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I would like to propose an alternative, based on my own experience. I own two Sony MZ-RH1's, as well as two HHB MDP500's. I definitely prefer the HHB for field recording, for the following reasons: 1. Robustness: the MDP500 is designed for professional field use ; the MZ-RH1 is very fragile. 2. Connectors: the MDP500 has XLR (line and mic) inputs ; the MZ-RH1 has a mini-jack. 3. Ergonomy: the MDP500 has large keys and display ; the MZ-RH1 has tiny buttons and display. 4. Connectivity: the MDP500 uploads via plain USB Audio ; the MZ-RH1 requires specific Sony Software. 5. Autonomy: the MDP500 uses standard batteries ; the MZ-RH1 uses specific Sony gumstick batteries. 6. Resilience: the MDP500 uses MD's that can be recovered after a crash ; Hi-MD's cannot be restored. 7. Price: a second-hand MDP500 can be bought for less than 200 euros (typically on on www.ebay.co.uk). In short, I would recommend the MDP500, connected to the output of your console via balanced XLR's, to record your own performances on stage. And yes, you will have to accept one ATRAC 4.5 compression (during recording), followed by one ATRAC 4.5 decompression (during the real-time upload to the PC).

If you do your own field recordings with the unit, I advise you to choose a Hi-MD for these reasons 1) quality of recording (even lossless with PCM) 2) lengh of the recording if you get Hi-MD discs (but classic MD formatted in Hi-MD mode offer also a rather long lengh of recording if you don't choose the lossless quality) 3) possibilty of upload of your own recordings even in WAV format : <<Self-Recording Upload Function Hi-MD Walkman recorders offer two-way communication from the PC to device and from the device back to the PC. With the mic in feature5 you can make a self-recording on the device and transfer content back to the PC.>> technical short extract of the MZ-RH900. Nota : Sony has stated that only analog-source recordings created on Hi-MD equipment will be eligible for upload. The Sony MZ-RH1/M200(for Mac) is the best (and most expensive) but others Hi-MD recordings units allow also the upload of your own field recordings. See the minidisc.org browser for units and the FAQ. Price range : Rh1 > 200 to 800US$ (!), others recording Hi-MD units 50 to 250US$, Hi-MD blank discs much more than 10US$ nowadays (just format classic MDs in Hi-MD mode to save money.