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Preface
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Email support
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Record from MD to PC
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Create a Audio CD
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Use freedb titling
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FAQ, Tips and
Tricks |
Preface
- This app does not record through the USB port
- I don't know a app that could do that.
(There is no for "NetMD"! But the new generation "Hi-MD" seems to include such
a feature.)
- My app records individual tracks (automates
it) other than that other recording apps can
do the same; my app includes some additional features, not to be found in
other apps as shown in the feature list.
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Important info about Email-support
- Please check first this help page before
sending me a mail. If the problem persists, please write to
chris@winnmd.net, I try to answer
the mails as timely as possible.
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How to record MiniDisc tracks on the PC with "Win NMD"
- Put a MD into the NetMD Player (e.g. N1).
- Connect the Line-Out or Headphone out with Line-In or Mic-In of your PC
Soundcard.
It is recommended to use Line-Out/Line-In with the N1 as this gives better
quality.
- Put the NetMD Player into the USB-"cradle" (N1) or connect the player with
the PC via the USB cable (NetMD Players without the "cradle")
- Close all NetMD applications like OpenMG, SimpleBurner or SonicStage.
- Start "Win NMD" by clicking Start/Programs: Win NMD.
- You should see the list of songs in Win NMD.
- Select a number of songs:
click on the first track, then hold down the
Shift-Key and click on the last song
or: hold down the Ctrl-Key and click on the desired song titles
or: click onto the free space on the right side beside the desired song,
let the mouse button pressed and move the mouse to the upper left or lower
left until the songs are selected.
- Click the Button "Record selected tracks" or use the keyboard-shortcut "Ctrl+T"
from the context menu.
- Set the recording options in the dialog.
Select the correct input source and level.
Do not forget to set the target path.
- Click the OK-Button and wait until the songs are played/recorded and
encoded.
- You can use the option "mute" to disable the playback to the
loudspeakers, the recording is not affected by this setting.
- Digital Recording: If you have a NetMD
deck with optical out and a soundcard with optical in (e.g. SoundBlaster MP3 /
USB), then you should set the input level to 100%, this gives full digital
quality. If you get no signal and the recording does not work in digital mode,
try to set the soundcard to a "digital only" mode. The SoundBlaster card,
mentioned above has two modes, where only the digital one works reliable with
all recordings.
- Analog Recording:
The most recent version of win nmd has a level meter, which greatly helps on
setting the right input level. You should check that the recordings do not
clip (a warning message appears at the bottom of the recording dialog).
- Some pictures that illustrate how to
connect the MD player to the PC:



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How to create a Audio CD from MD content
- There are 2 possibilities:
- Use the build in Audio-CD creation tool
(latest version of Win NMD). This requires Windows XP and is most easy to
use. Just check the checkbox "create Audio CD" in the recording options
dialogue.
Only use CD-R or CD-RW, not accidentally DVD discs for burning. Make sure
that the selected songs fit onto the CD.
Advantages: Automatic and easy creation of an Audio CD, no more work
and fast results. (one step: recording from MD and burning of the CD)
Disadvantages: No CD-Text support, insertion of a default track gap
of about 2 seconds between each track. The "merge tracks" option can
currently not be used while burning a CD. (details described below)
- Use a 3rd party tool like Nero to burn a
Audio CD. It is recommended to use the "merge tracks" option in the
recording dialogue. This way all concurrent audio tracks are recorded into
one file. Because of that there can be absolutely no overlapping or gaps in
the recording of the tracks. You should select the option "create CUE-sheet"
as well. A CUE-Sheet (index file) will be created, that contains the track
numbers, track titles and track-lengths of the recording.
After recording the MD open your CD burner application and choose "Audio or
Music CD". With Nero it is possible to just drag+drop the created CUE-File
into the CD-Content pane. Nero will read the CUE File and create individual
tracks from the one source WAV file. [Update: With the latest Nero
version this technique does not work reliable. With Nero 6 you chould
instead start Nero, close the initial "new compilation" dialogue and then
choose the menu command "Recorder/Burn Image..." to burn a audio CD from the
recorded WAV/CUE file.]
Win NMD does also add track title
information to the CUE file. You should enable the CD-Text option in Nero
and for this Audio CD image in order to use this feature. Other CD recording
apps should work similar. [Update: With Nero 6 this option might not be
available as you have to use the command Recorder/Burn Image. It is not yet
tested, if the CD-Text is automatically used.
Advantages: the "merge tracks" recording options is useable and
prevents any gaps or overlapping of the recording. (although the individual
track recording should give also very good results). If your CD burning
application supports CD text, this can be used. In many CD burning
applications it is possible to reduce the default track-gap between the
tracks.
Disadvantages: You need a CD burning application. The second step of
burning the CD is less convenient and slower than the one-step
build-solution.
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How to use the "freedb" function for MD (automatic titling of
albums on MD)
- Record a CD via optical or analogue connection from your HiFi CD deck to MD
or put a prerecorded, untitled MD into the Player.
- Connect the NetMD player to the PC.
