Sony's MZ-N707 NetMD blows.

So my friend comes up to me yesterday, complaining about her minidisc recorder. It's the MZ-N707 model. I asked her what was wrong with it, and she said she couldn't figure out how to upload her recorded lectures from the minidisc to her computer.

Now I like my friend a lot, but she is a little technologically illiterate. So I tell her that I would probably be able to figure it out. She is so happy she almost gets tears in her eyes. And thus the search began to figure out how to get recorded content off the minidisc recorder and onto a computer using the USB interface for fast, digital uploading.

In short, it cannot be done. And to put it bluntly, that blows. You can read all about it here, which is a great site that breaks everything down. At first, I thought there might be a program that would work around the default program's refusal to digitally upload recorded content. Kind of like the various work arounds for Apple's iPod when it refuses to allow a user to download all the songs onto his or her iPod and then upload them all onto another computer.

There is no such program for this NetMD thing. And my friend is not the only one with this problem. People are so frustrated about this they tend to vent about it on the internet, but that link is probably the least vulgar of the ones I've stumbled across.

What is still possible is to upload digitally recorded stuff off her minidisc through the analog headphone output to the input on a computer. This is bad for two reasons. First, it is s-l-o-w. Things would be much faster with the USB output, but by using the analog method, it will be a 1:1 real-time transfer rate, meaning 10 minutes of content will take 10 minutes of time to upload. The second reason this is bad is because there is, of course, a loss of quality in going from a digital to analog format.

Now she only wants to record and upload lectures. So a loss in quality is not very important, not because the lecture's are worthless, but because high fidelity is not her main concern. And I suppose she could let the 1 hr or longer lecture upload while she does something else.

But just because there is this "ghetto" work-around, does that make it right? What about those who want to record their own live music and then quickly upload it to their computer without a loss in fidelity? This in itself would be a great tool for small bands to make use of. Unfortunately, Sony is apparantly so paranoid about copyright infringements on people recording live performances that it is basically handicapping its own product.

Which is really a shame. Record labels and artists didn't have to worry too much about groupies sneaking in hand held tape recorders to conerts in the past because the loss in quality when making copies and uploading it to a computer would be very noticible. Because in the land of music, sound quality is king. And I can understand that a digital minidisc could potentially change the way bootlegging live concerts works.

But seriously, part of going to a concert is being immersed in the entire ambience of the show. If someone wants to hear a band live, it is more likely than not that person wants to SEE the band live as well. And actually feel the show. Those who would download a digital replica of a live show either have already seen the show, or would not likely attend the show anyway.

And so this potential minor cost is taking away from everyone else's legitimate use of making a digital recording and being able to digitally upload it at a fast speed. Many legitimate users are being purposely handicapped for the theoretical crimes of a few.

So what did I tell my friend to do? Well, the only language big corporations understand is the language of money, so I told my friend to take her minidisc recorder back to the store. Unfortunately the return date had already passed.

Then I suggested she hurl it at the nearest Sony building. She's still thinking about it.

Comments

[David Rim]

I didn't know that the sony minidisk player was unable to transfer digitally recorded material onto a computer through a usb or some other faster mode. My friend has had a minidisk player for a couple of years and has recorded sermons and lectures and he tells me how great it is. So to me it sounded very useful to have in addition to the other features.
Many people have preferred mp3 players but I thought md players were better. MP3 players have a limited space and if you want different music, you have to erase what you have and then upload again. For md players, you have tapes but each one can hold up to 5 hours of music. MD players are still relatively small and easy to carry around.
However, hearing this does disappoint my view on md players. Again one of the problems with this whole problem of copyrights is it slows down progress and creative inventions. Because, as John posted, Sony is afraid of litigation so it prohibited itself from a use that would greatly benefit many people like his friend. Sony and other companies are afraid of getting sued, record companies and artists are afraid of losing money, that sometimes we lose sight of the bigger picture which is technology that helps us all. We need to find an equitable solution or else the next great invention might never be created. We should be encouraging creative thoughts instead of creating fear.

[Humberto saco]

I was looking a recorder minidisc for my job, I do documentary films, rather to use a wirless microphone I need to use a recorder because is better, there isn´t interference and is an additional audio channel. Well, I met, thanks to you, that the minidisc is not a solution. I want to ask you if you know an alternativo for this. I also need up the material I record in the field to my computer.

If you know something about it please tell me. I need quality and a lot of hours to record.

Thanks
Humberto Saco
Lima Perú

[John Lotfi]

Hey Humberto,

As an alternative to minidiscs, I'm pretty partial to iPods for music/storage. If you happen to have one, you can buy an iTalk for it. From the manufacturer's website:

Plug the Griffin iTalk into the top of your iPod and suddenly you have a world-class voice recorder with literally thousands of hours of recording time.

With iTalk you can record seminars, meetings, classes, notes in your car, songs, whatever you want.

It sounds perfect for the interviews/documentary material you need to record. Here is a review of the iTalk. Once you are done recording, you plug the iPod into your laptop and it will automatically take the recorded stuff off your iPod and put it on your computer in .wav format, which is something like less than a MB/minute in space.

So if you have an iPod, for $30-40 extra you can make it into a recorder with iTalk. As for a good minidisc recorder, I'll look around and see if I can find anything I really like.

(Since you said you want to upload your recorded material in the field, I am assuming that your laptop/computer has a power source which would also recharge the iPod - otherwise, if you're in the field w/o a power source for days, I could see having a recorder with replaceable batteries being a better choice than an iPod.)