WinRemote Review

John Small ([email protected])
February 1998

Several weeks ago I ordered Martin's WinRemote. I hate titling on the Sony MDS-JE510 with the remote. I hate even more doing it on the MZ-R50. You see, I touch type faster than I can write, much less toggle a wheel or push remote buttons. After one disc my index finger is throbbing and the last thing I want to do is listen to music.

That all changed yesterday when Martin's package arrived from the Czech Republic. Opened by US Customs of course. <g>

You can see the hardware (plus order and download) from his page: http://www.czechin.com/minidisc/wremote.htm

I ordered 30 feet of wire to run to the JE510. I plugged the black box into my IBM Thinkpad 560 via the serial cable attached to the black box. This cable could be longer so I'll obtain one so I can sit the box on the floor and my notebook on my lap.

Next I downloaded the 2.1 vers software from his web site ... all 160kb? Can this really be enough? I unzipped it into a directory. After changing the winremote.ini file to point to com 1 (com 2 by default) and moving the registration file he sent me email into the winremote directory I fired up the program.

The remote he shows on his page came right up without a hitch. I strung the cable over to the JE510 and pressed the power button on the remote (Martin's WinRemote). The JE510 powered up. I put in an untitled MD ... Willie Nelson's Stardust. You do have this one don't you? Better get it if you don't (http://www.cddb.com/xm/cd/country/18e94600e334e7dace01849dc9190584.html).

It starting playing. I moved to different songs. All working as advertised. Well, almost. I couldn't fast forward or backward.

But I could title!!! And that's why I bought it and why you should too. I copied Willie's titles from the url above using Navigator. On WinRemote I pressed Options, Batch Titling and then entered the stuff below ...

STARDUST - Willie Nelson 1978

  1. Stardust (Carmichael, Hoagy)
  2. Georgia on My Mind (Carmichael, Hoagy)
  3. Blue Skies
  4. All of Me (Marks, Gerald)
  5. Unchained Melody
  6. September Song (Anderson, Maxwell)
  7. On the Sunny Side of Street
  8. Moonlight in Vermont (Blackburn, John)
  9. Don't Get Around Much Anymore (Ellington, Duke)
  10. Someone to Watch over Me (Gershwin, George)

Didn't even have to type them in since cut and paste works fine from the clipboard. I did type the disc name and a Willie credit on the first line.

Then pressed Start Titling. At the time a song was playing. WinRemote took over. It named the disc and titled all the tracks. About 30 wpm I would guess. It was all over by the time I got up and walked over to the JE510!

As I write I'm listening to Willie, not cursing my sore index. If this doesn't convince you to buy both a notebook and Martin's WinRemote ... well, I don't know what will. <g>

I love my Thinkpad. I love Martin's program. And yes, like you, I love my MD stuff.

I also love my wife, my dogs, cats, parrot, Corvette ... (you get the picture, life is good <g>)

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