- Select all songs of the album and choose "Get album info (freedb)" from
the context menu.
- The songs on MD are named after the album information stored in the freedb
internet database. (similar to cddb)
- This only works if the track length of the titles on MD are similar to the
ones on CD and if you record all tracks of the CD and then select all songs of
the album in the app.
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FAQ / Tips and Tricks
- [Installation Error] "The application
failed to initialize properly (0x0000135)". The .NET framework (V1.1) is
not correctly installed. Please install the .NET runtime framework. You can
either use the Windows Update function for that or download it directly from
Microsoft (Link).
- [Tip 1] How to title a number of tracks
with given title names, e.g. from iTunes. You can title a number of songs
by simply preparing a number of text lines and copy them to the Clipboard. To
rename a number of songs in one step select these songs in the song list
of Win NMD and use the context menu command "Rename selected songs
(clipboard)".
How to use the song names in iTunes for titling? Select the songs in iTunes
and choose "Copy" from the context menu. Open MS Excel and use Ctrl+V to paste
the song information. Each different kind of info like Album Name, Song Name
or Song Number is placed into a separate column. Now select the column with
the title information and again choose Copy (Ctrl+C). Now you can use the
"Rename selected songs (clipbard)" command in Win NMD to title the songs on MD
:-)
- [Tip 2] How to title make a good direct
copy from MD to CD. If you want to record a number of MD songs to CD you
should use the options "Merge Tracks" and "Create CUE Sheet" from the
recording dialog. This way successive recorded tracks don't have any
overlapping or missing parts because of little timing variations that can not
be completely avoided by recording single tracks from MD. After recording
these songs one sound file and a .cue file is created by Win NMD. You should
use your favorite CD burning application and use the .cue file for recording
the audio CD. Your CD burning application should recognize the single source
file correctly and create the same disc layout with correctly separated songs
like on MD. A bonus is that the song titles from MD are added automatically to
the .cue file so that the songs should be already titled correctly, too. You
should enable the CD-Text feature in order to let the title information be
stored into the audio CD.
- [Q1, should not happen in V1.3] Symptom: Recording starts, but the progress dialog immediately disappears.
No sound file is created.
Resolution: Check if you use Windows 98, Windows 98 SE or Windows ME. In this
case you need to install the most recent special build for Windows 9x. See the
download-page. The most recent version also
checks, if you are running the correct version on the suitable Operating
System.
- [Q2] Symptom: Recording works
successfully but the sound files have no sound.
Case 1: Missing or not correctly set up analog audio connection:
Resolution: My app controls the MD player via the NetMD protocol by using the
USB connection. As Sony did not implement a sound playback or transfer from MD
to PC via NetMD, the recorded sound must go through an analogue audio
connection. You need an audio cable that connects headphone out with line-in
or mic-in at the PC side. Check the section "How to record from MD to PC" of
this page for more details on this. If you do not have the N1/N10/N910 which
have a true line-out mode, you probably have to use the Mic-In, as the
headphone out setting has a too low level, so you hear nothing on the
recording. Check the mic-in settings (e.g. disable the boost) in the mixer
app. The volume level is controlled by my app directly in the recording
dialogue. In V1.3 you should use the DirectX recording method in order to
utilize the new sound level meter which shows the actual recording sound
level. The audio
level must not be so high that clipping occurs, that gives a much worse result
than a too low level setting where only 50 or 70% of the available dynamic range
is used. Clipping should not happen at all, so if the sound is bad, decrease
the volume level. If the sound is noisy, you might need to increase the volume
level.
Case 2: Digital recording e.g. with the SoundBlaster MP3 USB and a NetMD
deck:
Resolution: I found that the digital recording sometimes only works, when
you switch the soundcard to the "digital only" mode, which can be set by using
a small switch at the right hand side of the external soundcard.
- [Q3] Symptom: For the double-byte titling
all names are empty, entered names are not recognized and ignored.
Resolution: The latest build makes it possible to enable the
double-byte-titling-setting for NetMD applications by modifying the
corresponding OpenMG registry setting. Open the options page by clicking the "i"-Button
and push and use the available option for this function. You need to close Win
NMD and open the program again, in order to make this change valid.
- [Q4]
Symptom: Very long tracks (>50
minutes) do not record correctly to the PC.
Resolution: There is a size/length limitation in the Windows MCI recording
commands, that Win NMD uses. You could add a trackmark in the middle of such a
long track, then record the songs and delete the trackmark afterwards.
The most recent version (V1.3) provides an enhanced DirectX recording mode, which
does not have this limitation. Also this version gives a warning if the
resulting WAV files would be longer than 50 minutes and the recording option
is set to use the MCI recording mode. But because of other enhancements in the
timing code the DirectX recording mode should be used anyways.
- Err 6 - "MD Player not connected or no MiniDisc in Player" - please check if
you have installed the
available updates from Sony. Also consider to upgrade the software to
SonicStage 2.0. Also, if you use a non-Sony player, consider to install
SonicStage. MiniDisc forums like T-Station and minidisc.org provide useful
information on how to get and install these apps.
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