Converting Minidisc to... um, digital?

Factual Questions
1

Doesn’t make much sense as a thread title, but bear with me…

I have a number of minidiscs which ideally I’d like to drop down to my computer (nothing dodgy… just some audio I use in the line of work that it would be handy to have on my PC, so I can transfer to CD to take with me as I need them, or even edit on the computer). And ideally, to retain the quality, I’d rather not do it via analogue.

Essentially, I’m after something along the lines of the Sony NetMD, except with that device (as I understand it), you can only download from PC to MD, and not vice-versa. Damn copyright laws!

Alternatively, a CDR(/RW) that accepts a digital / optical input, the way my MD recorder does. That way, I can put the CD into my CDdrive, and download the audio to PC that way.

I have no trouble writing to minidisc from CD… and no trouble writing from CD to PC, or PC to CD… just need to throw a “record FROM MD” in the mix somewhere.

And, cost is king! The less I spend, the better. It’s only for about half a dozen minidiscs, so I don’t want to spend a fortune on something I’d only use once.
Failing that, how DO I copy via analogue? How do I get the computer to record what is going through the audio in/line in? And is there software you’d reccommend for doing that? I assume the basic recording software won’t take the hours of audio I need to copy?
Thanks in advance,

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I think the quickest solution would have two parts:

[1] Buy a MD deck that has optical or digital coax outputs.
[2] Buy a sound card for your PC that has optical or digital coax inputs.

This is what I had to do a couple of years ago to accomplish the very same thing. It works pretty well and it’s better than analog.

I have no idea what these things cost now, but maybe there are some good deals to be had.

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Cheers. I’ve got part [1] already… need to look into part [2] with optical in. Unless anyone knows of a NetMD that works both ways…?

As for the second part… HOW to do it? Can you recommend software to cover the task? Once all the wires were in place, how did you record to PC?

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      • Minidiscs do not allow any direct digital-to-digital conversion anyway, except for a small number studio-level Sony models, and them only between identical decks:
        http://www.minidisc.org/minidisc_faq.html#_q23
        -All other MD decks convert to analog as an intermediate stage anyway, so there’s not a whole lot of point in worrying about using digital transfer methods.
  • The cheapest+easiest way is to just connect the MD’s headphone jack with any recording device’s line-in jack with a suitable cable. (-note that on a PC sound card, the line in is stereo while the mic jack is mono-only, and needs lower input levels anyway. DON’T use the mic jack!) Start with the recording level and the MD volume level at one-third and adjust as necessary. If you choose to just buy a patch cable ( cable with 3.5mm stereo jacks on both ends), to preserve quality keep the connecting line short: 2-3 feet is good, shorter is better. The longer the line is, the more high-end frequencies the line will lose. If you must use a longer line, you will want to buy the jack ends and obtain some thicker solid speaker wire (18 ga) to make the line from–the usual store-bought patch cables are the same wire that “Walkman” headphones use, and is very thin and thin==high frequency loss.
    ~
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So… I’m going to do it via analogue ('cos, on inspection, my MD deck has only optical IN. Ahem. Might have been an idea to check that bit first…! Who’da thunk it?)

So, I’ve a twin phono -> 3.5mm stereo jack. Connected the phono plugs to the back of the MD, and the jack into my line-in on the soundcard.

Now… (and I may need some hand-holding here…) what next?

What programme can I use to record?

Is there any downloadable software (shareware/freeware?) you can recommend? (I tried one… didn’t work - couldn’t adjust the input volume, so it was peaking and distorting all over the place (and my MD deck has no output volume adjustment). Or does WinXP have software that’ll do the job that I just haven’t found yet?

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      • The older Windows sound recorder only recorded as WAV and had a 2-minute time limit. I don’t know about XP, I got rid of it. :wink:
  • You might be able to adjust the input recording level in the Windows sound control panel. I dunno any cheaper audio software that I -know- would be a decent buy. Some software has limited-time trials, so if you’ve got a fast connection you can download one and just use it for the 20 or 30 days or whatever. Cool Edit Pro was teh big one, but I like SoundProbe myself.
    ~