Posted by Eric Woudenberg on 4/28/2002, 7:21 pm
Message modified by board administrator 4/28/2002, 9:05 pm

Dear Sony: Minidisc is a great format, but it really needs compressed audio upload to make it complete. Please do what's right for Minidisc and its users!

Posted by Simon Pontin on 4/30/2002, 7:38:27

Those of us in the media who use Mindiscs for reporting would find direct input a real timesaver.

Posted by Alex Balch on 4/30/2002, 8:42:01

I bought my minidisc because of its capacity to record digitally (and with netMD the added usb connectivity) and now have a stock of my band's music, practice sessions etc. on minidisc. An audio upload facility would be a great addition and make the netMD a powerful musician's tool.

Posted by Claude Jean on 4/30/2002, 9:03:53

Minidisc upload is possible without hurting the record industry

Posted by eric vanderbiest on 4/30/2002, 9:18:07

and make the format real life please mister sony

Posted by Claudio Konig on 4/30/2002, 9:24:12

The mp3/ATRAC covertion is far too slow, to say the least. Please work on a more flexible way of tranfer

Posted by Marc Cheng on 4/30/2002, 9:27:33

NetMD requires more flexibility to realise its full potential. Audio Upload is as important as Audio Download.

Posted by Patrick Turcotte on 4/30/2002, 10:09:03

I believe that minidisc is currently the medium of choice for recording live sound - I use it for business meetings and to store each and every one of our band rehearsals. Its flexibility and sound quality are unmatched, but probably not for long; on-the-fly mp3 recording is appearing and will offer an interesting alternative if minidisc doesn't stay on top of things feature-wise. I believe the digital transfer of material through NetMD from the device to the PC is a natural and essential step in that direction. I understand the pressure you are under from your music division, but this feature is certainly not what will encourage commercial music propagation. Let's face it, mp3, wma and (eventually) Ogg Vorbis are formats of choice for this problem, not ATRAC. Thanks for taking this under consideration, Patrick Turcotte ing.

Posted by Kelvin Hew on 4/30/2002, 10:24:30

Deareat Sony: To realise the Net MD's true potential, audio upload need to be added. It is as important as audio download and it will be a complete format. In fact, minidisc is the best format compared to CD and cassete because of its size, portability, and the ability to edit as far as I know. Another thing is please come up with a new software to replace Open MG Jukebox because its not a good software. Wanna know why? Log on to http://www.minidisc.org/sony_mzn1_review_riley.htmand also go to musiclub.sonystyle.com.community and see for yourself. People don't complain for nothing. What I can tell you is the Net MD Walkman is one hell of a MD recorder but the supplied software spoil everything. Besides, the other software which is Net MD simple Burner is a good software because it doesn't need to rip CD files to the hard drive and directly record to the Minidisc Walkman. However,music files can only be recorded in LP2 and LP4. Please add the support for SP and Mono. If you can make all these possible, then minidisc will be on one hell of a format. Thanks!!

Posted by Ashot Ovanessian on 4/30/2002, 10:30:15

I have been using minidisc gear for quite some time now, recording my band's rehearsals and concerts; and now making of a simple demo involves copying all that music to my computer in realtime. If you were to add an 'upload' feature to NetMD gear, it would be of great help to me, speeding up the copying process quite a bit while improving the end quality enormously.

Posted by Brian Davis on 4/30/2002, 10:35:56

I have a band that I'm in and we have been searching for a cheap and small way to record our own shows. Most systems that offer reasonable recording are either quite large or prohibitively expensive (especially when we have to purchase all our other gear...the recorder is a low priority purchase). Then we found MiniDisc. It offers a very inexpensive solution to a big problem. We're able to easily record our live shows with digital quality, and the setup is so tiny, it can be placed anywhere in the room. While we currently upload the audio from each show onto a PC so it can later be burned to a CD for our own personal use, that takes time: a 2 1/2 hour show takes 2 1/2 hours to record back to the PC (in an analog format, no less). Adding the simple capability of USB upload would make, in my opinion, the best music device ever. I frequently advise people to purchase MD players, rather than MP3 players, because of the versatility and flexability the format offers. I understand the copyright issues at hand - I try to stay up to date on everything that's been going on in that area; but it seems to me that you already have certain safegaurds in place that could limit the transfer of copyrighted material. Either way, consider this a vote of support for adding Upload capability to the new NetMD format. Keep up the good work! Brian Davis Denver, Colorado USA

Posted by Brian Wilson on 4/30/2002, 10:50:49

I both listen to and create music, and there is no format that handles my needs better than minidisc. I feel that the only limitation to this format are the ones Sony places on it. I know several radio journalists interested in the format. They all agree that the decision to adopt md, for themselves and their organizations, would be made easier by high speed uploading. That capability can only help cement the format among professionals and hobbyists.

