Back to md after years Some questions?

[bufo333]

Years ago I had an r55 recorder; I remember importing it before it was sold in the USA. I have been using hdd based mp3 players for some time; however my newest iPod classic sound quality is disappointing to me. It does not sound so much bad as it sounds flat, with very little separation.

I picked up an mz-rh1 the other day new in box, I also picked up 300 MD's and a Sony md-je480 deck for the house. I also picked up luckily an old mza-r55 new in box old stock unsold. I know very lucky.

When I had my first r55 there was no net-md or software to transfer music, I did it all optically from a Sony cd player and labeled each track and album manually. I want to avoid doing that this time.

So my question is what is the best way to transfer 100 cd's to minidiscs I would like to use the original SP mode which has fairly good quality? Is there a way to use the computer to transfer the cd's to the mz-rh1 in standard sp mode no hi-md mode and make them sound as good as recording in SP directly with the r55. Basically I want to get away with using CDDB to title my music for me.

I will still keep the iPod for my vehicle at work since I drive all day long and with the crappy speakers I can't tell the difference.

Keep in mind I got out of mini-discs before the NET-MD craze so I am not sure what options are out there for transferring from a computer, or maybe using the je480 deck to record to md, and use software to apply the titles later.

[Strungup]

The RH1 , works with Mac and Windows , but to transfer to the RH1 , On windows , you can use Sonic Stage , to get stuff into SP mode , and I think make it playable on the 55 , on Mac what ever gets transfered , the disc first has to be in HiMD mode , which means it will only play on HiMD players.

One of the Windows guys should chime in here , I am on a Mac .

[Hungerdunger]

The simple answer to your question is "No". However, with MiniDisc things aren't always so simple! You can import a CD in SonicStage and then transfer it in "SP Mode" to your RH1. This will give you a recording which you can play on your R55, but it isn't true SP - it merely gives you a compatible disc. (I believe the bitrate is similar to LP2; perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong)

If you were happy to be able to play the disc in your RH1 and on the deck, but not in the R55, you might be better off using Simple Burner in NetMD mode, with the LP2 setting. It is certainly a lot quicker than importing CDs into SonicStage, but a lot would depend on whether your ears are good enough to detect the difference between the old SP mode and LP2.

One more thing: if you want to play your recordings on the R55 and the deck, you won't be able to use the new 1Gb discs; you'll have to stick with the old 80 or 74 minute discs.

[kino170878]

There is actually a way to do this according to your requirements, but it involves buying more hardware. What you need are the MXD units that Sony used to do. These were direct CD to MD decks that could copy in SP mode at up to 4x speed. So if you have 100s of CDs this will be a life saver. No computers involved at all, this was the old school way of listening to quality music but with more convenience. I have three units in my setup, the MXD-D3, MXD-D4 and MXD-D40 (and I also have a hi-fi system that does 2x speed). Ebay would be your best option. Good luck.

[THIS SUCKS]

it sucks you want to play the music on your old units because what you want to do would be super easy with very hi quality. if you only needed to use the rh1 use hi-sp. but the songs will not play on any of the older recorders you have. lp2 sounds like crap . it might be easy to tell if you listen to it carefully. recording in lp2 will play on all your units except the r55 which only plays sp mode. if you use sonic stage to transfer as sp you will get lp2 quality in sp mode which doesnt even sound close to sp in sound quality.

[bufo333]

Looked on ebay no go.

I do have a sony je630 with toslink in and a keyboard jack, but that seams tedious.

Is their really no other way?

[THIS SUCKS]

other than the 4x deck someone mentioned. no!

[Hungerdunger]

Looked on ebay no go.

I do have a sony je630 with toslink in and a keyboard jack, but that seams tedious.

Is their really no other way?

John - before you give up on the idea altogether, please record a track you know well in true SP mode, and then re-record it in LP2 mode. Have a listen - try to do a blind test if possible. Although "A Whole Lot" says: "LP2 sounds like crap", I think you will find a lot of people disagree with that rather sweeping statement. Basically it's down to your ears. Mine are getting quite old, so for me LP2 or Hi-LP are quite adequate for most purposes. If you are blessed with good ears you may not like the LP2 quality.

[greenleaf]

John - before you give up on the idea altogether, please record a track you know well in true SP mode, and then re-record it in LP2 mode. Have a listen - try to do a blind test if possible. Although "A Whole Lot" says: "LP2 sounds like crap", I think you will find a lot of people disagree with that rather sweeping statement. Basically it's down to your ears. Mine are getting quite old, so for me LP2 or Hi-LP are quite adequate for most purposes. If you are blessed with good ears you may not like the LP2 quality.

heh heh, i managed to find a panasonic 5cd 1md bookself system that can for 5x sp dub for 76 bucks, then an JVC md, dvd threater system that can do the same speed for 66 shipped, you just have to look carefully at ebay and craiglist.

