A440

Well, see how it came out. I've had trouble with Auto on music that has sudden impacts--like drumbeats--because you can hear it whooshing to try and compensate for the sudden rise in volume. If the music was quieter or had more steady dynamics, it might not matter.

You may also find the MZ-RH1 for sale as the MZ-M200, which is exactly the same thing plus a Sony DS70P microphone. Although you obviously don't need the mic, it may be the only way you'll find the unit you need. Also, I think you'll need a PC (not a Mac) to upload what are now called "legacy" formats. The RH1 comes with an installation disc for the uploading program SonicStage 4.2, which is a good version that runs on Windows XP. If you are running Vista you'll need to get SonicStage 4.3 from the Sony website. Otherwise, stick with 4.2--it's better for non-Vista systems.

The NH700 will record beautifully with a good mic and a battery module. But don't get the ECM 719--it's got no bass and adds a lot of noise. Greenmachine's mics and battery box are probably your best deal. You will need both for any amplified music. Your current mic doesn't distort because it simply cuts out the bass, but you'll find it's well worth it to carry a battery box. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=14388 In a (financial or other) pinch, you can always go to Maplins and get a VC-1 headphone volume control, technically an attenuator (about £3) and record Mic-->VC1-->Mic-in withe the VC-1 turned up to at or near its max. Incidentally, as far as anyone knows the recording aspect of all Hi-MD units is the same. The difference is in other features, none of which are relevant for concert recording. The other thing you should consider getting the RM-MC40ELK remote, which is expensive but worth it. You can set up recording outside the venue, put the unit on hold in your pocket and use the remote to start it, so security never sees the MD recorder itself. While the remote that comes with the NH700 will allow you to stop and start it in your pocket, the RM-MC40ELK remote also lights up and shows recording levels

Sad to say, but it's gone. After recording, the minidisc needs to save the data--when you hit the Stop button, it's like hitting the Save button on a word-processing document. Your power cut didn't allow that to happen (and apparently your battery was dead?).

You don't need a recorder at all. You can record directly to your computer with a program like free Audacity. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ You might need to buy a line input for your computer if its soundcard only has a mic input. That would be the Griffin iMic, which is not a microphone but an external USB sound input/output. http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic Perhaps you want a portable recorder, though. Before getting involved with minidisc for the first time, look into flash recorders: Edirol R09 Tascam DR1 M-Audio Microtrack Or even some of the portable multitrack studios made by Tascam and others. Guitarfxr might be able to suggest something. We're minidisc diehards here. We're used to them, we like the on-unit editing features (adding track marks during recording, moving or removing them without a computer), many of us need their portability and stealthiness, some of us love their sound on playback (irrelevant to recording) and we've learned the tricks to make them behave. You're used to cassettes: realtime playback when you want to transfer your music. That's the paradigm Sony had when it first introduced minidisc, and it never quite got over it even when Hi-MD finally allowed files to be uploaded. Sony killed its remarkable little recorder with DRM and SonicStage. That program probably works far better as version 3.4 or 4.2 than it did when you last used it. Yet I still cross my fingers every time I upload a recording. If you are recording through a mixer with a line output, the flash recorders can make higher-quality recordings (and longer ones) than minidisc, and you'll be able to drag-and-drop them onto any computer. Minidisc isn't low-fi, but flash makes more sense unless you need minidisc's very specific assets--basically the on-unit editing and a suprisingly good mic input (though it's useless for loud or bassy music, which overloads it). I'm still a constant minidisc user. But I don't think this is the time to get started with the format.

.Wav converter has long been built into SonicStage. It was an add-on to the 2.x versions, but it's just irrelevant for 4.x. That's why you can't install it. Instead of using Audacity, just use SonicStage and Save as .wav . I believe those are plain old .wav files. Hi-MD Renderer is here: http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=20395 Renderer converts by rendering/playing back (at computer speed) and re-recording in the format you choose. SonicStage actually decrypts, so theoretically it should be better for .wav. Hi-MD Renderer is useful for all the other formats it can generate.

"can i use a professional mic, like shure sm57 for it?" I believe the mic connector on the SM57 is an XLR connector, so you would need an adapter for the 3.5mm stereo plug of the RH1. It is also a mono mic, and the RH1 input is stereo. "and finally... advantages/disadvantages over an ipod/mobile phone?" The reason to get the RH1 is for fairly high-quality recording. If you just want a music player, you should get a flash or hard-drive player. They have higher capacity, faster upload/download and a bigger display for navigation. Also, the RH1 does not make telephone calls.

