How to load SP ATRAC1 songs on your Sony Net MD Minidisc Walkman in Fedora Linux 32

This will likely work with other Linux flavors besides Fedora Linux 32.  This is pretty exciting that you can (1) load SP quality audio on your Net MD, not just LP2 and LP4, and (2) you can load songs without Sony's SonicStream software.

This guy's script did the trick for me: https://www.reddit.com/r/minidisc/comments/934333/writing_to_minidisc_over_usb_heres_how_im_doing_it/

Download that, download vuori's fork linux-minidisc and netmd here: https://github.com/vuori/linux-minidisc, compile linux-minidisc, clone md_downloader from here https://github.com/derwhalfisch/md_downloader, plug your NetMD into your computer via a USB cable, and run the script like this:

./script.sh /path/to/wav/or/mp3/files/*

I forked vuori's linux-minidisc repo, because I wanted to add a python script to delete a minidisc: https://github.com/mhwong/linux-minidisc

Here's how I compiled linux-minidisc:

git clone https://github.com/mhwong/linux-minidisc.git

cd linux-minidisc

qmake-qt5

make -j8

# That's all you should have to do.  This will create the netmdcli/netmdcli executable.

Now you can load .wav files onto your Net MD like this:

./script.sh /path/to/wav/or/mp3/files/*

Here's some gotcha's I ran into:

• Python2 is no longer available on Fedora 32 via dnf, so download the latest stable python2 source, and compile and install it
• qt4 didn't work for me.  Use dnf to install qt5, to build linux-minidisc
• The main repository for linux-minidisc also didn't work for me, so I used the vuori version which worked
• When transferring files, your LCD screen on your Net MD recorder may not look like the files are being transferred, but be patient and let it transfer for a few minutes for each song.
• I tested this with a .wav file but not an .mp3 file
• Many of the commands you'll have to run as root
• You will have edit the source of script.sh to set your configuration variables (at a minimum, the netmdcli path)
• The python utilities in linux-minidisc, specifically the downloadhack.py, did not work for me to load in LP files.
• You can, however, successfully use lsmd.py to confirm that the file is on your Net MD correctly, in the correct LP format.
• I added a script to erase the entire minidisc on the commandline, in a new fork (https://github.com/mhwong/linux-minidisc).  Run "./netmd/eraseDisc.py".  Be cautious, because this will erase your entire disc, with no confirmation requested.  This might erase write-protected tracks, too.
• My device is a MZ-NE410
• I installed ffmpeg using this: https://computingforgeeks.com/how-to-install-ffmpeg-on-fedora/
• I got a usb error when verifying the transferred file, but the track still seemed to transfer ok.

How to load songs on your Sony Net MD MiniDisc Walkman using SonicStream and Windows 10

The following woks for my MZ-NE410.  I've always wanted a Sony MiniDisc player, ever since I saw them in stores like the  The Good Guys and Circuit City, back in the 90s.  Well, 3 decades later, I finally have one.  I bought a Sony MD Walkman MZ-NE410 from eBay, which is a "Net MD" model, from around 2003.  There is not optical or line in to record tracks.  Instead, you have to connect a USB cord to your laptop, and have the "SonicStage" software.  This software was last updated in 2007, but it still runs with Windows 10.  There are some tricks you have to do to get it running.  This is what worked for me:

http://forums.sonyinsider.com/topic/29620-guide-to-getting-your-net-md-walkman-working-on-windows-10/

In order to install the .inf driver, I had to turn off driver signing, which can be done like this:

https://jbcomp.com/disable-device-driver-signing-in-windows-10/

Finally, the SonicStage software didn't recognize my MiniDisc player when my USB cord was plugged into a USB hub.  When I plugged the USB cord directly into the computer, it worked fine.

Dr. Dr's "The Chronic" will be my first MiniDisc album.

The songs will be transferred under LP2 quality, which is 132 Kbps.  If you want SP quality at 292 Kbps, you'll need to use linux-minidisc.  See my other post for how to do that.

How to backup audio (music) CD's to your Windows 10 hard drive

I tried a few tools that didn't work, but here's what ultimately worked for me:

• Create a bin and cue file from your audio CD using ImgBurn (https://www.imgburn.com).  Choose the "Create image file from disk" option, and then choose "*.bin" for the "Save as type" option.
  
  
• Once you have the .bin and .cue file, you can mount the .cue file as a virtual drive using Daemon Tools Lite (https://www.daemon-tools.cc/products/dtLite).
• If you need the offline installer, it's here: https://www.filehorse.com/download-daemon-tools
  
  
• Once the .bin and .cue file is mounted as a virtual drive, you can use iTunes to create mp3's or lossless ALAC files.
  
  
• Alternatively, if you want to burn the bin and cue file to a blank CD-R or CD-RW, you can use ImgBurn. Choose the "Write image file to disc", and choose the .cue file.