A440

Unless you really want interchangeable tips--which to me means a tip that's going to get lost sooner or later--this charger on Ebay works with the RH1 and appears to be the same as the Gomadic but with a permanent mini-USB tip for the Motorola Razr or RH1. http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Motorola-L6-PEBL-U...tem290038525366

You can change the IFP firmware to drag-and-drop--UMS--but doing so lowers the maximum bitrate on recording to something ridiculously low, 96kbps. The processor is just no match for the MD. A T30 has become my main listening unit, and its built-in mic is surprisingly good for voice recording--I use it for backup while my good mics are plugged into my MD. But I just wouldn't trust it for music. And while navigating on MD units is by no means intuitive, the little iRiver players are completely cryptic. Four to six alternating button pushes to switch albums? Jeez. Don't know why, but iRiver fans are a lot happier being tweakers than MD users are.

Welcome to the minidisc sphere. At least one member here has a signature announcing "podcasts with minidisc," so you're not alone. I think the reason MD isn't the podcaster's obvious first choice is that before Hi-MD--that is, for more than a decade of the minidisc's existence--Sony ignored the obvious idea that people wanted to get their recordings off the minidisc after they were made. Lots of other recorders came along in the meantime that would let you transfer your digital recordings easily to your computer. By the time Sony finally woke up--providing not only uploading but .wav recording--minidisc had already endured a decade of bad word-of-mouth. Uploading with SonicStage was also iffy until version 3.2, further driving people away. And Sony is only now getting around to Mac compatibility. I don't think the learning curve is as steep with MD as it was with your Iriver (I have a 799). Minidisc recorders have level meters, for one thing. And once you get used to the hardware--like pressing two buttons at once to record--and set the defaults the way you want them, the unit almost makes sense (except for the annoyance of setting manual volume on everything but the RH1). Uploading to SonicStage and uploading to Iriver Music Manager are almost equally easy/inconvenient, and the once-notorious SonicStage has become relatively user-friendly. I'm very fond of my NHF800, which has taken considerable use and abuse over the last two years. There's a Live Recording FAQ here, though it's dedicated mostly to music. Voice recording is straightforward: just press Rec/Play and let it record. Anything else that strikes you will get a fairly quick response here. For a one-step conversion to .mp3 for files you have uploaded to My Library--instead of converting to .wav and then reconverting to .mp3--there's Hi-MDRenderer. Get it from Downloads (upper left here), and check out the info in the Software FAQ. I've tried to use the Iriver as a music recorder via Line-in, with exactly the same mic and battery module as my MD, and the results are just sad. For hi-fi, the MD is just plain superior. So when people compliment you on the sound quality of your podcasts, you can either tell them you're an equipment nonconformist or just look smug.

There are always greenmachine's small stereo omni mics. Have your students build a mount for them. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=14388 http://www.geocities.com/greenmachine_audio/ http://www.geocities.com/greenmachine_audio/de-mic.html

People have complained about the (un)reliability of the RH10, and you are paying a premium for the unit's display. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=16703 You can get all the basics of MD recording with the MZ-NH700, which can be found at minidisc canada and probably other places online for about $150. And if you want the top of the line, the MZ-RH1 is a great little machine. CDs, yes, assuming they play on regular CD players. Audiobooks, probably, but you will have to see what kind of file and, if they are mp3, what bitrate they use--they may need an additional step of conversion.

Here's yet another digital recording device. Records to SD Flash, takes built-in mics or external XLR (professional mics) with phantom (not plug-in) power, and records to stereo or four-track. Drag and drop, of course. $299 list price, plus you'd obviously need a 2GB SD card for about $60. http://www.samash.com/catalog/showitem.asp...AffiliateID=615 It looks vaguely like some el cheapo knockoff of Sony's super-expensive recorder with the built-in mics. http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/...;source=froogle It seems too new for any extensive reviews. Personally, I don't see the need for built-in mics--adding bulk, limiting flexibility--but obviously other people like them. I'll be very curious to see some user reviews of this as it gets around.

