EvilEivind Posted December 8, 2003 Report Share Posted December 8, 2003 Hi! I'm new to this forum, as well as the world of MDs in general, so my apologies if I'm not as familiar with the MD terminology and features as most here in this forum might be. =) I don't yet own any king of MiniDisc player. I've been very keen on getting my hand on a portable MiniDisc unit for the past year now, and now I've managed to put off enough money and am finally considering actually getting one. I've used the past week trying to look up a few units, checking out local sales, and trying to find out more about MDs in general. But, lately, I've been reading up on how you're actually supposed to transfer music onto an MD disc, and, some of what I've read has really turned me off of the idea of actually purchasing any sort of portable MD unit at all... None of what I've read has really been as explanatory as I would have liked though and I feel as if I have a very scrambled understanding of how the transferring/recording process. So I won't try to explain how I think the process may or may not work. Instead, I would really appreciate it if anyone could be able to answer these two questions for me, in a fairly coherent manner, stating the consequences and pros and cons of different ways of recording, keeping in mind my inexperience with MDs as well as certain aspects of digital audio (not to mention the fact that I'm Norwegian): How can I go about recording music from a CD onto a MD disc? How can I go about recording mp3 music from the computer onto a MD disc? (And I'm not referring to only the NetMD methods, but also non-NetMD methods - I had a hard time choosing between the Non-NetMD and the NetMD forum when it came to where I should be posting this!) I really appreciate your time! I'm sure I'll follow up to any eventual replies with a few more in-depth question regarding the process. =) If I'm still interested in pirchasing a portable MD device, I'm sure I'll post a new topic regarding what model to pick.) - Evil Eivind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted December 8, 2003 Report Share Posted December 8, 2003 How can I go about recording music from a CD onto a MD disc?heyy there...i'll try and answer these questions as simply as possible and if you have any other questions feel free to ask...anyway to record music from a CD to an MD you have to options...one is to record via the typical old school methods which uses analogue or digital cables going from an output jack from the CD player to the input jack on the MD recorder...once this is connected it is as simple as pressing the play button on the CD Player and sliding the record switch on the MD recorder at about the same time and it will record the music but you have to wait until the CD finishes before everything is recorded (i.e. real-time recording)...the second way is to use a PC via USB using NetMD capabilities (faster than real-time recording...a song can be transfered in a matter of seconds on my N10 unit after it has been optimised in ATRAC3 format)...this requires specialised software from specific companies (namely SonicStage/OpenMG/SimpleBurner from Sony and AIWA units, BeatJam for Sharp and Panasonic units and RealOne from RealNetworks also can be used for NetMD capable units...)...i tend to use a program by Sony called SimpleBurner that is relatively simple to use to transfer from CD -> MD quickly through USB...see picture below as u can see when you insert a CD the tracks will be shown in the box on the left hand side and when you insert and MD it will be displayed on the right...copying files across is a simple as pressing the record button and selecting which mode you want to encode the music in (i.e. LP2 or LP4, and note that this method will be faster to transfer music across than using cables)... How can I go about recording mp3 music from the computer onto a MD disc?basically similar to what i've said above...you can use either through use of cables or use of USB and software... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilEivind Posted December 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2003 Thank you for your reply, Majestic! =) And I definitely still have several more questions regarding the recording/transferring ordeal. The old school method you described sounded suspiciously like the method used for audio cassettes which can, with the right cables and equipment, basically record just about anything. Though this might sound like a silly question, how does a MiniDisc differ from a normal audio cassette? What's the difference between using analogue and digital cables when recording the old school way? Are there any benefits from recording the NetMD way as opposed to the old school way, and vice versa? I've heard that when using the NetMD way you are only capable of recording in LP2 or LP4 mode, which, from what I've gathered, sacrifices sound quality to increase the content of a MD disc. In LP2, transferring is done at 132 Kbps and you can roughly record 160 minutes of audio. When listening to music at home, I usually do so through my computer and I have most of my CDs stored on the harddrive as 192 Kbps mp3 files. Having