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Preface / Email support / Record from MD to PC / Create a Audio CD / Use freedb titling / 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.

 
 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.

 
 How to record MiniDisc tracks on the PC with "Win NMD"

1. Put a MD into the NetMD Player (e.g. N1).
2. 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.
3. 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")
4. Close all NetMD applications like OpenMG, SimpleBurner or SonicStage.
5. Start "Win NMD" by clicking Start/Programs: Win NMD.
6. You should see the list of songs in Win NMD.
7. 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.
8. Click the Button "Record selected tracks" or use the keyboard-shortcut "Ctrl+T" from the context menu.
9. Set the recording options in the dialog. Select the correct input source and level.
   Do not forget to set the target path.
10. 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:
  
  
  

 
 How to create a Audio CD from MD content

• There are 2 possibilities:

1. 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)
    
2. 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.

 
 How to use the "freedb" function for MD (automatic titling of albums on MD)

1. Record a CD via optical or analogue connection from your HiFi CD deck to MD or put a prerecorded, untitled MD into the Player.
2. Connect the NetMD player to the PC.
3. Select all songs of the album and choose "Get album info (freedb)" from the context menu.
4. 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.

 
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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