Posted by Eric Williams on 6/21/2002, 5:09:13

I am planning to buy an MZ-N707 to record an oral history of my family as told by aging relatives. I would dearly like to be able to transfer these recordings digitally so that I can 1) digitally edit the stories, 2) make multiple backups without sound degradation and 3) make copies for the rest of my family without degradation. This project would in no way infringe upon any copyrights. Given that NetMD already distinguishes between recordings from the mic and recordings from digital inputs, please give us the capability to transfer our own recordings digitally. If anyone has the inclination to make illegal digital recordings, they can do so with other products. Keeping this capability from MD recorders only hurts those who will use them for their own legal recordings.

Posted by Toni Dabic on 6/21/2002, 6:00:24

please enable upload of my own music Thanks

Posted by Edgar Wilson on 6/21/2002, 7:00:16

The Sony series MDs were justifiably well recommended by the profession audio experts HHB Inc for their convenience, facilities, robustness and audio quality for radio reporters. As radio studios are becoming more and more automated, a digital upload facility from a NetMD would so simplify the procedure and make the newroom storycutting digital all the way from the microphone.

Posted by Cathcart Weatherly on 6/21/2002, 10:48:44

All the technology and no way to party! Come on Sony enable digital uploading from your minidisk range.

Posted by Dave Lewis on 6/21/2002, 12:26:32

I wish to speak for the many people who have chosen to use Minidisc recorders to record the audio portion of a video shoot. Amateurs and professionals alike use the MD's because of the high quality and extreme portability. I own one recorder (MZ-R900) which I purchased soon after the became available. LP2 recording duration was what made it viable for me to use. A DAT recorder was never an option for me because of its cost and size. We record live productions with the intent of using the audio in the video edits. We MUST upload from the MD unit to PC to do this. Many issues can and do arise while uploading not the least of which is that the computer must be configured not to make any sounds of its own. It is cumbersome and because the process is subject to problems it is neccessary to preview the audio once it is on the PC to ensure quality. This takes time and taxes confidence. Due to the inherent difficulties in that process, I don't want to use the MD as an archive medium. Once I upload, I burn to CD because I can get the same file back without issues. Video projects require the files to be exact duration. Digital Video tape is an archive medium because I can recapture the identical footage because it is doing a file transfer from camcorder to PC. You sell camcorders that do this very thing. You should do the same with MD. Providing support for uploading analog audio from MD to PC will allow me and others like me to rely more on the MD recorder both as a source medium and as an archive medium. That would most certainly bring about more sales of blank discs and accessories. I'm predict it would explode sales of MD units.

Posted by Don Downey on 6/21/2002, 13:22:36

Pls keep the minidisc format alive!

Posted by Michael Brown on 6/21/2002, 14:47:00

Dear Friends: Your NetMD concept is so fantastic, all it really needs to complete it is digital upload and Mac OS X support. I'm sure I speak for many artists when I say this. Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Posted by retrobongo on 6/22/2002, 3:19:45

no shit sherlock!

Posted by Peter Timms on 6/22/2002, 8:36:02

this feature was enabled. Our church is trying out different options for recording the service. At the moment we are trying Minidisc as opposed to MP3 on a computer. However the time taken to transport it back to a PC for editing is a real downside to this technology. For the sake of original recordings please enable this feature, thanks, Peter Timms

Posted by Paul Crivellari on 6/22/2002, 10:39:14

As an independant filmmaker I choose the Minidisc format as an inexpensive alternative for recording sound on set, and ambient environmental recordings. I'm constantly balancing price against quality and these decisions are often made more critical due to small budgets and tight shooting and post production schedules. Adding audio upload to md would not only give me the higher quality that I need, but also save me valuable time while transferring sound to the pc. In my mind I see this feature as an inevitable evolution of md and one that Sony will not want to miss.