Your needs are so specific you really should consult a microphone seller. Call up Sound Professionals and ask them about it. The same mic capsules that Sound Pros uses for the binaurals are also in the BMC-2, and you could simply attach them to something you could whip out. That would probably be the most economical solution. You could attach a pair of those, or even their smaller binaural mics, to a pair of glasses or sunglasses and be always ready. For 2 and 3 you definitely want cardioid. You might also want something with a more limited frequency response than the full 20-20,000 Hz--perhaps something specifically designed for voice. The vocal mic you often see rock singers use onstage is the Shure SM58. http://www.shure.com/ProAudio/Products/Wir...SM58-CN_content I don't know how compatible it is with the MD, though--probably needs an adaptor for the plug, and some kind of power. It's widely available at musicians' stores like Guitar Center, and you could call one of those for more advice.

I hope you mean SP2. There is no SP3. Don't worry about Scannow if you have a whole new Windows. Something is getting in the way of SonicStage working. You need to try and figure out what that is. Do you have any skinning software, like Windowblinds? You need to turn it off for SonicStage to work. Is the Windows Firewall automatically on? Get offline and turn it off. What antivirus are you using? If you press CTRL-ALT-DELETE all together--just once--Task Manager should pop up. Look at Applications and see if something unexpected is running. Also look at Processes, which will be a long list. If you can't figure out what they are, use Google to find out by typing in the filename, like wmiprvse.exe (which is part of Windows, not part of your problem).

Why? Because Sony wants to save money and space on the unit and not build in a separate jack. The headphone setting lets you adjust the volume and use various EQ settings, so you can customize how your playback sounds through your headphones. If there is a "Line-Out" setting in the menu, it puts the volume on max and removes the EQ--that's because it expects you to adjust the volume and EQ on your stereo. But it's all just firmware. There is no difference between Line-Out, if that setting is in the unit, and turning the volume to maximum and removing EQ. You can play any unit through your stereo. You can play it with your headphone settings if you want, and adjust the volume on the unit. But if you were using a different EQ on your headphones, Line-out would sound different.

Because SonicStage has loosened up a bit on DRM, you have other options. Take a look at this, particularly option 3. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=16088 Those would be your own recordings. I'm not sure what the status is for recordings you have ripped. So run the Backup Tool and make a backup that way, too, but this backup should also work. As far as I know--which is not definitive--the backup tool needs to connect to the internet when restoring, not when making the backup, and I would think that if it didn't demand a connect while backing up. it didn't need to. Just make sure you're online when you restore.

There is a limit on the total number of characters on the disc, so maybe you have reached it. Try shortening some names, abbreviating some artist or album names, etc.

Yes, the RM-MC40ELK works with the NHF800. They make a great pair. For just a backlit remote, without the level meter, I just confirmed that the RM-MC38EL will also work. You can use it to un-Pause and start recording, and you can also add Track marks during recording by pressing P-Mode, same as with the RM-MC40ELK. Others probably will work too. As Wayward Traveller says, using a remote does add a glitch of static during quiet Mic-in recordings each time it lights. This isn't a problem for me with Line-in, because the glitch is relatively quiet, and I only set track marks during applause. You can find the RM-MC38EL pretty cheaply on Ebay. Backlit remotes have EL in the name, electroluminescent. K is for Kanji, Japanese/Chinese character display. There is not a Record start button on any remote. You have to start recording on the unit and (except for RH1) go through menus with recording Paused to set Manual Volume, essential for music. Then leave it Paused until you want to start recording. However, there's enough battery life in the NHF800 so that you can let it sit on Pause, hidden in your pocket, for quite a long time before you hit Pause on the remote to start recording. I use Sound Professionals BMC-2, less than the size of a jellybean, and a Microphone Madness Mini Classic battery module, the size of a car-alarm remote, which provides 9 volts, much more power than a battery operated mic that only has a 1.5V battery. Excellent sound through Line-in. And King Ghidora, if you want to list http://www.taperssection.com or http://www.archive.org or any other recording website, go ahead. Nothing exclusive here.

It sounds like you have a problem with Windows, especially if you are using a bootleg (non-Genuine) copy. Try this. Start/Run and type in cmd and press Enter. A black window will pop up. Type in sfc/scannow and hit Enter. SFC is System File Checker. It will scan all your Windows files--it will take a while--and fix problems if it finds them. It may not do anything for you. Other than that, all I can suggest is installing a genuine copy of Windows. Aren't you having any problems with any other programs besides SonicStage?

You might want to post a question in the Hi-MD Renderer forum. http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showforum=102

Is it possible that you have too many security programs running at once? How about if you disconnect from the Internet and turn off each security program--firewall, spyware, antivirus--one at a time, and try to run SonicStage each time. Maybe the firewall in particular is not letting a SonicStage component load.

