Leland

Good on ya! As you can see, I have owned many MD units and you have come into the technology at the peak. The N10 is great! Enjoy!

Near as dammit: yes. Question would be, would the replaceable NiMH battery and longer battery life be relevant to your useage, otherwise I would prefer the LiIon battery in the N10. Secondly, do you prefer the appearance of one over the other, considering the N10 is a little smaller. I also like the little control stick on the N10: you can operate it blindfolded. I rarely use the remote. Otherwise, functionally, near as dammit and you could save that 27 pounds.

The N910 over the N1, even if you have to pay more. Faster downloads by a factor of 2, all the sweet new upgrades in addition and USB port on main unit, not only on cradle like the N1. Also, better build quality IMHO.

It means run the battery all the way down before charging it up again. Also referred to as "deep cycle" as opposed to partial cycle.

The best way to solve your problem is to just add money. Forget about your $230 limitation and get a N10 or N910. If you use it for 5 years and pay $100 more for it, you will be spending less than two dollars a month more. Think of it as two trips to the grocery store and go on a diet.

Be Careful. With the N1, you need the cradle to connect the USB cable. That would be a critical issue. If you don't have the cradle, you will not be able to use the NetMD features. I do not have an N1, but this is my understanding and one reason I waited for the N10.

Call Sony Service. I have never heard of a user updatable firmware for MD.

From http://www.idxtek.com/faq.htm - NiMH use: charge fully the same day of use, or the day before (has very high self discharge). NiMH discharge: discharge every 30 uses. - NiMH short-term storage: re-charge fully a day or two after use, and store charged. - NiMH long-term storage: charge fully every 1-2 months of non-use. - Lithium Ion use: top off or charge fully within 3-4 weeks of use (has very low self discharge). - Lithium Ion discharge: no discharge ever required, okay to top off. - Lithium Ion short term storage: store charged. - Lithium Ion long term storage: charge to 20-40% capacity every 3 months of non-use. Key differences include need for regular full discharge of NiMH vs. not needed for Li Ion.

Sugo is right. You should top it up whenever it is convenient. There is a theoretical limit to the number of deep cycles the battery will handle, but if you top it up, it does not count as a cycle.

Many have used MD for this. Try searching the minidisc.org site in case there are any references. You are limited only to the quality of your mic, which is not too difficult to manage. Look on the minidisc.org site for mic recommendations or contact the sound professionals for advice. The recording quality can be excellent. To transfer to CD or cassette, you can simply use an analog connect through a stereo setup or a computer. I am not a birdwatcher, but I have indeed made a few recordings of birds. I recorded bell birds in Australia as they have such an interesting call (sounds like a bell). I also hung a recorder in a tree with a mic and recorded ambient bird sounds for about an hour once. Got some great sounds.

Don't believe what people say about Sharp having better sound quality. They probably pick headphones that give better bass so people who like that think it sounds better. Both will be loud enough to damage your hearing with the right headphones. I consider Sony to be more responsible in this department. Buy the Sony.

Your investment level seems high enough to afford the best. Based on your usage requirements, I would recommend either a Sony MZ-N10 or MZ-N910. The 910 has longer battery life, but is a little bigger. The N10 is like a Ferrari. Very sleek and cool, but slightly smaller petrol tank. Both offer NetMD, which once you decide to forgive it its limitations, you should find very useful for transferring MP3's and CD's. Anyway, you can record normally also, so you don't lose anything having NetMD capabilities. I prefer the Sony designs over Sharp.

If your MD portable has NetMD capability, check out this: http://forums.minidisc.org/viewtopic.php?t=435 Otherwise, just hook it up to a computer using the analog output from the MD (headphone if Line out is not supported on your unit) and hook it up to the line in on your computer sound card. Set the record level appropriately (requires a little experimentation if you want to optimize it to perfection) then record in real time. The wav file can then be burned to a CD.