Posted by S. Ansems on 6/22/2002, 12:54:51

Sony, I want yo check in my live audio recording to my computer. I'm singing in a choir and record the singing with my minidisc recorder. But now I can't check in my live recording. It is my own recording so I want to get it on my computer!!! Please take care for it and make it possible to do so!! If not I won't buy any thing from Sony any more! I want to control my own recordings!! I understand that you want to protect the copying of CD's and other music, but this live roecording are my own stuff. Make it possible!

Posted by Brent Lemons on 6/22/2002, 13:41:29

I own 5 different MD devices ranging from car to portable and have tons of music recorded on the MD format. Bought the MZ-N707 yesterday. What a great product this WOULD HAVE BEEN if I could use it to upload my existing music to my PC. I am returning the MZ-N707 today. Will buy it again once this LAME restriction is removed.

Posted by Allen Strand on 6/22/2002, 20:10:57

As an artist/producer, the MD design issue that doesn't allow high-speed digital transfers to AND from a real-time editor for post processing is very limiting. Please add this capability to the mini-disc. I understand the Copyright issue. I for one don't like my works being copied but someone can always break copyright schemes. I am not convinced that adding this level of copy protection to MDs does anything other than keep them from being used for low-end recording projects. Additionally, medium budget recording projects might want to interface with digital inputs to improve the A/D conversion. With the current limitation on digitial MD transfers it doesn't sound like they can be used in my studio equipment rack. Please consider adding the digital to/from transfers to MD.

Posted by Ken Mikos on 6/22/2002, 23:05:23

I begin working on my Masters soon and am planning on recording lectures for later review. I would prefer the Mini-disc format for quality, however, I cannot spend 4 additional hours getting the information onto my PC. I was forced to buy an Olympus Digital Voice Recorder which uses a Smart Media card to store recordings. While the quality isn�t near as good, it will serve my needs. Please enhance an already wonderful technology by removing the uploading restriction.

Posted by michael rosen on 6/23/2002, 0:47:53

Everyone looks at the copyright issue surrounding the inability to upload with netMD. Obviously a distraction from the real issue: Sony makes money on every minidisc that is sold. If the upload feature were added to netMD, those who use mini discs to record in the field would simply record on one or two MD's, send the recording to the computer and, if needed, burn it to (a much cheeper) CD-r. Money, as usual, is the answer; The end.

Posted by H Ta on 6/23/2002, 2:53:30

For people like me who use a lot of minidiscs to collect human speech, we definitely want this feature. SONY, please don't make your customers' life miserable when they buy your products without this feature.

Posted by jeroen on 6/23/2002, 9:38:09

To all Sony portable gear developpers For a lot of people Uploading is a must. I own a MD-player, but want to buy the N1-recorder. I only buy it if uploading is possible because i need it for making recording from our bands music. SO MAKE IS POSSIBLE OUT LOSE A POTENTIAL CLIENT!

Posted by Gordon on 6/23/2002, 10:18:24

A Sony Store employee lied through his teeth the other day and told me I could use the MiniDisc recorder I was about to buy from him to upload to my Mac using USB. Not entirely trusting him, I pulled out my Powerbook and puti it on the counter to test it out. He balked and then his manager announced to me that it couldn't be done. What use is this thing to me without USB uploading? I would have to take my MiniDisc player back to my house and transfer it through analog signal chain to my G3 and then ethernet that back to my Powerbook! Give me a break!? I can't believe all of the Mac audio people wouldn't be cash enough to inspire Sony to have the decency to include this obvious option. I guess since Sony is in the blank business as well as the record label business they're just trying to sell more CD's and blanks with their technology rather than enable creatives to get the job done. Another lost sale until they (or a third-party) get on board with Mac uploads. Thank god I didn't shell out 400 cash before finding out the sad truth.

Posted by Mark on 6/23/2002, 11:15:51

the fact that you can not upload data from the MD to the PC makes a very strong point for me not to but the Sony MZ-N1 Mini disc, i have loved using my sony MZ-R91 for over a year now for caputring audio for media projects, and the pc connection fuction of the N1 made a much better device for me to use, but when i found out that you can not upload audio to a pc i was forced to decide not to but this product. if this feture could be added, and say the software downloadable from the internet or shiped wil all systems it was make the Mz-N1 miles apart from other systems, which ithink it fails to do at present.