I don't hear hiss with Line-in. But I haven't done serious A/B testing, which would try four variations: Mic-in and Line-in without remote and Mic-in and Line-in with remote. As far as I can tell, the remote adds noise only when it lights up. No steady hiss. If the hiss varies with your mics, then I think it must be the mics--no mic is entirely silent. You could try switching the unit from High to Low Sensitivity, assuming you can still get enough signal with what you're recording, because High makes things a little hissy. I couldn't tell you whether it's amplifying mic noise or adding preamp noise. And yes, exactly, leaving it on hold keeps the remote silent (and switching it to Hold doesn't make any noise). I think lighting the remote adds a certain small amount of noise that is amplified considerably more through Mic-in. With Line-in, it's so low that even with relatively quiet music I don't hear my track marking, with or without applause to mask it.

Don't let your bad experience with the H140 confuse things too much. The H140 wasn't made for what you wanted to do. Because the Line-in input doesn't have a preamp, it was as if you were recording from 10 times as far away as you were sitting. When you played back your H140 recordings, your microphone signal was only a tiny part of what you were amplifying when you played it back--like a tiny person in the corner of a giant painting. With a mic-in jack or preamp, your microphone signal will be the main part of what you are recording, in the foreground. A unit with a real mic input, whether it's the Iriver IFP 799 or a minidisc unit, will work for you. At least it will record the sound where you are sitting, and if you have a decent microphone then it will pick up the lecture as you heard it. There are a lot of different kinds of noise in your problem as you describe it. One is the ambient noise in the lecture room itself, where the lecturer sounds so quiet. No mic or preamp is going to cure that, although a directional mic might help. You will get a clearer, louder recording but the room noise will still be there. The cure for that is to get closer to the lecturer or closer to a speaker. Two is the noise introduced by the gain of your recorder. That CAN be cured, either by getting a unit with a real mic input or by getting a preamp. A sensitive mic and a preamp will let you get a recording with far less gain from the recorder. Three is noise introduced by your microphone. That is unavoidable, but probably very minor. Microphone noise should not be louder than your lecturer, or you wouldn't be able to hear the lecture with your own ears. It only becomes a factor when it is hugely amplified. I use the same kinds of microphones as the ones in the SP-PASM2, and they aren't noisy. Four is noise introduced by the preamp. Compared to the others, this is probably undetectable. All those S/N ratios--85, 92, 115--are extremely high. A difference of 85 decibels is the difference between silence and a vacuum cleaner up close. http://www.glenbrook.k12.il.us/GBSSCI/PHYS...und/u11l2b.html What, actually, are you hearing in that classroom? Is the lecturer really just barely detectable at the threshold of hearing, like a distant bird? I doubt it, because you managed to get some level even through the line-in of the H140. Is there a lot of other noise in the classroom? Does rustling paper or the sound of people taking notes drown out the lecture? Or can you make out what the professor is saying pretty clearly? A microphone, with or without preamp, is going to pick up the sound where it is placed. A directional (also called cardioid) microphone pointed at the lecturer will help eliminate sound behind you. But if the lecturer really is quieter than the noise around where you are sitting, then the microphone is going to pick up the same noise. Get closer, or closer to a speaker. If you really want to get a microphone and preamp, I think a better combination would be a cardioid microphone and a separate preamp. The Sound Professionals combination unit is omnidirectional and will pick up sound all around it. If you face one mic toward the professor, the other mic is going to be picking up everything behind you. If you face them to the sides, then you're going to be getting the sound all around the room rather than the one sound you want. And please don't put your microphone on the floor. Try listening with your head near the floor--it sounds terrible, muffled by all the desks and people in between you and the lecturer. You need to put your microphone up near where your ears are. Seriously, I still think you should consider a little Iriver T30. It's the size of a lipstick and you could probably ask someone in the front row if you could just leave it on their desk and pick it up after the lecture. Second choice would be a minidisc unit plus cardioid microphone--search for a MZ-NH700, which would only cost you as much as a decent preamp. Third choice: preamp plus cardioid mic plus H140. But that's a lot of gadgets to be carrying around. As for preamps: I had the Boost Box and sold it. It is a weird, bulky design with a long, heavy curly cable (like a wired telephone handset cord) that just gets in the way everywhere. Sound Pros are much better designed, and they have better specifications too. If you are determined to get a preamp, get one from Sound Professionals.

