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opti out to pc from mini disc player possible?

N

nightfly61

Guest
I'd like to transfer all my mini disc music to computer's separate hard-drive.
I found a USB Audio Interface device at minidisco.com that lets you transfer from P.C to M.D...but I'm looking to do the opposite. I wondered if there's some sort of "opti out" to "USB in" type of adaptor to let this work. Many Thanks!!!
 
Just buy a USB sound card with an optical digital input. Creative used to make a "USB Sound Blaster MP3" that had such an input, but I'm certain there's others out there.
 
Thanks all...but I just found out it's impossible to do this. They have it set though so you can record "digital IN" but not out :mad:
 
nightfly61 said:
They have it set though so you can record "digital IN" but not out :mad:
Click to expand...

Who is the "they" who have it set? The company that makes the kit you looked at.... or are you saying the Mini-disk player has a port that is IN only, and the mini-disk will not do OUT through the digital port?
 
Sony seems to want to keep people from making Digital copies of disks. You can find table top models with Optical outputs. I just checked my MDS-S38 and it does have Optical In and Out...

My suggestion would be to purchase Sony's latest (and most likely last) portable MD Machine. The MZ-RH1 or the MZ-M200 (which is the same machine with a few accessories) will allow you to transfer your recordings from the machine to your PC via USB. It is the only MD machine that will allow you to transfer recordings made in the Hi-MD format or the regular MD format. Some machines will allow you to transfer Hi-MD recordings but not regular MD recordings...

I have one and it works ok for the most part. The software that it uses can be finicky. It will allow you to transfer in the native ATRAC format or will convert the file to .wav format.

They are pricey. Minidisco is asking $379.95 for one...You may be able to find one for less at a Broadcast equipment dealer or eBay.

Hope this helps...

Test123
 
Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
nightfly61 said:
They have it set though so you can record "digital IN" but not out :mad:
Click to expand...

Who is the "they" who have it set? The company that makes the kit you looked at.... or are you saying the Mini-disk player has a port that is IN only, and the mini-disk will not do OUT through the digital port?
Click to expand...
The opti port is "input" only on mine. So is the midi jack. Test 123 hit the nail on the head. Thanks. I do wonder if buying one w/ the USB port would still make me lose a generation of sound after the transfer? If so it probably wouldn't be worth it since some tracks are off cassette, cart, vinyl, Napster, Limewire, etc. It wouldn't be that big a deal but most tracks are hard to find songs.
 
I guess theoretically, a 'poor man's' way of doing it might be to get a 3.5mm to 3.5mm plug, connect the MD to the line-in jack on the computer, download Audacity and just play each track back. Although that would take some serious time.
 
whitfm said:
I guess theoretically, a 'poor man's' way of doing it might be to get a 3.5mm to 3.5mm plug, connect the MD to the line-in jack on the computer, download Audacity and just play each track back. Although that would take some serious time.
Click to expand...
Out of the question. I have over 220 of them. Plus that way I'd definately be losing a generation.
 
We may be making an assumption at this point. If he had access to the MZ-RH1 or the MZ-M200 with the optical OUT... will the OUT export material at high speed loie ripping a CD, or will the optical outlet only deliver data at normal playing speed?

Curious minds just have to know... even if they don't have any mini-discs.
 
GRC...

The MZ-RH1/MZ-M200 does not have an optical output. If it did nightfly would still have to dub his tracks to his computer in real time.

The RH1 would allow for faster than real time transfers from the MD to the computer. It is not as fast (at least on my machine) as ripping a CD but still faster a good bit faster than real time.

I think you would have a hard time telling the difference between the original MD recording and the transferred file. You would technically be 'losing a generation' unless you left the file in its original ATRAC format. You can play native ATRAC files using the Sonic Stage software that you use to transfer the files but I am not sure of any other player that would play the files...

t123
 
I use a Creative Extigy in my home studio. It has optical ins and outs and wasn't expensive. Specs say 100db SNR and it will handle 96khz/24 bit sampling. Only minor issue is the analog ins and outs are 1/8" jacks. A Henry Matchbox solved that problem.

Rob Stutson said:
Just buy a USB sound card with an optical digital input. Creative used to make a "USB Sound Blaster MP3" that had such an input, but I'm certain there's others out there.
Click to expand...
 
no luck..borrowed an mdsje510 that has a digital opti out. plugged to my opti in on emu card and it did not even recognize it and did nothing... looks like I will be doing it the hard way. Any suggestions on how bad it will sound losing a generation recorded through adobe? I know they get tintier sounding. Thanks... Night fly
 
The only time I have seen this become an issue is when attempting to dub a commercially published minidisc to a consumer cd recorder. The recorder will sense the copyright packets and not record the datastream.

I have done numerous dubs using my 520 and a collection of mds-b1's to both computer and between each other in the digital domain (S/PDIF digital out copper or through an digital/optical converter), all without issue. I would assume there is something with the particular setup preventing it from working. If I couldn't dub this way many production tasks would take longer in my studio.
 
Bill, can you tell me what you had to do to your computer to get it to recognize the "opti in" is in use at the sound card? How do you monitor? And would I have to find a compatible driver for Windows for them to link up? Once you got your sound card settings straight, how did the PC extract the info? Thanks!
 
nightfly61 said:
Bill, can you tell me what you had to do to your computer to get it to recognize the "opti in" is in use at the sound card? How do you monitor? And would I have to find a compatible driver for Windows for them to link up? Once you got your sound card settings straight, how did the PC extract the info? Thanks!
Click to expand...

I don't have the machine in front of me at the moment, but I think it's an M-Audio card. From what I recall once the drivers are loaded it recognized the input as just another slider on the Windows mixer (their driver also has its own mixer which can add to some confusion - it took me a little time to get all the settings right). Other than that it worked fine. As far as monitoring I don't remember. I'll ask the friend who its on loan to since I didn't really want to take my time making a ton of digital transfers.
 
nightfly61 said:
I'd like to transfer all my mini disc music to computer's separate hard-drive.
I found a USB Audio Interface device at minidisco.com  that lets you transfer from P.C to M.D...but I'm looking to do the opposite. I wondered if there's some sort of "opti out" to "USB in"  type of adaptor to let this work. Many Thanks!!! 
Click to expand...

Shelf Prosumer, Consumer or Pro model (if one exists) with Opti/Coax digital I/O. The Edirol interface works fine, I use a similar Yamaha (UW-10) for my DAT transfers. I use a consumer shelftop deck, not a portable. If you value your archive, spend a little. It will be worthwhile in the long run.

Is this all 'radio rarity music' or what? If it's commercial music, I would scrap the idea. It's a nice project idea-we all like them, don't we-but unless you've got recordings of indigenous music of a now-extinct race of people, this is a major consumption (read: WASTE) of time. Save that and your money and go get some used CDs.
 
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