A440

Take a look at the other thread. http://www.bhphoto.com has a huge selection, including the MZ-RH1 and lots of mics, and some of the lowest prices. Not open from Friday at sunset through Saturday.

Take a serious look at the Nady CM25 as well as the (more expensive) mic it was modeled after, the Audio Technica AT 822. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...oughType=search http://www.zzounds.com/item--AUTAT822 The mic plug in your computer is probably the same as the minidisc--a miniplug. Some computers have a mono plug, though, rather than a stereo one. For serious home recording you may need a mixer, which takes microphone inputs and mixes them, but they are not very expensive. But it's possible, if your computer has a good input, that you could just record direclty into the computer. There is a basic but useful free computer recording progam called Audacity. Try it. http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

You might see what kind of reaction the Samson Zoom H2 flash recorder gets from users. It was supposed to appear this month but now seems delayed until August. http://homerecording.about.com/od/newprodu...m_h2_review.htm http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...&sku=480163 Otherwise, Minidisc Access still has the MZ-NH700. http://www.minidiscaccess.com/generic76.html And of course the MZ-RH1 is available. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4415...3_Minidisc.html

Or just plug in your headphones to the mic jack and flick each headphone with your fingers. Headphones act like weak microphones, so you can use them to test the mic jack.

The top-quality Hi-MD recorder is the RH1. The NH700 is less expensive, thicker, uglier and slightly more inconvenient for settings than the MZ-RH1. It will record at the same quality. But at this point it is harder to find the NH700 anywhere but online. Your friend can get the MZ-RH1 easily at BH Photo. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4415...3_Minidisc.html There is a cluster of professional musicians' stores on 48th Street in Manhattan. Your friend should visit one--Sam Ash, perhaps--and ask them specifically about a microphone for an opera singer with pianist. It should have a miniplug connection to go into the MZ-RH1--not just the XLR used for professional microphones. They may have a recommendation. You need to decide whether you want a mono mic or a stereo one. I would tend to go for a stereo one for more richness and realism. You will want to get a microphone with a full frequency range: 20-20,000 Hz. Many Sony microphones, which are most widely available but not necessarily the best, only cover 100-18,000 Hz and will not capture the lowest notes of a piano. There are many, many microphone choices from under $100 to thousands of dollars, so you're going to have to narrow down your budget and think about your recording situation. Many high-quality microphones require a separate power supply, called Phantom Power, 48V. The minidisc supplies what is called Plug-in power, which is much less, 1.5 volts, so don't confuse those. Some microphones get their power from their own batteries as part of the mic. You might look at this mic, the Nady CM-25, which has been highly recommended by one of the minidisc users on this forum, King Ghidora. Search these forums and elsewhere for more information about it. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Nad...-Mic?sku=275558 Another highly recommended mic in many places is the Rode NT1A. But that is a mono microphone, not stereo--made for recording studios. The Rode NT4 is a stereo microphone, studio quality. It comes with an XLR-to-miniplug adapter. But it's pricey.... http://www.rodemic.com/?pagename=Products&product=NT4

You can still find new Hi-MD units online. For the price you would pay for an old, limited N10 or N1, you can get the MZ-NH700, which may not look as cool but does a whole lot of more useful things: uploading, recording in PCM, recording 8 hours on a 1GB disc in Hi-SP. If you have to have an aesthetically pleasing unit, there's the MZ-RH1. http://www.minidiscaccess.com/generic76.html http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4415...3_Minidisc.html

I've never opened a RM-MC40ELK because once I opened an extremely basic Sonic CD remote: play, stop, pause, forward, reverse, no display. One screw held it together. And when I opened it, small parts and springs--what do you think is behind the buttons?-- unraveled and it was kaput. Unless you are a technician I don't recommend you toy with anything as complex as the RM-MC40ELK.

That's the MZ-R700. I had one myself. That green color was pretty scary, but it worked well.

Sure you're not thinking of the MZ-R700? No mention of MDLP on the browser page or, on a quick glance, in the user manual. http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-R70.html It's supposed to be similar to the MZ-R90, and a closeup of that recorder here doesn't show the MDLP logo. http://www.minidisc.org/brian_youn/r90831.html I had always thought that the old two-digit units were SP-only and the three-digit units (MZ-R700, MZ-R900) were the first MDLP units. Either way, it's an oldie. Hi-MD is the way to go.