[bufo333]

Don't like the sound of lp2, actually now that i bought a really high end pair of headphones and headphone amp, I am starting to see just how bad my itunes purchased music is. I think I will use a deck like the mds-je480 and record in sp mode direct from a sony cd changer via toslink.

My question is if I then stick that untitled disk in my rh1 and connect to sonic stage, can I label the tracks and album in sonic stage?

[Strungup]

LP2 is Better than iTunes , and I am ON a Mac , I hate the sound of iTunes .............................

[ZosoIV]

I don't like LP2 or iTunes AAC at 128kbps - both sound inferior to CD. LP2 has too much pre-echo and sounds grainy, and AAC seems to have stereo positioning issues and ringing problems. SP (or Hi-SP on Hi-MD) are where it's at - actually, LAME is really great with the -V0 setting as well (~256kps VBR).

[cornreaper]

The simple answer to your question is "No". However, with MiniDisc things aren't always so simple! You can import a CD in SonicStage and then transfer it in "SP Mode" to your RH1. This will give you a recording which you can play on your R55, but it isn't true SP - it merely gives you a compatible disc. (I believe the bitrate is similar to LP2; perhaps someone can correct me if I'm wrong)

I was not aware of this...is it just a case of SS inflating the file to be the same size as SP?

[ZosoIV]

I was not aware of this...is it just a case of SS inflating the file to be the same size as SP?

It's more a case of the software encoding the signal as LP2 to send an encrytpted version to your player (funny - you'd think they'd be able to do the same thing with uncompressed signals, but I digress). That encrypted version is then transcoded into SP on the player itself - so, what you're getting is an SP encoding but with less quality than LP2. In short, auditory cacca - better to use real-time encoding and SP.

[THIS SUCKS]

heh heh, i managed to find a panasonic 5cd 1md bookself system that can for 5x sp dub for 76 bucks, then an JVC md, dvd threater system that can do the same speed for 66 shipped, you just have to look carefully at ebay and craiglist.

if you can get a 5x sp deck with shipping included that would be awesome!!! you should definitly get it. but just be warned you might be able to copy the cd to md at 5x but you will have to wait for the full time of the normal cd play time before you can copy a second one. it was some crazy copy protection scheme i remember reading about.

John - before you give up on the idea altogether, please record a track you know well in true SP mode, and then re-record it in LP2 mode. Have a listen - try to do a blind test if possible. Although "A Whole Lot" says: "LP2 sounds like crap", I think you will find a lot of people disagree with that rather sweeping statement. Basically it's down to your ears. Mine are getting quite old, so for me LP2 or Hi-LP are quite adequate for most purposes. If you are blessed with good ears you may not like the LP2 quality.

not to pick on anyone but 64kbps hi-lp is much worse sounding than lp2...

Don't like the sound of lp2, actually now that i bought a really high end pair of headphones and headphone amp, I am starting to see just how bad my itunes purchased music is. I think I will use a deck like the mds-je480 and record in sp mode direct from a sony cd changer via toslink.

My question is if I then stick that untitled disk in my rh1 and connect to sonic stage, can I label the tracks and album in sonic stage?

yes that might be the best way.

[1kyle]

There is actually a way to do this according to your requirements, but it involves buying more hardware. What you need are the MXD units that Sony used to do. These were direct CD to MD decks that could copy in SP mode at up to 4x speed. So if you have 100s of CDs this will be a life saver. No computers involved at all, this was the old school way of listening to quality music but with more convenience. I have three units in my setup, the MXD-D3, MXD-D4 and MXD-D40 (and I also have a hi-fi system that does 2x speed). Ebay would be your best option. Good luck.

There is a "Semi-Manual" way to label these (although some decks allow you to enter via a keyboard.

First I assume you have your music on an MD whether via Optical In or using a CD==>MD transfer from an older deck.

Now you'll need a computer and the original CD's. Start up either Sonic Stage or Simple MD burner . Insert the original CD .Don't do any transfer but get the CD track info via Gracenote.

Now in Simple Burner or SS you can EDIT the MD track titles via Cut and Paste. Simple Burner is fine.

DO NOT TRANSFER TRACKS -- Simply use the Track labelling facility --this is in TEXT so won't interfere with the SP recording on the MD.

Save and your SP MD is now nicely labelled.

It won't take too long even for 500 CD's. In SP mode I always only ever copy 1CD to 1MD. These are fine for playing on Decks etc.

For music on the move I use RH1 and Hi-MD discs or one of those Sony Cigarette lighter looking players.

Cheers

-K

Edited February 20, 2008 by 1kyle