NetMD = hot air?

Ex_hale

Here's some info i threw together for those of you that might be interested in buying any of Sony's new NetMD line...

Sony's NetMD protocol uses the OpenMG Jukebox to manage music files on your harddrive and to interface with your minidisc via usb. This sounds very cool but consider these limitations when using the OpenMG software

1. the advertised 32x burn speed is only available in LP4. SP stands @ 2-4x and LP2 @ 16x

2. ATRAC3 (132kbps) ie. LP2 is the highest available encoding quality.

3. if you want to transfer a track to MD, it will first need to be converted to ATRAC3 somewhere in the process). The user has a choice of 132kbps, 105kbps, and 66kbps (132 and 105 are stereo, 66 is joint-stereo). Music files cannot be encoded on the harddrive using the higher quality ATRAC (292kbps SP) mode and although you have the option of recording in SP this is essentially recording a [132kbps] LP2 track in [292kbps] SP mode so there is some loss in overall fidelity (whether thats audible or not is a different story;)

4. Since the tracks are transferred digitally they are thus protected by the SCMP (Serial Copyright Management System) What this means in terms of the software is that from your OpenMG Jukebox playlist, you are allowed 3 simultaneous downloads (or "check-outs") of a song at one time. Once all 3 check-outs have been used up, the song will still exist on your harddrive, and you will still be able to play it on your computer's jukebox. However you won't be able to download it to another MD until one of the checked-out copies is checked back in. Checking-in a track will delete the song from the MD and increment the number of your available check-outs in the jukebox by one.

5. Tracks that are checked-out via the jukebox software are Track-Protected on the MD, and cannot be edited (aside from simple rename/move operations) nor be deleted. So if you want to delete a track you must do so using the jukebox software!

6. there is no way to adjust the recording volume of a track - not on the harddrive, nor during the actual recording process. Whatever the level of the track is at the time of encoding, that's what you're stuck with.

Sony do supply a QuickRip dubbing app allowing you to dub straight from CD to NetMD without having to first store and manage your files on the computer although im not quite sure if its any use at all

hacktavist

Also you cant "upload" tracks back to the computer unless you've made the disc or another NetMD player has made it.
And theres no optical out, well not on the model ive seen.

phoenix2181

I was using my mates one at the weekend, have to say it a great piece of kit, his one has a optical out plus the usb, if your downloading in lp2 in does a disc in about 10mins which is fairly cool, the sound is still excellent (if your just using it as a walkman etc) I have the sony mz-500 simple but works a treat (36hrs battery life!!!) but I am seriously considering upgrading to one like my mates.

in summary.......they rock!!!!;)

MiCr0

i just bought the Sony MD-N1 (for e300 )
i'll let u know what i thinkwhen i get back to ireland

MiCr0

the jury is back
they rock!

davil

Yeah I bought a MZ-N505 model ages ago and boy was I unimpressed - it's technically quite useless. Very specific the things you can do with it - no freedom whatsoever. you're better off getting a sound card with an optical out and recording through that although that probably has copyright b*lls**t on it as well[for cds - you'd be grand with mp3s]. I'd like to try that though.

eth0_

Biggest problem with NetMD is how it restricts songs and the fact it'll ONLY run on windows!
Better off with an iPod or Zen, imo!

vibe666

personally as someone who has owned the N707 for about 8 months now, I've not had a single problem with it.

My g/f has one of the lower MD models (not the NetMD, but one that does LP4) and I've been copying stuff all over the place.

Generally, if I'm copying something, it's from a CD or MP3 -> ATRAC3 (LP4) and I haven't bothered with all the checking in and out, I've just bought 20 blank 80min MD's and made a whole selection of stuff from that. I get over 5 hours on a disk and usually carry 2 or 3 extras around with me (which take up no room at all) and a single AA duracell lasts over 50 hours when playing my LP4 disks.

Sound quality is admittedly not the best in the world, but it's only about the same as an MP3 if it's taken from a CD original, and with the wonders of the CDDB I get all my track info automatically.

I use Real One to transfer the files incidentally which has a NetMD plugin.

All in all, I'm 95% satisfied with it. My only problem so far has been getting tracks back off disk onto another medium, but with a SPDIF cable I could probably do that (or analogue, as I don't know if I have optical out on it) but it's only a minor niggle every now and again.

Overall, I think it's great, and won't be swapping it for an MP3 player just yet, at least not until someone can offer me something that has plenty of room for my choons, and cheap upgradability options similar to the MD, without breaking the bank.

davil

Originally posted by eth0_
Biggest problem with NetMD is how it restricts songs and the fact it'll ONLY run on windows!
Better off with an iPod or Zen, imo!

I agree. But when I bought it I wasn't too good a t researching products beforehand and all I ever did was read the box. Won't happen again.

davil

Originally posted by vibe666


I use Real One to transfer the files incidentally which has a NetMD plugin.

All in all, I'm 95% satisfied with it. My only problem so far has been getting tracks back off disk onto another medium, but with a SPDIF cable I could probably do that (or analogue, as I don't know if I have optical out on it) but it's only a minor niggle every now and again.

Thanks for the info on RealOne - I had no idea Thought I was stuck with crap. and there is usually no optical out on any of the MD models but I don't know about yours specifically.

vibe666

I don't know 100% that there isn't the same checkout problem with Real One as with the netmd jukebox, I've never had it come up yet though, so might be worth a try.

it's certainly better for transferring files than sony's p!ss poor effort anyway.

let me know how it goes.

sone good resources for NetMD are:

www.t-station.net

and

www.minidisc.org

they have links to pretty much anything and everything of interest MD that's related, inc. some forums for MD specific issues, so you can ask around about the best ways of doing things.

davej

I bought the mzn10 (10th aniversary edition) at the beginning of this year and am extremely happy with it.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?postid=802852#post802852

The limitations of netmd aren't really much bother to me at all really. The transfer speed from CD to minidisc is fine. Once you begin to build up a collection of albums on your harddrive it becomes so easy to create great compilations in minutes by just dragging and dropping whatever tunes you want to listen to.

davej

alexbrowne40

Originally posted by Ex_hale

2. ATRAC3 (132kbps) ie. LP2 is the highest available encoding quality.

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SP is also available . Which is the same as .Wav something like 1000kbps