Leon, I don't think IPOD meets much of the other criteria mentioned by the poster (mic input, wants to jog with it, really small) and of course he was asking which MD unit to buy, not which MP3 hard drive jukebox. One idea for you and perhaps the poster regarding long files and the speed of FF and RW: Granted, this is only helpful when you are tethered to the computer, but in Sonicstage, with your MD connected, there is a slider control for the track you are listening to. This makes it very easy to skip ahead any number of minutes (or hours) just by looking at the time display and the position of the slider. Note, this works with any track on the MD, not only music in the musicbank, so you can use it even with discs you make that have long analog recordings on them, such as radio.

I have read that if you keep the Lithium ion batteries topped up rather than deep cycling them they last longer. Li Ion used to be described as capable of about 300 deep cycles, but top ups didn't count. Do the math based on your usage and you could have 5 years if you deep cycle weekly.

To fast forward/reverse faster, put the unit into pause first, then fast forward. You can't hear the sound, but look at the timer and you can see how far, then unpause and listen. This will slew very quickly. Otherwise, consider making more track marks. If you use NetMD, which protects checked out tracks for your own good (so you can check them back in) you simply make the track marks as track divides in Sonicstage or OMG Jukebox before checkout.

To fast forward/reverse faster, put the unit into pause first, then fast forward. You can't hear the sound, but look at the timer and you can see how far, then unpause and listen. This will slew very quickly. Otherwise, consider making more track marks. If you use NetMD, which protects checked out tracks for your own good (so you can check them back in) you simply make the track marks as track divides in Sonicstage or OMG Jukebox before checkout.

I have MD's that are 10 years old. Even some of the original 60 minute ones where the MD logo and other printing on the disc is upside down. They still work like new.

I cannot comment on the player, but I have stored MD's in cars for years in the hot southern california summer and never had any trouble. I never left one on the dashboard in the sun, that could be interesting... But if you are careful, you should be OK.

Just make sure the pin polarity on the adapter is correct, that would be the only other thing. It sounds like it is OK since it is working, but I would check. Usually, the center pin should be positive, I think.

It is there for your protection, as Sony assumes you use Sonicstage or OpenMG jukebox and don't want to lose your check in counts. I am glad to hear the feature makes you happy though.

The one I have is: http://www.minidisc.org/copybit/copybit.html I bought it assembled from someone on the MD List some years back. Don't think these are easy to find anymore. It was just an assembled circuit board which I needed to buy a case and power adapter for. It works well. Lets me make digital copies of audio content from DVD's from the DVD players digital out also. Another way is with this device: http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...-CO3&type=store These things are admitedly a little expensive, but they do the job. I didn't know about the CO3 when I bought my stripper. I think the CO3 would be much better. Complete, professional package with many options. It's almost worth the money just to scoff at the irritating SCMS limitations.

This isn't easy. I have used two methods, but others might make better suggestions. If you have a couple of MD units, at least one play and one record, then: First, I used the digital out from my home deck into the digital input of my portable recorder. Oh yeah, I had a SCMS stripper in between to get the copy to happen. Second, You could make a real time analog recording from one MD unit to the other. If you only have one unit and you have a computer, Use the WinNetMD program from Christian Kulkas, record in realtime using analog inputs (unless you have an MD deck with digital out you can hook up to a digital input on your computer) to create discrete .wav files from the MD's. Then record them to new MD's using analog out, digital out or import them into NetMD software (Sonicstage for instance) then you can begin to check them in and out. None of these are very easy. Eventually, I used the last method mentioned to copy most of my favorite songs that were only on MD to my Sonicstage database.

Just for perspective: you mention the build quality of the R55 being better, but remember when it came out it had a list price of about $300 as compared to the $129 for the N505. A capable recorder, with NetMD features (only a dream at the time of the R55 intro) for $129 would have seemed like science fiction. To some extent you are comparing apples and oranges.

Just to add to Leon's comment that MD's seem to last long: I have MD's that I made 10 years ago. They are virtually indestructable. Plus, I never use the plastic sleeves they come in. Just toss them in the glovebox, my shirt pocket, my briefcase, whatever. They last forever and are easy to handle without care. Much better for portable use.