Written by With Sony being the proprietary fools that they are, I have explained how to set up VirtualBox on your Linux OS so you can run Windows, so you can access files on your Sony MiniDisc Walkman. Now I am going to tell you about another, more attractive solution: The linux-minidisc project. From their website:
Welcome to the linux-minidisc Wiki, dedicated to collecting as much information as possible regarding NetMD/HiMD hardware in order to get it to work on Linux, MacOS X and *BSD.
The linux-minidisc project offers an open-source software package called QHiMDTransfer. It has an interface similar to SonicStage, without all the bloating that SonicStage has. Here is a screenshot:
Screenshot of QHiMDTransfer
It is still a work in progress, but it is exciting to see what Adrian Glaubitz and others have accomplished so far. There are several ways to get involved with the project. Just check out their list of tasks.
Related posts:
.jpg "dennis (Modified in GIMP Image Editor)")
finally been a long time coming but well worth it.
i also have a mac ppc g4 cant wait to upload download my muic to my sony hi md the ipod now lives in a dark box once again
It’s very exciting. Thanks for leaving a comment!
Well, i will try it out… i want to be able to transfer an old MiniDisc (MD format) to an Audio-CD, but without loosing quality, well i know i will loose some… 58KHz down to 44KHz!!!
But i need a way to transfer it digitally… doing it by reproducing it and recording Line-in gives too much noise…. and gives a very bad result.
On the other hand i have a Hi-MD recorder, so i can transfer from PC to Hi-MD discs upto 50Hours on each Hi-MD 1GiB (i have only two)
Ugly SonicStage does not work on Linux… will this do the trick?
As i say i must test it… if it helps me Reading / Writting MD minidisc (old format up to 74min / 80min per disc) it will do one thing i need… and if can manage New Hi-MD 1GiB Atrac3 High Compression minidisc discs, well it will do the other thing i need.
In other words…
-will it let me save audio i have on my PC onto 1GiB Hi-MD dicss?
-will it let me save audio i have on Old MD format Minidisc dics to my PC?
I allways recorded on the past on 58KHz hi-quality with an old Minidisc, so if minidisc was 74min, total recording on stereo was 74min.
Now i have a Hi-MD recorder i record on 58KHz hi-quality high compresion on normal minidisc dics… if 60min dics i get upto 40 hours, if 74min disc i get upto 48 hours, if 80min disc i get upto near 50hours and in the 1GiB Hi-MD discs… near 5 times more… about 200hours or more… and i can get more if i sacrifice qualitty but i want the qualitty i get, no less,… so i do not use lower bitrates.
Will this handle such thing… different possible bitrates on Atrac-3? and how much time will the PC take to convert it… with SonicStage it is near an hour per minute of sound on a 4GHz Pentium DualCore… caused by hi-quality settings… if i put more bitrate and tell not use high quality transformation… it does it in seconds… near an hour of sound per minute… but as i said i wat top most quality and while such quality the lower possible size… so need to do a lot of computational for each audio minute.
Hope this will help… i am still using Windows (under VirtualBOX on Linux of course) just for that… and i hate M$ Windows!!!
Oh! fogot to say all tranfers must be through USB cable, not though line-in cable, no matter if minidisc is controlled by the software… line-in is a pure s-h-i-t, please sorry for the word but my PC line-is is that….
If i do not connect any jack on the line-in … sound level at recording is zero, like if it is disconnected or ignored input level… pure zero….
But if i connect any kind of jack, with or without cable, and of course with no signal on the cable (also short-circuit it) the recorded sound is noise at 50% of volume… i simple can not use it…
I mean… i put a jack inside the line-in and activate soud of line-in being reproduced through speakers at 10% of level and i get so much noise i can not hear a person near me…
Let me explain in other words… when i plug-in any jack 3.5 stereo (and also mono) onto line-in… it makes a very high noise on speackers, so high i must mute speakers if i want to speak with another person.
No matter if such jack has a cable on it, or is just a bulk jack… same noise level.
Other way to explain it:
-Open a graphical sound level meter
-Select line-in to be shown graphically
-Start analize
If i do not plug any jack onto line-in level shown is zero.
If i plug anything onto line-in level is fluctuating between -50% to 50% of maximum possible value…
In other words ratio of noise/max_level is 0.5
Ah! of course i have try to move up and down rec-level line-in bar, also de-activate boost, etc… such does not affect it at all… noise is the same… but they affect and much to real sound i try to record.
