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Mini Disc ripper?
| Message Board > Music Chitchat - Heavy > Mini Disc ripper? |
| Soap Dodger User Info... | Does anyone know of software that allows you to digitally transter audio tracks from Sony Mini Disc (ATRAC3 format) to a PC and convert to MP3? We use Mini Disk to record our jams - but the only way to get it onto computer is to line-out from the headphones to the soundcard line-in and record real-time with a wave editor. I can't belive that Sony is still holding onto this copy protection crap, given where the portable music player industry is today. - Sun, 12 Jun 2005 7:59pm | ||
| The Wolf User Info... | Last Years MZNHF800 $349.99 and The New HI-MD 2005 models will be able to transfer USB to your PC in Uncompressed Linear PCM ... MZRH10 $399.99 and MZRH910S $249.99 I think it's a firmware issue with the old ones so no software will help you!...What model do you have http://www.sonystyle.ca/commerce/servlet/CategoryDisplays?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&categoryId=32123&navigationPath=n32120n46922 - Mon, 13 Jun 2005 4:38am | ||
| _Griphin_ User Info... | Can't you copy the tracks over to computer? - Mon, 13 Jun 2005 8:37am | ||
| lonemonk User Info... | Nope, the Decision makers @ Sony are a bunch of assholes and have typically not allowed direct transfers digitally. Mostly because Sony is also a major world-wide provider of content, which they very much wish to protect. Large corporations could care less about the relatively small number of people who actually get creative with their devices, in favour of protecting other investments. The models mentioned above were supposed to allow it, but last time I looked into it, the 'feature' was still not yet available for actual use. (Though it was advertised) Actually, I think the file transfer could happen but sony was delaying the release of the software that would re-convert the Atrac file back into linearPCM Perhaps they have begun to provide the ability now, but if you ask me, buy NOTHING that sony makes and you will stand a chance of being happy with it. Minidisc initially had promise as a pre-CD writing technology, but even the small number of semi-pro rack mount recorders had serious transfer and scms-like restrictions. Fuck 'em man. I would buy an iPod in a second if it had the ability for Line-in and would record direct to WAV. Instead I had to buy an iriver HP-120 which is no longer manufactured. (I'm 90% happy with it and will use it until I can justify something better) The ultimate is the edirol RD-4. Soundscape makes a cheap(ish) direct to CDR recorder which is half-decent. Remember, Sony BAD! - Tue, 14 Jun 2005 10:37am | ||
| moron User Info... | There is also the Edirol R1 which seems a better option (portable, cheaper though still pricy) though L&M still doesn't have them in stock last I checked. If you are cool with minidisc then what's the problem with MP3? Atrac is the same deal, just use a high bitrate for your MP3s and you have the equivalent. My hope is that Zoom will release an affordable portable recorder since Roland in their usual fashion seems incabable of it. Cheers http://industrial.org - Tue, 14 Jun 2005 11:42am | ||
| Soap Dodger User Info... | Thanks for the responses. It's too bad that Sony are such morons. I think that iPod will eventually be the answer. I found a site that's developed a Linux build for certain generations of iPod - which enables recording. I'm sure that they'll figure it out for all generations at some point. I already have an iPod, so I'll probably wait it out. http://www.ipodlinux.org/Main_Page http://ipod.hackaday.com/entry/1234000147025394/ - Tue, 14 Jun 2005 1:38pm | ||
| _Griphin_ User Info... | That's rather wierd, my friend copies data to his MiniDisc all the time. Perhaps it's different recording audio directly to it. - Tue, 14 Jun 2005 2:59pm | ||
| moron User Info... | Hey Griphin. A minidisc uses compression to store audio (ATRAC being the format, the discs holding 180 megs) so copying stuff to or recording to a minidisc means converting it into an ATRAC format file. If you want to go the other way (i.e. minidisc to computer), this requires that the unit supports it and you have a way of getting the data out of the proprietary ATRAC format into something more useful (i.e. WAV or MP3) if your goal is to be able to use the data on anything but your minidisc player. To my knowledge, Sony does not support this. A few minidisc recorders have digital out but that is a realtime thing (and they are rare and expensive). Sony basically screwed up what it is an awesome format (minidisc is resilient and cheap). These days the better option is to go with an MP3 player / recorder and use an external pre-amp if you are wanting to record from a mic. It is a niche that so far no one has filled for some retarded unknown reason (possibly pressure from RIAA types, who knows). IMHO of course. Cheers http://industrial.org - Tue, 14 Jun 2005 3:06pm | ||
