Posted by Flemming on 6/29/2002, 20:47:44

My purpose for owning an MD Recorder is to record stuff myself. Interviews, my kids, etc. It is rather ridiculous and impractical that I can't easily download them to my PC, which is where they're going to end up.

Posted by James Ivey on 6/29/2002, 23:52:26

I record my instructor's lectures in order to help myself review the finer points of classes I'm taking - It's extremely aggravating to have to record the tracks back into the pc 1:1 when a USB upload feature would simplify the number of steps needed to archive/index them.

Posted by Roderick Morrison on 6/30/2002, 0:28:46

I record our band on MD. It is unacceptable not to be able to transfer copies of the recordings to other band members without going through analog transfer. - Rick

Posted by Pierre AUBERSON on 6/30/2002, 3:59:13

Why is it not possible to upload files which was analog recorded ?

Posted by David Walker on 6/30/2002, 4:17:35

As an amateur ethnomusicologist who records music around the world, the mini-disk is ideal for travelling. I have just bought an MZ-N707 because the advertising material and the box talked about USB Data Transfer, which lead me to expect that I could upload my recordings to a PC. On opening the box and reading the instructions, I found that I could not. So, I'm stuck with the old analog transfer, and might as well have stayed with my DAT recorder, or bought a cheaper Sharp or Panasonic unit.

Posted by AC on 6/30/2002, 5:40:27 , in reply to "Re: I have been framed !"

Looks like I am not the only one who got caught in this. I had bought two 707's, one for me and one for my wife. Once we found that we could not upload our recordings, they went back into the box, and back to the dealer. After 10 years Sony has come so close to getting the format to be perfect, only to leave the job half finished.

Posted by Simon Stiefel on 6/30/2002, 10:41:41

Hi! Please add the NetMD upload feature to your great Minidisc player an recorders. And I'm sure, you won't damage the music industry! MD4ever! Greetings, Simon

Posted by Kishorimohan on 6/30/2002, 11:31:19

When I first purchased my recorder, I was under the impression that it could upload as well as download. Needless to say, I was disappointed. I record live music daily as well as lectures and half my day is spent playing the material in real time into my computer in order to edit it and then convert it to mp3. Many of my friends have desired to purchase a minidisc recorder, but when I tell them what they'll get, they change their minds immediately. I'm considering going with ArchosJukebox. It would be extremely beneficial to the healthy future of minidisc if they would cater to their consumers and add an upload function.

Posted by SBEN on 6/30/2002, 11:36:24

Sony, sometime back you decided not to produce an MDD (Mini Data Disk) due to its 'insufficient capacity', personally I think you would have cleaned up. Now you've given us Net-MD but are preventing it from fulfilling its potential. Come on Sony, give the public what they want!

Posted by Stanislav Tomashpolsky on 6/30/2002, 13:39:09

MUST!

Posted by Graham Gray on 6/30/2002, 14:49:48

I recorded my recent live set at Glastonbury on my new Sony MD, only to find that upon my return I was unable to transfer it back to my PC for editing using the supplied software. Closer examination revealed this site & petition. This is basically outrageous and will be returning the player to my local Sony shop for a full refund as it is clearly not capable or performing the tasks for which it was required.

Posted by Nick on 6/30/2002, 16:29:33

I am training as a Consellor / therapist and need to be able to record my client sessions for supervisor review. I asked in various stores about the capability and looked at the materials. Only after purchasing the item have a I found I can't do this. I am very dissappointed.

Posted by Erwin Br�ckl on 6/30/2002, 16:49:20

Dear Sirs, I use my Sony MD Recorder for dictation on various purposes. I really miss the opportunity to upload that on my computer. Yours, Erwin Br�ckl

Posted by Janet Schrock on 6/30/2002, 17:30:09

I wanted to record sound effects and voice-overs for my digital video. Not being able to upload ruins my plans. It is disappointing.

Posted by Valerie J. L. Frost on 6/30/2002, 20:22:18

no MD to PC transfers make creating my own compilations extremely difficult... it's bad enough with the checkin/out feature, but that blows...

Posted by Ashley Savage on 6/30/2002, 20:22:55

yeah this has to suck... I put all my vinyl on to MD... so if I can't upload to the PC... I'll keep my crappy 2 yr old unit....

Posted by Robert Russell on 6/30/2002, 21:41:56

I don't have a NetMD yet but want to buy one. I will buy one as soon as upload is supported. I prefer Sony as I feel they make better quality units but if another manufacturer makes an upload enabled unit I will buy it. Making the minidisc like a portable disk, ie download and upload, could finally take minidisc where it belongs - as a replacement for cd. Also the cost of the units in Australia is too high ($530+), it puts it way out of reach for most people. It will never corner the market at such a high cost.