Posted by John F. Wilson on 6/23/2002, 12:55:11

One of the most useful applications of Mini Disc recorders is taking them to training classes and recording lectures. This simplifies note-taking and reduces the pressure if you miss something along the way. When transcribing lectures it would be so much easier to just copy the file to the PC and play it back with keyboard stop/start control while typing. I do not understand why this function is not available as standard - it would broaden MD's appeal enormously and make it a must-have product for every University student in the world. Surely not a small market?!

Posted by Chris on 6/23/2002, 15:49:51

As an analogue DJ I lose enough quality as it is. To be required to record through analogue port on a sound card using my MD player simply to transfer digitally recorded data is an unacceptable loss of quality, especially when a USB port is provided on the unit itself. I would have recommended to my community the use of this product if it were not for arcane attempts at copyright protection, which only hurt the recording industry.

Posted by David Morales on 6/23/2002, 15:57:14

Dear Sony Designers, I am a professional DJ and have been using MD equipment in my mixes for 5 years now. I currently own three Sony MD units (MZR-900, MZE-900 and a MZ-N1). I use a pro MD deck as a playback device during my mixes, and my MZ-N1 to record. However if I want to record the mix into my computer for playback or burning into a CD-ROM I have to use the analog output / input of my sound card which degrades the sound quality. An audio upload facility would be extremely useful in terms of audio quality and time, especially since I spend in the order of hundreds of punds every month in original records. Thanks for your attention and time Sincerely David Morales

Posted by Michael on 6/23/2002, 16:53:00

I often use my MD recorder to record myself playing with my band. Unfortunatly it is impossible to upload from OpenNetMD ! Please help us ...

Posted by Michael Walles on 6/23/2002, 17:34:20

The first thing i wanted to do when i bought my Minidisc player was to download the music that i had recorded on a friends minidisc player from a drum and bass event put on for the Anthony Nolan Trust in the UK. Downloading the Audio would allow me to compile a cd which i could then sell to people who came to the event and who were part of the society for drum and bass which would have provided additional money to donate. Instead i had to record it live which took all of 60 min or so for each minidisc, and when i record one for 300min it will take me a few hours! What a stupid restriction, i think sony really shot themselfs in the foot, why not may dvd just read only, that would be just as clever?! I am hoping someone will crack the program so that i can use it as it seems a complete waste of money having the usb link and not being able to use it. SORT IT OUT SONY!!!!

Posted by Barney Kahn on 6/23/2002, 18:28:00

Dear Sony, I have been a audio hobbyist for over 25 years and never bought any portable audio gear, that is until MD arrived onto the market. And because MD has so many advantages over other portable audio digital devices, I feel that MD can be the number one choice for consumers and professionals if only a few limitations could be removed and some new features added. Allowing NetMD to quickly upload audio to the PC would greatly add to the usefulness, ease of use and help extend MD's market share particularly since there are other portable digital audio devices currently on the market that already allow for this type of function. Allowing NetMD to easily upload and download full quality ATRAC Type-R recordings even if only in real-time or faster would take full advantage of the high quality audio that MD is capable of. Doing so would greatly benefit audio hobbyists such as myself to keep the quality of my audio mixes as high as possible for use in my car and portable MD players. And finally, if future MD products could be designed to store the same amount or more memory than what a regular CD holds, that would effortlessly allow for CD quality on a MD and would greatly extend the recording/playback time in regular ATRAC and much more recording/playback time using compressed ATRAC (LP2/LP4)...easily making MD top choice for audio quality and playback time for portable audio devices. MD was designed with the future in mind and has nicely matured in the last 10 years. With the few suggestions above, I can easily see the MD format continuing to be very competitive even in a market where digital technology changes very rapidly. Sincerely, Barney Kahn

Posted by Olivier TG on 6/23/2002, 22:10:08

I work a lot with choirs and singers, and I was hoping to make cd demos with my computer. But net MD presently doesn't allow me to transfer my recordings, and analogic tranfer causes great losses in quality. In the name of all the ones in my situation, I beg you to reconsider this restriction.

