Saving Minidisc as WAV format
Soundbox
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Over the years I have recorded many hours of material onto Minidisc. As you know, sharing that format is not easy unless I make a CD with the optical out socket. Plugging my portable MD recorder into the computer USB socket and using Sony 'SonicStage' I have the option of saving the SP or LP mono recordings as WAV format.
I have never heard of WAV outside of mobile phone ringtones so was wondering what the amount of loss of quality or change of sound occurs when converting ATRAC into WAV. Are CD players able to play WAV format?
I did a test recording and did not notice anything untoward but I am not really up with all the different formats so would appreciate any input. Thanks for any input.
I have never heard of WAV outside of mobile phone ringtones so was wondering what the amount of loss of quality or change of sound occurs when converting ATRAC into WAV. Are CD players able to play WAV format?
I did a test recording and did not notice anything untoward but I am not really up with all the different formats so would appreciate any input. Thanks for any input.
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In any case if you burn a CD as an Audio disk rather than a Data disk the source format is irrelevant, the burning software will convert to CD Audio anyway.
You will certainly not loose any quality by converting to WAV. The only thing you lose is disk space as ATRAC is a compressed format and WAV isn't. So the files on the PC will be several times larger than those on the minidisk.
Though if I recall correctly doesn't minidisk use 48kHz sample rate (or is that just one of the options available - long time since I used it in anger
It can also hold compressed formats for decoding by ACM codecs under windows, such as mp3, A/u-law, etc etc. It's amazingly rare to find mp3 data packed into WAV files, and pretty rare to find any WAV file that needs an ACM codec for playback, as few players support it.
I would be delighted to be able to save my MDs as .WAVs at quicker than real time - can you explain exactly what equipment you are using? I'd heard that some late MD machines allowed this, but on my earlier machine I just use the digital output to my sound card's digital input for a real time digital copy. (I have to be honest and say I haven't bothered with this much!)
Cheers,
David.
The player connected via USB to the PC and the Sonic Stage software could download tracks recorded on the machine to the PC and then convert to WAV format.
As I recall though Sonic Stage was one of the worst piles of poo I have ever used on a PC. It did not work particularly well as I recall (and that is putting it mildly!)
SonicStage seems OK to use on my laptop but then I have never used computers for music editing or transfer. It gived me a choice of saving my MD onto my computer as 'as is' (ATRAC) or convert to WAV at time of transfer. It is very much faster than normal play speed and a whole MD recorded at SP takes about 2 minutes to upload.
David, the equipment I am using is:
Recorders: Sony MZ-R50 portable and JB510 full size deck
Computer: Gateway laptop with Windows Vista basic
Portable with USB for upload: MZ-RH1
Used Audacity to fix sound - adjust balance, normalize etc.
Sony NH700.