MD: sony JB940 for sale
I had a great deal of trouble getting a JB940 last fall, as Sony was severely behind in shipping its orders, so I ordered one from 2 different web retailers. A friend asked me to keep both orders so he could buy one from me, and then crapped out on me. Before I send the other one back, I thought I'd offer anyone interested the opportunity to reimburse me for the 2nd one and get it quickly... it is unopened, brand new. Please email me privately if interested... - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: Sony MZ-R70 little problem
Hello, new to the list, and new to minidiscs. I am wondering why when I am about to delete a track, or move a track, why at first the machine would play the beginning of the track over and over like it's supposed to, but now it doesn't to it. Thanks a lot. Matthew - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: off topic
I hate to waste bandwidth on off-topic questions, but I have no other discussion group of tech-minded people to ask: is there an easy way to transfer all of one's bookmarks and address book from Netscape to Microsoft Internet Explorer? My netscape has locked up on two different computers and I'm about to give up on it. Just email me privately, no point in clogging up the digest. Thanks! - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: the limits of the Sony MZ-R70
I am wondering if this unit can record the full length of the eighty minute discs? If not, what happens? Does it stop at sevenyy four minutes. Do other machines have problems playing them, and will my machine stop at seventy four minutes if someone records eighty minutes of material on a disc? Thanks a lot. Matthew - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: MDLP car units
=== The original message was multipart MIME=== === All non-text parts (attachments) have been removed === Has there been any mention of car units that support MDLP. The MDLP equipment list only lists Japanese models, I suppose we just wait until Sony US gets around to refreshing the model lineup. I would love a US version of the Japanese MDLP decks that Sony did. dsowa === MIME part removed : text/html; === - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: New FM-AM Sony Minidisc Recorder
So, theoretically, if you could power the remote without it being plugged into the main unit, you could have an ultra-mini FM tuner stereo, right? :-) Josh The remote seems identical as the Sony CD walkman with tuner, seems that the method of incorporating a tuner is the same too (i.e. tuner in remote, not the unit). I wonder what its limitations are. - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: address (book)marks
here's a nifty little tool that should do the trick for the bookmarks. not sure about the address book, i think you can just import it using outlook express (although i myself would recommend using a third-party email program like pegasus www.pmail.com or eudora www.eudora.com ). http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description.asp? fid=6052 :-) transfer all of one's bookmarks [...] Just email me privately, no point in clogging up the digest. Thanks! - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: address (book)marks
oops, sorry about that :-( didn't mean to send it to the list. - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: off topic
well the bookmarks just go to File - Import and follow the prompts it is designed to make the transfer from Netscape to IE very easy. I'm guessing outlook has a similar thing to import the address book from netscape. This is information is based on what is on my compute which is running IE5.0 -Jeffrey At 01:26 PM 1/15/01 -0500, you wrote: I hate to waste bandwidth on off-topic questions, but I have no other discussion group of tech-minded people to ask: is there an easy way to transfer all of one's bookmarks and address book from Netscape to Microsoft Internet Explorer? My netscape has locked up on two different computers and I'm about to give up on it. Just email me privately, no point in clogging up the digest. Thanks! - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: MD: New FM-AM Sony Minidisc Recorder
=== = NB: Over 50% of this message is QUOTED, please = = be more selective when quoting text = === Possibly. Moreover, does the fact that the tuner is in the remote and not in the main unit mean that you cannot record from AM/FM while on the run? Presumably for the unit to be able to record from the tuner a tuner signal just go back down the remote cable to the unit. richard -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, 16 January 2001 8:04 a.m. To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: MD: New FM-AM Sony Minidisc Recorder So, theoretically, if you could power the remote without it being plugged into the main unit, you could have an ultra-mini FM tuner stereo, right? :-) Josh The remote seems identical as the Sony CD walkman with tuner, seems that the method of incorporating a tuner is the same too (i.e. tuner in remote, not the unit). I wonder what its limitations are. - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: Sony MZ-R900
Hello, I was wondering if anyone knows if Sony will be officially releasing the MZ-R900 portable recorder/player to the US? The R700 looks nice, but I'd prefer to get the R900 (unless if someone can make me change my mind ;) over the R700. Thanks -- Linh Pham [[EMAIL PROTECTED]] // 404b - Brain not found - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: the limits of the Sony MZ-R70
Matthew asked about the R70, | I am wondering if this unit can record the full length of the eighty minute | discs? It should. Eighty-minute discs are within the MD specs, and I haven't heard of any model that has been reported as unable to play them (or, if a recorder, unable to record on them) to their full capacity. If your R70 can't do it, then it needs to be fixed. - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: Screen not showing up...
