Hi Richard,

(and apologies for digging up an old thread)

I'm re-evaluating my minidisc migration workflow, and I came across this
message from last year. All of this information is really helpful, so thank
you!

I see that, visually, the two machines look almost identical. For
clarification purposes, do you have first-hand experience with the Sony
MZM200?

Thanks,
Jim


On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 5:32 PM, Richard L. Hess <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Hi, Andy,
>
> You might consider getting a couple of the Sony MZ-RH1 or MZ-M200 (same
> basic machine, different accessories).
>
> These come with a USB connection that lets you extract from all flavours of
> personally recorded (i.e. not commercial) MDs faster than real time. I don't
> know if it's 5x, but it is fairly fast.
>
> The software is a bit klunky, but it will make WAV files out of the ATRAC
> files.
>
> This is a one-stop, $400/each solution that still appears to be available.
> If you want to do this, I'd do it sooner rather than later as I had issues
> getting one in Canada, but I found the RH1 at the Sony Style store in Ottawa
> and they shipped it to my local Sony Style Store.
>
> The pricing difference between the two is absurd on Amazon.com. The M200 is
> a lot cheaper than the RH1 and the M200 comes with a mic. Go figure.
>
> Someone sent me an MD project and the MDs were recorded in mixed formats
> not the plain old standard format that I could play in my standard component
> MD nor my portable MDs, so I had to buy this.
>
> I would purchase one unit per 1000 MD plus one if I were buying now as
> rumours (at least north of the border) abound about this going away soon.
>
> I don't see a need for the UK stuff as it's based on an out-of-production
> specific Sony DATA MD drive, which they buy and refurb and resell to you.
>
> I suspect the UK solution will be able to do recovery for some really
> messed up MDs that the Sony won't be able to touch, but then again, I think
> for those really bad MDs you're better off sending the MD to the UK and
> letting them use their software. Their product is not inexpensive, and I
> expect the experts there will do better on the few really bad MDs than a
> more novice user might.
>
> When I first saw the UK product I wanted it in the worst way, but the
> MZ-RH1 really is a good find and solves 99% of the MD problems I've seen.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
>
> At 06:41 PM 2010-03-04, Andy Lanset wrote:
>
>> Friends,
>>
>> We have thousands of field recordings done on MiniDisc by our reporters.
>> I've been looking for ways of accurately dealing with them at greater than
>> real time for transfers. I have located some people in England who are
>> offering up some hardware and software for up to 5X transfers. I'd be
>> very
>> interested in your opinion of what they are offering.
>> You can find them at:
>>
>> *http://www.esdl.co.uk/2/mdte_uk.shtml*<
>> http://www.esdl.co.uk/2/mdte_uk.shtml>
>>
>> Thanks for your time and consideration.
>>
>> Andy Lanset
>> WNYC & WQXR Archives
>>
>
> Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada (905) 713 6733 1-877-TAPE-FIX
> Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.