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Author Thread: Minidisc direct file transfer to PC ??
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Edit Post

I really need this feature. Does it exist in any Minidisc player/recorder yet, either as a USB link, or a unit to fit directly into my PC.

At the moment, Im recording on Minidisc, then I have to playback in realtime to transfer to HD fro sound editing and CD production.

Cheers

David

PS : please reply to david@g8ina.enta.net
Relevant Product Info
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Edit Post

http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/ss5/home/homeaudio/minidiscdigitalrecorders/mds-pc3.shtml
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Anonymous
Edit Post

MD -> PC is nt possible with the MDS-PC3.
At the moment no NetMD device exists that can upload tracks to the PC.
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alan
Edit Post

Try looking for a pc minidisc drive. I have seen them so they do exist. They are still new so be carefull with reliablity and expect to pay a hefty price.
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Anonymous
Edit Post

I have recorded live at a religious program from a mic.

I have MZ-N707. and the program I have is OPENMG JUKEBOX. It would NOT let me transfer from minidisc to PC. (it says you can not transfer anything that is recorded from a mic)

IS there any programs out there that will let me do this???
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Paul August
Edit Post

Try the SoundBlaster USB-MP3. This is a USB Sound Card and has both analog and digital inputs. If you have a MD Player that has optical out and input, you can connect to the SB device and Creative bundles "MiniDisc Center"... $60 at Compu-USA
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Anonymous
Edit Post

I have heard that Sharp units are able to transfer from MD to PC. Is this not true? Would the soundblaster extigy allow me to transfer from MD to PC? Are sharp units better than sony for live recording? I'm fairly new at this, and would appreciate any input that you could provide. Thanks!
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Derek
Edit Post

Not a direct file transfer, but another option.

http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/press/pr2719.html
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Bishop of Leicester
Edit Post

http://www.minidisco.com/mdport-io.html

Xitel MD-Port I/O does it
but not in europe as usual!!!!
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Edit Post

I bought the Extigy EXTERNAL USB 1.1 sound "card" from www.buy.com a
few days ago for $125, free shipping, and a $50 rebate...total=$75.

I think it is a great solution for everyone with the MD to PC and PC
to MD needs. It is NOT a NetMD solution. It is for real-time
recording. It has every input/output needed for MD usage and many
others. It is an EXTERNAL unit, about the size of two VHS tapes
side-by-side (a little taller). If you don't want to lay it flat, it
comes with two little rubbery "feet" so it can stand upright.

I was afraid it might "stutter" with my old tired computer (PII-400Mhz
and Win-ME) but it works fine. When it is turned on, it is the
soundcard in use. If it is off, your built-in card is in use. The
sound is GREAT; much better than my old SB AWE64 ISA card. It can be
used with a desktop or portable. And I don't have to stand on my head
with a flashlight and a mirror to hook stuff up!

The software it comes with is OK, but nothing really "special". I use
PC-2-MD to record from the optical out and it makes perfect MDs from
MP3s or CD (with all track marks). I don't run any other program or
screen saver while making MDs because I don't want to stress my system
or get any background noise. I just set it to record and go do
something else until it is finished. Since the card is external,
there is no electrical interference which can be a problem with
internal cards...And no NetMD check-in/check-out...I don't really
think NetMD sounds all that great...sounds like more trouble than it
is worth, from all the problem comments I read here! I just make
recordings ahead. If I need instant transfer, I use my RIO 500 with
additional 128MB card (196 MB total). NetMD Rant Off....sorry!


Back to the Extigy...It even has a remote control but I haven't used
it yet. The Extigy has many uses and many solutions for your sound
needs.

I suggest that if anyone is interested they do a search for "extigy
review" in their favorite search engine, and look at www.epinions.com
too.

I think this card can be a great addition to anyone's sound system!
This might be a better solution than stand-alone CDRecorder and the
new Xitel offering. I was using the Xitel DG2, but this is much more
versatile, for not much more $$$.
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Edit Post

Guys, have you looked at the WinNetMD product on http://christian.klukas.bei.t-online.de/files/netmd/winNetMD.htm
It is a .NET application which requires v1.1 of the framework runtime code. Try it as it has a "trial" version which allows 1 random track on your NetMD to be copied to your PC as a MP3.

