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Converting MP3 to ATRAC3 Format.

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Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

I'm interested in purchasing a NetMD. I'll like to convert some MP3's to ATRAC3. Can someone tell me exactly the process of converting it? Does the software provided with a NetMD do it?

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Guest Anonymous

thanks mAjEsTiC for the quick reply. I have another question.

What is the difference between a NetMD player and a Digital Walkman (ie: Sony NW-MS70D)? I know it uses different media, I was just interested in terms of ease of use concerning transfering songs from a PC to the device. I can't seem to find any disccusions on digital walkmans.

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Guest Anonymous

The usage is virtually identical. For both NetMD and Network Walkman, you just process MP3's through SonicStage, which converts them to ATRAC3 on-the-fly and uploads to the player.

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yup NRen2k5 just answered the q for u...=) but i would stay away from the MS70D if i were you...i bought one recently thinking it was really cool (believe me it is) but a few short comings on the battery life and memory cost per MB is enough to put most ppl off...that and it can't record...but otherwise it is a fine unit...MD's are relatively cheap nowdays so it's a good buy...

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Dont really know about you guys but I just cant seem to like them MP3 players. They are neat, small and look cool but they are not really useful besides listening to music. MD has more features and is more versatile. You are not limited with memory either. And the media is relatively cheap! I have around 25 discs atm and that would equal to around 25*160 = 4000 minutes of music... You would need A LOT OF memory for that. Sure you cannot carry 25 discs with you all the time but you can carry a modest number of 5 which is enough. Also the battery life of MDs are much better. So MD is just better... smile.gif

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in terms of storage teh ipod is one of the best hdd based mp3 players out there bar none...has heaps of storage space and is very cheap per mb if you think about it...that and it holds a stack of mp3's...too bad the battery life sux and it can't record...weight is reasonable but no where near as light as an md...but i use mine mainly for backup purposes... tongue.gif

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Yup it comes to what i said... They are not versatile enough and the hdd players are chunky. Also the battery life is crappy. So MD is a great option atm. However, one big drawback of NetMDs is that you cannot record from just any computer but just your OWN computer. Still though the idea and the transfer rates are great...

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This thread has officially been hijacked! Tying the current discussion back to the original topic...

You guys missed one of the best ways to convert mp3's to ATRAC3...it's the one thing minidisc can do that ipods and mp3 players can't....realtime recording! So Berky, an MD unit actually can record from not just any computer, but any stereo, any CD player, any PS2, anything that has an analog or digital output. Most MD units can also record from a mic too. Can the mp3 players and portable HDD's do this? Just like NetMD, most of them can't just plug into the computer and go, they require software too.

Point is that NetMD isn't the only way to get mp3's on a minidisc (unless you have a unit like the 410...but I don't really consider that a recorder anyway.) For the first 8 years minidisc was around, the only way to get mp3's on a minidisc was through realtime recording. This is why minidisc has such a following...not because of NetMD, but because of its versatility. I'd actually venture to say that while NetMD has certainly brought more people to the minidisc format, it has taken emphasis off of MD's original strengths and possibly weakened a lot of peoples' loyalty to the format.

So, you can convert mp3's to ATRAC format in several ways...you can have Sonicstage convert a batch of them all at once and save them on your hard drive, you can do it on the fly through Sonicstage and have them saved on your hard drive, you can do it on the fly through Simple Burner and have no files saved on your hard drive, or you can have your MD convert the files to ATRAC3 by making a realtime analog or digital recording. I prefer Simple Burner and realtime recording myself because I don't like the track protection and hard drive usage that Sonicstage requires.

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Yes I like the Simple Burner software too. Its just very simple and straightforward. No need to worry about check-outs and crap like that. I just wish they woud allow true SP through simple burner or sonicstage though. I dont really care about the transfer rate too much. Sure its great but its just a hassle recording from my HiFi's digital out and then connecting it to the computer just for titling purposes. It would have been great just being able to record at SP quality on the puter. Ah well... maybe next gen MDs might have that...

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Ever wondered why you can't use NetMD for true SP mode quality stuff?

One reason is that when Sony originally released NetMD, they were interested in getting ATRAC3 on the market so they could sell it for not only NetMD stuff but also with Network Walkman and their new line of CD players.

However, the real reason why you can't do true SP quality with NetMD is that the codec used to create ATRAC3 files is not the same as the codec used to create ATRAC files. ATRAC alone (or with a version number such as 4.0) stands for SP quality stuff while ATRAC3 (with its version being Type-R, Type-S, etc) stands for LP2 or LP4 mode. While Sony is willing to let their ATRAC3 codec out into the hands of the world, they are much more protective of the ATRAC format that is the heart and soul of minidisc. When doing NetMD stuff, the computer does the encoding, not the MD player, so allowing the PC to do both LP2 and LP4 as well as SP means having two minidisc codecs, not just one. So, now if you tell Sonicstage to send SP mode tracks to the minidisc player, it sends (decoded?) LP2 audio to the MD and the MD unit encodes the SP mode stuff based off the LP2 signal, hence it not sounding like true SP mode.

Disclaimer: This was true as off several months ago when I was doing research on the topic. I don't know if they've recently found anything that contradicts it, so I apologize if I'm out of date. It's 2 in the morning, I'm tired....bedtime....

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