| Inhalien User Info... | I have a first generation mini-disc (Kenwood DMC-J7R) and it has an output that allows me to record. I tried playing with a friends Sony MD and indeed, you need the special cable and software to move the files to your pc or they don't play. I'm sure there's other software around besides Sony's to play the files or convert them but you know Sony, and their proprietary ways... - Wed, 15 Jun 2005 5:43am | ||
| _Griphin_ User Info... | Hey moron. :) A minidisc has two formats of discs, one of them being 1 gig in size (but the discs were rare and hard to find originally). So I guess once you install the software you can copy to and from the discs. I don't really know cause I don't have a Minidisc. One day perhaps (you can store TONS of albums on a 1 gig disc). - Wed, 15 Jun 2005 11:40am | ||
| lonemonk User Info... | There are some benefits to the size of the R1 unit that moron mentioned its certainly smaller than the R4, but it only uses compact flash cards which are still pretty expensive for largish ones. (About $100/GB) For some of the shows I record (or other on-site recordings), I would need at least 4-5 CF-cards at a time. 24-bit/48Khz recording is going to consume a 1GB CFcard ever hour. Even at 16bit/44khz thats 100 minutes or so. One thing I don't like about the edirol R4 is that it is a little larger and the battery life when mobile is probably next to nothing. Otherwise though its in a class all its own. (4 channels, balanced and unbalanced, full phantom power, built in mixer, will act as a standard USB harddrive when connected to a PC, supports 24/96) Hey Griph, no doubt new compression routines will continue to increase the amount of data in a given size, but it will eventually all sound like complete shit. Also, it will be a tad uncomfortable when the reader breaks down and all ones' files are locked away on a medium that no one can read or convert to a useful format. Things you want to keep for a long time (and possibly process down the road) should be kept in the best quality and uncompressed format(ex. Wav or Aiff). We've discussed it before, Analog has the best chance of long-term compatibility, but it registers in the negative on the convenience-o-meter. - Thu, 16 Jun 2005 6:00am | ||
| _Griphin_ User Info... | Hey lonemonk. Usually when I'm compressing data from demos (WAV) I find that VBR works the best, although there's OGG and another format that I can't remember which keeps the sound of the WAV but compresses the data to half the size or greater. But yeah, VBR works for me. Try to see if you can copy the data from your minidisc using the Sony software. - Thu, 16 Jun 2005 6:57am | ||
| lonemonk User Info... | OGG Vorbis files sound pretty good to me if their encoded well(and free licensing for all encoding/decoding). VBR MP3s are fine, but you will never get back the fidelity lost in the process. Also not too many people know this, but the entire MP3 format is a licensed technology which just happens to be (currently) free when you Decode them. Encoding software for higher bitrates costs money (or the price is built into the products you buy/steal). Nothing stops the original developers to change their mind on that scenario down the road. As content-protection schemes increasingly invade consumer products you may one day be locked out of even original music if the fee isn't paid up. WAV format is nothing more than straight audio data (with a small header at the front to describe the bitrates and such.) Nothing to convert (Except back to analog of course via a common A/D converter) I havent owned a minidisc for years. When you have to get a lot of work done, you have to remove as many realtime processess as possible. - Thu, 16 Jun 2005 10:04am | ||
| _Griphin_ User Info... | If you use earlier versions of WinAmp you can decode MP3s of any bitrate back to WAV. This is how I convert the MP3s back to WAV which can be then used for burning to CD. As far as I know, you can get WinAmp for free, but try to find v2.91 as I found the newer versions of WinAmp don't like to play WMV files or convert the Mp3s back to WAV (i should see if the WAV plugin works with newer versions of WinAmp). Of course, this might help if your looking for a >WAV plugin for WinAmp: http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=100008 - Thu, 16 Jun 2005 10:43am | ||
| lonemonk User Info... | You missed the point, Griph. Conversion back and forth will continue to lose fidelity in the process. Of course you *can* convert back to WAV from MP3, but you're better off keeping an original WAV copy around to make future CDs with, otherwise every time you convert back and forth it will sound progressively worse. For every project you do, in addition to the Audio CD, also write a Data CD with the original WAV files on it so that you can always go back to the un-compressed version. My only comment on Free was to warn people that the entire MP3 codec is NOT a free system. Someday the original developers of that compression algorithim may choose to make you start paying to even listen to what you already have. This is something they are perfectly in their right to do. This has nothing to do with the specific application that created the music file