Does anyone have any experience with recording from a minidisc to the PC or onto CD. I just received 27 Irish Trad albums recorded on Minidisc, from my brother in Ireland and I want to transfer some of them to CD, but really don’t know how to go about doing it.
Can anyone help?
Smells illegal.
I’ve made CDs of minidisc recordings a number of times using a free download program, Goldwave. I think this is the site to get the download:
http://www.goldwave.com/release.html
I open Goldwave, attach my minidisc player to the ‘line in’ of my computer and play the disc, recording it as a file in Goldwave. It’s time-consuming because it goes in real time. I don’t know of any way to speed up the transfer from minidisc to computer. Once the sound file is all recorded, I use the editing functions in Goldwave to separate it into tracks and to edit out parts I don’t want to keep. The quality is surprisingly good, considering that I’ve only done this with tunes recorded live in settings like a session at a coffeehouse, and in workshops at music camp. It’s much better than I used to get with a little cassette tape recorder.
As to the legality of what you want to do with the 27 albums, it sounds like a violation of copyright to me too. If the albums are all out of print and you really CAN’T buy them anymore, you might feel morally comfortable recording them even in violation of copyright. Or, if you own them all on vinyl LPs and you want to make a copy to listen to and avoid wearing out your irreplaceable vinyl, I’d say go for it. If, however, the albums are still available for sale and you are just avoiding paying, then it’s hard to see that as anything except stealing.
you can record with this program http://audacity.sourceforge.net/about.php?lang=en
it’s free. just plug the rec. out of your hifi into the line in of your computer.
audacity also has filtering tools for noice reduction etc.
if you’re not satisfied with the recording quality, goldwave no doubt is better.
Interesting this topic should come up. Just last week I was thinking of getting a minidisc recorder for recording single tracks to be uploaded to the computer for multi-track mixing (using Audacity software).
The reasons I wanted this are:
Anyway, to my surprise I learned that there is not a single minidisc recorder that will send digital information to the computer. Most of them will record digitally from the computer from wav, mp3, wma, or CD but none of them will go the other direction. The only way to get information from the minidisc to the computer is to play the minidisc in real time and connect the headphone or line out to the mic or line in on the computer, then “record” using the computer’s sound card. Even with the best of sound cards this is not a very good solution because you’re going from digital to analog and back to digital.
BTW, not to hijack the thread, but if any of the rest of you are in the same boat I have found a solution to my quandry. Instead of minidiscs use MP3 recorders. One model, the Archos Ondio looks very promising. The built in FM receiver is said to suck but the device got very good reviews for its sound quality – and that’s all that matters to me. With the Ondio you can record from the built in mic (voice quality) or an external mic, and then transfer the data to the computer via USB. I’m planning on getting an Ondio next week provided they’re in stock at Fry’s. If there’s any interest I’ll let y’all know how it works out.
It’s a feature. MiniDisc technology was invented / marketed by SONY to allow digital copies for on-the-road and private use without making illegal mass-copying possible. You can copy once, without quality loss, but you can’t copy the copy digitally, so you lose data and quality.
I’d guess that SONY even makes the companies using the technology (to build players) sign some legalese to enforce that the devices don’t offer digital output.
Sonja
Gerry, I highly recommend this very useful and inexpensive piece of software - RIP vinyl. It costs US$7 but is simply invaluable for the type of project you are considering (legality aside).
http://www.wieser-software.com/ripvinyl/index.shtml
I am using it to help me transfer LPs and cassettes to CD. The marvellous thing about it is that it splits the tracks into separate files for you.
If you use a sound recording program that cannot do this automatically, you’ll either have to 1) play and record each track separately, stopping and starting the minidisc each time or 2) end up with a huge wav file of up to 600 MB. Splitting a file of this size into tracks for burning onto a CD is a pain, believe me.
Thanks everyone for the tips. Steve, I’ll take your advice and purchase that software. Sounds like a good idea.
Bite me!