Spend a little more--$189 plus shipping--and get a Hi-MD unit, the MZ-NH700. Unlike the units you list, Hi-MD lets you upload recordings to your PC. None of those units you list will do that. Hi-MD also records in CD-quality PCM (same as .wav) or Hi-SP, which puts nearly 8 hours of very good quality recording on a 1GB disc. http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553220 The units you list are all old units. The R70 is SP only--maximum of 80 minutes on a disc. Also you have no guarantee of what condition they are in. Since you had an MD, you are used to making realtime recordings out of your headphone jack--but wouldn't you like to save all that time and get better quality?

Any AA-shaped battery will work, and the higher the capacity is the better. If you were using disposable AA batteries they would be in the same mAh range. I don't know if you can fully recharge the 2500 mAh batteries in the unit--I always use an external charger.

I use the NH700 during day-long festival recordings with no problems. I use it precisely for the AA battery. If you're used to recording in SP and were happy with that sound, Hi-SP shouldn't sound much different. Listen to my album or some of the others in the Gallery--I think it sounds fine for live music. Traders, IMHO, are insane. There isn't one in 100 of them who could actually distinguish Hi-SP from PCM in a genuine blind test, and he would have to ask his dog. But they're going to look at the format before they listen, so they will think they hear some horrible difference. Check their required specifications before they flame you. You can record the full 8 hours of Hi-SP on a disc with one Duracell (Ultra if you want to be extra careful). Maybe your 1800 mAh battery was running down. Throw out that 700 mAh battery, or use it for playback at home--that's just Sony being cheesy. Get either the highest-capacity rechargeable you can--they claim to be up to 2500 mAh--or put in Duracells. (I have tried both Duracells and Energizers, and while Energizers run nearly full and then stop suddenly, Duracells run down slowly and hang in there, which I prefer.) For rechargeables, I like Powerizer, even though they're no-name batteries, and I have had bad results with Energizer rechargeables, which seem to run out awfully quickly and stop taking a charge very early. http://www.batteryspace.com/index.asp?Page...&ProdID=245 You can't save Manual Volume or other settings on the MZ-NH700. Sony only fixed that on the MZ-RH1. And you're going to need to upload to a PC unless you can emulate Windows on the Mac.

No one needs WinNMD any more. Get Hi-MD Renderer, which does the EXACT SAME THING FOR FREE. Use the MD Recorder function. http://forums.minidisc.org/downloads/details.php?file=3

It depends how big your collection of MDs is and how much music you already have stuck on MD via SonicStage. Since you already have three units, they are likely to last you a very long time. The RH1 looks cool and sounds good. But compared to flash mp3 players in its price range, like the Sansa Sandisk E200 series at half the price, the MZ-RH1 is bulkier, holds less music (though of course discs are swappable), is harder to read and is less convenient than drag-and-drop mp3. The 8GB one is $178 from here--http://www.thenerds.net/index.php?page=esearch&keyword=sansa&action=Query&p=3 and lower capacity is even cheaper; do you really need more than 4GB? As a bonus, it's not an iPod (and I played it side-by-side with a Nano, and it sounds better). Personally, I would not get another minidisc unit just as a player, particularly when you already have enough to last. I also have the feeling my own RH-1 will be my last minidisc recorder. By the time I wear it out, there will undoubtedly be a flash recorder that works better and doesn't have SonicStage encryption hassles.

You're right--it's definitely the sensitivity. The Sony spec I could find online is probably -47dB (though they left out the - sign). The lower sensitivity BMC-1 is -42 and the high-sensitivity BMC-1, if you got those, is -35. Since the numbers are negative, -35 is higher sensitivity than -47. And those are very big differences in sensitivity, so the signal you get is louder. The recordings sound bass-heavy to you because you're not used to it. You were recording in the past with a mic that has a lower-frequency limit of 100 Hz. Now you're actually getting the bass that was in the room, which is a big part of RHCP songs--otherwise Flea wouldn't have a job. With this recording, you're on the edge of distortion with the bass, so yes, try a slightly lower level next time. If you're going directly into mic-in, I assume you are already using Low Sensitivity (as you should) but you might think about getting a battery module (to record through Line-in) or an attenuator (to go through Mic-in). One reason Sony's consumer mics "for minidisc" only go down to 100 Hz is that the mic preamps in minidisc units can't handle much bass, so the mic just eliminates it going in. Now you're getting a more accurate recording. Give it away now....

What are you playing back? Ripped CDs? Microphone recordings?

