Mini-disk question

Rabies

this question is probably basic but i'm not up on all this stuff.
any way, here is my Q

is it possible to put MP3s on to a mini disk??
i suppose it is, just looking for conformation

before anyone says it, no i dont want to buy an mp3 player

i'm thinking about buying a minidisk player but i will ony get it if i can use a cd ripper and put mp3s on it.

what is decent budget minidisk player to get.

eth0_

No you can't do this. You can upload CD tracks from your pc to your MD with certain types of MD, but they don't play MP3/WMA etc files.

Rabies

thats crap.

thanks eth0.

i was looking forward to getting one.
can a minidisk only hold the same amount of tracks as a cd or has it greater capacity, could i put two cds on to one minidisk...

eth0_

Generally the older models can only write to 80 min discs, but new sony ones can hold four albums on one disk

Rabies

Originally posted by eth0_
Generally the older models can only write to 80 min discs, but new sony ones can hold four albums on one disk

perfect
thats exactly what i want.
how much are they and where is the best place to get them, either online or from a high street store.

Mayshine

The newer sony netMD allow you to transfer your MP3s to Minidisc from your PC, usually though a USB cable. The are converted from MP3 to ATRAC (the compression system used in minidiscs) in the transfer process. Its painless and as quick as downloading to a usb mp3 player.

Expensive though I think (over here at least)

Rabies

is this what you mean? found it on the sony site http://www.sonystyle.com/home/item.jsp?hierc=9687x9781x8647&itemid=28893

also found this on amazon.co.uk http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005YXSL/202-6669433-8324620 but it doesnt support mp3s like the above link

but i'm looking for something with a €uro price.

next time i'm up in dublin i'll go around and price a few. if the price is reasonable then i'll get one.

thanks for all your help eth0 and mayshine.

eth0_

Richer Sounds www.richersounds.ie on the quays are the best and usually cheapest!

Rabies

thanks for the quick response eth0

looks like this is the place to go www.richersounds.ie
DVD players also

my bank account wont know what happened it

Lemming

Originally posted by Rabies
this question is probably basic but i'm not up on all this stuff.
any way, here is my Q

is it possible to put MP3s on to a mini disk??
i suppose it is, just looking for conformation

before anyone says it, no i dont want to buy an mp3 player

YES you can actually. I've done it with mine. They cease to become mp3 files of course. But you can record from your PC to your MD-Man, just as if you had it plugged into a Hi-Fi system.

And for the record I have a Sony MZR-90

Greenbean

Yeah, you can always resort to real-time recording on your mini-disk and simply record via the line-in from the output of your soundcard. The soundquality doesn't take any noticeable hit - unless you've supersonic ears. Myself and friends have been doing it this way for years (before decent mp3 players) and its not that much hassle.

Lemming

Originally posted by Greenbean
Yeah, you can always resort to real-time recording on your mini-disk and simply record via the line-in from the output of your soundcard. The soundquality doesn't take any noticeable hit - unless you've supersonic ears. Myself and friends have been doing it this way for years (before decent mp3 players) and its not that much hassle.

Yup. Absolutely correct. The only hassle is having to set the track marks manually (unless you have an Audigy Platinum, in which case it should be theoretically possible to do it automatically using the optical in/out ports)

Inspector Gadget

Playing MP3s and recording them off the PC's line out can introduce considerable noise depending on the combination of hardware you've got - I've heard some atrociously noisy conversions done this way (to a decent Sony recorder, I might add).

(If you're going down the line-out route, might I recommend the WinCue plug-in for Winamp? It inserts a 3-second gap between the tracks played so that the MD recorder can detect (and mark)the end of each track. See http://www.wincue.org/ for the plugin)

Also, I'm led to believe that the Sony "NetMD" players will only let you copy an MP3 to MD a limited number of times (because you have to use the Sony software) and after you've used up your three goes (I think it's three) you have to prove to the software that you've bought the track by spoonfeeding it the source music CD (which must, presumably, have the correct ISRC record for the relevant track) before it lets you continue. (I'm not sure of the exact details here, but there are some serious restrictions along these lines being enforced) Not nice. :mad:

The best option is to invest in a sound card with an optical out (as many MD recorders have an optical in) and use a TOSlink cable to plug them together. The other nice advantage of this is that it will slice up the tracks for you (which you sometimes have to do by hand if you use an analogue line in). Alternatively, there are some USB devices you can buy that give you an optical out; Sony's own CAV-U5 is a good, if expensive, example. I've seen similar devices bought in Aldi/Lidl produce equally good results, though; shop around!

Good luck with it...
Gadget

Rabies

sound card with an optical out (as many MD recorders have an optical in) and use a TOSlink cable to plug them together. The other nice advantage of this is that it will slice up the tracks for you (which you sometimes have to do by hand if you use an analogue line in).

must check soundcard back home and see if it has optical out. if not i wont be buying one. prob just get one of the players that eth0 was talking about

Generally the older models can only write to 80 min discs, but new sony ones can hold four albums on one disk

Inspector Gadget

...that's MDLP, and a bit like Long Play on a video, the quality is reduced. However, if you're listening to it in a noisy environment anyway, you probably won't notice...

