I see there have been previous discussions on the subject of copying from MD to PC and how decent means to do it is lacking. Has anyone purchased the Xitel MD-Port I/O (see above link for more details.) It claims to allow up and download of files to net MD. I know it costs about £50 - but we'll ignore that for now
Also, has anyone found software thats compatible with Windows Server 2003? Because Sonic Stage isn't - so at the moment I can't copy anything to my MD from my PC.
Which version of Sonic Stage are you using? They bundled 1.0 or 1.1 with most gear, and then posted a 1.5 update on various Sony web sites. Now 2.0 is out, which is worth checking out, it has newer drivers etc. It works on my WinXP system anyway.
Re: the Xitel, hard to tell if it's worth the price or not. If all you have is a portable, I guess it's not bad. It doesn't do high speed transfer, it just lets you play and record in realtime. Of course with NetMD, realtime is the only possibility for getting audio from the MD into the PC, so you're not missing anything on that front.
Try 'Total Recorder' which you can get at http://www.highcriteria.com/download/tr44se.exe
It costs $11.95 to register, which you will need to overcome limited time recording, but it records from just about anything
including MD, Mic, internet radio, internet streaming, any other analog input, or even the telephone line
It even has scheduler to record at preset times
It is great piece of software and I love it - I use it to record the late session on RTE radio 1 and loads of other things
It's version 1.506 of Sonic Stage that came with the MD. I've downloaded the upgrage to version 2.0, but when I try to install it insists I don't have the right software to upgrade. I'm having lots of luck with this as you can tell!
Enob - where do you get a cable of the sort needed to go from the md to the pc when using this software? Is it readily available in electronics shops? My md just came with the usb cable and some strange wee optical cable that I can't find a port for anywhere... very puzzling.
sandra,
i have input about getting recorded stuff FROM MD TO PC. and we run windows 2000, not what you are asking...but here goes:
your weird cable, other than the USB cable, is for an optical card,,,which i understand can be pricey..keep the cable for when you win the lottery. in the meantime, i have been using a shareware called goldwave, and can record from the MD by using the stereo headphone OUT, running a male stereo cable (both ends) from the mini disc headphone jack and then into the INPUT plug of my soundcard on the PC. this is referred to as 'analog' recording, rather than optical...optical is true digital. goldwave can then be set to record for as long as you have music on the MD. one thing i have yet to figure out is how to mimic the tracks i have on the MD on the computer file. so far, i only get the ENTIRE file,,,1.5GB sometimes, depending on the length of our session. i set this to run on the computer and then go to bed! it gets done sometime during the nite... then, i save the mondo file, and at a time later on, i edit it all, going in and selectting each tune or song, saving as a *.wav file for later use on a cd or whatever....this takes time so you really have to want to edit this stuff...
you also have the option of using the same type of cable,,,stereo to stereo male ends...running from your MD stereo headphone out and running into your AUX input on the back of your stereo system. that way you will be able to listen through your stereo AND have the tracks available to you to go to different locations on your MD recording.
here is info about GoldWave...copied from my help screen in goldwave software:
"GoldWave is a shareware program. It is not free software. However, after trying GoldWave, the modest registration fee should seem very reasonable considering all of the great features. To register and encourage further development, please see the website. You can order securely online or you can fill in the Order.doc file and send it by regular mail. Registration details are given below. If you require more than one license, please send the full name of each person who will be using GoldWave.
Registration License (US$40, Can$55, UK£25)
You will receive a personalized password that removes the startup and toll messages and unlocks all versions of GoldWave. The password will make all future versions of GoldWave fully functional. This is equivalent to a lifetime of free updates! All you have to do is download the latest version from the GoldWave website:
I use Goldwave a lot for editing, but for capture/recording my experience has been that it drops samples. The result is very annoying pops/clicks in the audio track from where the audio waves misalign.
If all you have is a portable MD, then you only have analog for recording from MD to PC. No MD portables have been made with digital output since the very first model, MZ-R1, from 1992. So just get the 1/8" mini-stereo cable.
As a general rule, PC soundcards suck. Their AD converters are fairly nonlinear to begin with, and they tend to have inadequately isolated power supplies. This means they pick up power line noise from the rest of the computer system, and that noise shows up in your recordings. The advantage of a device like the Xitel is the analog-to-digital conversion occurs in an isolated device, so it doesn't have the line noise to deal with. Whether or not they actually use superior AD hardware is an open question.