Steve, I purchased this software and it works like a charm. Thanks a lot. I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this.
Private sharing is legal.
Posting them as MP3’s on the 'net or selling CD’s probably would not be.
In Canada, even sharing MP3’s on the net is half legal, i.e. It’s always legal to download, but not always legal to upload.
Media transfer is also legal.
Making copies for you car/office/whatever is legal.
Humming tunes you’ve heard on the radio is still legal, for now:).
regards,
jb
On the subject of mini-disc recording…if a mini-disc has “digital-in” does that mean it will record live sound such as a concert or session or whatever?
do any of you record yourself or other players on mini-disc…and if so, what sort of machine will do that?
Boyd
“Digital in” means you can “record” digital files (mp3, wma, CD, etc) from your computer. For recording concerts you’re looking for one with a “microphone in” or “line in” (or a good quality built-in microphone). The built in microphones in most, but not all, minidisc recorders are adequate only for voice or very lo-fi music recording.
Edited to add: It used to be (and probably still is) quite popular to take a minidisc recorder to concerts with a microphone concealed in a hat. I knew a guy a few years ago who had a cowboy hat with a recorder hidden inside the crown and a pair of microphones hidden behind feathers in the hatband. He got pretty decent recordings of every concert he attended, except when he couldn’t get away from persistently noisy drunks.
Thanks John… very quick reply.
I keep meaning to dump the old tape recorder but haven’t got round to it…
the prospect of slowing down some tunes to learn them makes a MD recorder really attractive…and hey, a man could even post his music on the net!!
Boyd
Can the mini’s be popped into a CD player on the computer and access the info that way? Any work arounds (other than those mentioned) if not?
No, the ATRAC technology of the mini CDs is proprietary to Sony and apparently they won’t license the technology to anyone who would actually do something so strange as to give people what they want 
Edited to add – well, that’s not entirely true. If you’ve got $500 bucks you might be able to get a multi-track minidisc “studio” recorder with digital upload capability…
Isn’t pot nearly legal in canada too?
If they could get their GDP up enough to import some decent weather, I’d move there in a second.
if i didn’t have an archos jukebox 3 allready, then… http://www.core-sound.com/pdaudio-cf.html#PDAUDIO-CF
There is one Sony home unit that has digital outs. The 940 costs about $300-350. And there are several Professional models by Sony and Panasonic and others, but they start at $500. But you know what? The digital out on my Sony 940 isn’t all that great-sounding.
But why go through all the time, expense and hassle of converting and labeling 27 discs? It’s already been done for you! Buy a portable or a home MD machine and just enjoy the music! They are easy to use and sound terrific! If you get a portable with a microphone input (I recommend Sharp) you’ve got a nifty portable recorder to learn new tunes with.
Sony makes a home model called the 440 which I have seen for $150 or so. It’s excellent. Try “Musician’s Friend” or “J&R Music World” or even Circuit City or Best Buy. Boynton Studios, Broadcast Supply West or Bradley Broadcast too. Go to http://www.neumannusa.com/pages/dealers/midatlantic.htm and link to them from there.
That probably means the recorder in question has a line-in, both analog and digital. This is a pretty standard feature. For recording a concert or session you need either a microphone-in and a separate microphone, or a line-in and a separate microphone w/ preamp.
do any of you record yourself or other players on mini-disc…and if so, what sort of machine will do that?
I have a portable MD recorder (MZ-R700) what I use to record sessions, lessons, and concerts. I got some really good recordings out of it, and move these to a PC through the analog output—the only way to do it, really. Quality-wise, the analog capture is not so bad, and the least of your problems if you’re recording live anything. The problem with analog transfer is that it takes more time and effort, your original track marks are lost, and so forth.
I still think it’s an enormous pain that Sony assumes I am a criminal, and won’t allow a digital out on their gadgets. Those things could be much more convenient, much more capable, and we could buy cool things like MD floppy drives for personal computers. They’d make more money if only they weren’t so afraid of consumers having actual control over their own property.
Caj