Posted by Dr Vroegindewey on 6/30/2002, 22:29:31

Dear Sony, Please enable the record to computer capability of netMD. I purchased the netMD to digitally record oral histories to dub into historical video. Currently using two Sony digital cameras, DCR-900 video (Sony), and two VAIO computers (Sony). I am extremely disappointed and surprised Sony would not have its suite of digital equipment compatable.

Posted by Chris OConnor on 7/1/2002, 0:03:13

Hello, I use a MD to record sessions with my band - and can then review stuff later. While it would be a "first cut" - it would be GREAT to be able to copy these MD tracks to my PC - and then convert to WAV (and burn a demo CD for easy/cheap sending) - and also convert to MP3 - to upload to our band's web page. Being a "NET MD" - it seems odd to limit to one-way music loading. I do understand the copyright issue - and applaud Sony's attempt to limit piracy (being an artist myself - who would hopefully make money out of it - someday). But - why cripple the ability of the new Net-MD ?

Posted by E Z on 7/1/2002, 0:59:02

I am a photographer expanding into videography. I have many friends in bands, and digital media production. We are all prospective customers. We all agree that you have a fine product, but it is missing features described here by others that would finalize our descions to purchase your product for our uses in Sound, and Mulitmedia. Any company that does not heed the requests of prospective customers should at least post a reason why they cannot, or will not implement features in their products that those customers request. This is at the least a respectfull way to treat those making such inquiries, and will assure that your company is held in equal respect by those individuals. Leave us in the dark and we will seek a light elsewhere. Keep us informed and we will reconsider our decisions with a more informed perspective, and then possibly buy your product. I myself am looking for a small device that will record sound from a stereo microphone at live performances, and can also be used to transfer my video to service providers that will make multiple DVD-R copies from my source files. Respectfully Yours; Eric Z

Posted by Codrin on 7/1/2002, 3:16:13

Hey guys, I need to record my conferences, public ones and to share them with my colleagues. We buy this stuff so, we rule!

Posted by Pete Gleadall on 7/1/2002, 6:35:56

I recently purchased a Sony NetMD but am currently on the verge of returning as a result of this issue. I'm a scratch DJ and had envisaged the netMD to be a fantastic solution to my problem of recording the music I create when outside my studio. As I imagined it, I would be able to record audio of myself and other people I work with without needing to transport large amounts of equipment simply by using the netMD, recording the audio on the fly and then checking it in to my pc and editing it etc. With the situation as it currently stands, I have to record all the data I wish to work with through my line in port... making the process far too lengthy to be a realistic alternative to the laptop solution I had previously sought to avoid. I find the current stance on MD to PC tranferal incredibly restrictive and, to be honest, I am currently advising all my friends with similar audio needs to steer well clear of MiniDisc options

Posted by Tony Ling on 7/1/2002, 7:51:15

I recently recorded a family members wedding at our church via a minidisc deck, with the intention of copying it to the pc for editing, before recording on cdr to later present to them. I was very dissapointed to discover that the NetMD I purchased was not capable. I returned it for a refund. Now I have a minidisc recording that was easy to record, but very dificult to improve. The bride and groom are dissapointed too. I hope one day you correct the error. Regards Tony

Posted by Kiernan Celestina on 7/1/2002, 8:04:38

This is the only way forward for NetMD in the future. Please consider this proposal carefully!

Posted by Steven Lyons on 7/1/2002, 8:32:03

Allowing upload on NetMD would be no different to allowing digital uploading of CD's which can be done with a sony CD-ROM. Face it, Beta failed because VHS was more popular. MD can succeed because like beta, it is a good product, but it shouldn't be limited, it needs to be made popular. The upload issue doesn't help, especially with lot's of people returning the product for this reason. Flash RAM recorders will probably supersede MD as they are not being limited like this and they are cheaper. If it's not breaking any laws, why not allow it? It's the next step in personal audio equipment.

Posted by Vincent on 7/1/2002, 8:33:26 , in reply to "live recordings"

I absolutly agree with you. When I recorded my band I was sure that I can upload this recording but I had to stay 2 hours on my PC to record it with a analogic quality !! It crasy with a numeric recorder and a PC (numeric !!!) to have to convert the music in analogic !!

Posted by Gynnko on 7/1/2002, 8:39:02

WHEREAS, Anybody can make a copy of any given audio CD, so why go through the hassle of using MD to unlawfully duplicate music? WHEREAS, I have grown to old & lazy to use my old LPs, but would rather digitize them using a netMD & store them on my PC as MP3s (can be done using the soundcard, & is not illegal, at least not in EU). WHEREAS I have stored most of my (legally bought) collection of CDs onto MP3, and would like the ability to quickly record 1 or 2 MDs with a selected playlist without having to first "checking in" from the MDs before "checking out" WHEREAS "A thief thinks every man steals" - what do you think Sony?