If you have the capability, always use a digital input on your PC for audio recording, and use an outboard device (like the Xitel) to perform the Analog to Digital conversion; without the power line noise you'll get a much cleaner recording that way. When I record from my MZN10 I run the analog output from there to my MDSJB920 deck. The deck does A/D and I feed the optical digital output from the deck into a Canopus MD-Port which converts optical digital to/from USB audio, and that goes into my PC. (I only need to do this for MDLP recordings; if it's SP I just put the MD into the deck and do a pure digital transfer.)
If you want to get tracks into your PC and preserve the track information, use WinNMD. The current version works very well...
Here's a page giving anoverview of the program
I don't record from PC, only from CD, but I had to go to Radio Shack to get the right cable, which frustratingly wasn't included with my Sony MD player/recorder. I took CD player & MD player/recorder to Radio Shack, and they knew instantly what I needed. Don't know if this applies to your PC dilemma, but maybe it'll help.
Just thought I'd round off the discussion by adding that
(a) I reinstalled XP
(b) Sonic Stage now behaves itself reasonable well
(c) I bought Win Net MD - and it's nice and straightforward
(d) I even managed to find the right cable.
Feeling very chuffed with myself.
Thanx to all who helped - sooooh greatly appreciated.
Copying from MD to PC
Copying from MD to PC
http://www.xitel.com/product_mdpio.htm
I see there have been previous discussions on the subject of copying from MD to PC and how decent means to do it is lacking. Has anyone purchased the Xitel MD-Port I/O (see above link for more details.) It claims to allow up and download of files to net MD. I know it costs about £50 - but we'll ignore that for now
Also, has anyone found software thats compatible with Windows Server 2003? Because Sonic Stage isn't - so at the moment I can't copy anything to my MD from my PC.
All help greatly and desparately appreciated.
Sandra
# Posted on April 3rd 2004 by drizzt
Re: Copying from MD to PC
Which version of Sonic Stage are you using? They bundled 1.0 or 1.1 with most gear, and then posted a 1.5 update on various Sony web sites. Now 2.0 is out, which is worth checking out, it has newer drivers etc. It works on my WinXP system anyway.
Re: the Xitel, hard to tell if it's worth the price or not. If all you have is a portable, I guess it's not bad. It doesn't do high speed transfer, it just lets you play and record in realtime. Of course with NetMD, realtime is the only possibility for getting audio from the MD into the PC, so you're not missing anything on that front.
# Posted on April 3rd 2004 by HighlandSun
Re: Copying from MD to PC
Try 'Total Recorder' which you can get at http://www.highcriteria.com/download/tr44se.exe
It costs $11.95 to register, which you will need to overcome limited time recording, but it records from just about anything
including MD, Mic, internet radio, internet streaming, any other analog input, or even the telephone line
It even has scheduler to record at preset times
It is great piece of software and I love it - I use it to record the late session on RTE radio 1 and loads of other things
# Posted on April 3rd 2004 by Enob
Re: Copying from MD to PC
Cheers for the help guys -
It's version 1.506 of Sonic Stage that came with the MD. I've downloaded the upgrage to version 2.0, but when I try to install it insists I don't have the right software to upgrade. I'm having lots of luck with this as you can tell!
Enob - where do you get a cable of the sort needed to go from the md to the pc when using this software? Is it readily available in electronics shops? My md just came with the usb cable and some strange wee optical cable that I can't find a port for anywhere... very puzzling.
Aah why can't they make these things easy?
