I wish to record MP3s on to mini disc, and have all the necessary equipment (MD, hi-fi, PC, analogue cable, etc). However, when I try to record the MP3 tracks, it won't. The track starts recording, but won't stop. When I stop it by ejecting the MD, it deletes everything that's on it. How can I solve this problem? I own a JVC UX-MD9000 and a Compaq Presario Pentium III PC.
CLEMENT CHENG Sha Tin I tried this some time ago and eventually gave up. I decided to wait for a decent MP3 player to come along that would allow for simple recordings from a PC and that would allow me to store regular data, too. I saw a pre-launch demonstration of such a player last week that signals my wait is over.
A Singaporean company called Zip Labs is producing an MP3 player that can also double up as a back-up storage device for a PC. Dubbed the Zappee ZMP 3000, it uses Multimedia Memory Card flash cards and can hold up to two hours of music. Fully plug-and-play through a PC's parallel port, a dongle attached to the connector cable filters data to the player, allowing music to be moved from a PC to the player but not the other way, thereby preventing music piracy. The same dongle can differentiate between computer data from music files and will store them on the flash card without human intervention.
MDs are not going to be the best storage media for MP3 files. The generation of MP3 players coming out in the next 12 months will be much better all-purpose storage devices. I particularly like the low power consumption and durability of the new MP3 players (no moving parts). It will not be long before such players are integrated into mobile phones and come with built-in radios (the Zappee already includes a FM stereo radio), pagers and other small electronic devices.
The Zappee, which will retail for about $800, will be on show at the Internet World exhibition starting at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Wednesday. Unfortunately, this model does not have a voice recorder function, but I understand a product that will be launched by the same company in January does.
If you attend Internet World this week, stop by the booth of scmp.com, the South China Morning Post's on-line division.