hey i am having trouble seeing my screen on my sony MZR-90. I can see the screen on the remote, but not on the actually MD player/recorder. is it maybe because my battery is low. I am charging it now all help is appricated... -WiLL - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: Wanted: Usable MD/PC device
Minidisc is cool, but when you bring a PC into the picture it just doesn't match the convenience of CD. Heretical thought? I've started seeing questions of "what's the best way to get my music from PC to MD" and answers like "burn it to CD and then copy it to MD using Sony's CD-MD box that dups at 4x realtime." Yes, it's a workable answer, but doesn't something seem a little *wrong* with this picture?? Doesn't it seem ironic that the best way to get audio onto MD is by first going to CD?? What we need is for MD to be just as PC friendly as CDR. CD-writers are dirt cheap these days, you can digitally-extract audio from audio CDs at 40x and burn anything you want to disc at 12 or 16x realtime. What I'd like: Sony (or Sharp) needs to release both SCSI and IDE/ATAPI MD drives that accept the CD-R/CD-RW SCSI command set, and behave just like CDRW drives. The drives need to have full read/write capability to MD-Audio, MD-Data, and MD-Data2/MD-View discs. A USB drive may be an OK alternative, but personally I'm still a SCSI fan; the software support for SCSI and ATAPI is far more mature. The drive has to be reasonably fast, 1xRealtime is unacceptable. S/PDIF copying at realtime is just a waste of time. Note that this also means Sony will have to distribute PC-based software for ATRAC encoding and decoding to really make the drives fully useful. ATRAC is a pretty cool compression technique; they've done themselves a huge disservice by restricting it to MD. The whole internet-music world is suffering with RealAudio and MP3 when they could have had the superior sound of ATRAC all this time. Pathetic... (Yes, ATRAC3 is cool, but unless original ATRAC is also supported, a lot of already-recorded media gets left behind...) Anyone else agree with me? Try dropping Sony Electronics a note at their feedback web address: http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/ss5/feedback.shtml Sorry for ranting. I just needed to get that off my chest... If anyone has some cheap older recorders they want to dump, I may start doing surgery on them to build a direct-to-PC interface. Even though all of the encoding/decoding is done in a single chip, the ATRAC data still goes into the shock-proof memory buffer, which is stored in a separate DRAM chip. It should be possible to intercept that data for a PC interface. The data rate is probably even slow enough (35KB/sec) for a parallel port hack, in lieu of something more sophisticated. -- Howard Chu Chief Architect, Symas Corp. Director, Highland Sun http://www.symas.com http://highlandsun.com/hyc - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: ATRAC lossiness
Well, it was easy enough to compare ATRAC3 at 66, 105, and 132kbps to a WAV file. It was much harder to compare plain ATRAC since I couldn't get it directly onto my PC (yet). There appears to be too much jitter when playing back from my JB920 thru TOSlink into my Canopus MD-Port and into the PC over USB. For the ATRAC3 comparisons, I used a WAV file ripped directly off CD. (Altan's Harvest Storm, track 10, The Rosses Highlands). For the ATRAC file, I digitally copied the CD track from my DVP-C600D to the JB920 (using TOSlink). I then played the MD track over TOSlink into the computer. Unfortunately, I was completely unable to synchronize the MD copy with my original WAV file. I could analyze the samples and sync-up at a given point, but within about 1 samples it was out of sync again. Figuring that there may be jitter introduced when playing the CD to MD, I re-recorded the original WAV file as well: I recorded the music track from CD to MD, and also recorded the digital output of the JB920 on the PC at the same time. (I.e., digitally recorded the monitored audio.) I figured this would give me a WAV file with the exact same CD jitter characteristics as what the JB920 recorded. I then played back this new MD track, recording it onto the PC, and compared this track with the monitored track. Again, I could sync-up at one point, but the two tracks would be out of sync within about 4000 samples. So, it's been pretty much impossible for me to do a direct bit-for-bit comparison of the ATRAC audio with the original WAV data. I wonder if any of the available re-clocking jitter-reduction boxes would help here... -- Howard Chu Chief Architect, Symas Corp. Director, Highland Sun http://www.symas.com http://highlandsun.com/hyc - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: Sony E500 vs. E700 vs. E900
That would work too. The ear buds were pretty cheap, and the cable was already split and labeled as to which is the right and which is the left. A lot of people that want to build one don't have anything to test the cable with. JT wrote: On Tue, 9 Jan 2001, J. Coon wrote: Using the earphones works in a pinch but you are better off making or buying a condenser mike. Here is one that I designed that work well, and the parts cost about $10. http://www.tir.com/~liteways/Mandolin.html#Microphone And I'll still question why you buy earbuds just for the cable/connector... wouldn't it be more sensible (and cheaper) to just buy a stereo 1/8" male to male cable and use that? Josh - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Jim Coon Not just another pretty mandolin picker. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] If Gibson made cars, would they sound so sweet? My first web page http://www.tir.com/~liteways - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: Listening to compression
