Sony MZ-N1 MiniDisc Recorder Questions at DVinfo.net

Andrew Ferrell · May 27th, 2005, 05:44 PM

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Here's the question, I recently bought the MZ-N1 on Ebay. Well I recieved it, it works great for uploading and listening to music. It will even record to the MD when a mic is attached, which is of course what I bought it for. The problem is when I try to import the audio file to my computer. The software that came with the MD Recorder was Sony's Sonic Stage, which Imports music and uploads it to the computer, and you can do the opposite by uploading music to the computer from the MD. The problem comes when I try to upload the recorded files, I get an error message saying, "Files can't be uploaded". Does anyone know the problem, or know what I am doing wrong, that's the problem with buying things new, they don't come with the original manuals, or at least mine didn't. I looked at the online manual and it didn't tell me much. Any responses would be very greatly appreciated.

Marco Leavitt · May 27th, 2005, 07:18 PM

Bad news -- no digital upload with MD. That wasn't added until HiMD. You'll have to do an analog transfer (all together now -- Boo Sony!).

Here's a link to the manual: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-N1.html

That's supposed to be a real nice unit though. Where did you find a new one?

Andrew Ferrell · May 28th, 2005, 01:12 PM

I found a used one on Ebay, the owner invested in an Ipod and was getting rid of it.....

You say analog transfer....how would I go about doing that?

Marco Leavitt · May 28th, 2005, 04:18 PM

Set the minidisc to line out and connect it to the mic input on your soundcard and capture using Audacity or other program. If you don't have a mic input, I believe there are A/D converters you can get that will connect to the USB. There are desktop units with digital outputs you could use to the transfer if you wanted to get around the quality loss of an analog transfer. That's what we do. We bought a Sony MXD-D400 some time ago.

Andrew Ferrell · May 28th, 2005, 06:16 PM

Alright, I know I have a mic jack on the back of my tower, I will see if it works. Is that the mic jack that goes into the soundcard. I don't have Audacity, however I do have Adobe Audition which should suffice.

Steve House · May 29th, 2005, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andrew Ferrell

Alright, I know I have a mic jack on the back of my tower, I will see if it works. Is that the mic jack that goes into the soundcard. I don't have Audacity, however I do have Adobe Audition which should suffice.

Audition will do just fine <g> - Audacity is an excellent freeware sound editor that's quite nice but it's nowhere nearly as sophisticated or full featured as Audition. You want to make sure the levels of the output from your miniDisc recorder and the input to your computer match. I don't know anything about the jacks on the Sony recorder you have but if it has a jack marked "line out" that should be connected to the "line in" jack on your soundcard, NOT the soundcard's mic input. If your recorder doesn't have a line out jack, use its headphones or external speaker jack to connect to the line in on the soundcard but be careful of setting the volume too high or it might overload the soundcard's input - that won't damage anything but the resulting sound file sounds terrible with distortion. With Audition watch the waveform as you record and if the peaks are cut off so they look flat instead of pointy, you're overdriving the input so try it again with the miniDisc volume set lower. If the soundcard only has a mic level input (most have both mic and line inputs but I don't know if it's universal), you'll need to go over to Radio Shack and get an attenuating patch cord, about $5 I expect, to drop the high level headphone output down to the low level mic input.

James Connors · May 31st, 2005, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marco Leavitt

Bad news -- no digital upload with MD. That wasn't added until HiMD.

I believe thats only on portable models tho, on Minidisc Desks, there's a digital output for recording back.

Marco Leavitt · May 31st, 2005, 07:16 AM

"I believe thats only on portable models tho, on Minidisc Desks, there's a digital output for recording back."

I did mention that, and keep in mind that very few decks have digital outputs.

Michael Dempsey · June 11th, 2005, 09:41 AM

In reference to plugging the minidisc into the mic input, shouldn't it be the line in input on the computer instead ?

Marco Leavitt · June 12th, 2005, 07:55 PM

Definitely use the line input on your soundcard if you have one. My soundcard only has a mic input, but it seems to handle the line out signal from the minidisc pretty well.

May 27th, 2005, 05:44 PM	#1
Andrew Ferrell New Boot Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 11	Sony MZ-N1 MiniDisc Recorder Questions Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Here's the question, I recently bought the MZ-N1 on Ebay. Well I recieved it, it works great for uploading and listening to music. It will even record to the MD when a mic is attached, which is of course what I bought it for. The problem is when I try to import the audio file to my computer. The software that came with the MD Recorder was Sony's Sonic Stage, which Imports music and uploads it to the computer, and you can do the opposite by uploading music to the computer from the MD. The problem comes when I try to upload the recorded files, I get an error message saying, "Files can't be uploaded". Does anyone know the problem, or know what I am doing wrong, that's the problem with buying things new, they don't come with the original manuals, or at least mine didn't. I looked at the online manual and it didn't tell me much. Any responses would be very greatly appreciated. Last edited by Andrew Ferrell; May 27th, 2005 at 06:19 PM.

May 27th, 2005, 07:18 PM	#2
Marco Leavitt Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Albany, NY 12210 Posts: 2,652	Bad news -- no digital upload with MD. That wasn't added until HiMD. You'll have to do an analog transfer (all together now -- Boo Sony!). Here's a link to the manual: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-N1.html That's supposed to be a real nice unit though. Where did you find a new one?

May 28th, 2005, 01:12 PM	#3
Andrew Ferrell New Boot Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 11	I found a used one on Ebay, the owner invested in an Ipod and was getting rid of it..... You say analog transfer....how would I go about doing that?

May 28th, 2005, 04:18 PM	#4
Marco Leavitt Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Albany, NY 12210 Posts: 2,652	Set the minidisc to line out and connect it to the mic input on your soundcard and capture using Audacity or other program. If you don't have a mic input, I believe there are A/D converters you can get that will connect to the USB. There are desktop units with digital outputs you could use to the transfer if you wanted to get around the quality loss of an analog transfer. That's what we do. We bought a Sony MXD-D400 some time ago.

May 28th, 2005, 06:16 PM	#5
Andrew Ferrell New Boot Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 11	Alright, I know I have a mic jack on the back of my tower, I will see if it works. Is that the mic jack that goes into the soundcard. I don't have Audacity, however I do have Adobe Audition which should suffice.

May 31st, 2005, 07:16 AM	#8
Marco Leavitt Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Albany, NY 12210 Posts: 2,652	"I believe thats only on portable models tho, on Minidisc Desks, there's a digital output for recording back." I did mention that, and keep in mind that very few decks have digital outputs.

June 11th, 2005, 09:41 AM	#9
Michael Dempsey Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 47	In reference to plugging the minidisc into the mic input, shouldn't it be the line in input on the computer instead ?

June 12th, 2005, 07:55 PM	#10
Marco Leavitt Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Albany, NY 12210 Posts: 2,652	Definitely use the line input on your soundcard if you have one. My soundcard only has a mic input, but it seems to handle the line out signal from the minidisc pretty well.