FAQ concerning NetMD software

[Bazirker]

If you can't get your netmd player to work, check these things before posting a question:

1. Are you using the right drivers? The MZ-N1, N707, N505, and S1 all use the same driver while the MZ-N10 uses a different driver. If your N10 won't connect to your computer, you need to install the NetMD driver that came with your N10 and NOT any other drivers.

2. Try reinstalling your software. While Sonicstage is more stable the OpenMG, both programs are terrible. Reinstalling may fix several problems that can occur while using the programs. People having problems getting CDDB connections should read below; for some people it just won't work right out of the box and some tweaking may be necessary.

3. If for some reason you need NetMD software, see the stickied "Holy Grail" post; it has links to both OpenMG and drivers (not including the MZ-N10 driver.)

4. NetMD IS NOT CAPABLE OF AUDIO UPLOADING, meaning you can't use NetMD to get music from your md to your computer. The only current way to get audio from your md to your PC is to have your md play the disk while the computer records it. Plug a cable with a headphones jack on each end into the the md and the other end into your PC soundcard's line in. Go to this link for some software to help you out:http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=435

The board is getting cluttered with essentially the same questions being asked in different ways, so please try to read a couple threads that seem to address your problem before posting...I bet you'll find what you're looking for if you actually do look, I can't imagine what new problems OpenMG and Sonicstage could create that haven't already been addressed here...but then again we're dealing with Sony.

Thank you!

[Leland]

There is a registration process for CDDB. I did this and don't have trouble connecting to the service. I did NOT register the NetMD with Sony. I only set up CDDB with a user name and PW, or whatever it wanted. That might help some.

[Guest Anonymous]

I saw a brilliant tip in these forums which worked for me! OpenMG's link to Gracenote pre-supposes a proxy server. If you customise using TOOLS-OPTIONS you can untick the box relating to proxy server, save the configuration and presto! CDDB works like a charm. Odd though that using OpenMG my CDs are found thru Gracenote, but using Simple Burner they seem not to exist! Oh well, nothing is perfect. Hope this helps!

[MDX-400]

Bazirker, I'm going to post this answer to the check-in/out business as I just answered this question and think that lots of people might have the same question... (PS: If anyone thinks I've made any mistakes or omissions in my answer please let me know!)

Q: (teknosuicide asks...) There is one thing I still dont understand though. The NetMD talks about being about to "check in" and "check out" songs to your MD.

"Open MG Jukebox is SDMI compliant and allows up to 3 track 'check-outs' from PC to MD, tracks can subsequently be 'checked-in', deleting them from the MD."

What does this mean exactly? Can someone clarify please? Thanks!

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A: What the "consequences" of this means is that you can only have any one song copied to a maximum of 3 discs at any given time. Say you put the same song on 3 different MDs and you want to put it on a 4th--you can't do that. However if you wanted to delete that track from one of the 3 MDs then you would be able to put it on another disc again.

So you have a "counter" that has a maximum of 3 check-outs per song/file and checking something in simply decreases the counter by 1 and deletes the track from the MD.

The check-in/out thing usually doesn't affect most people because most people never have the need to have the same song on more than 3 MDs anyhow. Personally I never record the same song to more than ONE MD, myself...

[Bazirker]

Here's a bit of "Sonicstage vs OpenMG Jukebox vs Simple Burner" FAQ!

Sonicstage actually isn't very different from OpenMG at all; they both run the same program engine, so the fundamental ways that the programs work are identical. OpenMG is more user friendly. Sonicstage tries to be more user friendly but just ends up making you mad because you have to click a button everytime you want to edit something instead of just letting you do it like OpenMG does. Really the only thing Sonicstage has over OpenMG is that on some people's computers, Sonicstage is more stable, and that Sonicstage can change LP2 files to LP4 files on-the-fly when sending them to MD. Well, and I guess Sonicstage is more visually appealing (at the expense of functionality, as stated above.)

