Mini disc or DAT?

[Anterux]

Since I have Edirol R-09 I never use MD anymore.

Excelent quality! More portable then anything. No wires because buil in mics are great. No noise of mecanical moving parts. Transfer to PC without SONYSHITS. (sorry for this one, but it pisses me off!!! If I record MY music with a MD why cant I transfer it fast to the PC??? Sony is ridiculous in this matter!!!)

My 2 cents:

Edirol R-09.

[Steve Inman]

Steve,

Whatcha got?

Doc

It appears to be a little Sony Walkman:

MD Walkman MZ-N707 type-R MDLP

Bought it from a friend thinking I might use it, but never have. I need to look around and find the manual, which I'm sure that I have ... somewhere. Paid $75 for it. Came with "wall-wart" power supply and mini-stand/charger, USB cable, and one disk.

Would happily part company with it for a fair price -- "ebay average price" would be fine -- if we can find a couple matches based on similiar accessories....

RSVP via PM if interested.

[Steve Inman]

Payday is soon.

Does it have ... (snip)

Doc

Check your email!


Cheers,

[Slamson]

got laptop?

then the cheapest, easiest thing to buy is the Griffin iMic ($35). it's a pc interface that gives you line or mic input via the USB port on your computer. Comes with "Final Vinyl" software for basic, 2-track stereo recordings, or you can use whatever application you'd like. I use one (on a Mac, but they work with pcs, too) and run a mixer into it and make fine recordings. It's not on a par with a protools or motu interface, but for $35, it's still better than a minidisc, all but the most expensive DATs, and some flash recorders.

[prototypedenNIS]

Mini-disk is a dying format, soon to join the 8-track tapes. It's already the case that you have to go to mail order or a specialty dealer to get disks.

Good news, you can get a MD player with multiple discs on ebay for 30$.

the sound quality is still excellent, the battery life is decent... not many reasons to go against it.

[sloan]

I recently bought a Sharp MD recorder for $50 on ebay. (I lost the other one in the divorce a few years ago.) I'm completely happy with its recording qualities for on-the-go recording. There is even a track on a CD that I'm on, that was recorded in my living room on the MD. The quality is equivalent to the hard-disk recording that was done in the studio. No, it wasn't a high-level pro studio, but it was basically ok.

Sharp MDs, BTW, are better than SONY MDs. On the Sonys, you can't change the record volume during recording, while on the Sharps you can.

MA

yes - that's why I like my Sharp...but....be aware that changing levels causes a noticeable blip in the recording.

I have a feeling that my mini-disc may travel to Tuscaloosa with the latest recruit for the Million Dollar Band. If I were to replace it with a solid-state recorder capable of digital uploading...what would you recommend? it's been several years since I looked at this market - what has changed?

[sloan]

Any comments on the Marantz pmd660?

[Slamson]

I have one, and it's really convenient! The built-in mics are pretty good for built-ins, but there are some problems with the unit that might affect your decision to purchase it.

NIMH batteries don't last nearly as long as they are supposed to in the unit. Record time (using condenser mics) is less than an hour (and i tried several groups of NIMHs). Then again, how often do you plan on recording far away from an AC outlet?

The mic preamps are kind of noisy. Not so noisy as to make your recording sound like a cassette, but loud enough to be heard when recording soft signals (please - no cracks about tuba players never playing pp!)

The mic preamps distort BADLY when using really low-impedance microphones. Since most really low-impedance mics come with a -10db pad, this isn't a "deal-breaker" for a portable unit, but I have to pad my KSM44s, KM84s, etc. It wouldn't be a problem with less sensitive mics, and probably no problem at all with dynamic ones.

Of course if you use it with a mixer, the mic problems are moot. I use it using the line input (which is a lot cleaner) as a second backup (hard disk, dat, then the PMD660) in live recording. It's really easy to transfer the files to ProTools or whatever software you might use, and let's not forget that for all it does, it's pretty cheap, too.

[Yane]

If you need more performance from the Marantz PMD 660, you can "Pimp my PMD"

http://www.oade.com/digital_recorders/h ... 0MODS.html

Also, if you need to do a critical recording away from an AC outlet, try Lithium batteries for maximum run time, though for the price an extension cord might not look so bad after all....