The Web MiniDisc Application

[Bulman]

Hi Stefano - great work on the app.  I was seriously thinking about selling on my NetMD recorder as it is the least favorite of my portables and its NetMD functionality hasn't been used in the best part of a decade.  Glad I hung onto it now!

I've had partial success on various devices / Operating Systems with the app:

Ubuntu - couldn't get it to work as I couldn't for the life of me work out what I was meant to do with the files on Github guidance: https://github.com/cybercase/webminidisc which give me user access to the device. If anyone can enlighten me on what I'm meant to be doing I'd be grateful as ideally Ubuntu would be my first choice.

Windows 10 - borrowed my daughter's Windows 10 laptop and it worked although did get some errors when transferring files.

Android - I can connect and edit track names using my mobile phone running Android 10 but when I try to transfer tracks I get a 'unable to complete previous operation due to low memory' message.  Tried it on a Fire HD8 tablet as well but that couldn't even see the minidisc recorder - think this is to do with the Fire HD's support (or lack of it) for the OTG cable. 

So happy I can edit track names etc but would love to get file transfer working on either Ubuntu or Android.  Any advice gratefully received.                

FYI I'm using a Sony MZ-N510 NetMD recorder.     

Cheers 

[sfbp]

For NetMD you MUST have wall power to write properly.

If that's not your problem, please holler.

[Bulman]

Ah. ok thanks I wasn't aware of that.  No doubt that will explain the write issues I was having with Windows 10.  Not helped with Ubuntu or Android though.  I'll keep trying... 

[Bulman]

Now got it working on Android - there was an issue with my mobile which has now been resolved.  Think I will quit whilst I'm ahead!  Thanks for the help and for the great app.

 

 

 

[PhilippeC]

I am still on my way to read all topics I have postponed since last november and about this one, I am still on page 3.

I come directly to the end to tell Stefano that in Italy there is Sergio Scotto who has his own Minidisc web site here 

https://sites.google.com/site/crazyforminidisc/

As Sergio get a huge collection of portable units, including NetMD and HiMD ones, that would be interesting for Stefano to contact Sergio for more units testing. 

http://forums.sonyinsider.com/profile/118374-sescoscuba/

[djThornado]

I just have to say thank you to @cybercase for making this awesome app available to the minidisc users of the world!! I have just tried it with my MZ-N520 on my iMac ruining OSX 10.13.6. (the iMac is a 2010, so it't can't be upgraded further). Converted from mp3, but got an error when I tried to convert apple lossless. Anyway, I love the fact that minidisc as a format still thrive and that you found the time to make the app happen Stefano:)

 

Best wishes from Amund

[pix1]

Stefano when I connect to my windows 10 partition on my MacBook pro I cannot connect, I even installed zadig

Any help appreciated

 

I have a MZ N 707

[simon72post]

Hi everyone.

I have a MDS-JB980 and it would be great to get this working with Web Minidisc.

At the moment I use it in a virtual XP machine running on top of Linux.

If anyone would like a copy of the virtual machine or Windows Sony software driver to help get it working with the MDS-JB980 I can send you a copy.

Simon

 

[Matthijs1981]

Works great! thank you so much!  

Sony MZ-RH1 with MacBook Pro on Catalina 10.15.6

[BomfunkMC]

Yep I just came here to say after messing around with various other options this web app worked absolutely flawlessly with my MZ-RH1, no crashes or funny business to speak of.

Stefano you rock! 

Of course, I'd like to add one more vote to the pile for Hi-MD support, that would make these little devices the absolute best retro purchase ever (if they aren't already). Do you think if you had an RH1or similar in hand to tinker with there's a chance you would have time to investigate Hi-MD functionality? Or is it just not realistic time-wise now that things are returning (sort of) to normal? 

Thanks a million!

Rowan

[RobtheNostalgia]

anyone have trouble deleting songs/data on already written mini discs? I'm using a MZ-S1 and the web page keeps loading forever when trying to delete anything off the disc 

[sfbp]

There's a genuine bug in most versions of any minidisc firmware relating to deletion of files with the same name. The solution is to be quite sure to name every track differently BEFORE you try to delete them.

Sorry about that, but I recall this from a very long time ago.

[d-9]

On 6/1/2020 at 6:18 PM, cybercase said:

Hello Enzo, happy you liked the app.

The idea of using a virtual machine to run sonic stage and then using a USB sniffer is exactly what I've discussed with @Fabrickator (who owns a JB980) .

On the paper, it could work. Then, once we've the communication logs we can try to fix the command-packets in the web minidisc app and see if it works.

I have done some research on the JE780 (which probably also applies to the JB980):

 

[Doc MD]

The Web Minidisc Application can detect my Sony MZ-N920. However, I encounter Transfer Error and Connection Error with my Sony MZ-NF810, even though it says "Net MD - Paired" when connecting. I use a MacBook Pro with a Google Chrome browser.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Doc MD
Added picture

[BearBoy]

I seem to recall I had to reinstall the WINUSB driver when switching between my MZ-N910 and MZ-N710, although not sure that's much help if you're using a Mac...