Posted by Wiwi Sachli on 4/30/2002, 11:05:56

I'm usually record speechs to my MD Walkman on LP2 or LP4 mode, and it take so many time to backing up it to my computer and convert it to MP3 for my backup so I can use it in future. It really time consuming without upload feature of NetMD. For me there is no differences between NetMD or not for that use without upload feature.

Posted by Daniel Schwier on 4/30/2002, 11:07:25

i buy some of my music on prerecorded minidiscs and cant make pesonal compilations from those minidiscs at high quality, ive already brought an MZ-N1 and love it but i would definatly buy an netmd with upload ablilty

Posted by Alex Harden on 4/30/2002, 11:18:41

Occasionally I will use my MDS-JE510 to record "jam sessions" at my house where my friends and I play guitars and sing. I connect the JE510 to the output of an analog mixing console. I am a MiniDisc fan, but have so far refrained from purchasing a NetMD portable because of the problems I have read about from users, particularly with regards to the strict management imposed by the OpenMG software. Adding the audio upload feature that this proposal describes will go a long way to improve the feature set of the NetMD products for people like me, who use the analog recording capabilities of the products. Thank you for your consideration in this matter.

Posted by Dooxer on 4/30/2002, 11:19:33

Posted by Paul Riismandel on 4/30/2002, 11:19:53

As a volunteer radio producer for community radio, having a digital faster-than-real-time upload feature for netMD would greatly increase my productivity. I do nearly all my interview recording on MD, due to its high quality, durability and portability. The work I do is completely legal and, in fact, is fundamentally creating new works of intellectual property, not pirating. Please consider adding this capability to MD -- I might then be moved to buy a new recorder, and recommend the new netMD units to friends and colleagues.

Posted by Luc Wilson on 4/30/2002, 11:32:40

The main reason I purchased my MT-MD877 MD recorder was to record live music. Many bands today allow open "taping" by the audience, and hence is completely legal and legitimate. I do this for own personal listening enjoyment. I passed on NetMD because it did not offer what I was looking for. Because uploads were not possible, it did not fit my needs. I did not see benefit from being allowed to "only" transfer music from computer to MD and not the other way around (MD->PC). An upload feature is really the only thing missing from MD's otherwise great feature set. More specifically, a *digital* upload capability (as well as analog) would be ideal, maybe even at high speed (since analog transfer is currently possible, albeit in "realtime"), to maintain perfect sound quality of my own recorded material from MD to computer. It is often times possible to get digital soundboard "patches" (connections), or to use an external A/D converter. This creates an input signal that is digital before reaching the MD recorder. It would be important to allow material recorded digitally in this manner to also be "uploadable", rather than just limiting any potential uploading feature to analog recordings only. Digital recording will only become more and more popular. Hopefully Sony will see the needs of the legitimate customer, and include uploading capabilities in future MD portables. Thank you, Luc Wilson

Posted by Jan Yskout on 4/30/2002, 11:38:34

As university student, it would be really easy to have a fast audio upload function. Some lectures take up to three hours. It s convenient to record them and save them in a space saving format (eg. Mp3, wma) on my PC. That way I won't have to wait another three hrs for the upload and in the mp3/wma format it would be easy to send the college to fellow students who missed the lesson or didn't take very good notitions. Hope you can add it, Your Sincerely, Jan Yskout

Posted by Kevin on 4/30/2002, 11:44:54

My whole family are avid piano players, and recently my younger brother took up this hobby. Before, I had to use the old analogue technique in order to record my family's performances for keepsake reasons. I was hoping that NetMD would allow me to instead allow me to have the recordings on my computer, and later burned onto a CD. Alas, this was not the case. I beleive NetMD technology to be really successful- however, the lack of uploading has somewhat barred my respect for this new technology. I do not, I beleive, it is worth the asking price.