Priced at 14 Euros not bad for a app which allows MD -> PC transfer.

1 downside it is realtime transfer ie 1x not 32x or 64x.....
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Edit Post

Hi there,

I just recently had a look out for MD to PC data transer.

What the www came up with or should I better say, XITEL, is documented in the link below or else look out for MD-Port I/O on http://www.xitel.com/

I haven't tried it yet but from what I read about it this USB converter sounds to be a pretty useful and also cheap enough tool.

For $69.99 is not too bad ...

Good luck!
Stefan
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Edit Post

... and again. If you look at the XITEL website under distributors you'll find guys who ship it within EU too. They might ship to whole sellers only but there should be a way around that!!!

Stefan
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red
Edit Post

yeah but the xitel does not TRANSFER data, it helps you record if you have a crummy sound card. highly overrated.
WE ALL NEED MD -> PC transfer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Derek
Edit Post

You mean you guys haven't noticed this http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=veRQCLw9_SVQDIMHkFlaA_MxUE0YGJTUzFQ=?CatalogCategoryID=%2eRoKC0%2eNHqMAAAD21YJQK_fZ&ProductID=wB4KC0%2eNm84AAAD2pVZQK_ff&Dept=pa

It does direct, hi-speed transfers.
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Anonymous
Edit Post

Derek, your link doesn't work. Tell us what it is please.
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Derek
Edit Post

Sony makes a minidisk player with direct file transfer. There's blue one and a silver one and I first saw it on TechTV.

One model is called MZN10KIT and it copies at 5x normal speed.

Try this link http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_DisplayProductInformation-Start;sid=4_bxxinGtvzx3BaC44D7zWbWDl-51g9IFX0=?CatalogCategoryID=E2MKC0%2eNES4AAAD3DTlsABxm&ProductID=z1gKC0%2eNj2kAAAD3BbNsABxr&Dept=pa

You'll have to copy the entire link to your address bar and hit GO.

Hope this helps.
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Derek
Edit Post

The other one is called the MZNF610KIT and it copies at 32X.
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Anonymous
Edit Post

does anyone know what the best mic is for the sony mznf610 md recorder is. Looking to record religous songs . how is the quality of the playback
please email me at prince_paze@yahoo.com
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Francesco
Edit Post

i was caught in the same trap as other folks here...i bought a sony net MD MZ-N710 for recording my demos and edit them on PC...

now i don't know what to do with such a machine which has a mic plug but doesn't let you use what you record...

any hint or rumours about sony releasing software to use this damn machine both ways?
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Ottus
Edit Post

I've just checked the Derek's MD. There was no mention about MD-PC transfer. In reply to Red, the xitel stuff still seems to me a good option nowadays.
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Anonymous
Edit Post

Of course the problem with the Xitel option is that it's still analog. The whole point of recording to minidisc is that it's entirely digital, and when you output to the Xitel box, you lose quality.
And if you still like that solution, try getting a Male->Male 1/8" stereo audio cable... you can plug it into the headphone jack on the MD and the line in jack on your PC's sound card and record using your favorite program - which is *exactly* what Xitel is doing for you.
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Derek
Edit Post

Ananymous, try http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?category=130&template=mics for cheap microphones. They sell small power/preamps too.

Ottus, the MZ-N10 shows 5x for audio and up to 64x for some wierd extended-long-long play mode on Sony's site.
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Anonymous
Edit Post

just buy a edirol ua-5, simple
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Edit Post

I tried the 1/8"-1/8" connection, and recorded using Microsoft Sound Recorder. It works and sounds ok, but it appears the amount of record time on Sound Recorder maxes out at about 1.5 minutes.
Any suggestions how to get more time out of this program?
Any suggestions of other programs to look at?
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Derek
Edit Post

Sound recorder is designed to record short clips. You need to use a more sophisticated recording package. Most sound cards come with better recording software.
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Huckleberry Finn
Edit Post

Greg, I think I used WInamp to make a line-in recording but love Sound Forge now but very expensive.
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Edit Post

when you transfer audio onto a computer its easier for it to get messed up becasue there is no perfect hard drive, so i think the best bet would be to take a md player with a optical output and burn it directly to a cd with a unit specificly designed for burning analog and optical/digital audio. then you can edit with a pc or you can edit it before you burn it. here are some units that will do this..

