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ghporter · Oct 13, 2006, 07:23 AM

Any ideas? It was "provided" to me (it's apparently on some product list that my funding agency uses), but it only came with Windows software, and the Sony web site only shows that software too. I'd LIKE to be able to download the voice recordings onto my Mac, and since the thing has a USB port I think it should work. But how?

ghporter · Oct 22, 2006, 09:06 PM

Ten day bumpage...

It would be really nice to be able to work this out.

mmmad · May 2, 2007, 07:51 PM

Hi, Ghporter. A hundred years ago (2001!) you acuired a Sony ICD-P320 voice recorder. Did you ever find a way to make it work with your Mac?
Cheers,
Madeline

ghporter · May 2, 2007, 09:05 PM

Madeline, it may seem like 100 years, but it was last fall. Sadly, no I haven't found a Mac-native way to deal with this. I can run Windows on my MacBook Pro and thus use Sony's software, but that's not my favorite way to go. I'll be sure to post if and when I find a way, though!

mmmad · May 3, 2007, 10:17 AM

Hm. Well, I don't think I'm going to install Windows on my MBP just to use the thing, so I'll return it to the shop. Thanks for your quick reply! One thought: Can you listen to the files in OSX?

ghporter · May 3, 2007, 11:22 AM

The recorder isn't even visible to OS X as a storage device, which I think is the biggest problem. If I could "see" it, I'm sure some sort of file format converter would be worthwhile. As it is, the recorder can detect that it's plugged into a computer, but it doesn't show up in Finder at all.

However, with my upcoming free time (finals are next week) I may find some way to get this seen by Finder and then become worth having with me. As I said, I'll post if I figure anything out with it!

Kenneth · May 3, 2007, 01:49 PM

Interesting! I encountered a teacher yesterday about putting out data from his SONY voice recorder. I couldn't do it on the fly even on Windows XP.

tequilaguru · Jun 3, 2007, 12:51 AM

Does it show as a massive storage device in Windows? (driver free?)

If it does, it may have something to do with the formating of the card, I've run into a couple of SD/MMC cards with some invalid or non supported fat formatting that osx won't mount.

However, depending on the situation it can be solved, most of the time with reformating the drive using mac os x (windows will also recognize), but in your case, we could also delete some important data the recorder might use.

ghporter · Jun 3, 2007, 08:47 AM

Originally Posted by tequilaguru

Does it show as a massive storage device in Windows? (driver free?)

If it does, it may have something to do with the formating of the card, I've run into a couple of SD/MMC cards with some invalid or non supported fat formatting that osx won't mount.

However, depending on the situation it can be solved, most of the time with reformating the drive using mac os x (windows will also recognize), but in your case, we could also delete some important data the recorder might use.

No, Sony was not that nice to its customers. It is NOT a mass storage device, just a stream source of some kind (I haven't dug deeply enough to see just exactly what it looks like in the internals of XP). Further, this recorder has fixed, nonremovable memory, so it's unlikely I'd have any access to the storage to reformat it anyway. Basically, the USB interface does not look like storage to OS X because that's not how Sony wants it to look to any computer. Darn it!

Kenneth · Jun 6, 2007, 12:27 PM

Apple recommends these? Olympus WS-100
Apple - Pro - Techniques - Audio in Rich Media - Audio Gear for Rich Media

ghporter · Jun 6, 2007, 06:56 PM

Nice to know... now that I have the Sony and it's even past its warranty... Seriously, thanks for the pointer to Olympus recorders. I'm going to just have to use Windows to do anything with the output of my Sony recorder-and then manipulate the sound files on my Mac after they're downloaded. Pitty. But then, Sony doesn't seem to like to play nice with Macs in ANY of their products...