Posted by Jong Dae Kim on 4/30/2002, 11:45:41

for all reasons already mentioned, as well as an incentive to purchase a netmd recorder/plyer

Posted by R. D. on 4/30/2002, 11:56:12

although i understand that copywrite will be the issue in this proposel this will be the only thing missing to beat mp3 and other formats in the long term! make it free, cos if you don't MD will loose the battle with mp3...

Posted by Efraim Plotkin on 4/30/2002, 12:02:14

Dear Sony: I am a happy user of three Sony Minidisc products, but I really start to hate it when it comes to transferring my live recordings to PC. The process is cumbersome and slow. Adding this feature would make MD the ultimate format for professionals and amateurs alike. Please implement this feature!

Posted by j lyman on 4/30/2002, 12:13:23

I am a part time musician, I use my MD to record ideas for licks etc. I need to be able to upload those to my pc in order to eaily edit them.

Posted by Eric Rodriguez on 4/30/2002, 12:14:01

Dear Sony, Truly you have made one of the best portable audio devices currently available. You've mixed most all the good features of a cd with all the good features of an audio cassette. Near reference sound quality(CD), ease of live recording(Cass), the ability to skip by tracks(CD), easy editing(Cass), a host of other features. These things make for a genuinely great product, unique and versatile. Honestly, I've only known of minidisc technology for the last two or three years and first became involved by buying an MZ-R37. I enjoyed it much but found that it didn't supply a long battery life or a long recording length. Though these problems diminished the quality of the portable itself, many of us minidisc users continued to use the format due to the abilities it had that could only be equaled by a computer using a CD-RW. Yet, being portable put it miles ahead of the CD-RW. When MP3 Players showed up and sported decent sound quality, good battery life and long recording length, the minidisc seemed to fade because its weaknesses were highlighted by the MP3 player's strengths. At that point, you did not decide to quit making and marketing minidisc in the United States. Instead, you let the minidisc evolve. MDLP gave users great volumes more space per disc and you solved battery life problems. I would later go on to buy the MZ-R700. Moving from use of two batteries for a few short hours to one battery and longer hours seemed to be an answer to prayers. But even with as great as the minidisc had become at that point, it still had slow digital transfer. MP3 players still boasted that they could do in minutes what would take minidisc hours to do. And so, the minidisc was again falling sort of the glory of portable music. But you didn't hinder the minidisc from growing. Instead, you would create NetMD and once again encourage and capture the attention of the users who felt that the format was going away. I have an MZ-N707 on order to come in a few weeks and I'm thrilled because of its quick ability to move music from PC to minidisc(thank you for the program feature, another feature long missing in minidisc). And now, finally it seems, minidiscs and MP3 players are finally neck and neck. But, there isn't much more that can be done in this competition. And with other portable technologies coming out, it may not be long before minidisc falls apart. But future technologies don't appear to be sporting live recording, so minidisc may still have an edge. But analog sound is the enemy of minidisc users. We seek supurb sound quality, and analog transfer of our personal recordings is to say the least, a thing of disgust. We long to be able to have pure control and quality of our recordings whether they be business meetings or band performances. That is why we ask you to give us the ablility to upload digitally what we record through the mic and line-in ports on our portable minidisc recorders. That is the sound of music to our ears. To be able to use what we've created and make our own music and to have the ability to access it, mold it into something better. Great sound quality. But the end of minidisc is coming if it cannot evolve. It needs to reach the next level of music. That level could be acheived by giving users the ability to access their recordings on computer through upload. It won't answer all minidisc's problems but it will certainly help us realize why we love minidisc so much. The only other hope you might have is to give minidiscs the ability to hold the CD length amount of CD quality audio, basically making the minidisc a mini CD of sorts. 74 to 80 minutes of standard cd quality audio would be an incredible thing in a minidisc. And in that case, you could hold an incredible amount of sound in ATRAC. Much more than even MDLP gives. But this doesn't appear likely. Also remember, DVD is preparing to take audio by storm and up-ing the ante by bring sound quality to 96,000 Hz as opposed to CD's 44,000 Hz, which minidisc's and other portables' sound is based off of. Keep sound alive in the minidisc. Allow the minidisc to keep evolving. Give us the ability to upload what is rightfully ours, what we've created. Give us users of minidisc another reason to smile and praise minidisc. Believe me, I tell all my friends about minidisc and have even offered to buy them a portable. Give me another reason to. A concerned lover of sound, Eric Rodriguez

