NetMD Questions

[GnatGoSplat_]

I'm a newbie to this forum - sort of, I've been registered here for some time, just never posted. I'm an MD oldtimer though.

Anyway, I have a Sony MZ-N505 I bought almost a year ago. I copied one track to it using OpenMG and then never used it again.

It's time for me to decide whether to dump MD forever, or jump back in it. My decision lies entirely on NetMD, how it works, and how it could work for the purpose of using MD in the car.

1. Stupid question here, but I'm at work and my N505 is at home: It is possible to copy MP3's using OpenMG to the MD in SP mode, correct?

2. I've read that OpenMG and SonicStage both convert MP3's to ATRAC3 (equivelent of LP2). If this is the case, how does that translate into SP (ATRAC1) mode? And if this is the case, does that mean recording MP3's in realtime using an SPDIF connection can actually result in better sound quality than using OpenMG to do a direct high-speed recording?

3. Are the .omg (LP2 ATRAC3 files) saved for EVERY MP3 that's copied over? Can they be deleted, or am I just to expect the omg files to accumulate?

4. Is there a Check In/Out crack for OpenMG or Sonic Stage, so that they don't have to be checked in/out anymore?

5. Is there a way to copy MP3 tracks one-by-one at high speed to MD where nothing is checked out, no omg files are saved, and at SP quality? I realize converting to ATRAC is necessary, but I just don't want the overhead.

6. I have heard of ways to do my question #5 using Nero image files and SimpleBurner, BUT that requires that you already have planned out what's going on the MD and not a one-track-at-a-time recording. Basically, I don't see the point of this, I might as well just burn MP3's directly onto a CD-RW... so is this the only way?

Basically, I guess what I want to do is the same stuff I used to do in real-time, which is recording MP3 tracks one by one, but I want to do it in high-speed and end up with a regular 80-minute SP quality MD. I would like my IDv3 tags from MP3's to automatically title the tracks I copy over. I don't want extra ATRAC3 files hogging space on my hard drive, and I don't want to have to check them in or out.

[clonmult]

1. Nope - OpenMG/Sonicstage only support LP2/4 - Atrac 3.

2. See point 1, no Atrac1 encoding possible. Unless you do real time PC audio out to MD audio in.

The best way around the check in/out is the Imagedrive/Simpleburner trick. Search the forum.

And the sound quality - if you take a 128kbps MP3, and convert it to Atrac (264 kbps), you will NOT improve the sound quality. May as well go to a 132kbps Atrac3 file.

Depends on the bitrate of the MP3s you are working with - try LP2/4, play them back, see what you like the sound of. Heck, if I were to put my MD through my home audio (Stax electrostatic headphones), I'd reckon that SP would be the only acceptable form.

But, as most of my stuff is played in the car (noisy) or whilst running (too busy wheezing away), the sound quality isn't *that* important.

[GnatGoSplat_]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, that's not the answer I was hoping for, it seems NetMD is not all it's cracked up to be.

My MP3's are actually VBR and vary from 128kbps minimum to 320kbps maximum, so I believe they could benefit from SP mode. Not to mention my car MD players only handle SP mode discs anyway.

I could burn MP3's onto a CD-R/RW with far fewer steps than the Imagedrive/Simpleburner trick. One of my decisions associated with whether to stick to MD was whether to repair my broken car MiniDisc unit, or dump it in favor of one of the cheap and plentiful CD-MP3 players that are available.

It's a shame NetMD has been neutered like it has. When it came out, I envisioned an MD player icon showing up in "My Computer". Double-clicking the icon would open an Explorer-like window displaying all the tracks. Copying a track to the MD would be as simple as dragging an MP3 to either the Explorer-like window or the MD player icon. Transcoding from MP3 to ATRAC would occur in realtime, in memory. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what the original designers envisioned as well, but Sony Music said "NO!". Anyway, I tried OpenMG last night, and I hate it. It would freeze up at 9% conversion, not to mention was cumbersome to use.

[mAjEsTiC]

i'm sorry to hear of ur problems and disappointment to the NetMD format that Sony has so kindly introduced to the mass market...being somewhat not quite what people had expected in the end product, it leaves many unsatisfied with this new technology...in time it will change and maybe one day the dream of a hassle-free, simple-to-use MD unit with very fast transfer speeds may not seem too far off...but for the time being we are stuck with what Sony has given us however buggy or inconvenient it may be...true i do complain at times of the NetMD being more of a pain than of a valued asset but it is far better/faster than recording in real-time i spose so it doez the job as is...