an item for sale
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3047439354&category=14976

spec sheet
http://www.usa.denon.com/catalog/pdfs/cdrw1500LIT.pdf

another item for sale
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2557089390&category=29922
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Edit Post

Ben, I'm affraid I can't share the nature of your sugested problem, nor your solution... In fact, burn audio to a CD in raw CD format is 'THE RISC' in place on your suggestion. Computer files have parity check and file formats like WAV or AIFF have complementary bit check. There will be problems on the "real-time recording" operation if your system is REALLY outdated (more than 5 years old) or your OS is cramped with "undertasks". If it's not the case, no worries.

On the other hand, CDs are recorded WITHOUT any verification other than "wordstart", since it was designed to work just like a digital version of an old "Vinyl" player. When you listen to a recorded CD nowadays, it is read with oversamples, witch almost "perfects" the reproduction. But, when recording, it is made only ONE time. One chance... One shot. Period.

So, its IS preferable to transfer the audio file to the computer, in a digital way. Optical and eletrical SPDIF have parity checking AND hi speed resend standards that allow you to trust the end file, since it is a PURE WAVE format (non-compressed), like .wav or .aiff.
BTW, I use an old Sony MD-3 with a dockstation that have optical IN and OUT, connected to my Audigy LIVE!-Drive front panel. It's 1x speed, saddly, but do the work perfectly.

Oh! And I DO want Sony to enable their software to send MD recordings to PC through USB. Then I can use hi-speed transfer, instead the "slow" method I use today.

Mister KreK
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Anonymous
Edit Post

So what method do you use Mister Krek?
What is the best and easiest way to copy from MD to HDD?
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Edit Post

I'm a bit of a novice with this and am not understanding all the postings re: tranfer from MD to PC. I was told by Sony to use a stereo mini cable (in line) and 3rd party software, which they could not identify. Has anyone successfully uploaded this way? If so, what software do you recommend?
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Edit Post

Hello, "Anonymous".
I don't know about "best", but the way I use is stated above: I use an old Sony MD-3 with a dockstation that have optical IN and OUT, connected to my Audigy! front panel (it looks exactly like a Live!-Drive III). It's 1x speed, saddly, but do the work perfectly. Slow but faithfull!

That's it. I have my very old MD docked to its station. The station is connected to the Audigy! front panel throught a fiber optical cable, and I use nothing more than Sound Forge (or even Creative's WaveStudio) to record the sound in pure PCM .wav format. From there, I can record it as sound to a CDR (demo CDs), or, more likely, back it up as an uncompressed soundfile track to a DVD-R (cheap and large).

If it matters to anyone, I used analog on Mac, before I had this Audigy! Platinum board. Had a Golden Hawk "Storm" optical to hi-quality analog audio converter (better than 'line out' from MD's station) linked to my Digidesign Audiomedia III on the Mac. THEN I had problems generating sample files, even with latest Pro-Tools software... Hard drive wouldn't get stable. Had to buy a new Wide-SCSI hard-drive to solve it.

Katy Dale, the "audio stereo mini cable" method works, but you have some quality loss. It's preferable to transfer files optically, if your hardware support it. If not, just connect your MD to your sound-card with the recommended cable and then use ANY sound recorder (Windows includes one, very simple) to get the sound in a file on your computer.

Mister KreK
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Edit Post

penes!!!!!!!
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Monkey
Edit Post

My God... i took my 25 mins to read all that and by the end the best advice is to plug you mindisc in to your sound card and press play..... you people should just do that and get out a bit more.
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Edit Post

Hi everyone,

Like other people here, I'm trying to find a solution to do Full digital recording, from the Mic to the final CD.
Does anyone know of any portable MD recorder that has a digital out, so I can do like Mister KreK?
(MD-3's are not on sale anymore are they?)
Even the cheapest MD recorder seems to have digital IN but no mention of digital OUT (optical or electrical, I don't care)
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Per K Lind
Edit Post

sad but true... there isn't now way to transfer sound from an md to a pc with usb speed transfer. the only way is the "hit enter - press play on tape" way. Now i have a useless NZ M710.....
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pkl
Edit Post

all i need is some hacked software that can do the job
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Edit Post

www.esdl.co.uk DOES do it, MD to PC at 5x
but it costs £3000
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Edit Post

Sony has two desktop MD with optical in and out:

JE640 and JE9xx

I have the JE640 plus a soundcard with optical in and out installed in the computer.