Posted by Tyler Maynard on 6/24/2002, 0:26:30

everyone knows that music was, is, and always will be shared freely across the net. people download songs put them on cds share the cds, and they go aroundif you can put songs on a cd, you can take it and put the tracks on someone elses computer for their convienience, and nothing is wrong with that but u cant with md? not allowing us to is just one more reason to not spend our hard earned money

Posted by Joshua Sidwell on 6/24/2002, 2:19:01

I am a university student who wants to be able to upload my lectures to my PC without having to record the out signal on my in port for my audio card.

Posted by Patrick McNally on 6/24/2002, 2:22:31

I'm putting off buying a MiniDisc until Sony implements this. The simple fact is, I want to be able to make digital recordings of my friends band (Car Bomb Dating - "More Rocking than a Rocking Horse"), but at the moment I don't have thousands of pounds to spend on my equipment. Come on Sony - I want an MZ-N2!

Posted by stefano on 6/24/2002, 4:55:08

Allow uploading any kind of format vs PC

Posted by Gerhard Beck on 6/24/2002, 5:03:53

...this limit is not accapteble!!

Posted by ComaR on 6/24/2002, 6:57:21

it would be great to record with a good quality my dj set. Moreover, using it for storing datas would be nice to

Posted by damien on 6/24/2002, 8:09:33

je vote pour ce projet

Posted by Gilles Gottlieb on 6/24/2002, 8:36:53

i have bought a mz n1 to make live recording of my musical group and ... i cannot digitally upload my recordings to my computer to work on them i bougth this exellent product just to do that and i feel now it is not a good choice because of this nasty limitation i don't care about making copies of commercial CDs. I didn't bought my recorder to do this please make me trust that i didn't make a mistake in buying Sony products

Posted by G-ROM on 6/24/2002, 10:52:59 , in reply to "MD to PC upload would be so useful for DJs"

Merci � sony de penser a nous (DJ), qui mixons a partir de vinyl et pour qui il est plus compliqu� de passer nos mix du MD au PC.Le seul moyen que j ai actuellemnt (pour ne pas perdre de qualiter) c est d enregistrer mes MD sur CD en passant par un graveur CD de salon. Alors s'il vous plait penser � nous, car le MD est un produit a fort potentiel qu 'il faut developper. Merci de toute l'attention que vous apporterez � mon message.

Posted by nchstechie on 6/24/2002, 11:40:42

I am involved in High School theatre, where we use MiniDisc estensivly, both playing sound effects, and recording our productions. Yes it is legal for each person in the crew and cast to have one copy of the show. The problem is that most people don't have MD. So without the ability to upload quickly to a PC to make a CD version, it rquires MUCH MUCH MORE TIME. Time that I don't have.

Posted by david cavuto on 6/24/2002, 13:04:37

we make recordings of our own live performances. it would be extrememly useful to be able to archive and burn those performances directly to CD from the minidisk.

Posted by Albert Dommer on 6/24/2002, 13:24:06

When I learned about netMD in my electronics store I thought this is just the right thing and spontaneously bought the nice gadget. After on week I returned it: Ther is no way to operate it together with my Mac even with Virtual PC, There is no upload, the way from to MP3 to MD seems to be long and dreadful. I would have love to use MD instead of harddisk or Chipdrive based devices, but not with this present solutions... Sorry Sony.