Guitarfxr, you said the Line-in of the Tascam is clean but has no recording-level adjustment. How do you think it would work for my typical loud concert setup, which is mic (SoundPro BMC-2)-->battery box-->Line-in ? Do you think the the signal would be strong enough? I usually record at about 20/30 on the MZ-NH700, which is just above unity gain of 18/30.

Bose as the number one headphone? Not in this space-time continuum.

Well, if you play a blank you won't hear anything. But if you put some music on it, it will work just fine. Hi-MD units will play back the MD formats (SP, LP2, LP4) or will put their own formats on regular MDs. They are backwards compatible. But you can't play a 1GB Hi-MD disc in an old MD unit.

You're going to need a mixer if you use mono mics. The only input on the MD is that one stereo plug. Here's a recording made with a pair of omnidirectional mics similar to Greenmachine's. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?autom...si&img=3080

The NE410 is a downloader only, no line-in. You can get Audacity for your computer and record your radio (through line-in jack on your computer, or the mic jack if it doesn't have line-in). Audacity records in its own format, so instead of saving the recording you "Export as .wav" or "Export as .mp3," which means saving it as a .wav or mp3 file. Then you can use SonicStage to transfer to MD. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/

You will get much fuller bass with Greenmachine's mics. Frequency response is 20-20,000 Hz with GM mics, 100-15,000 Hz with the Sony. The low A on the piano is 27.5 Hz, so with the Sony you are losing the lowest octaves of the music. The Sony is a directional mic. It shuts out noise behind it. Greenmachine's mics are omnidirectional. So if you are recording in a noisy place, the Sony might be more practical. But omni mics are more realistic.

I agree with Skradgee. 50-100 hours of your time--recording in realtime vs. uploading--is worth the price of the MZ-RH1. (You'll also keep your edits if you upload.) You obviously don't need the M200, which is just the RH1 plus a mic, if you can find the RH1. After you're done, you should be able to sell the RH1 for something close to what you paid for it. People still covet them.

You could probably get a direct answer from Sony at http://esupport.sony.com/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=ECM719

Can you elaborate a little more on using the Tascam for both home/studio and concert recording? How are the line-in and mic-in inputs? How convenient is the interface? Have you checked out battery life? Is there any kind of remote control? Andy Warhol wants to know....

OK, I know I'm not gonna dissuade you, but simply removing 15 track marks should take 5 minutes at most. Three or four clicks per track mark. I fully agree that combining tracks on the computer with SonicStage is not the way to go. I live in New York City. When I go to concerts I make track marks during applause, but sometimes I miss the right spot, or the next song intro comes too soon, etc. I can usually fix all the edits--removing track marks, listening to the transitions, adding new ones--on the subway ride home. You don't even have to listen and judge with your recordings--just remove them. So it should be pretty quick. Seriously, try it.

Mic-->Battery box-->Line-in. Use Manual Volume: Disc in, press REC and Pause so the display is blinking, MENU/REC SET/Rec Volume/switch to Manual and set it to about 20/30 (or two-thirds if it's a bar display--I used to have the R700, but I've forgotten). You'll have to do some experimenting because every mic is different. If it's a real headbanger experience, start at 15/30. You have to go into Manual every time you record. It won't hold it as a default. Stupid Sony didn't trust users to set manual volume. Note that when the mic is plugged into the battery box, it's using that battery. So unplug it from the battery box when you're not recording--don't store them connected. LP2 makes decent recordings and they are convenient because you can get more than two hours on a disc without swapping it out and going through the menu again for Manual. I used to use it all the time, but in some cases I regret it. SP, inconvenient as it is, really does sound better--there's more sparkle and richness.

Glad your setup works for you, but it seems rather time-consuming. If I remember, your problem was all the track marks inserted by the unit during line-in recording. You could get rid of them on the unit. Play the recording, Pause after track mark, Then you can upload and convert the whole thing. Just make sure you have SonicStage 3.4 or above, since tracks recombined on the unit made for buggy uploads before that.

If you were to get a flash recorder--I look forward to guitarfxr's report on the Tascam--each student could bring her own flash card, record to it, take it home and put it on her computer. (USB card readers are less than $10 if they don't already have a flash device like a camera or phone.) That would be your instant turnaround. I have a Sansa e260 and the built-in mic recording is dreadful--has a whining sound you can't get rid of. Some old iRiver flash players that you can find on eBay for $50 or less--the IFP-7xx series and the T30 are ones I've used--have built-in microphones to record in mp3. I've used a T30 for interviews and I think it would give you enough fidelity. Gray/silver T30s are 512MB, while the red one is 1GB. You'd have to drag-and-drop it to your computer and have the students bring a USB stick--not quite instant turnaround, but only about 3-5 minutes. Or you could do it another way. There are a lot of free online "locker" services--you upload to them and send a link as an email. Among them are Megaupload, RapidShare, Savefile, Quicksharing, Sendspace and many, many more. At the end of the day you could take the mp3 recordings--from a T30, or converted from your RH1--and upload them and send email links to the students. (They're also very popular for bootlegging whole albums.) Rapidshare and Megaupload, which seem to be the most popular, make the recipient wait 44 seconds to 1.6 minutes and put in a three or four-letter code before the download will go through (in order to sign you up for paid, faster services), and navigation is a little goofy, with the free links buried at the bottom of the page. I like Quicksharing myself. http://s23.quicksharing.com/index.php