Posted by Mike C on 4/30/2002, 12:22:28 , in reply to "Lectures on computer"

I am also a student here in the United States and use my Sony MZR700 and MZR55 to record lectures. I completely agree with Jan's points above and would hope that new features can be added. Also, please consider unit feature reimplmentation of a clock and possibly an on/off timer that would allow time stamping and recorder operations respectfully. Why my model 55 has the clock and the 700 does not , escapes me. More advertisment and better distribution would certainly boost sales. Honestly, most people who see the unit I own, don't know what it is. Thank you Sony, I love this product.

Posted by Paul Wells on 4/30/2002, 12:23:02

I am a huge minidisk user and this would make my work alot easier.

Posted by Mat Chavez on 4/30/2002, 12:31:13

Recording my band is exactly what I want to do. I teach High School music, and I purchased a NetMD because the advertising led me to believe the unit was capable of uploading. All I ask is that if I press the record button on the unit, you respect that I created it, and am not violating any copyright rules. It's not your place to assume I'm at fault. If you are willing to ADVERTISE on AUDIOGALAXY (the reason I found your product), you are HYPOCRITICAL if you think you can POLICE downloads. Audiogalaxy has more music piracy than you can shake a stick at, but we can use NetMD 3 times? You know as well as anyone that the music is stolen before you get to "police" it. My advice - don't play cop. It's not your place because you can't determine what is and isn't legal with your current system. It's not fair to those of us playing by the rules. -Mat

Posted by Dmitri on 4/30/2002, 12:37:52

Dear Sir Please add the above mentioned feature in your software.

Posted by Rod Verette on 4/30/2002, 12:44:04

Other competing methods of live digital recording are beginning to erode Sony's market share. Companys like Archos Technology and Creative Labs are among those that provide a small package live recording device. Both of those companies permit high speed uploading to the computer. Sony would do well to ensure customer satisfaction by including high speed uploading as well. This is not about piracy: indeed, it's about market survival.

Posted by Brian Youn on 4/30/2002, 12:44:47

There are so many new audio recording devices coming out on the market that allow direct uploading to the hard drive. I personally would love to see MD add this feature so that this great format can continue to live on.

Posted by Don Poulsen on 4/30/2002, 12:46:28

You make devices not music. Let me make music and do what I want with it. Listen to all these people not your wallet! MD will fizzle out like 8 tracks did if you dont.

Posted by Mike Sloan on 4/30/2002, 13:01:15

Sony- It is not only musicians and reporters and such that would love to see the ability to upload recorded audio. I'm an avid Minidisc user and would love to see the audio upload feature added so that I can digitally manipulate my recordings. It would definately be a great asset to the MD format and give Sony an edge over competing formats! Please consider this proposal carefully. -- Mike Sloan

Posted by Phil Genera on 4/30/2002, 13:08:56

Using minidisc to do my field recording for gathering theatrical effects would be wonderful. To be able to easily pull effects of disc into an editing console would save me time and enhance quality, as well as making MD a viable option for theatre use.

Posted by Don Chaps on 4/30/2002, 13:34:17

I purchased a Minidisc for live recording. Doesn't it seem logical to expect a path to edit and reproduce my recordings without losing quality? This is like selling a car with no drive train. You can sit in nice leather seats, hear the powerful growl of the engine, roll the windows up and down, but can't go anywhere. I would like Sony to complete the design loop.

Posted by Marcus Curle on 4/30/2002, 13:46:56 , in reply to "Uploading: A great asset"

For years MD technology has been a great asset for bands that need an affordable digital medium to record to. The drawback? Loss in audio quality that occurs when the recorded music is uploaded to a computer through analogue means. With digital high-speed downloading now readily possible on Sony's new portables, it's confusing why Sony wouldn't provide the ability to upload live recordings digitally. Adding this feature would not only be great for musicians, but would also be the needed element to take MD technology to its rightful place in music media culture throughout North America.

