Sima Products 120 user manual Advanced Features Recording Modes, Rapid Archive

Advanced Features

Advanced Features

Recording Modes

The I-Mix is capable of recording CDs, MP3s, tapes, vinyl albums, radio/TV feeds, and any analog source that plays through your stereo system. The music you record is digitally stored on the I-Mix’s hard drive as either an MP3 file or a full CD-quality Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) file. To allow Rapid Archiving, CDs are transferred to the hard drive in an un-compressed PCM format – regardless of the MP3 compression rate. When the IM-120 is turned off, the uncompressed files are converted to MP3 files according to the selected compression rate, and the PCM files are erased.

There are three recording modes that allow you to choose how quickly your music is recorded and when the files are compressed. Important note: Music is saved on the hard drive at whatever compression bit rate is selected at the time it is recorded. Once recorded, the compression rate of a recorded song or album cannot be changed. For more information on file compression, see File Compression on page 33.

1. Rapid Archive

Record Audio CD

Rapid Archive

Compress

Play and Compress

Compress Bit Rate

◊128kbps

This is the only Record mode accessible from the front control panel. It is also accessible in the Record menu (shown at left) on the remote control. Rapid Archive records a CD into the I-Mix at six times (6X) normal CD play speed. A four-minute song takes about 40 seconds to record using the Rapid Archive record mode.

To use the Rapid Archive mode for recording a CD:

Load a CD in the tray.

Use the Up/Down arrows (▲/▼), if necessary, to select CD in the Main menu. Press the Record button (●) on the front panel to begin recording

or

Press the Record button (●) on the remote control.

Press the Up/Down arrows (▲/▼) if necessary to select Rapid Archive in the record menu. Press either the Right arrow (►) or Record (●) buttons to begin recording.

When the Rapid Archive recording mode is complete, the I-Mix will return to the main menu. When turned off, the I-Mix will enter a “sleep” mode and automatically begin to compress all of the CDs recorded in the Rapid Archive mode. CDs recorded at full CD quality will not be compressed. (See Set Compression Bit Rate on page 33.) Compressing a CD takes approximately as long as it would to play the CD. The I-Mix will automatically turn off when the “sleep” compression mode is completed. Rapid Archive only works with CDs inserted in the I-Mix’s CD tray, including CD-ROMs which have MP3 files. MP3 files are Rapid Archived at approximately fifty times (50X) normal play speed. You cannot Rapid Archive music from analog sources. You will not hear music playing while recording in the Rapid Archive mode.

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