Hello,

A few months back I purchased a new Sony MZ-M200 and have been very satisfied with it until a few days ago. First, here are my computer specs for transferring MP3 Audio:

MacBook Pro
Mac OSX v.10.5.5 (latest updates as of 10/27/08)
2.6 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
USB 2.0
Hi-MD Music Transfer v.2.0

I have not transferred anything using Hi-MD MT in a few weeks but as of today, I can no longer use the app. Anytime previously it had worked perfectly. Now when I connect the player via USB it works fine at first, allowing me to write and read the disk as a partitioned drive, much like an external HD through Finder. But once I run the Hi-MD Music Transfer App now, it automatically Ejects the player/disk so that it is no longer recognized by my computer. Strangely enough; the transfer app still shows the music that is on the disk and while I can delete songs without a problem, once I try and drag a new one into the app for transfer/writing it crashes and closes with an "unexpected quit" error following.

If I simply close the app after it has ejected the player/disk from my computer (visibly) without trying to transfer, the player/disk is then re-recognized by my computer and usable as an external HD once more... Then opening the app once more will eject again (over and over again).

The last thing to note that I have noticed is that when disconnected from my computer (unrecognized) the player's display constantly blinks all 7 blue circles on the right together in between the two larger ones which stay solid... never seen that. Could that be an display error of some sorts?

I tried re-formatting the disk (lost my music now) via the player and no change. Tried re-installing the Hi-MD Music Transfer app from Sony's site and no change. Have not tried a new disk, as I curerntly only have the one Hi-MD disk that came with the player (not sure if that would matter or not). I hope that I have described this issue properly and if not, please ask for clarification.

Please, for my own sanity and sustained love of MD-players... Could anyone offer some advice or solutions to this problem? I would be most grateful. Especially if it got my transfer app and player working again. As of now it is useless as a music player otherwise. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND EFFORT!

Sincerely,
-SKDX.

If you happen to have an old POS (spare) PC, try installing, say 4.2 on it and try the unit then. I also have a M200, and have several old PC's that I cannot give away, but they are perfect for things of this nature...as I made one of them a dedicated upload unit. \
Anyway, if you do install SS on another computer, and all works as it should, this would eliminate the software or the host computer as the culprit.
Also, just out of curiousity, does the M200 work OK as a stand alone unit (not attached to the computer)? If not, that would show the harware to be the culprit...or at least one of the problems.

Yeah the player itself works perfectly.
I have come to the crappy conclusion as well that I simply need a Windows machine for transferring.

After having read so many posts on Sony not having suitable drivers for OSX 10.5.5 (only 10.4 and previous) and that its no use even trying... I find it VERY odd that I have had it working in 10.5.5 for a couple months now (since I bought it and first installed Hi-MD MT 2.0). How I got it to work initially and no one else seems to have been able to, I have no idea... I wish I had taken notes or something so that I could have shared it with everyone else in the community running OSX 10.5.5.

Oh well, thanks for the advice and I will do exactly that... make myself a little POS windows machine and install SS for transferring. Such is life... Thanks for the response though!!! Take it easy.

Sincerely,
-SKDX.