Sony MD Walkman MZ-N708 transfer to iMac

Audacity Help Forum macOS
1

Have a Sony Net MD Walkman MZ-N708 Type-R bought around 2000
I have a ton of minidisc recordings, not pre-recorded, that I want to put on my iMac to make CD’s or DVD’s . Can anyone tell me how to do this. I’ve read that it’s not possible. Thanks!

2

I don’y think it’s possible to directly convert Sony’s ATRAC compression format to WAV/MP3/AAc/whatever - I certainly coundn’'t find a converter when I did my MD conversions, but you can record from MD to make the transfer - I’ve done it.

I wanted to avouid going from digital to analog and then back to digital so I sought out an external USB souncard that had a digital input. I bought the Edirol UA-1EX but this is no longer manufactured (some are still available at online shops I believe).

WC

3

Thanks for the response. Record from MD to what? Another recording device?

Thanks!

4

Instead of using the files on the MD machine, you play the works in real time with the MD machine S/PDIF digital connection and on to the Edirol. The Edirol connects to the USB on the computer.

That connection should be plain digital audio with no compression tricks. Audacity will record that just fine and you didn’t have to go to analog in the middle of the process, thus avoiding the analog noise and distortion problems.

Koz

5

I know of no way to speed it up.
Koz

6

If you don’t want to buy another recording device you can also record from headphones out of the player to audio-in of the Mac, but you will lose a little of the quality because of the conversion to analogue and back to digital that Koz and Peter mentioned.

Do you have a Windows PC? Later versions of the Sony SonicStage software for Windows did allow converting ATRAC to WAV and most versions allowed burning ATRAC to CD (from which you can rip WAV files). There used to be SonicStage alternatives for Mac that I knew of, but I doubt you will find those programs now.


Gale

7

Google may be the answer. You can expand QuickTime’s range with downloadable codecs and modules. It also seems you can download and install an ATRAC player and converter to your Mac.

Koz

8

Thanks everyone. Really appreciate it.

9

I use Mac OS X 10.5.8 and want to load tracks from a Sony Walkman on to my computer.
I have not managed to find a Edirol ua-1ex.
Amazon gives me the option of a Behringer UCA202.
Please can some one advise whether this will this do the same job?
Many thanks

10

The UCA-202 will do the job, but should not be needed if your iMac has a line level input.
– Bill

11

Look for the circle with two black arrows or in Apple Preferences for the ability to turn one connection around – to switch between Line-In and Line-Out.

http://www.kozco.com/tech/audacity/pix/MacLineIn.jpg

If you have neither of those, then you have a newer Mac with only a Headphone connection and you’re stuck with a UCA-202 or equivalent.

Koz

12

Thanks Bill

I’m not a techie. So don’t really understand all this. All I want to do is get sound files from my Sony Walkman on to my Mac, so I can edit it with Audacity. (My immediate motivation is to then post bird songs to the Xeno-Canto website, whose forum tipped me off about using Audacity to do this.)

As far as I know, I can’t play anything from the Sony Walkman directly to my Mac as I think the only software that can read Sony minidisk files only works on a PC.

So I hope the UCA-202 will do this.

Thanks again.

Sam

13

If you can listen to your walkman with headphones, and your Mac has a line level input (as Koz explained), you can use Audacity to record what is playing on the walkman. This has nothing to do with direct transfer of sound files over USB.

You need the UCA-202 only if your Mac does not have a line level input.

– Bill