And i do not want to change the hole PC, since it is a Tablet (touchscreen) PC with a battery automony of more than five hours while playing 3D intensive games with an AMD 64 X2 (DualCore) processor…
When transcoding video it takes half the time as a normal Intel Pentium IV HT 4.3GHz… it is twice speed…
Ah on the Intel Pentium IV HT PC i have no sound card, since i use it basically as a FTP home server… or better said… Linux NFS over Linux Raid0 Store System.
I know Line-in must be damaged… but i want to still use it… it is much faster than all Intel i7 PCs i have seen on shops… and battery duration is the longest i have ever seen… if working on OpenOffice docs it have be without re-charging it for up to 40hours, near to two full days on and typing letters without stopping before battery gets empty… and without stoping Sata-II hard disc spinning, abviously with screen ligh on all the time, othewise how can i see what i type!!!
Yes battery let it works for more that 40 hours typing five keys per second during all the time on a doc on OpenOffice, so it let you create a book of 720000 letters with one battery charge if you can stay 40 hours writting without stoping, tested… it goes to hibernation after 40 hours and near 5 minutes of continuos typing letters on an OpenOffice doc.
I have not seen any other Tablet, not Notebook, nor Netbook, nor iPad and similars, nor a mobile, that can stay on and working with it so much.
What i can see is that the battery is not the normal one… normal does not protrudes, but this one protrudes near 2cm, so it must be a high capacity… also it says 68000mAH while normal ones say 2300mAh… i have another one, a normal one of 3400mAH, for it… and no more than 2hours while on OpenOffice writting docs.
So i do not want to change it by any reason, except (hope not) it do not work anymore… i have not been able to find another battery of such capacity… of course it is not original one, not from manufacter… and manufacturer does not know it.
I came with the TabletPC… it was on it… i buy it because the price was lower because it was the exposed one… so i got a near 1000€ for less than 300€… did not know of such line-in problem… but who cares with such huge battery!!!
Ah! the worst… battery is so heavy as the double of the TabletPC, so when battery is the weight is 300% more than 2Kg… battery weight is about 1.3Kg it self… so not any confortable to walk with it on the hands… on the other side… now i do not need go to to gym… i just do the exersice while walking with it!!!
Wow, that is the most detailed reply I have ever received on my blog. Thank you.
Wow! I am so happy to read that you thanks me!
Oh! i forgot to mention i resumed it a lot… first attempt told me it exceds the maxium allowed.
Well, here is my ‘log’ of trying to get it to work…
First, i add to the repository the ppa (Ubuntu):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:glaubitz/linux-minidisc
Then i update the repository:
sudo apt-get update
Then i open Synaptics and search for: qhimd
It tells there is qhimdtransfer, i select it to be installed and apply the changes.
It install it, so i close Synaptics.
Wow, under Sound and Video, there is a new menu entry called QHiMDTransfer
I run it and a window brings up, showing an application that seems to be to i was wanting to have, great it is in my native language (different from english) and translations seems to be really great, something rarely viewed.
Lets try it… and first thing i suppose i must try is to press on conect… so lets go… i press on connect and it shows me an explorer where i must select something…
I do not know what i must select… but i can suppose it is the device path… what a pitty i do not know where it is… so first lets try to know ehre it is…
I first try with:
sudo fdisk -l
But no luck… only my Internal HDD is shown… was it be suppossed another one be there?
So lets try a more internal way… first lets see if it is been detected by USB with:
lsusb
Or better with:
lsusb | grep MD
And oh yes, it is there as:
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 054c:0187 Sony Corp. Hi-MD MZ-NH600 WALKMAN
So at least it is been detected… great!!! But wait a minute… it is been detected wrongly… My Hi-MD is not MZ-NH600 it is a MZ-RH710.
So lets see more, with:
dmesg | tail
And yes, it is shown differences when i unplug it and re-plug it and shows that it is a full usb speed and uses ohci_hcd.
And now with:
lsusb | grep MD
I get this:
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 054c:0186 Sony Corp. Net MD
So i can see it is seen different if a disc is inside before connected to PC
So first, put a disc inside the HiMD unit, then plug unit to PC USB.