to settle for sound quality below 192 Kbps is something I'd rather avoid. Are there any benefits with using the RealOne player when recording to a MD using the NetMD way? Oh, and thank you for including the image as well. It's nice to have an image to go with the process as well. - Evil Eivind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted December 9, 2003 Report Share Posted December 9, 2003 The old school method you described sounded suspiciously like the method used for audio cassettes which can, with the right cables and equipment, basically record just about anything. Though this might sound like a silly question, how does a MiniDisc differ from a normal audio cassette?MiniDisc is meant to be a replacement for the cassette...it is like a digital cassette kind of in a way...i.e. has the flexibility and sound quality of a CD (digital) but the recording capabilities of a cassette...it sounds a lot better than cassette, can basically nearly instantly skip songs and rearrange them to what ever order you like...combine or split tracks on the MD and so on... What's the difference between using analogue and digital cables when recording the old school way?well the difference between these is the eventual recording that goes onto the MD...analogue cables are susceptable to interference from things that basically give out an electro magnetic field and so you kind of get some noise when you record through this (although quality is very good otherwise...higher quality cables sound nearly as good as a recording done through digital cable)...whereas digital is not and the recording is more or less an exact digital copy of what you are recording from... Are there any benefits from recording the NetMD way as opposed to the old school way, and vice versa?NetMD just makes it a LOT faster for you to transfer music across from your PC -> MD in LP2 and LP4 modes...that's basically the plus of NetMD... I've heard that when using the NetMD way you are only capable of recording in LP2 or LP4 mode, which, from what I've gathered, sacrifices sound quality to increase the content of a MD disc. In LP2, transferring is done at 132 Kbps and you can roughly record 160 minutes of audio. When listening to music at home, I usually do so through my computer and I have most of my CDs stored on the harddrive as 192 Kbps mp3 files. Having to settle for sound quality below 192 Kbps is something I'd rather avoid.an LP2 track is encoded in ATRAC3 format which is an interesting compression algorithm...yes it is about 132Kbps in quality but this should not be confused with mp3 bitrates since these have different ways of compression...quite a few ppl claim that they can't tell much difference between that of SP quality and that of LP2 quality so IMO LP2 on an MD will sound like at least a 192kbps mp3....LP2 is the way i transfer music across to my MD most of the time...it's the lowest setting i would go... Are there any benefits with using the RealOne player when recording to a MD using the NetMD way?RealOne player is basically another program that will allow you to transfer files to your NetMD capable unit...it's basically the same as OpenMG and SonicStage...just a different company makes it so different interface and feel to the program...that's about it... hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 9, 2003 Report Share Posted December 9, 2003 I am experienced with MP3 and have now done some recording to MD in LP2 and SP modes. I'd rate LP2 as good as a well-made 128kbps MP3, or a lousy 160kbps MP3, or a really bad 192kbps MP3... lol ATRAC3 definitely is a strange codec, though. Some things always come through very clearly in LP2, whereas other sounds get distorted as if the music was encoded with the lousy Blade MP3 encoder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvilEivind Posted December 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2003 Again, thank you for your responses! At the moment, I actually only have one more question: When it comes to digital recording though... what sort of "line out" ports should I be looking for on the DVD or CD player, or optionally my computer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted December 13, 2003 Report Share Posted December 13, 2003 Optical out. And you'll need either a TOSlink->TOSlink cable with a miniplug adapter, or a TOSlink->MiniPlug cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mAjEsTiC Posted December 13, 2003 Report Share Posted December 13, 2003 usually on DVD players they tend to have a square plug as an optical output jack...as with the front panels in most creative series of soundcards so just look for a square -> miniplug (circle) cable to record from these...portable CD players usually tend to have a miniplug (circle) jack that is similar to that found on MD's and you use the miniplug (circle) -> miniplug (circle) cable to record through here...usually decks have square input jacks and these need a square -> square optic cable to record from a dvd player or audigy platinum drive (which is how i hook my MD deck to my computer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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