From: "Eric Woudenberg, Minidisc.org Editor" Hi Howard, Howdy! "Howard Chu" [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Use a bit-accurate CD-ROM drive and rip an audio file off a CD onto your PC. This is the original, "perfect" data source. Encode it as an MP3 using any bitrate you care to test, and then decode it back to PCM format. If you invert this file and add it to the original WAV file, the result will be the difference between the two signals, the "error" between the original and the MP3 file. You can listen to this error signal and measure its RMS value, to give both subjective and objective quality measures. As you state, the error signal (or its square) is a valid quantitative measure of the loss incurred by the coder. But even though you can listen to the error as an audio signal, it isn't a valid subjective measure since the error in question is never normally heard standalone, rather only as a deviation in the presence of the full audio signal (and is hence being masked by the signal). I guess that's true, perhaps it's real value is in objective measurement. Certainly it reveals a lot though, such as how much high-frequency signal is thrown away by a particular encoding. It can also highlight artifacts that you can identify once you know they're present, such as the pre-transient noise in the Microsoft Audio format. (Something that MP3 and ATRAC don't suffer from... See http://www.real.com/msaudio/ for the story) Once you know it's there, your subjective perception will be more attuned to the flaws... General aside on subjective evaluation of coders: Automatic measurement of the subjective quality of perceptual encoders is a current research topic and involves some degree of modeling the human auditory system in the measurement phase. I've always thought that this was a bit of a tail-chasing problem, since if you've got a model with superior accuracy in the measurement system, why not use that model in the encoder as well and further reduce the perceptual loss? Heh. You can't develop a high-precision model for human perception; you are inherently forced to approximate since every person is different... But I suppose a decent neural-net could duplicate a lot of the behavior. It works for vision, and the nervous system's basic characteristics are consistent throughout. (It can be said that all five of the human senses operate in "block floating" mode. Overall you can sense a very wide dynamic range of signals, but you only have a small window on that range at any given time. E.g., you can see details in dim light, and you can see well in bright light, but a sudden transition from dim to bright or vice versa leaves you blinded: the input has exceeded your dynamic range window, your visual system has "clipped" ... Hearing is not much different, except that you don't have the equivalent of the AGC that the eyes (pupil, iris) have.) An automatatic system that produced reliable subjective scores for audio and speech coders would be a great boon to developers, since they could save the considerable time and money spent using human subjects. (They could also save wear and tear on their subjects -- at Lucent I would occasionally participate in experimental evaluations of cell-phone speech coder samples (as a favor to colleagues). I found it to be painstaking and frequently frustrating work). Heh. The worst I ever had to do was sit at a newly designed computer desk and give opinions on its ergonomic efficiency... -- Howard - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: Listening to compression
... you can see details in dim light, and you can see well in bright light, but a sudden transition from dim to bright or vice versa leaves you blinded: the input has exceeded your dynamic range window, your visual system has "clipped" ... Hearing is not much different, except that you don't have the equivalent of the AGC that the eyes (pupil, iris) have.) While I'm not sure what exactly AGC means, I have heard somewhere that ears are able to focus and lose focus of sounds and noise in a dynamic way. I was once advised to buy full-ear headphones as opposed to ear-buds because sounds hitting the outer part of the ear actually help the inside of the ear adjust to what it's listening to, and can help prevent damage in a way that ear-buds cannot. Does anyone know enough about the working of the human ear to validate or deny this? - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: ATRAC lossiness
One of the problems of bit-for-bit comparison of a signal recorded by MD: I wonder if the problem could have to do with the sample-rate-converter in the MD? I've often had the nagging suspicion that the sample-rate-converter is not defeatable. My theory is that even when the input signal is 44.1, the sample rate converter resamples the signal at the MD's (slightly different) 44.1 clock. The theory is that it *never* tries to lock the MD to the clock recovered from the S/PDIF stream. Anyone know for sure? If this is true, an alternate way to get a known signal onto an MD might be to burn the test signal onto a CDR and then transfer it using one of the combo MD-CD decks. I bet that copying from the internal CD player *doesn't* go through the sample-rate-converter. - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: MZ-R90 available
I have a friend in Japan who is picking up an E900 for me :) He mentioned to me that he's probably going to sell his MZ-R90. He said it's in perfect condition with all the original packaging, and hasn't been used much -- he evidently uses his iPAQ to listen to music. He was thinking about selling it for around $200 (plus shipping). If anyone is interested, let me know, and I'll pass it on to him. - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