Posted by Tim Benest on 7/1/2002, 9:44:08

I use my NetMD MZ-N1 to record training sessions that i give. I would like to be able to transfer the recordings of those sessions from the MiniDisk recorder to my pc for editing e.t.c At present you do you allow me to do this, it would be cool if you could, heck why not make folks lives easier instead of harder.

Posted by franck bausela on 7/1/2002, 10:24:21

I made my own music with real (physical) instrument ... Why this doomed software could not allow me to record myself, and then mix it on an PC. Should y by a laptop and directly record myself on it ? So I will trash the minidisc ... I believe the future of minidic is freedom or trash. Hope sony will understand. I m feed up by the World Company, they just want money, to play golf and have big stock exchanges ...

Posted by Will in Austin, TX on 7/1/2002, 13:13:11

Honorable Mssrs. Nobuki and Stringer- It is inevitable that this shall come to pass. Whether Mini-Disc or some other long-recording time digital format (smart media, etc.) -- digital uploading of live recorded music will be a reality soon. Why not D/D - as opposed to D/A/D ? It is my hope that Sony will re-write the excellent NetMD software to embrace these features before the competition does. Sincerely, Will Kreth Austin, TX

Posted by Kurt Albershardt on 7/1/2002, 14:38:30

At the current time, I have no interest in MD due to the fact that I can not transfer my own recordings to my own PC without purchasing an additional home deck with S/PDIF output. I have zero interest in using MD as a Walkman-style playback device for copyrighted material--its sole use would be recording live music and capturing ambient sounds for later postproduction. If NetMD were bidirectional and I could extract .WAV files from my own recordings for editing and processing on my DAW, I could purchase an MD recorder for the task. Now that DAT is going away, wht other options do we have for true portability? If Sony doesn't take the lead, some other manufacturer will eventually grab it. If this happens, Sony will lose a lot of their sales to the amateur recordist overnight.

Posted by Jeremiah McCarthy on 7/1/2002, 15:57:02

This would be an invaluable asset for me

Posted by Chris Stocker on 7/1/2002, 21:18:23

I bought my NetMD player based on the suggestion of another journalist who said the compact players were perfect for field interviews. BOY was I wrong. I don't have the time to upload everything in real-time analog! PLEASE give us digital track uploading!! We're not MP3 fiends, we're true music/audio lovers who need alternate means to move music/audio around!

Posted by Gonzalo Gomez on 7/1/2002, 23:11:58

I use my NetMD to record meetings, and it would be great to have upload, please enable it!!!

Posted by Al on 7/1/2002, 23:34:02

The only reason for purchasing my Net MD player was to digitally record my band. We've recorded our live concert and it worked great. Now we're sitting here trying to bring those songs onto the computer so that we can make a CD. This inability to utilize the USB transfer technology has left me with a very sorry taste for this product. After spending $240 on the net MD and $90 on a stereo microphone, I now find out that the only way we can copy this to the computer is through an analog line (this really is upsetting). There was no mention on the packaging or in the instruction book that I would be unable to utilize the USB for the digital transfer. I will investigate returning this product.

Posted by Arjune Rama on 7/2/2002, 0:03:53

i'm trying to upload songs i've recorded and it's pretty inconvenient that i can't do this, and kind of misleading that they don't mention it at all on the box.

Posted by Jclendenan on 7/2/2002, 0:57:14

This feature would be invaluble for university students who need to record notes and then transfer them to a more longterm medium (HardDrive... etc). I am currently looking at this and with the antishock builtin to the current models it is the only feature missing. Having tested the uploadablity it looks to be possible to transfer back the files, but the OpenMG software is the only thing which is preventing this. Please reconsider this, Digital watermarking may be good for the record industry, but you are missing a huge market in dictaphones and speach to text devices which have only one real-time (input) step. Thanks

Posted by Bob Chen on 7/2/2002, 3:25:33

This function is a "must". why "my" voice recording can not be loading to "my" PC. and you call MD a recording mechine around the PC World ?