Gadget

Rabies

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget
...that's MDLP, and a bit like Long Play on a video, the quality is reduced. However, if you're listening to it in a noisy environment anyway, you probably won't notice...

that will do me. it doesnt have to be top quality sound. i just dont want to carry around loads of disks. 3-4 albums on one disk is pretty good as long as sound qualtiy isnt crap.

fizzy

well with an 80 minute disk u get 4 times the amount of music so that's 320 minutes (and most of my albums are around 40 mins so that makes a massive 8 albums!) the quality does fad a bit but i always use MDLP2 which is 160 mins not 320 and there si no difference than 80 min quality, and 160 mins is still a lot of time.

Kali

MDLP2 only compresses the very high and very low frequencies, mostly leaving the mid-range alone... for the majority of headphones and earphones (and listeners i might add) this won't affect the perceived quality one bit.

I routinely use my MD to play minidiscs back through my amp (using analog connections) and have yet to notice any major difference in sound quality (at LP2), LP4 however does have a noticeable decrease, and is usually best left to vocal or comedy type albums imo.

sceptre

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget
Also, I'm led to believe that the Sony "NetMD" players will only let you copy an MP3 to MD a limited number of times (because you have to use the Sony software) and after you've used up your three goes (I think it's three) you have to prove to the software that you've bought the track by spoonfeeding it the source music CD (which must, presumably, have the correct ISRC record for the relevant track) before it lets you continue. (I'm not sure of the exact details here, but there are some serious restrictions along these lines being enforced) Not nice. :mad:

AFAIK (and I'm obviously correctable), the way it works is that you can only "check-out" the tracks three tiomes before doing them again. Which means you can out the same track on three discs before having problems. meanwhile, you can "check-in" the track again - which means it'll be wiped from the disc.

Not too bad really - how many discs are you going to need the same track on if it's just for your own use? Presumably not more than three.

Meanwhile if you're writing discs for other people, you can always go throughthe not too long-winded process of just reencoding the track.

Inspector Gadget

Originally posted by sceptre
AFAIK (and I'm obviously correctable), the way it works is that you can only "check-out" the tracks three tiomes before doing them again. Which means you can out the same track on three discs before having problems. meanwhile, you can "check-in" the track again - which means it'll be wiped from the disc.

Not too bad really - how many discs are you going to need the same track on if it's just for your own use? Presumably not more than three.

Meanwhile if you're writing discs for other people, you can always go throughthe not too long-winded process of just reencoding the track.

Indeed. However, it sets a disturbing precedent if people buy these things in large volumes, doesn't it?

Gadget

sceptre

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget

Indeed. However, it sets a disturbing precedent if people buy these things in large volumes, doesn't it?

Gadget

Aye, it does. Slippery slope and all that

CivilServant

Was wondering if anyone uses the TOSlink method of transferrring music files from your pc to md? How fast is this type of transfer? I'm currently using the optical in way of recording things, but this is just annoying in the digital age. I want it fast and I want it now!!

Inspector Gadget

...but I think that only works in real-time (1:1)... the data transferred over a TOSLink cable is a digital audio stream, which is then compressed to ATRAC by the MD player.

The Net MD devices get around this by sending pre-compressed data files (rather than an audio stream) to the player.

Gadget

Súpérmán_

Well i bought a new NetMD is Fantastic... it cost around €350? and the Quality is perfect & Mp3's, wma, wav & atrac of course.... perfect little thing. i'd def get one , but not in Dixons... not very god sales persons.

MiCr0

i've got the netmd n1
the top of the range sony
and it does indeed rock

battery life of 110hours (yes 110 hours!)
and with lp4 you can get 320mins on a disc.
also its got usb rate song transfer - super quick! (32x speed)

phreak

i have the N707 Net MD player.
its the model down from Micro's. it cost €315.
checking in/out isn't a problem at all. why would you want the same song more than 3 times?

Kali

one question about the netmd for those who own them...

if i put a cd into my pc can i transfer that directly to the minidisc at 32x speed? (assuming lp4).. or is there some time-consuming conversion midway?

or is that just for mp3s/etc.->lp4?

phreak

the songs have to be copied to your HDD but that takes about 2 mins. i put 4 albums on a MD today. it took me less than 20 mins to do them all

tman

i had a look in a local shop thats normally pretty pricey yesterday, and was surprised to see a netmd for 300 yoyos.
not sure which model it was tho
(seriously considering stretching my 200 budget to that)
/edit
kewl, it was the blue mz707 that i saw, only a fiver more than on richersounds.ie:p
droooooooollll
screw paying off debts, i'll be buying that in a couple of weeks (you gotta treat urself every now and again;) )

phreak

Originally posted by tman

kewl, it was the blue mz707 that i saw, only a fiver more than on richersounds.ie:p

thats the same as the one i have. you wont regret spending the extra money on it

Mr E

Anyone use a minidisc recorder for bootlegging? Whats the quality like?

- Dave.