Mini Disc To Mac, Transfering audio Options

[titania100]

Newbie here, please forgive if my question does not belong.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to transfer mini disc audio onto my G4?
USB2, firewire 400, 800, Mac OS X(10.3.4), 1 gig ram, 1.25 ghz, infinite hard drive space.

It looks like I need a USB on one end and an RCA mini on the other. There is also a port on the mini recorder labelled "optical."

Thank you!

[drjimuk]

On my sony MD walkman, it has a usb connecter, and I then use sonic stage take take the MP3s off which is easy... or you could get some sort of interface to connect to your mac but might be abit expensive... erm... the line in on your mac? theres tons of different ways but it depends how much cash you have/what quality you need...

[smokinshaman]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that Sony's Sonic Stage software is not mac compatible.

Titania100 you might look at maudio's Transit usb interface. Check it out at MAudio Transit (hope that link works)

It was designed with your exact use in mind.

Take it easy,

KC

[drjimuk]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that Sony's Sonic Stage software is not mac compatible.

sorry if i'm wrong

[titania100]

Thank you.

My minidisc is the Sony MZ B100 - specs can be found at
http://www.sony.jp/products/Consumer/Touri...B100/index.html

I don't see a USB connection on the minidisc itself, I have a line in (optical),
Mic (plugin power), DC in, and on the wired remote another jack labelled "sound" where I plug in my headphones.

My recordings are of meetings, not music, so losing a bit of quality is not an issue, as long as I don't completely lose much clarity of speech & volume.

I'm wiling to spend up to $150.00.

I appreciate your response.

[titania100]

I just checked out the M-Audio site and it looks like it could be a solution.
What a great forum this is, thanks people!

[jayzen]

Its my understanding that with many miniDisc "walkman" style players, they specifically do not include a digital out to prevent piracy. I thought that you had to buy an MD deck to get it out digitally (for most).

My MD only has a headphone out (line level out). At first I was just connecting this out to the "sound in" on my Mac (stereo 1/8" to stereo 1/8"), but this was using the mac soundcard to convert the sound again, and that's not such a great idea.

Now I am just going analog out from my MD to my breakout box (motu 828mkII with a good quality stereo cable with one 1/8" plug on one side and two 1/4" plugs on the other. The sound gets re-converted to digital, but it sounds a lot better than using the Mac sound card, and a lot less noise.

This may not help you, but I don't know how to get out digitally from a player without using a deck - if anyone finds out I'd be pleased to know as well.

-jason

[red_wedge]

This may not help you, but I don't know how to get out digitally from a player without using a deck - if anyone finds out I'd be pleased to know as well.

With a line out only you are limited to a line signal, and if a G4 doesn't have an input the cheapest option is Griffin's iMic USB interface. This is fine if quality is not important.

If the minidisc is a more upmarket model it will probably have an optical out. On a Mac it's then possible to use a USB interface with optical in (eg Firewire 410 from M-Audio) to import full quality audio. That's what I do

[titania100]

Thanks for the profusion of replies!
My MZ-B100 is one of the more upscale models and does have an optical jack. So, with the M-Audio on order, I may be on the way to a solution. I record meetings and interviews, so I'm not too concerned about fidelity.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks again!

[Dimora]

*sore subject for Clo*

I contacted Sony about the new HD-minidisc's USB transfer capabilites and there will NOT be a Mac compatible program for the USB transfers. Of course you could always plug the out into an audio recorder but for that price you shouldn't have to. Nor, I feel, should you have to spend extra cash to buy the M-Audio converter. *very sore indeed* Sorry if that seems stingy but I was waiting for the new HD Minidiscs for a looong time only to be greatly disappointed by Sony (yet again ).

Anyone want to help start an opensource project to make a mac software for USB transfer?