[vax4]

Hello ,

excuse me for my bad langage , i'm french 😂 .

I buy a NetMD MiniDisc , a Sony MZ-N710 like Stefano 😉 . No problem with Windows 10 Pro 👍 .

Thanks and 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 .

[Alfred Stuckmann]

Hello Stefano, what a wonderful piece of software. It's time to re-activate my minidisc enthusiasm once again!

 

Is the transfered quality of your software real SP or is this the fake SP quality (in fact LP quality) of the old net md protocol?

 

One question concerning gapless and (real) SP mode:

Afaik the net md protocol doesn't support gapless tracks in SP mode, correct?

If so, maybe this concept would deal with the problem:

Convert all tracks to one big file before the transfer and send this big file to the net md. As soon as the transfer is done, use the track length of the single source tracks and let your software divide the big track on the md into the different tracks (just like the user could do it manually). This should result in a gapless playback and could maintain appropriate track length for each track. Maybe a simple checkbox in the UI could be added to let the user choose whether the transfer should result in gapless files or not.

 

I must admit I don't know, if the net md protocol you're using contains an implementation of the "divide tracks" md functionallity. But if it does, this concept should result in perfect gapless tracks in SP mode - at least if the source tracks don't contain gaps themselves (like old encoded mp3 files sometimes do). Certainly the best source would be WAV or FLAC files (I'm using FLAC mainly).

 

Anyway - keep up the good work. And thanks for the inspiration to reach out a hand to my long prefered recording media again. I love the minidisc since ca. 1994/95 (got my first recorder then - a Sony MDS 302).

 

Regards

Alf

[BearBoy]

9 hours ago, Alfred Stuckmann said:

Is the transfered quality of your software real SP or is this the fake SP quality (in fact LP quality) of the old net md protocol?

 

Welcome to the forum, Alfred.

 

I'm not Stefano but Web MiniDisc does facilitate "real" SP. It sends the PCM data to the NetMD device, which then does the encoding to ATRAC.

 

Stefano confirmed this back on page two: 

If you use the MDLP modes then the app does the encoding and then sends the LP2/LP4 data to your NetMD device.

 

 

[Maciek Matwiejszyn]

Hi, I tried to use it on my Android phone, 8.1, and regardless of the usb cable connected or not, all I get is "Connection Failed" - tried with a couple of different NetMDs, N910, N710, N1 - no difference. 

 

Update: It works with Brave browser, not with Chrome on my phone.

[BearBoy]

I've never tried using it with anything other than my PC but that's useful to know @Maciek Matwiejszyn. Strange it doesn't work with Chrome on an Android device as I thought it had been built specifically for Chrome. I could well be wrong though.

[Maciek Matwiejszyn]

7 minutes ago, BearBoy said:

I've never tried using it with anything other than my PC but that's useful to know @Maciek Matwiejszyn. Strange it doesn't work with Chrome on an Android device as I thought it had been built specifically for Chrome. I could well be wrong though.

I believe it works on other phones with Chrome. My default browser is Brave, and that is probably why. I haven't tried to change my default settings and check, but I guess that would work.

[BearBoy]

There's a new updated version of Web MiniDisc Pro now available which allows you to copy music back from Type-S portables to your PC over USB. It's also got some new ToC cloning/ToC editing functionality.

 

You can also play Tetris on Type-S portables 😲

 

Details from the update on r/minidisc:

 

Quote

Hello,

I'm very happy to announce a new version of Web Minidisc Pro. It's now possible to transfer tracks via USB back to the computer from Sony Type-S portables. The transfer speed is approximately 0.6x real-time for stereo SP tracks (~1.2x LP2 and SP mono, ~2.4x LP4). To enable this new functionality, you must check the "Factory Mode Ripping In Main UI" switch in the ellipsis menu. After enabling that functionality, the 'Record' button gets replaced by the 'Download' button. If a warning shows up, saying that the current version is not supported, please use the full factory mode to download the RAM and ROM, then contact me. Apart from the ATRAC transfer, here are some other new features:

• Factory mode (available from the ellipsis menu)

  • RAM and ROM download

  • Tetris (thanks to /u/Sir68k, works only on Type-S FW 1.600 units)

  • ToC cloning, ToC editing on a byte-by-byte basis

• ATRAC3 autodetection - it's possible to now skip atracdenc and instead send files encoded with SonicStage directly to the recorders, without losing any quality

• Multiple bugfixes

The new version is available at https://web.minidisc.wiki/

The factory mode is still somewhat unstable, so many bugs might still be present.

 

[BearBoy]

Just did a quick test and successfully transferred an SP track from my MZ-N910 to my PC.

 

The file came across as an .aea file, which VLC shows as:

 

[BearBoy]

So I just transferred a live concert I recorded from the radio in the late 90s: 66 minutes, 11 tracks, SP. Took just over 2 hours to transfer to my PC. All the track names came over correctly with the track number as a prefix.

