Zoom h2 and the mac

[fatt-dad]

My neighbor just picked up a Zoom H2 and it works great. #His problem is getting the files into his Mac. #Apparently he has no problems getting the unit read by his PC, but there is some issue with the Mac "seeing" his H2. #Anybody worked through this and have advice for him.

Fair warning: #I have no clue about Macs at all. #Any complicated advice, I'll just cut and paste to him (and he'll appreciate it).

p.s., he's a good neighbor that doesn't complain about my mandolin playing.

p.s.s., he does play the guitar too!

f-d

[ruraltradpunk]

I have a Zoom H2 and a Mac Powerbook laptop - the little direction booklet that came with my H2 had a section specifically for Mac users re; how to transfer you sound files from the H2 to your Mac. It just connects via the usb hub on your Mac and then the icon for the H2 appears on the desktop - then it's just a matter of dragging and dropping the soundfiles you want from that folder onto your deskop. When you click on the file you moved to the desktop, it'll then open up in iTunes. I found it all pretty straightforward. Hope some of that is of help.

Jill

[steve V. johnson]

What she said.



stv

[Jonathan Peck]

It might not be as simple as an icon popping up if you have an older Mac. I've never been able to make anything work on my home computer (older mac) until I tried using my daughters computer, which is new. When I use the newer mac, I find that I'm not such a dope after all.

[PseudoCelt]

If it is a very recent Mac, this might also be a problem. I have a Mac and I was just about to order an H2, so I checked this out and found the following:

"The Zoom H2 will not mount as a USB Drive on MAC OS X 10.5.0 Leopard unless you update to H2 Firmware version 1.2 or higher."

The firmware update can be downloaded from here.

Patrick

[steve V. johnson]

Thanks, Patrick!

I'm not on the Leopard (funny names...) yet, I've got too much stuff that's stable at 10.4.xxx.

The firmware updates for the H2 are easy to do. At least I found it really easy, and I'm terminally lazy about that stuff.

stv

[fatt-dad]

O.K. this is good stuff. I'm thinking he has the Mac (either older or newer) that's giving him the fits that are described above. So rather than cut and paste, I'll just give him this link and there will be yet another lurker that one day may go buy a mandolin - ha.

Thanks for the good replies!

f-d

[Don Christy]

Sometimes when I plug my H2 into the usb cable (when the H2 is off) it does not mount on the Mac. It looks like it should (the H2 comes up and shows the icons for usb connection). Mostly I now turn on the H2, then plug in the usb cable and then use the H2's menu to activate the usb file access.
Don

[J.Albert]

<< Sometimes when I plug my H2 into the usb cable (when the H2 is off) it does not mount on the Mac. It looks like it should (the H2 comes up and shows the icons for usb connection). Mostly I now turn on the H2, then plug in the usb cable and then use the H2's menu to activate the usb file access >>

I'm not sure if this will help, but I'll offer it as a suggestion anyway.

If you plug in the H2 - or actually any USB or Firewire device that is "mass storage" - and it does not mount, try this:
1. Launch the "Disk Utility" application
2. Let Disk Utility open up and "scan the busses"
3. Do you see the H2 listed in DU's left window, even if not "mounted"?
4. If so, click on it ONE time to select in, and then go up and click the "mount" button.

Just a thought...

- John

[mando.player]

Since the transfer speed on the H2/H4 is dreadfully slow, I opted to get a high speed external SD reader. On my Mac I've never had an issue transferring files.

[Ray(T)]

Well said Charlie, why would you need to mount the H2 when you can simply remove the card and stick it in a reader? I never connect my camera to any of my 3 Macs, I use a reader. That said, connecting anything to a Mac is usually simply a case of plugging it in!
Ray

[mando.player]

You would think something like integrating an SD card reader would be a pretty standardized process. I mean, how many devices out there do this. I view this as more of a product issue than a Windows or Mac issue. I guess the way I look at it, the $20-30 spent on the reader is worth the potential number of hours spent messing with or waiting on file transfers directly from the device.

All that being said, the Zoom devices are still a great piece of kit for the money. In my opinion the H4 is much easier to use for straight tracking purposes than a computer.

[Ray(T)]

Just a thought, is the H2 one of those things you can plug in to use as a USB mic? If so you might want to use it direct into a Mac.

[mandopete]

Since the transfer speed on the H2/H4 is dreadfully slow, I opted to get a high speed external SD reader. #On my Mac I've never had an issue transferring files.

Yes, I have a SD card slot on my HP (WinTel) laptop and I use that for most file transfers due to this very fact.

I use the USB cable when I just want to pull a file onto the iMAC and drag it into something like Garage Band or iTUNES. Pretty simple either way.

[Ray(T)]

Intrigued by the discussions, I've just been out and bought one! It seems to do what it says on the box. No trouble in mounting the device on an Intel Mac running Leopard. It came with the latest firmware (1.2) already installed but it doesn't look like a particularly big job to upgrade if you have to. Only complaint is re. the size of the screen - I need glasses to read it. Still, you can't have everything.
Ray

[fatt-dad]

So, my neighbor lurked and one of you solved his problem. One day, maybe I'll find out who the good samaritan (sp) ended up being. . . .

Thanks to all!

f-d

[John Bertotti]

So what was the fix??

[fatt-dad]

So what was the fix??

Don't know yet. Just got an email from him that the link to this thread helped him and he's up and running (I'm no Mac guy). I'll check in with him and let you guys know what was the tip that helped.

f-d