Here's how both programs work. First, the programs run five different kinds of audio files: mp3, wma (windows media,) wav (windows wave format,) cda (CD audio,) and omg (ATRAC3 audio.) The programs can transfer any of these types of audio to the minidisc player, but only if it has first been converted to omg. So, for you to send an mp3 to your minidisc player, it must first be converted to omg format before the program can transfer it (because omg is the type of audio that minidiscs play.) So if you want to be able to quickly transfer audio to your MD, you first need to import mp3's to the program so that it can create a database of omg files and you need to record cd's onto your hard drive via a program. This isn't too big of a deal, except it takes up lots of hard drive space (at LP2 quality, one minute of music takes roughly one megabyte of hard drive space.) I have a 60 GB hard drive on my laptop, so that isn't really a problem for me. However, older computers with smaller drives might have an issue. I loaded all 180 of my CD's onto my computer at 132 kbps (LP2) quality and that takes up a little under 10 GB of space.

OK so now that you have your music ready for transfer, here's how the actual PC>>MD part works. First, open up your program and connect your minidisc player. Next, if you are using OpenMG, click the transfer tab. If you are using Sonicstage, click recording assistant, then select music drive as the source and netmd as the recorder. (This one of the reasons why OpenMG has a simpler interface; it requires less clicking to get to the same step.) Finally, music from the window on the left and click "check-out." The music will be sent to your MD at a rapid pace.

Now the bad stuff. When you put a song on an MD, you check-out one copy of the track from the program. When you delete a song off your MD using the program, you check it back in. Each song has a check-out count limit of three, meaning when you check out a song, it's count goes down, and when you check a song in, it goes up one. This means that you can only check out a song three times without checking any back in. This isn't a big deal unless you want to put the same song on more than three different minidiscs. To me, what is a big deal is the restrictions on a track sent to MD. Once a song has been sent to the MD, you can't change the name of the song or delete any part of it. (If you don't already record your own music, then this shouldn't bother you at all.) So, the track becomes protected and you can't modify the track outside of moving it on the MD.

A slower but much much cooler method of making minidiscs via NetMD is using the Simple Burner application that comes included with OpenMG (and possibly Sonicstage, I haven't bought a NetMD unit that came with an english version of Sonicstage. Either way, Simple Burner can be downloaded too.) Simple Burner takes tracks off a cd and moves them directly to minidisc without making files on your computer, without using check-in/out limitations, and without any track protection restrictions. I look at it as what NetMD should be; faster recording with no limitations. It is possible to record computer audio files to minidisc via NetMD using simple burner. Read this link to see how: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=880

Here's a link to a thread with sonicstage/simple burner download information: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=609

And here's a link to download OpenMG Jukebox: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=482

[Guest Anonymous]

hi there!

just a note to Bazirker simple burner IS NOT bundled on the uk version

of sonic stage cd! as i have just got hold of a netmd mz510 and was hopeing to use simple burner insted of sonic stage but no luck!

[[BR]Filick]

I read carefully all points posted here. It is very elucidative.

But I still have a question. There it goes:

When I select files to send to MD, all convertions are made before check out. But when the process ends, the program (SonicStage 1.5) warns that was impossible to record files 'cos the disc is full. In fact it is empty and new. So I've tried dozen of times and it keeps to give me the same warn. What could it be?! When connection is made my WinXP (Professional) recognized the Net MD.

Greets from Brazil!

Filick

[fatty bluntz]

Hi,

I followed all the steps in the Announcement: [read this first] Welcome to NetMD. post to remove all of Sonys software, and installed the sonicstage version 2 linked there. SonicStage 2 runs just fine, but crashes and closes when I try to convert a file to atrac3 in the checkout process. I'm left with an error message saying Omgjbox.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close and the feeling of buyers remorse.

Someone please code a program that converts audio files to atrac3, Sony sure isn't going to.