The usefulness of Hi-MD Renderer and the File Conversion Tool depend on how you made your recordings. If they are PCM (which is Sony's encrypted .wav), then you might as well convert to .wav with SonicStage, since they are already large files. I suggest doing it in a separate step, rather than converting on uploading, because SonicStage can't always walk and chew gum at the same time. But if they are Hi-SP, Hi-LP or the legacy formats, then File Conversion Tool is useful because it will make those files playable through any SonicStage, not just the one on your computer. (Or through Winamp with the atrac plugin). Since I usually record in Hi-SP, I generally upload and then run File Conversion Tool. Then, if I want to edit the files, I convert them to a high-bitrate mp3 or to .wav with either Hi-MD Renderer or Sony's converters. But in the meantime, I have them in an unencrypted form I'll be able to play back, and it's not taking a lot of hard drive space. Most file conversion software doesn't bother with ATRAC, probably because they would have had to pay Sony for its proprietary format. Hi-MD Renderer doesn't convert, as I understand it. Instead, it does a high-speed playback--a rendering--and records the playback to a different format. Marcnet can correct me if I've got this wrong. Now that Sony is phasing out ATRAC, it would be a lovely gesture if Sony would release its encryption keys. But I'm not holding my breath.

Folks, I'm a minidisc diehard too--heading out to record two shows tonight. But all of us here are very used to the quirks. Upload--convert to .wav--convert to .mp3 is just not as simple as Upload. Built-in mics are simpler than outboard ones, especially with battery modules or attenuators. Also, minidisc plus $50 mic plus $50 battery module plus $75 remote is pricier than the new flash recorders. When you can get a Samson or (presumably) a Tascam for around $200 that lets you just press Record and get the gig, that's what a beginner needs. The Edirol runs on AA, don't know about the other two. Fifty9, what mic are you using? It would be great to have a mic that just plugged into the mic jack and worked for loud music. My guess is that yours is low-sensitivity, has limited bass response (many cardioids only go down to 100 Hz) or both, but I'd love to have it as an option.

Be safe. Play it back with SonicStage and record it in realtime from the soundcard. You can do that with Audacity (free, make the input Stereo Mix) or with Total Recorder (about $20). Audacity records to its own format, .aup, so to save it as a .wav file you have to click Export as .wav under File. Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Total Recorder: http://www.highcriteria.com/ Upgrade your Sonic Stage to 3.4 or 4.2--look in Downloads or get the 4.2 installer from Sony http://sonicstage.connect.com/SS-US.zip or the 3.4 installer here. http://www.savefile.com/files/194995 Then you can re-upload tracks in the future--no more one-upload limit. But you can't re-upload the ones you already transferred in SonicStage 3.0. It may just be that you need more hard drive space--77 minutes will be 770 MB, and SonicStage probably needs more room than that during the conversion. Or you may be hitting a limit on the memory in your computer--are you running other programs at the same time, like email, browser, graphics, etc. But I would just do the realtime method so you are sure you have the copy. Then you can try freeing up resources and converting with SonicStage again.

It's not weight so much as leverage. With no extension cord, you'd plug your mic jack into one end so you have this two-inch lever into the 3/8" jack. Leaving the unit still is fine, but I do a lot of recording with the unit hidden in a pocket, and it's going to wiggle. An extension cord probably wouldn't be bad using it with the MicroTrack either, especially if it's got a less robust jack. I try not to use any compact plug-in plug-out adapters like this one, including mono-to-stereo, headphone splitters, etc. Why put strain on an expensive built-in jack when you can just get a little extension cord? Complaints aside, I'm happy the thing exists. With an extension cord, this would be a serious upgrade to the trusty Radio Shack headphone volume cord as attenuator. And since the Radio Shack gizmos wear out, it's not that much more expensive in the long run.

Buying batteries at a store should be more reliable--you have a place to go back to if there are problems, not just an email address. There's a Sony store at 53d and Madison. Another place is the great gadget store: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ It's closed on Saturdays.