Posted by Adim on 4/30/2002, 14:03:47

This is a very important feature. I assumed, as well as others, that this feature was already installed on my MZ-N707 NetMD model. I love Sony.

Posted by eric oswald on 4/30/2002, 14:10:50

add audio upload

Posted by Jean-Laurent on 4/30/2002, 14:42:41

This is a very important feature to keep MD on top of audio recorder.

Posted by Steve Jess on 4/30/2002, 14:43:01

Adopting the MiniDisc for our field recording needs in 1997 revolutionized the process of producing news for our public radio station. We are now looking for the next generation of field recording units, and find that MiniDisc could very easily lose out to solid-state mp3-based recorders because with a solid state recorder we can transfer an entire interview to hard disc in seconds. I would much rather see that capability added to MiniDisc units, providing the best of both worlds - the affordability of MD with the quick access of a solid state recorder. Steve Jess Boise State Radio

Posted by David Clubb on 4/30/2002, 15:03:29

I fully support minidisc.org in saying that audio upload is something that a minidisc player needs.

Posted by B. Canon Chapman on 4/30/2002, 15:05:40

I believe that MiniDisc's full potential can be reached while still maintaining the Artists' copyrights. The problem lays in the internet not the Hardware. Why then should users who are not breaking any laws be punished?

Posted by Andy Lane on 4/30/2002, 15:06:33

The NetMD upload proposal enables only those people who wish upload their own, analoguely recorded material to do so - it has no real copyright implications. It would also turn the MD format into a powerful digital dictaphone. Thanks.

Posted by Jean-Francois VINCENT on 4/30/2002, 15:07:52

As a long time MD-user, I have needed several times to edit the content of my Minidiscs on a computer, because the hifi system I was using couldn't offer all the functions I was looking for (advanced fade-in/out, level equalisation, special effects, noise reduction and so on). Unfortunately, transfering the audio content to my computer was -still is!- a painful operation, which much be done through analog cables. The NetMD protocol could be the opportunity for you to add fast and convenient PC to MD transfert which would please the heavy users we are. Of course we all know that there are some legal issues behind that problem, but one cannot frustate its customers just because a minority of them is enforcing the laws. I do not want to make illegal copies with such a function, but just want to edit my private recordings! Thank you in advance for listening to our complaints... and giving us a solution. Jean-Francois

Posted by Paul Davies on 4/30/2002, 15:12:01

I fully agree with the minidisc.org request for a NetMd upload feature.

Posted by Todd Langevin on 4/30/2002, 15:18:07

as of now I have to burn a CD on my Philips Audio CD burner via optical cable and then put the newly created CDR in my pc to rip the wav files from it for comversion to another format or archival purposes. I cant understand why I cant skip the middle man and go straight from MD to PC. Please add this feature, I really love using minidiscs for live recording but this issue makes me want to find a more pliable media.

Posted by Robert K Jung on 4/30/2002, 15:18:07

One of the major uses I make with Sony MD recorders is recording live speeches and church presentations. And often, friends desire a copy of what they just heard live. It would save me a LOT of time if I did not have to wait for a real-time recording that sometimes does not come out perfectly because of system load or active background program. I would certainly update my collection of MD recorders to include ones that have upload capability. Currently, NETMD downloading is not a big advantage to me because ordinary real-time recording from PC to MD is very reliable. Recording MD to PC is the unreliable function. There is a small marketing window for such a feature. If some other vendor comes up with a reliable digital recording function that uploads easily to a PC, that could cut into the MD market. I would consider purchasing that function even if it weren't an MD recorder. Sincerely, Robert Jung

Posted by gennaro Puorto on 4/30/2002, 15:21:24

I am agree

Posted by gennaro Puorto on 4/30/2002, 15:23:21 , in reply to "Free me from my Phillips Audio CD Burner"

Of course, I am agree

Posted by Ian Burrows on 4/30/2002, 15:37:18

We actively use minidisc MZR900 recorders in our call centre to record calls so we can assess these. While MDLP is excellent at storing phone quality calls in abundance, NETMD would allow us to upload calls to a PC and share with the company via e-mail. While we can burn to CD with the right equipment, it is costly and a PAIN IN THE ARSE. So SONY listen to both consumer and BUSINESS and provide this facility to allow a truly open medium to fulfil its full potential.