 

No need to save up for an MZ-RH1 now 🤣

[BearBoy]

Interesting note from one of the developers re how the application can extract data from the MiniDisc:

 

Quote

The ATRAC recovery exploit works by reading the 'Anti-Shock' memory of the unit, calculating how much time the section in that memory adds up to in audio, then seeking to that point (seeking forces the unit to empty that buffer and re-read it from disc) to continue reading, then finally aligning the two (or more) parts of the audio track. I cannot reliably predict how long it's going to take to fill up the buffer every time, that's why the "Seeking..." stage takes exactly 10 seconds.

 

 

[BearBoy]

Some more interesting information from one of the developers re how you can use it to remove SCMS from tracks:

 

Quote

You can also disable SCMS for a given track from the factory mode, if needed.

Select the track you want to remove SCMS from in the table on the left, see which root fragment (It will be flashing 'R') on the right one gets highlighted, click 'Edit' next to the mode value, and in the dialog that pops up select SCMS Status 'Unlimited Copies Allowed'. After that click update and continue doing that for every fragment of that track.

After you've changed that value for all tracks you'd like to remove SCMS from, click the check-mark next to the menu button, and it should rewrite the new table of contents. After that take the disc out (if you don't it might revert). It should be SCMS-free.

 

[Maciek Matwiejszyn]

Fantastic update! It took me a little while to find it, https://web.minidisc.wiki/

Tested with my MZ-N920 and speed of downloading SP tracks back to my Mac is around 0.55x, which is a bit long, but much much quicker than doing it traditional way: line-in + editing software.

[BearBoy]

Sorry, the link was in my original post from the 27th but was buried in the quote and hidden from view unless you clicked "expand". Glad you found it and got it working though.

[BearBoy]

On 5/17/2020 at 10:14 PM, BearBoy said:

Re point 3, it works fine with AAC files. I couldn’t get it to work with ALAC files though. 

 

Tried it again today and it (Web MiniDisc Pro) does now work with ALAC (Apple Lossless) files. Which is handy for me as 95% of my iTunes library was ripped in ALAC.

[Alfred Stuckmann]

"ToC editing on a byte-by-byte basis"

What's the point in this? I couldn't find anything in the UI which gives me the possibility of TOC editing - except for renaming tracks or discs. I'm using a Sharp IM-DR410 which works fine with Web Minidisc as well as Platinum MD.

 

Can someone explain where to find the "ToC editing byte by byte" and what it's good for?

 

[BearBoy]

I'm not entirely sure what you could use the "ToC editing byte by byte" for but assumed it was maybe something to do with repairing corrupted discs? Could be totally wrong though.

 

Maybe ask the question on the Reddit and see if the developer can provide an explanation?

 

Re how you access the ToC editing/cloning features:

 

Quote

asivery

OP·12 days ago

 

It can definitely rewrite the TOC of an errored disc, but if the disc itself is damaged, the data just won't persist, so it will go back to its old, errored self.

To fix the discs you could try doing something like this:

• Insert a blank disc of the same length as the damaged disc (it should also work with discs of different length, but it's best if the discs are as similar as possible) into your unit.

• In Web Minidisc, open the factory mode, then select 'Download TOC' in the ellipsis menu.

• Take the disc out, insert the damaged disc

• As you're still in the factory mode, open the menu, select 'Reload TOC', and once that completes, open the menu again, select 'Upload TOC', and choose the file you've just downloaded.

• After the loading screen disappears, take the disc out, unplug the player, take out the batteries, and see if it solved the issue.

Let me know how it goes 🙂

[BearBoy]

On 6/27/2022 at 11:31 AM, BearBoy said:

There's a new updated version of Web MiniDisc Pro now available which allows you to copy music back from Type-S portables to your PC over USB.

 

Another update of Web MiniDisc Pro came out a few months back that extended the copying facility to some Type-R devices. A list of the compatible devices can be found here: https://www.minidisc.wiki/guides/exploits

[BearBoy]

The application was also updated to allow you to use Sony's official MDLP encoding, rather than the lower quality free ATRAC encoder it was previously using. I've not tried it yet but will give it a go this weekend.

 

Details here: https://www.minidisc.wiki/guides/webminidisc#recording_mode

[BearBoy]

Tried using the remote (i.e. official Sony) ATRAC encoder to convert/transfer some ALAC files on my PC to LP2 on my MiniDisc and all worked without any issues. Seemed quicker than I remember the app working but I haven't used it for a few months so that could all be in my imagination.

[zzzuppp]

It would be great if one day Stefano could add Hi-MD to the functions of this excellent little app.

[BearBoy]

Given all the development that Stefano and Asivery have achieved so far, I'd imagine it must be a possibility.

[Richard]

I believe asivery is working on it. He showed me a beta that is able to read Hi-MD formatted discs and edit the track info, but it's still a work in progress

[stoke pade]

Does it require any drivers or anything to be installed when using a PC?

 

mobdro 2022
 

[BearBoy]

Hi @stoke pade. Yes, you will need to install drivers on a Windows PC. There is a guide here: https://www.minidisc.wiki/guides/webminidisc

[imkidd57]

Asivery also mentioned recently that they have got working the upload (PC -> MD) of the .aea files that have been downloaded (MD -> PC) from SP recordings. IIRC that was the only thing missing from the application; apparently soon to be released in a new version.