But again no luck with:
sudo fdisk -l
Note: The disc inserted is a standar MD disc, no a MD disc formatted in HiMD format, neither a HiMD disc (1Gb)… a normal one with normal format.
So lets see a more detailed log with:
dmesg | tail -30
Oh it shows interesting things… and also what i was maybe searching for… it tells that a SCSI device was attached, also that there was an error while reading, also that the disc is write protected, etc… here is the log:
[ 71.458244] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[ 71.477011] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[ 82.757586] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] READ CAPACITY failed
[ 82.757595] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[ 82.757604] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 82.757612] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Add. Sense: Incompatible medium installed
[ 82.763625] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is on
[ 82.763632] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 2a 03 80
[ 82.763637] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 83.019565] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] READ CAPACITY failed
[ 83.019575] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Result: hostbyte=DID_OK driverbyte=DRIVER_SENSE
[ 83.019583] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Sense Key : Medium Error [current]
[ 83.019590] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Add. Sense: Incompatible medium installed
[ 83.025591] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
But what was being search is told… the device is sdc so the path must be /dev/sdc
Great now i know where i can access it… i try with:
sudo fdisk /dev/sdc
But no luck it says it is not possible to open it.
Back to QHiMDTransfer window… i press again Connect and told it /dev/sdc … but again i an a no lucky person… there is no /dev/sdc… there are /dev/scd0 to /dev/scd3 but no /dev/sdc… beware of scd# not sdc#.. that entries are for CD/DVD SCSI units…
So i am afraid i have no luck with my unit… well i can try with a different disc… i have some of them on the new format and two of them are Hi-MD 1Gb, so lets try with them…
I unplug the unit… extract teh normal MD disc with normat MD format… insert a normal disc with hiMD format… plug again the unit to the PC…
And wow! a folder bring up… like if it were a Pendrive or an USB-HDD… so now fdisk must work well… let try all…
First try with:
lsusb | grep MD
And gives:
Bus 005 Device 004: ID 054c:0187 Sony Corp. Hi-MD MZ-NH600 WALKMAN
Again wrong, it is really a MZ-RH710 model no a MZ-NH600… but lets ignore that for the moment… if it works i do not mind not showing well that literal.
Now try with:
dmesg | tail -30
And it shows things very interesting… lets see the result and comment it…
[ 2950.586450] sd 7:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg5 type 0
[ 2950.595484] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 112311 2048-byte logical blocks: (230 MB/219 MiB)
[ 2950.598100] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is on
[ 2950.598128] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 00 2a 05 80
[ 2950.598147] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2950.622039] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 112311 2048-byte logical blocks: (230 MB/219 MiB)
[ 2950.628007] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2950.628024] sdc: unknown partition table
[ 2950.744663] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] 112311 2048-byte logical blocks: (230 MB/219 MiB)
[ 2950.749546] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[ 2950.749546] sd 7:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
As can be seen it is seeing a new SCSI removable disk attached with a write protected disc on it of 230MB… it is a 60min disc (i also hace 74min and 80min ones)… but no need to try with them since format and all things must go the same way…
Well lets do a fdisk to show if it is show (it is because a window bring up when i connect it)… so lets see it…
And yes… it says that /dev/sdc does not have a vaild parttition table… as also can be seen on previous dmesg log.
So lets go back to QHiMDTransfer… and it is not asking for the path of the unit under /dev/ it is asking for the mounted path of a HiMD formatted disc…
So i search for it with:
mount
And it shows me that /dev/sdc is mounted on /media/disk
So i tell QHiMDTransfer to go to /media/disk… there is this:
total 68
drwx—— 3 usuario usuario 16384 1970-01-01 01:00 .
drwxr-xr-x 16 root root 4096 2012-02-18 16:29 ..
-r-xr-xr-x 1 usuario usuario 0 2004-01-01 00:00 HI-MD.IND
drwx—— 2 usuario usuario 32768 2004-01-01 00:00 HMDHIFI
Now QHiMDTransfer start working and HiMD unit display shows that it is accesiing data… great… at least it is reading something… wow!!! impressive.
After a while… the disk has a lot of ‘songs’ QHiMDTransfed shows a list with all of them… empty title (since they do not have any, i did not put any when i record them)…
Lets try to transfer at least one to the PC… if such works… i pray for it to work… (i hate SonicStage and also Windows… ha ha ha!!!