I'm able to transfer digitaly to and from the pc with this setup.

I use it for my son band live recording performances.
(record on MD, edit than transfer to cd).


Hope it helps.
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kyle granger
Edit Post

Hi All,

Great discussion, though a bit tragic. Like Francesco, I was an idiot today and bought an MZ-N710. When I couldn't tranfer a track I recorded, I thought the software was faulty, and reinstalled the NetMD drivers. Then I managed to transfer a CD audio track to the unit, and then get it back again. And then I noticed those little checkout icons, but found no explanation as to why the tracks I recorded, could not be sent to my PC, but the commercial CD stuff could be sent back. I never never ever would have thought that my own digital recordings are not allowed to be downloaded.

And then I found this discussion. ARGH! This is the stupidest thing Sony has ever done. I just do not understand the reasoning. I am very disappointed. I should have looked for a pre-NetMD portable unit on Ebay.

And yes, it seems all of the NetMD units behave this way (the MZ-N10 is merely $100 more expensive, but just as useless to me). And I have not found one with even optical out. Why is blazes is there even an optical cable with the N710? If I want to clone a CD, I will do it on the PC. (yeah, maybe DVD...OK)

I was looking into DAT, before I happened upon the MD world (I need to do digital field recording). The Xitel solution is not viable, if it truly is redigitizing the analog out, and has no access to the digital data. If they could get at the files via USB, someone else could, no?

So, my plan to get an older deck or portable unit (e.g., JE500) off of Ebay, with optical out, and go into through a sound card.

bad, bad, Sony...

thanks for the info!

cheers,

Kyle
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smidge
Edit Post

Does anyone know a program to use that will recognize each separate track when uploading to PC? I'm using an MZ-R30 and don't want to have to recut all my track separations after uploading. Thanks.
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ss
Unregistered guest
Edit Post

I have a relatively new sony mini-disk on which i record mixes from vinyl. What i need to know is the simplest way to transfer it to my computer(windows) so that I can burn a cd for myself. The problem is that i am very technologicly challenged. So I need to know steps A through Z.
If it helps I do have the EASY CD CREATOR 5 by roxio.
Any info will help, thanks!
cheers,
shannon.
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Anonymous
 
Edit Post

When phillips bought out their first home cd recorder, i assumed sony would do the same.
I went into a sony shop and asked them if
they sold a cd recorder. I almost got thrown out
of the shop for insulting them. "mini disc is the
future" i was told, not recordable cd.
Anyway, I never bought a cd recorder as they
were still too expensive. even now you cant get
them that cheaply so i purchased a net minidisc
thinking i can record my own productions to mini disc and then to my cd burner on my pc meaning i
also had a walkman. but low and behold you cant
do this. needless to say obviously sony now
do a cd recorder.
they are losing their grip, what a complete waste
of money and time. as if your going rip off and copy pre-recorded minidiscs (which you'd have a
job finding these days), and yet how easy is it
to rip off a cd. what are they playing at.
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New member
Username: Qwerty67

Post Number: 1
Registered: 01-2004
Edit Post

Hi,
this is the solution:
http://www.esdl.co.uk/body/mdte/mdte.htm

only one bad point: expensive (3000 UKP =5000 €uros)
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Sniper
Unregistered guest
Edit Post

That program is for minidisk drives, not Net MD's.
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Unregistered guest
Edit Post

Hello Smidge

I use Magix music cleaning lab. It's cheap and does the trick
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Unregistered guest
Edit Post

sony sucks, to bad they came up with such a neat little item such as the minidisc.
I've had my md player for 2½ years and love it, santa visited my wife this year and now she has one. Open MG jukebox sucks, Sonic Stage sucks!
SONY HELLO, Quit being cute, give the public what they want! Why do I want a program that uses Shockwave and is difficult to use and understand?
is there training available for this "s"!
HEY SONY, FIX IT
WE WANT MD TO PC TRANSFER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Asuka
Unregistered guest
Edit Post

i want to cry. i want to cry. all i want to do is get my live recordings on my pc quickly. i used cakewalk in realtime to record it and its such a pain. i am crying.

