[coolvij]

I will definetely be buying an MD this summer - most likely Sony R700...

My main question is how effective the automatic track marking is when u digitally record music from your computer. All my CDs will be recorded from my best playback source, my computer (EAC to WAV) with the usb-toslink-mini toslink cable provided with the R700DPC.

Anyway - should i insert the track marks manually? Would four seconds silence in between each song work? Basically, i kno nothing about using MDs, and could use some help.....

 

[Possum]

When I had a Sharp MT-722 (or whatever 722 it was), 4 seconds worked reliably for separating tracks over the optical cable. I used a simple Winamp plugin that lets you specify a pause between file playback, and used Winamp to playback the .WAVs I ripped from CD. This I also used when recording MP3's to MD.

 

[thomas]

A real Cd player with optical output would be much better...

Computer soundcards (cheep comsumer ones) automatically resample everything to 48khz, and your MD has to convert it back to 44.1khz. Both sampling rate converters are crap, and you will hear an audiable degradation in sound quality. You can't get perfect copies (before compression) unless you use a normal cdp with optical out.

Another benefit of a real cd player is it automatically sends track marks to the MD. The MD will insert new tracks exactly where they are in the CD, even if there is no silence. For a computer, you must insert a 2 sec (minimum) silence in order to get track marks. Cd's that have transistions between tracks will sound bad unless you record from a cdp... When i have to record from my computer (MP3's) i usually record the whole thing as a single track and then insert track marks manually. This saves space (MD uses large clusters sizes; several seconds of space are wasted each time it automatically creates a new track) and produces more reliable results, imo...

 

[coolvij]

Well, i guess i'll have to try it out and see. Thomas - i can't get a cd player just for the optical out. Aint gonna happen with my miniscule budget

However, my dad got PS2 recently, and it does have what appears to be a TOSLink out at the back. Does anyone know if i could use the PS2 for digitally recording CDs to MD?

Thanx in advance

- coolvij :>)

 

[skippy]

i don't know about the ps2, but most cd rom drives have a digital output which is spdif. all you have to do is attach a red LED to make it into an optical digital output (you might have the amplify the signal if the cd-rom drive doesn't put out a strong enough signal). it's pretty simple, and you don't have to worry about resampling from soundcards.

 

[DanG]

Coolvij, I think that the digital output on the back of a Playstation2 should work fine. The PS2 is supposed to work as a DVD player, and perhaps has the digital output for use with a receiver that can decode Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, etc. I also think that this should work better than recording your MP3 files onto MD. All you'll need will be a TOSlink -> minilink optical digital cable.

 

[Tides]

PS2 will work fine. My friend does that with his MD recording.

Like Dan said above, you just need to buy a TOSlink -> minilink optical digital cable. ( or jsut the cable with the MINI adaptor)

and you be set for the *digital* recording. Definitely better than
cd drive->sound card->cable->MDP

Tides

 

[coolvij]

ALL RIGHT! I'm glad the PS2 would work - i checked the specs on my cheapie sound card, and it sure does resample to 48 khz first...

Is this the TOSlink to mini cable i need:

Supplied Accessory: Digital Connecting Cable (stereo mini-square)

(taken from the Sony specs page on the R700DPC)

Thanx to all who have helped me so far.....

 

[DanG]

Yes, that will work. Happy recording!