Well, lets be serious… lets try with the first one…
Before i must say something… something i consider vital… length is not shown…
I conisder it vital or not… but very important if possible to have how much time are the songs…
I am talking about having one more column on the left list… time (duration) of each song… not all people put titles to every song… also such value will make an idea of how much will it take to transfer… i am assuming transfer whole disc is not inmediate.
I press to tranfer the fisrt song… it is about a whole hour and wow!!! it is been transferred at a good speed… great!! more than 1X of course… a whole hour in less than a minute, that is great.
Two things great:
-It transfer songs from protected discs to PC, so no write to disc is done, that is great for forensic tasks that need no edit on disc be done
-It transfer at hi-speed not as 1X, that is very great
First thing i see is that transfered file has .oma extension ¿? and a size of 34.5MiB
So i first try to see if ffmep can convert it… with:
ffmpeg -formats | grep oma
And yes, it seems a supported format… at least say:
D oma Sony OpenMG audio
So lets try to convert it with:
ffmeg -i FILE.oma FILE.wav
But it says unkown format…
So lets try with VLC Player… again no luck… can not reproduce it.
And now i do not know what more i can do.
But ata least it transfer one song… great job… hope there will be a way to convert it to wav or aac… or at least play it on the PC…
I am sure there must be one… but till now i did not find it.
Also i think for normal disc with normal format i must use something different … something called NetMD, and for so there is python-netmd, i have not yet test it.
Other thing can be happening is that songs are recorded on Atrac3 (AT3) or Atrac3+ (3+) or on PCM (PCM) and on the table shown on minidisc project it says that Sony secret keys are needed… so maybe they are encripted… and that can be teh reason.
Just to not forgot it to be mentioned…
All the test i have done them on Ubuntu 64Bits, so great it also works on 64Bits Linux, not only on 32Bits.
Hope one day will also decrypt such files while transfering them.
I know it is not legal to provide that keys… but it is also not legal to be a monopoly… hope some one very rich put a lawsuit, just to make it open such.
I mean… it is not legal a company force anyone to use any software just to save on its PC a sound recorded by him/her … like own made sound effects… the sound of the ocean waves hitting a cliff, etc…
It is great to have DRM protection our creations… but if i record something that has no CopyRight, etc… why i am forced to use SonicStage??? that is in my opinion totaly illegal.
I will try with other disc… but i am afraid i will have no lucky since all where recorded the same way… a lot of hours on each disc… so Atrac3+ format must have been used… so nothing to do with files unless secret keys are known.
I read somewhere (i can not remember where exactly) that there will be a version that will ask for such keys… that would be great… once someone has such keys… all will be able to break such limit… i am talking only for doing legal things… like transfering on Linux or vacations sounds to our PC for our only use…. etc.
I am a developer and hate piracy!!! But i have no knownledge of MD formats, etc.
Thanks for such a great job done till now, hope it will continue to be improved…
I will try with more songs… also some recorded on Mono… but till now i get lo lucky….
So for now on i will must wait or use anothers one PC to record in low-quality using Line-IN and at 1X speed.
Thanks to all people that is working on this great idea… please add such keys prompt soon!!!
Also if someone has such keys, please do all os us a favor… make them public in an anonymous way, for example tell to Anonymous Group to defend us from SonicStage by putting them on Internet.
I know that is totally ilegal on this ugly world we live, so i do no tell you to do that, i just express my frutation on not getting able to pass to my PC my own voice recorded on my own MiniDisc using only Free software under Linux.
In any way i am telling someone to do anything ilegal, just only saying there are ways if someone wants to break the law, but not asking him/her to do such.
Thanks, Z. Something I have considered as a replacement for the Sony MD Walkman is the Zoom H2. It has a built-in condenser microphone, it records in WAV format with no encryption, and it uses SD cards, so you can have much more capacity. It costs between US $150-200. I originally bought my MD Walkman to record concerts, but I don’t get out to concerts very much anymore.
Do not know about Zoom H2, but sometimes i record more than 48h without stopping, Yes more than two days without stoping recording.
If it saves on WAV maybe too much space… and something i think it do not does is to record at 58KHz.. yes 58 not 48. More i have never seen suport for 58KHz on WAV.
