Thanks for the good links, which I'll try tomorrow.

Yes, the manual does say to connect the PC Link cable not to the USB port of my Mac but to a USB connector (I think also supplied with the minidisc) - it's more the software and the actual what happens when part that I'm finding difficult.

I suspect that most of the people the manual's aimed at are experienced with music files; I'm not, I've only ever used the minidisc recorder for recording interviews.