I bought the sony mz-n910 in japan last week and luckily returned it before i left the country. I didn't even get to experience the pain of sonic stage b/c the darn this was in japanese, and i don't read of speak. ha. so yes, like everyone else i am looking for that simple machine that will let me get my recordings to pc, fast.
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Asuka
Unregistered guest
Edit Post

i want to cry. i want to cry. all i want to do is get my live recordings on my pc quickly. i used cakewalk in realtime to record it and its such a pain. i am crying.

I bought the sony mz-n910 in japan last week and luckily returned it before i left the country. I didn't even get to experience the pain of sonic stage b/c the darn thing was in japanese, and i don't read of speak. ha. so yes, like everyone else i am looking for that simple machine that will let me get my recordings to pc, fast.
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Unregistered guest
Edit Post

Hi everybody. Excuse my english.
The costumer of the shop were i've bought my netmd fooled me. (As many of you). I'still trying to improve my recordings (Obviously analogic!).
It seems to me that lot of quality may be loose because of the amplification of the soundcard from the mic input.
I've tried to connect many hi-fi (mine and of friends) and always noticed a big loss of quality.
The better was the hi-fi the bigger was the loss.
So i simply tried connecting PC's audio boxes (i don't know the word) to the headphones output and "surprise" the quality is good.
I haven't resolved anything, but now i can happily listen my recordings without headphones.
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Anonymous
 
Edit Post

Sniper, which is the problem whit the solution of qwerty? The program in http://www.esdl.co.uk/body/mdte/mdte.htm seems to be a good solution, doesn't it?
I don't understand the difference between Minidisc recorder and NetMD?
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Unregistered guest
Edit Post

Anonymous, that program only works if you have a dedicated MD-R/W *DRIVE* installed on your PC, and not with standalone MD-recorders or players, be it portable or desktop (except some EDL model, which doubles as desktop and drive, through SCSI interface - US$ 5,000.00 tag). If you care to read the docs, you'll find that the DLL controller is, btw, dedicated to SCSI devices, I.E., Sony. If you are lucky enough to have one of the very rare Sharp MD-R Drives (no one i know ever, never, saw one... only heard about its very existence), which is IDE, it probably won't work. I, particularly, only saw a MD-R drive once: a friend did bring it from Japan. Nowadays, there are 2 Notebook models from Sony that come's with MD-R drives. They-re specifically designed to the musicians market and have a japanese keyboard... sad... really sad. As I don't speak japanese, I could only read the specs table and the "engurish" titles and the likes.
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Jaime
Unregistered guest
Edit Post

Hi friends!
I found some software for MD-PC transfer:

Minidisc suite.

Does anyone nows something about that software? Does it works?
Greetings
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Unregistered guest
Edit Post

Hi!

I have seen the page of Minidisc Suite: http://www.mironics.com/

This is a paralell port hardware (+ software), which can controll some MD-walkman,
so this "MD-PC transfer" is via the sound card. :-(

May anybody hack the protocol of NetMD and write a program for MD-PC transfer?
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DJ Klippa
Unregistered guest
Edit Post

The thing what we really need to know is if the actual data can be sent to pc even with a reversed driver. If there is only control functions going from the unit (e.g. checking in a track, where it DON'T actually transfer any audio to the PC, it just tells the PC that the song has been checked in and deletes it from the MD),then it may not allow bigger amounts of data through. So basically a REAL hack of this software could not be done until somebody has actually worked out if this is possible. If anyone knows anything about the actual workings and where the data goes they should post. Im assuming that if anyone has actually written a hack they would not post it on the net, because sony are not nice to deal with legally. So keep your eyes open on filesharing programs like winmx, or check out some newsgroups to see if they have anything. Ive had my £200 piece of junk for nearly a year now and never found anything. Good luck.
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Anonymous
 
Edit Post

Hi from Sydney,

I heard from a vendor today that Sony plans to release MDs that will upload to PC later this year. What will we all do with our older MDs??????

Foongie
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Anonymous
 
Edit Post

Hi again from Sydney,

in the meantime, the best bet seems to be play the sound from the headphone jack to the input sound jack of the PC and get one of the freeware sound programs. Of course it is only in real time.

Foongie
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