With some Minidisc you can record at 58000Hz, that makes much more samples than typical 48KHz and also much more than 44100Hz of CDs. It makes a very good sound quality…
That is one reason to transfer them digitally to PC, for not to loose 58KHz sample rate… if i use LineIN or MicIN i loose a lot of quality because noise been introduced and because it makes a re-sample at 48KHz or 44100Hz… all times i tried to recond on PC LineIN input at 58KHz i get very strange sourd artifacts, noises, etc.
I know that minidisc at top mot has 1GiB, so SD or miniSD can have much more… but i do not know any recorder that saves on memory cards WAV with ATRAC3plus codec, less at 58KHz.
Thanks for the sugestion, but it was more a matter of using what i have than bying other hardware.
Ah! I forgot to mention i use a Sharp Minidisc as portable amplifier.
Wow! Yes, a little history… will help to understand…
At first in time (when no HiMD format) i only use a Sharp Minidisc and only records 80min stereo or 160min mono as max continuos recording… with a microphone… my Sharp Minidisc has Mic IN,… but no HiMD format,… only standar… neither LP4… only 1:1… 60min disc -> 60min stereo recording…
Some years later i also had on my hands a Sony Hi-MD minidisc… with LineIN but no MicIN… with USB support, so when USB it is seen as a Storage device and can save files and folders on Minidics Disks like on Pendrives, etc…
Since Sharp has LineOut, i build a cable with two 3.5 Stereo Jacks and then:
-I insert a blank normal disc on Shark (old format)
-I press record on Sharp
-I conect Sharp out to Sony in
-I put another blank disc on Sony one (HiMD format)
-I press record on Sony
That way i use the Sharp as an amplifier… i know it is a bit tricky, but is the best i can do with what hardware i have, ::-)
What i am trying to find is a way to replace Sharp one by a portable Amplifier… it is not an easy task since i try to find one that use standar batteries, not button ones… and also not much spensive… and one that works with a normal 1.5V battery that can be buy on any chinesse shop, anywhere, or better with a rechargable one, i have some 2500mAh 1.2V acumulators for such.
Hey! As you can see all i want is to use my excellent microphone… it, in top best conditions, can be used to let’s say spy two people talking near ear at more than 100 meters… i mean i can hear with it a needle falling of ten floors over my head on a silent night… it is very sensible… much more than what i had seen on professionals ones…
Ah! It came as a gift with a Sony portable cassette recorder (called Walkman) and it is the best i have ever seen… but horrible if you try to record your voice without any other external sound… i mean… to record your own voice with it and no more sounds you need to be in a special room… and neither can be done… it get also recorded your own heart sound and you while taking air… but to record sounds that you can not hear normally is the best when on very silent places…
The top most probe i got was to record a normal conversation of two friends on a farm at two kilometers distance on a very silent night, was incredible… with amplification at max i could understand all the conversation… the pity is that is not directional, so also records what is all around you…
For example, for psicophonies it is the top best i have ever seen… i also had recieved offers near a thousand euros for it… but i only have one i do not want to sell it.. if i had two i would sell one and all solved, but i only have one… and i am afraid not all works such well… otherwise why someone offer me a thousand eros for it… remember it came as gift with a Sony Walkman recorder.
Anyway … i will still be searching for a portable amplifier… till then i will still use both Sharp and Sony ones… Sharp for amplify.
Other thing i can find is what will do the amplifier… if it puts noise or amplify so low sounds or not… so i need a physical shop and one that let me do tests in a very silent place,… i doubt i find one.
Not all could be perfect… and also i need a wat to upload to PC the tracks digitally… I will try to make SonicStage to work under wine… or else use Windows… no i never will use Windows anymore on my PCs… neither under VirtualBOX with no Internet access… i hate Windows as the top most thing i hate.
Well if i find a way… or the people of QHiMDtransfer makes a version that upload ATRAC3plus i will be able to do one of the two thinks that i still can not do.
Thanks for all… if i get a way to use SonicStage under wine i will try to report it.
By now my best was to use a Windows computer (i hate to do that but no other way) and download SonicStage and with ProcessExplorer pause it at some points… so i got some directories of what it installs… then on another windows i install all of them manually in same order and hey! it worked like a charm…
I will try when i have time the same installation process under wine… if it works i will post it, now i have no much free time left.
One thing is the installation,… another will be it it will work and more… if it will transfer or not… i have seen some progress on Internet… but all with no luck with transfer.
Thanks to you and all great people trying or helping to let free what companies try to monopolize.