Posted by Ben Macrow on 7/2/2002, 6:04:09

I have to agree with all of the current signatories, the NetMD is brilliant extension to the Minidisc format, but the lack of the ability to upload from the recorder to PC is a wasted chance. With the addition of that function there it would open up endless opertunities for people who need the ability to easily record from live, to PC with minimal quality loss. I ask you to reconsider your decision not to include this functionality. Many Thanks Ben Macrow

Posted by Nick Allum on 7/2/2002, 6:31:15

I am a social researcher who bought the Sony NetMD to record interviews. It would be extremely useful to upload direct to PC into transcription software. There is no future in restricting digital equipment as the netmd is now. Someone will crack the system before long. Wouldn't it be better if Sony did it properly? Nick Allum

Posted by Anders Carlson on 7/2/2002, 7:42:11

I bought a Net MD Walkman MZ-N1 for one single reason, to be able to upload sound recordings from MD to my computer. Today I feel deceieved, no information from the shop or on the box indicated that Sony had blocked this function. Please unlock this function, you owe this to your customers!

Posted by James Anderson on 7/2/2002, 8:21:31

We use minidisc to record our church service and if we could transfer the sermon to computer and cd it would be great!

Posted by Josh on 7/2/2002, 9:25:19

Audio that I record with a Mic I should be able to upload to my PC. I can transfer it analog, but that is slow and the quality isn't the best. The main reason I bought a NetMD was to upload, it's not clearly stated that you can't do it!!

Posted by Rob Cohan on 7/2/2002, 9:49:40

I appreciate what Sony has done in making it possible to move content to MiniDisc media in an easy manner. When I have a public speaking engagement, I often record myself for later tune-up of my speaking abilities. Currently, I must capture the great sound quality from my Sony MiniDisc equipment with an inferior analog sound card, in real time, to be able to edit what I wish. It would be wonderful to be able to upload the content of a MiniDisc of my own creation to my PC directly, and digitally. I appreciate any consideration which may be given this possibility.

Posted by Paul McKeown on 7/2/2002, 14:04:54

I am a concert sound & recording engineer. Uploading digitally to my computer is the final missing link which would make my sony MD recorder the ultimate live/location recording/editing device. I can make digital transfers direct from CD to my hard drive - why not my own recordings on MD?

Posted by David Adams on 7/2/2002, 15:51:18

We have a lot of live recordings on MD and really need to convert them to MIDI or some other manageable format. Uploading to PC would be really helpful. Please.

Posted by David Descheneau on 7/2/2002, 16:32:35

Hello, I am a computer support analyst at the University of Alberta. I am occasionally involved in multimedia projects which require field recordings of interviews, musical performances, and sounds as material in electroacoustic compositions. I have recommended the purchase of MD recorders to clients in the past, and was excited at the arrival of NetMD technology for its potential for digital transfers of analog recordings to PC. After recommending the units to a social sciences department, my clients and I were very dissapointed to learn that the MD->PC transfer option is disabled in OpenMG Jukebox. The MD recorders are therefore at a disadvantage to cheaper, lower quality voice recorders that do offer recorder->PC transfers. The department is now returning several MZ-N707 units that were originally purchased for recording interviews, and they are investigating other options. I can not understand why MD->PC transfers of analog recordings are not supported. This would be a breakthrough for ease-of-use and quality in a portable recorder. I can realistically say that because of the lack of MD->PC operation, my purchase recommendations will mean that thousands of dollars in potential MD sales will never happen. Please allow your already excellent product to achieve its full potential.

Posted by camille on 7/2/2002, 17:21:35

Je d�pense 2000 balles dans un lecteur minidisc avec le cable Pc-Md et je m'en sert JAMAIS. Merci Sony(go ####) et la prochaine fois j'irai voir la concurrence et je ferai pas attention a la marque sauf Sony.Sinon si vous faites un effort commercial (incroyable) laisser les logiciels en libre �change. Envoyer moi un e-mail pour me tenir au courant de vos am�liorations sur les minidiscs.

Posted by Richard Whitehouse on 7/2/2002, 17:21:46

Making field recordings of my own music performances is the reason I bought a portable Minidisc recorder (MZ-N1). I will not be using it to transfer pre-recorded music from CD or MP3 files to the minidisc, but it would be very useful for me to be able to transfer my own recordings from minidisk to PC, converting them to .WAV files at the same time, so that I could load them into my audio editing software. I hope you will consider adding this functionality to the NetMD protocol. As it stands now, I will have to use the N1's audio line out, and record to my computer's sound card in the analog domain, thus resulting in a needless digital-to-analog conversion (ATRAC to analog), and then another needless analog-to-digital conversion (analog to WAV). It would be so much cleaner to simply be able to convert the ATRAC file to WAV, and upload it to PC in the digital domain.

Posted by Rick Hadley on 7/2/2002, 19:23:04

There is really no point for me to have a minidisc if I can't upload my recordings. I frequently attend shows such as Phish and moe where recording is not only allowed but encouraged. I bought a minidisc because it was an economical was to record digital music (versus a portable DAT). However since I can't upload the songs to a computer I have now returned my minidisc recorder and will not purchase another until this feature is supported. Rick Hadley