Trying to make sense of your original post.....If you are trying to upload music on a minidisc to your computer from the NE410, just forget it. It can't be done. The connection from PC to all of the NetMD units is one-way only, from PC to MD. It's in the hardware. The only units that upload from MD to PC are Hi-MD units, and most of them only upload their own new formats: Hi-SP, Hi-LP, PCM. The only unit that will upload the formats used on your NE410 is the MZ-RH1. And if you are trying to upload something that you originally downloaded from a CD via SonicStage, even the MZ-RH1 won't upload those tracks. Your NE410 doesn't play mp3 files. It plays ATRAC files, which is why you have to go through SonicStage, which converts other files to ATRAC. Nero won't help. You can find your manual on this page. http://www.minidisc.org/manuals/sony/sony_mzne410_manual.pdf

I'm sorry to break the bad news but.... For the moment, say goodbye to them. You were supposed to use the Backup Tool before formatting the drive--which slowly makes a backup that would be restored from the newly installed SonicStage after it checked something online. But now the files are encrypted and locked to your disappeared operating system. Only Sony knows how they are encrypted, and it's not telling anyone. Save the files, on a disc or something, in case sanity ever returns to Sony, but don't hold your breath. In future, after you upload something, immediately run the File Conversion Tool (under Tools in SonicStage) and uncheck the box that says Add Copy Protection. That will convert the .oma files into unencrypted files that will play in any SonicStage. If the File Conversion Tool had been used, the .oma files that you saved would have been fine. This has happened to huge numbers of people, because Sony doesn't exactly make it easy to find out about this particular "feature" of SonicStage. It's one reason for the slow death of minidisc. Apparently Sony doesn't care.

The MZ-N510 has only a line-in jack, not a mic jack. That means there is no plug-in power going to the mic and no preamp behind it to amplify the tiny signal from a microphone. You need to give it a line-strength signal--perhaps out of a guitar amp or a stereo. A pocket preamp would cost you nearly as much as a new, and much more useful, Hi-MD unit. For loud stuff a battery module might be enough, depending on the sensitivity of your microphone. http://www.microphonemadness.com/products/mmcbmminminc.htm

You might want to try http://www.atraclife.com

Whoa, look at the size of that thing! Not exactly stealthy. What do they have inside there, lunch? http://www.gearwire.com/media/fostexfr2le.mov

With SonicStage on a PC, everything goes into My Library as its original quality. Then you can Convert to .wav, which preserves whatever the original quality was--including PCM. Or you can use Marcnet's Hi-MD Renderer to convert anything in My Library to .mp3, .ogg, or other formats. But PCM recordings never get compressed.

Sony is under the impression that anyone making an optical recording of anything is a bootlegger. This is what happens when an equipment manufacturer also owns record labels and a film studio. Guitarfxr, are you sure that PCM gets converted to ATRAC? As far as I know, those are supposed to be uncompressed uploads. It's encrypted when it's PCM and then unencrypted to .wav--no quality loss.

To check your mics' output, record them with your computer. Download Audacity, http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows Install it, open it, make sure the mic jack is the input, plug in your mic and push the record button. Raise the record level (next to the little picture of the mic) and you should be able to get a nice thick waveform. Are you sure you have the input set correctly on the Iriver? There's probably a choice between external mic, line-in and internal mic. If you're trying to record the small signal of an external mic as a line-in source, you're not going to get much. There's a very nice Iriver board that could help you solve your problem. http://www.misticriver.net/forums.php

I don't know what caused the static--it hasn't happened to me. I always use track mark during applause at shows and have never had that problem. You might contact Sony ( http://esupport.sony.com ) and ask them. It is, unfortunately, possible that the RH10 is wearing out after two years. The way to copy your good track digitally is to use Total Recorder, which costs about $20. Standard Edition is all you need. http://www.highcriteria.com/ It's still realtime. Total Recorder will capture what's coming through the soundcard, so you could hook up the RH10 on the USB, play back the track through SonicStage and record with Total Recorder. It depends on the quality of your computer's Line-in input whether the cost of Total Recorder is worth it to you. Mic-in might be mono.... If the static tracks are separate tracks, deleting them should not cause any additional problems--in theory. But since the disc is already giving you trouble, you should make a safety recording in realtime before you delete them anyway. MD recordings are not separate Windows files. Sony's stupid encryption throws them all into the big ATDATAxx.HMA folder that Explorer should see on the disc. If Explorer isn't seeing the disc at all, make sure SonicStage is closed and, perhaps, try a different USB cord--they're standard PDA/camera cords.