Re: [linux-minidisc] Reading NetMD discs

[Michael Karcher <Michael.Karcher@fu-berlin.de>]

On Tue, 2012-05-15 at 21:49 -0400, Dom Cassone wrote:

> I have a MZ-NH1 minidisc player and cannot figure out how to read the
> standard discs into my Mac so I can retrieve the music.
The MZ-NH1 is not capable of transferring data from a standard disc
digitally to your computer. This is a limitation of the firmware of that
device. The only device capable of transferring music from standard
discs is the MZ-RH1 (and it's microphone kit variant).

> I have tried NetMDPython, but can only list the contents of the
> minidisc, when I try to do the upload, it errors on the first track
> and creates a 0 length file. I cannot find anywhere to ask questions
> on this software
This is the right place to ask questions about that software.
NetMDPython consists of three user-callable scripts. One is called lsmd,
if I remember correctly, and is used to get the list of tracks. A second
one is called upload, and that one is used to transfer music from
standard MDs digitally into your computer. For the reason outlined
above, it does not work with your MZ-NH1. The third script called dumpmd
is a work-around for your situation. This script plays one track after
the other by remote-controlling the minidisc player. At the same time,
it records audio from the sound card to files called like the track
titles on your MD. You need to connect an analog audio cable between the
minidisc player and your soundcard, and set up the mixer (input
selection, recording level) before you start that script.

> I cannot find any other software that will read these discs and I have
> a ton of music on non-HiMD discs. It was suggested that I use
> netmdcli, but I cannot find it anywhere on the web.
netmdcli, intended as successor to the NetMDPython stuff, is also
included in the linux-minidisc project, but I am not aware whether there
currently exists a version compiled for MacOS. In your case, it will not
help you, because netmdcli can replace the functionality of the lsmd and
the upload python scripts, but the functionality of the dumpmd script is
not yet implemented.

> Any suggestions would be very helpful as I would really like to retrieve this music digitally.
I am sorry to tell you that retrieving this music digitally is only
possible with the Sony MZ-RH1, which is quite expensive even nowadays.

Regards,
  Michael Karcher

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