4.00 type of AA Radio Shack. I always have a charger going for the AA's but this stick battery troubles me especially recharging it and have to take a spare with me if I travel. If I do make the purchase I would probably delegate the RH1 to the house and take a different MD unit with me.I'll not go the Chinese route with black market batteries with a $300.00 recorder. With the sort of trouble we have been having recently with Chinese imports I'd rather get it directly from Sony.I was up till 5AM this morning playing with the Sonicstage 4.3 download I got from this site. I removed the 2.3 that came with one of my mini discs and cleaned the registry with Clean Up, CC Cleaner and I threw in Abexo Cleaner for good measure. I installed the 4.3 with no problems.A few weird things I was able to do that I should mention. I had a copy of one track from a 1977 CD of Billy Joel's "Checking out" on my desktop from previous tinkering. I picked that album specifically for it's age. I was not able to get that song into the Sonicstage directory from the Sonicstage page but I was able to drag the track icon (on my desktop) directly over the SS icon and...it loaded. Ever try that? Somehow I was able to bypass whatever Sony devised to avoid piracy with a simple drag and drop of desktop icons.I also used my satellite radio internet connection (you can do that with Sirius, have a separate radio and get the internet connection as part of the deal). Using Audacity (I'm new to this software so I'm still tinkering) I downloaded 15 minutes of a satellite radio broadcast directly into the audio program using the analog stereo setting. I used the default settings like 44100 project rate (CD quality)/16bit default sample settings. A 15 minute recording with those settings consumed about 384 MB of disk space. I deleted about 10 minutes from the track and saving it as a wav file I was able to download it to the Sonicstage directory and then onto a mini disc using the Sony MZ-NH700 after the file conversion. I did the same thing with lesser quality settings but it still consumed to much disc space but the transfer time was reduced considerably. How I'll mange to adjust everything like bit rate/sample rate/internet rate/mini disc space on LP4 mode AND getting good quality audio is still up in the air but I'll get back to you with how I did (or wasn't able to do). I'll still purchase the RH1 in all probability. I can't go through all of this every day. I'm working on a laptop with a 20 gig hard drive. I record my radio show using the Sirius SR-H550 deck connected to a Sony receiver connected to the Sony mini disc deck. I record in LP4 so with an 80 minute disc I get 5 hours 23 minutes of recording on one disc. Cutting out and pausing during commercials I get 6 full hours of Howard Sterns radio show. Yeah, my brothers right I guess, I'm nuts.Also, I read on this site that you can get the RH1 for $208.00 from Mexico.http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.mx/MLM-16482737-_JM. I doubt that Phil from minidisc access will meet that price however.Thanks for your thoughtful reply. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 ... I had a copy of one track from a 1977 CD of Billy Joel's "Checking out" on my desktop from previous tinkering. I picked that album specifically for it's age. I was not able to get that song into the Sonicstage directory from the Sonicstage page but I was able to drag the track icon (on my desktop) directly over the SS icon and...it loaded. Ever try that? Somehow I was able to bypass whatever Sony devised to avoid piracy with a simple drag and drop of desktop icons....A lot of the DRM is turened off in SS4.3. How did the album get to your deskop in the first place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vore Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 A lot of the DRM is turened off in SS4.3. How did the album get to your deskop in the first place?I placed the CD into my DVD drive and using windows media player I was able to download all the tracks and I saved them on my desktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 I placed the CD into my DVD drive and using windows media player I was able to download all the tracks and I saved them on my desktop.That means theres no DRM on these tracks. So dragging files to SS works no problems if theres no DRM. You can drag all sorts of things into applications windows but most people don't try this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superbaldguy Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 FWIW, I regulary use my MD units with the NH-14WM, performance is still mediocre. I have great luck with the lithium ion cell in the NH1, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vore Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 That means theres no DRM on these tracks. So dragging files to SS works no problems if theres no DRM. You can drag all sorts of things into applications windows but most people don't try this.I'm sorry for my ignorance but what is DRM again? What does the acronym stand for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 I'm sorry for my ignorance but what is DRM again? What does the acronym stand for?Digital Rights Management:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vore Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Digital Rights Management:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_managementThanks for the info...and excuse my not knowing. Although I've been using MD technology for years I'm just now getting into the software issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 You can get an external battery back charger to use with the RH1 if you want. It's not compact but it does exist. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...mp;#entry115915Recording to .wav takes about 10MB per minute, and as I understand it, the recordings you make in Audacity's own .aup format are the same size as .wav recordings. (Then you "export" them as .wav or as .mp3.) That's another reason you would be better off uploading from the RH1. Your recordings on old MDs are compressed and would take up considerably less hard-drive space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vore Posted August 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 You can get an external battery back charger to use with the RH1 if you want. It's not compact but it does exist. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showt...mp;#entry115915Recording to .wav takes about 10MB per minute, and as I understand it, the recordings you make in Audacity's own .aup format are the same size as .wav recordings. (Then you "export" them as .wav or as .mp3.) That's another reason you would be better off uploading from the RH1. Your recordings on old MDs are compressed and would take up considerably less hard-drive space.Thanks for the info link on the battery charger...good to know. Is this common knowledge? It might be worthy of an updated link in the forum. I realize the RH1 is the way to go transferring files eventually to a DVD. All the time spend converting/compressing isn't worth the savings. Besides, the cost of 100 mini discs in bulk are about $150.00. So I'll just put that toward the RH1. When I convert the older MD's to DVD I'll reuse them for the newer shows. Now I need to know how many MD's will fit on one DVD...lolThat means theres no DRM on these tracks. So dragging files to SS works no problems if theres no DRM. You can drag all sorts of things into applications windows but most people don't try this.I did it out of frustration. After numerous attempts trying to use the open program I said to myself "Oh why can't I just do this" (dragging one icon over the other icon) and low and behold it worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky191 Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 This shows you the capacity of MD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc#Recording_modes A DVD is about 4.5 GB'sNot sure where you are getting you prices for MD. You can pick up MD very cheap on ebay, and even cheaper used. Every MD unit for sale seems to include a large amount of MD's. HiMD is still a good bit dearer though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vore Posted August 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 (edited) This shows you the capacity of MD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MiniDisc#Recording_modes A DVD is about 4.5 GB'sNot sure where you are getting you prices for MD. You can pick up MD very cheap on ebay, and even cheaper used. Every MD unit for sale seems to include a large amount of MD's. HiMD is still a good bit dearer though.Hey Sparky, thanks for the link...very helpful, I'll certainly give it a good read.I usually get my mini discs is bulk from Pro-tapes.com. At one point they were .99 cents each for 100 for the 80 minute Sony Neige blanks. Then the price went up due to the demand (shortage?) to $1.19 each/100. With shipping, it ran me close to $150.00 per order. I'm kind of put off by ebay. You don't know what your getting. I tried to by a MD recorder there once that was supposedly "in stock". I gave my credit card number to a site that wasn't a real store, he emailed me back saying he didn't have any more of the model I wanted and it became a whole big thing that I had to work through with ebay. I still watch my credit card bill each month. Edited August 22, 2007 by vore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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