Atrac to MP3 Which Player? Software?

[quadnut]

Hi Everyone,

I used to use MDs a lot a few years ago, so I have a substantial collection of material on MD. What I want to do is copy that material over to my computer and then convert the Atrac files to MP3s. My MD players are all oldies so I do not have the capability to connect to my computer (running Windows XP). I was planning on buying a new or used portable MD player/recorder to get this job done, but I really don't know which player would be best for this task. What would be a good machine to do this with? Can Atrac files be uploaded to a computer faster than realtime (1x)? Is there any software I will need? Never used Sonicstage so I don't have that, but I did just buy a cheap Sony MP3 player that came with software that claims to convert Atrac files to MP3s, is that all I need? Oh, and it says I need to install Open MG on my computer to use the convertor, should I do this or is it invasive?

[Avrin]

The only unit that can upload old MD recordings is SONY MZ-RH1 (or its MZ-M200 variation). The music can either be uploaded in Hi-SP format (which should be avoided, since it is transcoded from SP ATRAC 292 kbit/s to Hi-SP ATRAC3plus 256 kbit/s) or in uncompressed WAV format, which can be used to create MP3s. It is faster than realtime. You'll need SonicStage (version 4.2 is preferred, since you have Windows XP), and an encoder such as LAME to encode your music to MP3.

The RH1 can even upload music from pre-recorded MDs.

Edited November 14, 2007 by Avrin

[quadnut]

The only unit that can upload old MD recordings is SONY MZ-RH1 (or its MZ-M200 variation). The music can either be uploaded in Hi-SP format (which should be avoided, since it is transcoded from SP ATRAC 292 kbit/s to Hi-SP ATRAC3plus 256 kbit/s) or in uncompressed WAV format, which can be used to create MP3s. It is faster than realtime. You'll need SonicStage (version 4.2 is preferred, since you have Windows XP), and an encoder such as LAME to encode your music to MP3.

The RH1 can even upload music from pre-recorded MDs.

Hi Avrin, thanks for the help. Wow, I'm surprised that there is only one player/recorder that can upload the older MD content. Perhaps the MZ-RH1/MZ M200 was meant to be a send off model for the MD people. Sounds like they packed all the features we had hoped for over the years into this one model.

[A440]

I don't mean to rush you, but it seems Sony isn't even manufacturing the RH1 any more, so if you care about uploading those old MDs you should find an RH1 now rather than later.

You could use the SonicStage 3.4 disc that comes with the RH1 or get 4.2 online.

Once you have uploaded the files, you can convert them to mp3 with Marcnet's Hi-MDRenderer, available in Downloads up there on the right.

[quadnut]

I don't mean to rush you, but it seems Sony isn't even manufacturing the RH1 any more, so if you care about uploading those old MDs you should find an RH1 now rather than later.

You could use the SonicStage 3.4 disc that comes with the RH1 or get 4.2 online.

Once you have uploaded the files, you can convert them to mp3 with Marcnet's Hi-MDRenderer, available in Downloads up there on the right.

Yup, I figured if I don't do this now, my music collection will be forever divided between my MDs and MP3s. I have quite a bit of music that exists only on MDs, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I'd like the option of having access to that music on my computer and MP3 players. It's too bad that MDs never gained popularity in the US, even now, I find the sound quality to be above that of MP3 players. My iPod has passable sound quality, but it's crap compared to MDs. Thanks a bunch for the help, I'm in the process of getting an RH1, can hardly wait!