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by drizzt
Re: Copying from MD to PC
sandra,
i have input about getting recorded stuff FROM MD TO PC. and we run windows 2000, not what you are asking...but here goes:
your weird cable, other than the USB cable, is for an optical card,,,which i understand can be pricey..keep the cable for when you win the lottery. in the meantime, i have been using a shareware called goldwave, and can record from the MD by using the stereo headphone OUT, running a male stereo cable (both ends) from the mini disc headphone jack and then into the INPUT plug of my soundcard on the PC. this is referred to as 'analog' recording, rather than optical...optical is true digital. goldwave can then be set to record for as long as you have music on the MD. one thing i have yet to figure out is how to mimic the tracks i have on the MD on the computer file. so far, i only get the ENTIRE file,,,1.5GB sometimes, depending on the length of our session. i set this to run on the computer and then go to bed! it gets done sometime during the nite... then, i save the mondo file, and at a time later on, i edit it all, going in and selectting each tune or song, saving as a *.wav file for later use on a cd or whatever....this takes time so you really have to want to edit this stuff...
you also have the option of using the same type of cable,,,stereo to stereo male ends...running from your MD stereo headphone out and running into your AUX input on the back of your stereo system. that way you will be able to listen through your stereo AND have the tracks available to you to go to different locations on your MD recording.
here is info about GoldWave...copied from my help screen in goldwave software:
"GoldWave is a shareware program. It is not free software. However, after trying GoldWave, the modest registration fee should seem very reasonable considering all of the great features. To register and encourage further development, please see the website. You can order securely online or you can fill in the Order.doc file and send it by regular mail. Registration details are given below. If you require more than one license, please send the full name of each person who will be using GoldWave.
Registration License (US$40, Can$55, UK£25)
You will receive a personalized password that removes the startup and toll messages and unlocks all versions of GoldWave. The password will make all future versions of GoldWave fully functional. This is equivalent to a lifetime of free updates! All you have to do is download the latest version from the GoldWave website:
http://www.goldwave.com "
cheerio,
jane
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by trad2nz
Re: Copying from MD to PC
I use Goldwave a lot for editing, but for capture/recording my experience has been that it drops samples. The result is very annoying pops/clicks in the audio track from where the audio waves misalign.
If all you have is a portable MD, then you only have analog for recording from MD to PC. No MD portables have been made with digital output since the very first model, MZ-R1, from 1992. So just get the 1/8" mini-stereo cable.
As a general rule, PC soundcards suck. Their AD converters are fairly nonlinear to begin with, and they tend to have inadequately isolated power supplies. This means they pick up power line noise from the rest of the computer system, and that noise shows up in your recordings. The advantage of a device like the Xitel is the analog-to-digital conversion occurs in an isolated device, so it doesn't have the line noise to deal with. Whether or not they actually use superior AD hardware is an open question.
If you have the capability, always use a digital input on your PC for audio recording, and use an outboard device (like the Xitel) to perform the Analog to Digital conversion; without the power line noise you'll get a much cleaner recording that way. When I record from my MZN10 I run the analog output from there to my MDSJB920 deck. The deck does A/D and I feed the optical digital output from the deck into a Canopus MD-Port which converts optical digital to/from USB audio, and that goes into my PC. (I only need to do this for MDLP recordings; if it's SP I just put the MD into the deck and do a pure digital transfer.)
If you want to get tracks into your PC and preserve the track information, use WinNMD. The current version works very well...
Here's a page giving anoverview of the program
http://www.minidisc.org/netmd_analog_uploading.html
You can follow the links from there to get the current version.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by HighlandSun
Re: Copying from MD to PC
I don't record from PC, only from CD, but I had to go to Radio Shack to get the right cable, which frustratingly wasn't included with my Sony MD player/recorder. I took CD player & MD player/recorder to Radio Shack, and they knew instantly what I needed. Don't know if this applies to your PC dilemma, but maybe it'll help.
# Posted on April 4th 2004 by carolsviolin
Re: Copying from MD to PC
Hmmm... so much information! Thank you very much - alth me is now more confused - I wasn't previously sure that was possible.. but it appears it is
I think I'll start by switching back to XP, and see if I can get Sonic Stage to work.
Then I can get one of these cables, and try out some of this other software.
Why isn't life easy ???
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by drizzt
Re: Copying from MD to PC
Think how dull life would be if everything were easy (including tunes!)
TRevor
# Posted on April 5th 2004 by lazyhound
Re: Copying from MD to PC
Hi All
Just thought I'd round off the discussion by adding that
(a) I reinstalled XP
(b) Sonic Stage now behaves itself reasonable well
(c) I bought Win Net MD - and it's nice and straightforward
(d) I even managed to find the right cable.
Feeling very chuffed with myself.
Thanx to all who helped - sooooh greatly appreciated.
Sandra xx
# Posted on April 15th 2004 by drizzt