Transferring recordings off a Sony MiniDisc (2 Viewers)

[DJRWhittle]

Does anybody know how to get recordings I've made on a Sony MiniDisc onto my computer? I've tried using SonicStage (latest version 4.3) but all I get is an error message that says "Unable to transfer the following tracks to My Library because they are recorded by Net MD or another computer." I've googled the error message and it would appear that I'm asking it to do something that it can't (something to do with copy protection I think but I'm not sure) but there must be a way to do it.

Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks

Derek

 

[gymell]

I used to use a Sony MiniDisc. I thought they had gotten rid of the copy protection a long time ago. You could possibly try the line out on the MiniDisc into the line in of your computer sound card and record that way.

BTW, I now use a Roland Edirol digital recorder. About the size of a pack of cards, with excellent built in microphone. It can record directly in WAV or mp3 format. Much easier than dealing with the Minidisc. I record my choral concerts with this. For example: http://www.lizstanley.com/audio/tgs/03092008/MembraJesu.mp3 (I'm playing harpsichord continuo.)

 

[Jon Oates]

I agree, the quick and dirty way is to connect the line out of the minidisc recorder to the line in of your computer. Unfortunately it means that the recording is converted from digital to analogue and back to digital again, which might result in a slight degradation in quality depending on your soundcard.

I have had a similar problem in my PC not recognising my HHB minidisc recorder when connected via USB. HHB tell me that it is a problem with Windows XP, not with their recorder.

As a matter of interest, what have you been recording?

Jon

 

[David Caudwell]

Hi Derek!
I sympathise with your problem - earlier Sony Mini-discs were so tied up by copy-protection intended to prevent music piracy that even transfer of "innocent" domestic recordings (wildlife etc) onto the owner's own home computer was made impossible!! Corporate paranoia gone crazy or what?!!! The more recent Hi-Mini Disc players are I believe unrestricted in this way and can also use the much larger capacity Hi-mini-discs, so in the long run it may be easier to get one of these.
In the meantime you can, as mentioned by the previous posters, connect your mini disc player via its headphone socket to the line-in (or mic) socket on your PC and, using free software such as Audacity, convert the analogue output from your player into digital WAV or MP3 files. You can either start & stop the recording process to create individual tracks or record entire segments (eg an entire disc at a time) to be split into tracks later. This all happens in real time so it's a sloooooow process - hence the long-term recommendation to pick up one of the newer players and let the more user-friendly technology do it all for you at the click of a mouse!!
Hope that helps,
Dave C

 

[DJRWhittle]

Thanks to you all for your responses. My recording is of Soprano Pipistrelle bats. I took myself off to the river the other night with my bat box and minidisk and recorded them by plugging a lead from the line out of the bat box to the line in of my minidisc recorder. I never thought for a moment that I wouldn't be able to transfer them to my PC. Getting at the back of my computer is not easy and I'm not even sure that I have a line in on the sound card but when I get a few minutes spare, and enough light to see, I'll have a go. I assume once I've transferred them I'll need to find some way of converting them to a format that the computer can read/play or are they already in such a format? I don't know how the Sony saves files.

Derek

 

[David Caudwell]

Hi Derek,
The output from your Mini-disc headphone socket is analogue, but using free audio recording software (like "Audacity") will enable you to automatically convert your recordings into computer-readable files as you play them into the computer, either via a line-in or microphone socket. You will be able to select how these recordings are encoded: either high-quality WAV or lower quality (but smaller file-size) MP3s. Either way you will then have audio files (tracks) which can be burnt to CD or, in the case of MP3s, transferred to a portable player (iPod etc)
Dave C

 

[Jon Oates]

Audacity is a great piece of software for this purpose, though if you want to save as mp3 files, you also need to install the LAME encoder (its relatively straightforward and instructions are on the Audacity website).
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about/

If you are prepared to release your recordings under a creative commons licence (allowing others to use your recordings subject to certain restrictions that you can specify), have a look at the Internet Archive. It will host audio recordings in perpetuity for the public benefit.
www.archive.org

 

[ermine]

"Unable to transfer the following tracks to My Library because they are recorded by Net MD or another computer."

That message means just that - NetMD is deliberately crippled so that while you can transfer recordings to the MD you can't transfer them from the MD.

HiMD does allow you to digitally transfer original recordings you make with the machine through the analogue ports out to the PC, but even a HiMD machine cannot transfer this recording out. So an analogue transfer as described by others is the only way.

 

[HouseFinch]

I used to use a Sony MiniDisc. I thought they had gotten rid of the copy protection a long time ago. You could possibly try the line out on the MiniDisc into the line in of your computer sound card and record that way.

BTW, I now use a Roland Edirol digital recorder. About the size of a pack of cards, with excellent built in microphone. It can record directly in WAV or mp3 format. Much easier than dealing with the Minidisc. I record my choral concerts with this. For example: http://www.lizstanley.com/audio/tgs/03092008/MembraJesu.mp3 (I'm playing harpsichord continuo.)

Ah, it seems now I know what recorder I'll upgrade to. I had been apprehensive since my HiMD recorder acts cantankerous sometimes, and I didn't know what recorder I could get if it kicks the bucket, seeing as HiMD and MD are in the great electronics shop in the sky. I had thought about a RememBird, but that only records in .mp3 and not .wav. Awesome sound, and I might not even need an external mic anymore. I couldn't hear any hiss in that recording, which is something I'm always fighting with using my current mic.