Posted by /Timon\ on 6/24/2002, 13:24:26

i just use a audio cable to record from my netmd recorder :D, perfect quality but not fast, but i don't mind

Posted by Gustavo Sanchez on 6/24/2002, 13:30:44

I love the minidisc and I consider it the best portable gear in digital audio, and without the posibility to upload digital info from a MD to a computer; the "beauty" of this "beast" is gone, because if the intention of this restriction is to eliminate piracy (which I agree), is completelly absurd,becasue there are other thousand ways to copy music. So why limit the posibilities of the equipment when you can transform it into the #1 prefered gear.With all due respect, I beleive Mr. Akio Morita would wanted that way. Please follow his path providing to the consumers inovative and versatile products.

Posted by greg on 6/24/2002, 16:30:11

Please consider a upload/path. My needs are to upload my own notes. I had hoped this function was common to the mz-n707. I was stunned at the short sightedness of Sony not to include this basic need. This will cause great disfunction in Sony's attempt to establish this format to the marketplace. Consider CNET's comments about this Sony product. Almost half who purchased the MZ-N707 are very upset including myself about the lack of the upload feature.

Posted by Shaun Kanak on 6/24/2002, 17:12:24

I'm looking for a way to make good quality recordings of speakers and store them on my pc. Currently, I have to copy via analog connections in real-time. This is time consuming and rediculous since there are no copyright issues involved.

Posted by Lucas Rendon on 6/24/2002, 19:49:17

Come on guys! Whats with all the restrictions to upload md files? Give us consumers what we want and we'll keep on buying

Posted by Sterling Wu on 6/25/2002, 4:35:21

I am a dj and was hoping to use my MD as a convient way to record my music. MD's are excellent at breaking up continuous music into tracks, which is why I bought mine, however, finding that OpenMG doesn't support uploading "original" music, my sole reason for buying the damn thing, I'm left back at square one and all the poorer for my "faith" in Sony

Posted by Damian Watson on 6/25/2002, 7:12:57

Having an extensive md collection already before buying my net MD, being unable to upload my existing MD tracks onto my computer is so frustrating. Specifically this means I cannot have the existing music I own on minidisc in OPEN MG format. Sony should be very concerned about this as it destroys the 'create my own music' philosophy they communitate and I associate with sony products.

Posted by S Holledge on 6/25/2002, 9:20:06

Mac support and uploading urgently needed. Can Sony pull their collective heads out of the sand? SH

Posted by Richo on 6/25/2002, 9:53:21

Dear Sony engineers, Please free ourself from your proprietary code, let us write on net MD recorder what we want when and how we want ... otherwise I'll ripp all the Sony production af the world for eavrybody in the WORLD ! ! !... so be serious and give a second chance to MD ...!

Posted by Steve Walker on 6/25/2002, 16:39:10

As a musician I want to be able to record on my portal mini-disc and copy to my PC for editing. This seems like a simple request and I would like to be able to buy a new NetMD to do it - but I can't !

Posted by Steve Risebury on 6/25/2002, 16:51:17

I fully respect the copyrights held by recording artists, but the unfortunate situation is cd copiers are taking advantage of them. However, restricting uploading of MD data to PCs merely affects people like myself, who would like to archive their own musical performances on MP3. Please allow us to do this, and let your technology fully blossom.

Posted by Timothy Mulla on 6/25/2002, 18:04:06

I was looking forward to buying a new NET MD to make recording and storing the counselling sessions I run easier. However when I found out I can't upload my own recordings I realised it would be a waste of time buying one. What I really struggle to understand is the there is a clear market for a product with this funtion but no one seems to care. If you are so scared of copy right abuse then may I suggest you ban recording anything and start prosecuting people. People will always find a way around the copy right law, but does that give you the right to make things harder for those of us who honour the law. As a result of your shortsightness you've lost a loyal customer. Over the past 15 years the majority of my music equipment has always been Sony. However, I've decided to stop buying your stuff and I am telling all my friends to same. With Sharp making strides with their own Net MD maybe they'll get smart and corner the market before you wake up. In a changing world companies that don't put their customer first and think long term won't last long. Don't forget what happened to IBM, Bill Gates is a richer man for their stupidity.