Dirt Cheap Minidisc Recorder

[Chris Timson]

Hi all,

 

It seems Sony are dropping their existing line of HI-MD minidisc recorders and bringing a new range, because right now Amazon UK are selling off the Sony MZ-NH900, previously 160 quid, for 70 pounds. I am mentioning it here because the recorder includes the ability to change the speed of a recording while retaining the pitch. Anyway, I've put my order in.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

[spindizzy]

Hi all,

 

It seems Sony are dropping their existing line of HI-MD minidisc recorders and bringing a new range, because right now Amazon UK are selling off the Sony MZ-NH900, previously 160 quid, for 70 pounds. I am mentioning it here because the recorder includes the ability to change the speed of a recording while retaining the pitch. Anyway, I've put my order in.

 

Cheers,

 

Chris

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I bought one of these a while ago - nice for recording sessions so I can practice all those pesky tunes that escape me on the night! (I was replacing an older version - I've been using MD recorders for quite a while.)

 

I'm a bit miffed that they dropped the price so far - I got mine when the price was starting to drop ... at £130. Still, I needed it then, not now!

 

The half speed playback quality isn't brilliant, but it helps unravel tricky turns and ornaments.

 

These Hi-MDs have a lot of pluses

Good quality amp. for a mic.

1Gb discs (or 300Mb on old reformated discs) They'll record 90mins at full CD quality (ie wav) or up to 45hours of very compressed ie MP3 stuff or a couiple of compressions in between. I record at a compression that gives about 2-3 hours on an old disc (I have shed loads of these and the new ones are still a bit pricey) which is great for a session.

You can plug them into the USB port of the computer and upload and edit the stuff plus all the usual things once you have wav files on a computer. (including using slowdowner software)

Backwards compatibilty with old MD formats both paly and record (I believe the new version just brought out doesn't have this - it may have play but not record)

 

Minuses.

The supplied software can be flakey and Macs aren't supported.

There are copyright things built in that seems to assume any digital recording on the disc including a session recording is copyright material. It'll only let you upload once. If you try to do it twice it'll delete the originals!

It's a bit bulkier than my old MD recorder.

 

Chris J.

[bellowbelle]

Hmm..

 

I am guessing that the main advantage of a mini-disc recorder over a digital voice recorder (I have a Sony IC digital voice recorder) is that you can get an actual

physical copy.

 

With my digital recorder, though, I can upload my recording to the computer. So, that's cool. I think that, with the editing software that's included, you can increase the speed but maintain the pitch. (If anyone really wants me to look and find out, let me know...but, I'm pretty certain.)

 

As for physical copies, well, I can get pretty good cassettes by transferring the recordings to my cassette recorder (a basic, fairly old, typical home-use cassette recorder/player) using an adapter cord that cost me just a few bucks. (I didn't know what it's called, but, I explained what I wanted to the store clerk at Radio Shack.)

 

I discovered Sony CD-It cassette tapes, too, very good quality. I guess I could burn CDs too, from what I upload, but I don't know how to do that with this computer -- tried it but something didn't work.

[Mark Davies]

Many thanks for the tip.I've ordered one.I have got a mini disc player but its not easy to use and as its over 4 years old it is somewhat dated.Some years ago I used it to record the concerts every night at the Willie Clancy Summer School.When I got home and tried to listen all the discs were blank!As I am technically retarded it was probably due to my lack of understanding!

[spindizzy]

Many thanks for the tip.I've ordered one.I have got a mini disc player but its not easy to use and as its over 4 years old it is somewhat dated.Some years ago I used it to record the concerts every night at the Willie Clancy Summer School.When I got home and tried to listen all the discs were blank!As I am technically retarded it was probably due to my lack of understanding!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

They're still fiddly to use - mostly due to the really hard to read display.

I'm starting to find a "best practice" - still early days though.

 

Let me know if you think a summary "HOW_TO" would help when you get yours, and I'll try and put together what's working for me. (probably off the forum or it'll bore eveyone to death :-)

 

Chris J

Edited March 29, 2005 by spindizzy

[Dan Worrall]

Just an additional thought for you, if you're in the market for an inexpensive recorder for workshops and the like. If you have an iPod (they seem to be getting common these days!), you can add a little recorder/mike attachment the size of your thumbnail from Belkin.com for all of $35. It turns the iPod into a very easy to use "voice recorder" the quality of which I find is easily equal to the old hand-sized cassette recorders we used years ago to record players in workshops (I skipped through the minidisc phase, I guess). Not only do I have most of my sizeable CD collection with me when I travel (I cannot remember how many thousands of tunes this little wonder holds), I also am ready at any time with memory to spare to record days and days worth of voice and music. Admittedly it is mono and not studio quality...but the pitch is right on the money. I suspect we'll see major improvements on this part of iPod technology in coming years.

[bellowbelle]

After checking some websites, I see that there's possibly a way (or more) to transfer files from a minidisc to the computer, too -- it's not just the IC voice recorder that does that. (When I posted previously I wasn't aware of that.)

 

Dan mentions the ipod -- now, too, there's an even newer gadget, made by Sony, some kind of one-up on the ipod! I haven't quite allowed it's name to seep into the brain yet.

 

They're trying to drive us all crazy, I think. And make a great big pile of abandoned electronic relics, maybe.

 

I think I'll just keep on making scrapbooks and cassettes. Just call me retro, I guess.