New project: minidiscs to iTunes

[iMark]

Over the years I have been thinking about what to with my collection of Minidiscs. It's a mix of digital copies of albums, broadcast recordings and even some of my mum's vinyl. I don't carry my portable Minidisc recorder around anymore and I would really like to have in my iTunes library so I can play them over the Airport Express or on my iPod Nano 5G. The other consideration is archiving to hard drive. Will I still have a working MD player in 20 years time?

My recordings are in the old Minidisc SP format (recorded in ATRAC 4.5) and there is no way to export them to my Mac using the only recorder on the market today, the Sony MZ-RH1. Mouthwatering kit but old recordings can only be converted to WAV using a PC running Windows XP. I have considered getting a MZ-RH1 and installing Windows XP on a Bootcamp partition. But I don't want Windows on my Mac if I can avoid it. According to Sony multiboot systems are not supported. Also the Sony Sonicstage software doesn't seem to run on Windows 7, except when you install something called XP compatability mode. It all sounds very cumbersome indeed.

I have tried the analogue route with a Griffin iMic but I wasn't happy with the results. It is also cumbersome to set the recording level with analogue input.

Then I remembered that my MacBook has digital in and that it would be possible to record the digital stream. Only problem: my Sony CD/MD deck (MDX-D3) doesn't have a digital output. Never thought about digital outs when I bought that deck over 10 years ago.

Fortunately there is quite a market in NL for second hand decks. After reading different sources (like www.minidisc.org) I decided to look for a second hand deck with digital out. I found one in Amsterdam and I picked it up today. It's quite a nice deck, the Sony MDS-JE 520 and it cost me EUR 50. I took my MacBook round to check that the digital out was working properly and I could record. It did. I just had a test with it through the DACMagic and it sounds awesome.

Software considerations on the Mac.

There's now quite a few good recording programs on the Mac. To name a few:

- Audacity

- Audio Hijack Pro

- Garageband (not recommended, it's a bit of memory hog)

- Quicktime 7 Pro

I have tried them all and for the moment I'm using Audio Hijack Pro. The workflow is as follows:

- Start hijacking from the digital input.

- Set where the recordings should be saved.

- You may set tags for the recordings at this point.

- Set Audio Hijack Pro Silence Monitor to start a new file. I use 0.5 seconds.

- Hit the play button on the MD deck and start recording in Audio Hijack Pro

- Editing is only needed with gapless tracks. I do this in QuickTime 7 Pro.

- Open a new player in and paste the selection. Then export this new file and give the title of the track. Use sound to AIFF, 44kHz 16 bit. I create a new folder with the name of the album. You have to do this for every track on the album but you can save the files in the same folder.

There is the alternative of exporting the complete AIFF file first before editing and then edit the copy.

- Import the AIFF's into the iTunes library

- Convert the AIFF's to Apple Lossless (or another format) and tag them the way you want. You can select all tracks first to give them the album title. Also very useful is to tick 'gapless playback' and the total of tracks on the album. Amazon is a great source if you don't have the individual titles written on the sleeve. You can also cut and past the artwork from Amazon into iTunes.

- Then title the individual tracks.

- If necessary (like running out of hard drive space) you can delete the the AIFF's.

If there's anyone who was thought of a way to improve on the workflow: I am open to suggestions!

 

[Andrew Everard]

Untried for this specific function, but this looks like it may be of some assistance

 

[iMark]

Thanks Andrew. Looks like interesting software. Not sure if it helps with what is the most nagging thing: the editing of the file that contains the unedited stream into smaller individual tracks.

I have just discovered that Audio Hijack Pro can be of assistance: start a new track when there is a pause of 0.5 seconds. I'm trying that out now while I'm listening to the Hijacked minidisc through Airfoil/Airport Express/DACMagic.

 

[Helmut80]

interesting. my minidiscs all went in the bin a couple of years ago

 

[Paul.]

http://www.ronimusic.com/audiocommac.htm This software wont retrieve your data, but will auto split your tracks.

 

[iMark]

Helmut80:interesting. my minidiscs all went in the bin a couple of years ago

I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to converting obsolete formats into something that can be played on today's equipment. We have also digitized most of our VHS tapes to DVD.

 

[Andrew Everard]

iMark:Thanks Andrew. Looks like interesting software. Not sure if it helps with what is the most nagging thing: the editing of the file that contains the unedited stream into smaller individual tracks.
I have just discovered that Audio Hijack Pro can be of assistance: start a new track when there is a pause of 0.5 seconds. I'm trying that out now while I'm listening to the Hijacked minidisc through Airfoil/Airport Express/DACMagic.

Indeed, but from the list of codecs that software I suggested handles, looks like it might be able to convert ATRAC files to something more C21st-friendly. As I say, haven't tried it - but might be worth an email to the company to ask.

 

[iMark]

Paul Hobbs:http://www.ronimusic.com/audiocommac.htm This software wont retrieve your data, but will auto split your tracks.

Thanks for the link. I think Audio Hijack Pro does roughly the same. You can set it start a new file when there is silence. Unfortunately the album I'm recording now (XTC Apple Venus Volume 1, highly recommended) has a few gapless tracks. So still a bit of editing to do. :-(

 

[iMark]

Andrew Everard:

Indeed, but from the list of codecs that software I suggested handles, looks like it might be able to convert ATRAC files to something more C21st-friendly. As I say, haven't tried it - but might be worth an email to the company to ask.

Unfortunately I don't think there is a way to mount minidiscs on your desktop so you can access the ATRAC files. So being able to convert oma to AIFF is not going to help. :-(

 

[Andrew Everard]

Used to be a piece of open source software called Symphonic (IIRC), allowing Macs to mount MD discs using a USB-attached player. Might be worth a Google...

 

[Helmut80]

iMark:
Helmut80:interesting. my minidiscs all went in the bin a couple of years ago

I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to converting obsolete formats into something that can be played on today's equipment. We have also digitized most of our VHS tapes to DVD.

lol. I respect that kind of dedication, I just haven't got it in me.

 

[iMark]

Andrew Everard:Used to be a piece of open source software called Symphonic (IIRC), allowing Macs to mount MD discs using a USB-attached player. Might be worth a Google...

Thanks again. Very interesting indeed. Unfortunately I don't have a Minidisc player with USB and I don't think I'm going to spend any more money on this obsolete format.

 

[iMark]

Helmut80:

lol. I respect that kind of dedication, I just haven't got it in me.

That's a shame because there has to be music or broadcast recordings that you will never be able to hear again.

 

[iMark]

Andrew Everard:Used to be a piece of open source software called Symphonic (IIRC), allowing Macs to mount MD discs using a USB-attached player. Might be worth a Google...

I did a bit of googling tonight and indeed it seems to be possible to upload Minidisc SP tracks (ATRAC) to Macs and Linux boxes and convert them to WAV. The linux-minidisc project have been busy!

Here's a link to a discussion on another forum.

http://forums.sonyinsider.com/topic/25120-netmdpython-ffmpeg-better-atrac-decoding-than-sonicstage/

It would still require me to buy a Sony MZ-RH1 to do this. To perfectly honest, I don't see the point in that. When my project is finished, I think I will sell my Minidisc gear. Especially since the sound of the files will not be better than my digital to digital recordings. But it might be useful to know for other Minidisc owners that quite a lot is possible with the MZ-RH1.