but the compression scheme used to encode the audio. WAV has no licensing strings attached and neither does OGG. With bigger hard drives and portable players with more space available there is almost no need to accept MP3 versions over WAV anyway. Just to complicate things, there is a loss-less compression scheme called Flac which will make files smaller but not throw away any audio information like Ogg/MP3, etc. I still do not recommend using these schemes because of the ever-present possibility that companies which develop some device supporting Flac may not always be around and you'll have a jukebox full of unuseable music. The moral of this entire thread (Which I seem to have hijacked... Sorry Ppl), is that consumers should stay away from ALL proprietary systems and formats. Always use the most open format that a system will support to ensure the overall longevity of the information in question. This applies to almost all forms of electronic devices. And from an archival point of view, always use the most open format available so that 10 years from now it doesn't become impossible to convert your precious material into something useable. I feel so strongly on this topic that I will one day propose a society whose job it is to educate musicians of the world on issues specific to the preservation of digital audio for the long-term. Without conscious effort, much of what you record today is not likely to survive long enough to enjoy 20 years from now. This includes the lowly Compact Disc and all other media currently used for storage. . - Fri, 17 Jun 2005 6:57am | ||
| _Griphin_ User Info... | Oops, sorry if I missed something. To your message. Yeah Fraunhoffer might (and currently are) charging for using their codec, but what about the free codec known as Lame? There will always be a free codec though. I always thought MiniDisc used a form of WAV anyways. Yeah you might lose some quality, but I thought we wanted to find a way to transfer what was recorded to the minidisc player. People should be using the reel-to-reel format that places like Rats Nest used to use, cept the only company making the tape seems to of given up on the format, I dunno why. I dunno if what I record today will last over 20 years, but all the demos I've copied from cassette tape to computer I still have, and amazingly enough sounds good (although Ross tells me the Mission of Christ stuff I copied sounds like it came from tape; I really need to learn how the plugins work). BTW: http://www.macworld.com/2005/05/secrets/julygeekfactor/index.php -=- The Linux iPod (looks pretty neat what you can do with it). - Fri, 17 Jun 2005 1:06pm | ||
| lonemonk User Info... | I hope there always exists a replacement codec. Codecs themselves are only necessary during conversion. Much safer would be a digital format which doesn't 'have' to change. So far, only uncompressed/non-licensed audio formats have this feature. Musicians take note: By all means transfer audio to MP3 for internet transmission or other low-bandwidth means, but *always* keep the high-quality masters (in whatever form that may take) for future usage. If you can help it, never sign a contract that dis-allows you from keeping, or at very least, using the best quality version. Endy-Story - Fri, 17 Jun 2005 10:04pm | ||
| mactac User Info... | I have a sony monidisk, and yes, you can record files in raw audio (wav) and send them to your computer in .wav format no problem. the only problem is that (for now) you are stuck using their software to do the transfer. once it's on your computer, you're golden though. now, I just wonder if theuir software installed a rootkit on my computer? ;) - Tue, 22 Nov 2005 7:44am | ||
| _Griphin_ User Info... | >Does anyone know of software that allows you to digitally transter audio tracks from Sony Mini Disc (ATRAC3 format) to a PC and convert to MP3? Dear god, I am such a moron. There is one way to copy the audio, but your looking at a real-time copy. Hook the aux out/walkman jack plugin to the aux in on your sound card, then run either Goldwave (ewww...)/WaveLab/Sound Forge and record the playback (I usually set the levels about halfway in the Line-In setting under the Record Control, you don't wanna keep red-lining, then again you don't want your levels too far down, about halfway works, if that makes any sense). BTW: I figured out how to get rid of the tape hiss using Steinberg Clean v5.0, now I can re-dub my tape copies and get rid of the tape hiss!!! Well some of them like Mission of Christ and Section 46/Shutdown :) - Tue, 22 Nov 2005 9:24am | ||
| The Box Drone User Info... | To hell with sony. I got me a sharp MD, and I haven't looked back since. - Tue, 22 Nov 2005 2:33pm | ||
| mactac User Info... | actually you don't need to do that at all. you can copy directly from the minidisk in wav format (that's how it records....well essentially wav anyways... it's raw format) i just did it 10 mins ago - Tue, 22 Nov 2005 4:21pm | ||
| Soap Dodger User Info... | I'll give it a try. Thanks for the info. - Tue, 22 Nov 2005 5:00pm | ||
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