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A netMD Solution for the Mac?
SmackyTheFrog asks: "I recently purchased a Minidisc player with netMD capability. At first this was fine because I always had my trusty PC near by. Now that I have gone off to college, I no longer have the space for my big beige box and I only have my PowerBook with me. Much to my dismay I discovered that Sony has decided not to grace the Mac with any netMD software. Are there ways to get netMD (ie 3 or more hours of audio) music onto a single minidisc using a Mac?"
Sadly Sony doesn't seem to care about these things (which might explain why MD isn't as popular as it could be). You can always try Xmd but it is currently limited in what it can do.
If you can afford it you might want to look into getting an old model iPod.
You must have aversion for sound quality. Minidisc is already heavily compressed to fit 70 minutes of music, what do you get when you fit 3 hours worth of it? Something just a bit worse than 64kbps mp3?
Maybe you could invest into a 64 or 128 MB Samsung Yepp with USB. That sould not be more than $100. Or get the Rio Karma 1.5GB (that houses X times more music) for $70. See slickdeals.net.
Boycott Sony.
Code poet, espresso fiend, starter upper.
Actually this iTunes/Mac zealot started using the iTunes Music Store when he got an iPod - obviating any silliness you describe.
Including "buying WMA music [I] can use directly." Sorry, guy, no problems here.
First off, fitting 3 or more hours of audio has nothing to do with NetMD, this is the so-called Long Play mode (LP2 fits twice as much audio, and LP4 fits four times as much). Of course you have to accept a less than perfect sound fidelity for the higher compression rate. As for NetMD on the Mac, there's an application called Xmd that can do several interesting things like titling (good! especially if you choose to go with LP4 and have dozens of tracks on your MD) and playback, but it doesn't allow you to download music to your MD. And anyway, NetMD won't allow to download tracks *from* your MD to your computer (even, maybe especially, the official Sony software) which renders it next to useless in any case.
I cannot reply for the original poster, but there are several good reasons... 1. You don't need a computer to play/record MDs. The basic principles of audio editing are quite simple (title, move, split and join tracks), and some models have very good interface/ergonomy. 2. MDs sound better than MP3 (at the regular compression rate) and MP3 players suck anyway, yes I mean the iPod too. 3. You can record with a tiny MD player. I cannot stress how important this is. If you're a musician, this is one handy tool, much more practical (and much cheaper too) than DAT. You can record your rehearsal or improvisations and edit them very easily, you can make field recordings, interviews, records gigs, etc. There may be more good or bad reasons, but those are three main ones that pop to mind. Although some might not seem very relevant to the Slashdot crowd :(
The files are converted to ATRAC and you'll have to deal with the stupid copyprotection scheme.
I use and old, pre netMD, Sony MD recorder and it has served me well but for the cost and trouble you would be much better off getting a 'real' mp3 player.
As an aside, I have to second the question above, why did you buy a minidisc player? I'm sure that as a /. reader, you're familiar with your other options; it seems like unless you got a -really- great deal on it, an eBay'd iPod would have been a better choice.
Oh well. Good luck with that, and enjoy your new toy. _
You have a nice Apple Powerbook, and an unsupported MiniDisc player, and you want to transfer highly compressed 3-subband audio over USB?
If I may suggest a two step solution: 1. Ebay 2. iPod
you get: way more storage, way more quality, way more vendor support, and way more transfer speed. It looks like you're in for about a hundred bucks for an eBay upgrade.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
if only there were some kind of portable music player that you could use with a Mac. What would really be great is if it took regular MP3 files, and stored a lot of them, like maybe 1-2GB worth.
That would be sweet.
Maybe someday somebody will step up to the plate and fill this need.
http://www.tmdc.org/aramk/sandbox/minidisc.html
Here's one excerpt, though you should read the page for all the info:
"Transferring (Analog)
Doing an analog transfer is very simple - first, plug the analog cable from your Mac's headphone out jack into your recorder's analog input (on Sharp model's, this is the same as Line In). Now, open your MP3 player on your computer, and create a new playlist. In iTunes, this is done in the left hand side by pressing the + button.
Now, drag and drop MP3s in to this list and order them how you wish. Once you're done, you might want to add a blank 5 second sound between tracks to better allow your MD player to create the track marks [ Download 5 second blank track ]. Important notes: make sure that the playlist is not longer than the medium yourrecording to; if you're using a 74 minute MD, your playlist must be less than 74 minutes unless you are planning to use LP2 or LP4 compression. Once you're ready, simply press the record button on your recorder and press play in the MP3 program. While it's recording, check to make sure that the sound level is OK. If you think you need to adjust it; do so on the Mac by changing the system volume."
hehehehe was it ever so easy, except on a Mac?
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
Have you ever used MD? It has great quality, and has for the last 6 years at least.
Standard (SP) MiniDisc encoding is 292kbps ATRAC. ATRAC in general is slighly more faithful than Fraunhofer MP3, so this is roughly equivalent to 320kbps (certainly better than 256kbps) MP3. That's pretty damn good sound quality, and that's what you get when you put 74 minutes of music (or 148 minutes of mono audio) on the disc.
The LP modes use a newer codec, ATRAC 3 (where was ATRAC 2??), which achieves even better compression/quality. They use 132kbps (roughly like 160 or 192kbps MP3) or 66kbps (~80 or 96 kbps MP3). So yeah, the lowest quality/highest recording time option ain't so great, but the middle quality mode is pretty damn good still.
Sure, boycott Sony, though. The Sharp machines are generally more solid & much better for live recording.
I switched to a TiPB and iPod (from a Tosh and Sony NetMD).
I love my iPod (using Shure E2 in-ear monitors) but when I travel, access to a power supply can at times be "difficult" (say on the side of a mountain or in the jungle), hence I prefer the MD player's longer battery life.
For those of you who want to "have your cake and eat it" and enjoy the strengths of both the iPod and the NetMD..
May I suggest using something like the Xitel Pro-HiFi Link http://xitel.com/ It has a USB in and a TOC-link out to feed your MD.
Cannot record as a NetMD but you can at least use your iTunes (after grabbing a script or mp3 file of a 2 second black to place in between songs), your playlists and record digitally.
I do hope Xmd comes on line soon.. but mean while.. keeping my fingers crossed.