There's no radio remote that lights up. But other Sony remotes work with the NHF800. The RM-MC40ELK remote will definitely light up its backlight with the MZ-NHF800. It's great for stealth recording, too, since you can see recording level and make track marks with it. But yeah, it's pricey. Other backlit remotes may also work with the NHF800, but I won't be able to get my hands on one to try it for a few days. Does anyone else know? In the meantime, you have an excellent recording unit, especially if you run through a battery module and Line-in. Tool is very, very uptight about recording. You were probably wise not to bring the unit with you, because Tool's own security might actually know what an MD is. But in general you can depend on the ignorance of security guys. More than once I have gotten into a show when my MD is detected by pulling it out of my pocket, showing it to the security guard and saying, Oh, yeah, that's my mp3 player. As greenmachine has pointed out, it looks like a cheesy plastic toy. Of course, my little Sound Professionals BMC-2 mics stay well hidden under my shirt. I may post a Tool recording I recently made with my NHF800. I didn't trackmark that one during the show--just let it roll through the whole set with the unit and remote concealed. How I got it in....well, some things have to remain a mystery.

I'm surprised you're getting hiss. When I use the RM-MC40ELK during recording, there's a burst of static whenever it lights--that is, whenever I check levels, make a track or change a setting. Otherwise it's quiet. So I only fiddle with it during applause. Steady background hiss could be coming from the mic, or from the preamp straining to boost a very quiet signal, or from a bad connection in the remote. If yours is giving you hiss, couldn't you just do without it in the classroom, and use the controls on the recorder? Also, you could try reducing background hiss afterward with editing software. Audacity has noise reduction, and so do more professional programs. It needs a little stretch of the noise alone, and then will remove it from the recording. Sometimes it helps a lot; sometimes it sounds horrible. Hiss can also be reduced with a Low Pass filter: set it above, oh, 10000 HZ (or even lower: 7000? 5000?) and see if that gets rid of it.

A little lapel mic is great way to make people feel comfortable, and since it's up close to the person's face it won't pick up a lot of extraneous noise. Make sure that if you get a lapel mic that it has a stereo plug, with two bands around the jack like your stereo headphone plug. One band is mono, and will just record in the left channel. Don't go crazy on an expensive lapel mic unless you need ultimate sound quality for broadcast or something like that. A decent mic into your mic jack will give you very clear sound. Radio news reporters often use minidisc. In the United States, look at http://www.soundprofessionals.com for mics. I use their very small, very basic BMC-2 for nearly everything--clipped to a collar, they pick up speech beautifully. In Europe, your best bet is probably getting our own Greenmachine's tiny mics: it's also a pair of stereo mics, so you can clip them both to someone's lapel side by side. Look at the Affordable Mics post near the top of Live Recording. Group is very useful. With Group on, each time you start recording (or after pushing Stop from your previous session), it puts the new batch of recordings into a new folder. The RH1 will have more menu options, but you'll probably just have to set them once or perhaps not at all: the defaults should be fine for interview recording. Most of the defaults on the MZ-N707 (except AVLS and Beep) are also good for voice recording, but since yours is secondhand, someone may have fiddled with them. Take 15 minutes to click through all the menus, turn Off anything that doesn't make sense, and you'll probably be fine. There are manuals for all the units here if you need to consult them: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Manuals.html

Uh, when you press what? If you're having database problems you should use the tool that usually fixes the database. Did you get it from a trusted site? Was it called CSRepair.exe and the size was 279KB ? Have you ever run an antivirus scan on your computer? It might be a good idea. http://www.trendmicro.com/hc_intro/default.asp

I don't know why you can't download it. You have to log in again, but then it should be easy to download. Maybe you have javascript blocked on your browser, or your ISP doesn't want you to download .exe files for fear of viruses. Anyway, I sent it to you in a PM.

RH710 does have Line-in but not Mic-In. NH600 also has Line-in but not Mic-in, NH600D does not have line-in. Other NH* and RH* units have both line-in and mic-in. Anything with a D in the name only Downloads from the computer--like the minidisc version of an Ipod. Anything beginning with a MZ-E is a player only, which just plays discs made on other units. Get a Hi-MD (MZ-NH or RH) so you can upload the recordings to your computer as file transfers.

Have you tried the MDAC Repair Tool from Downloads? Or possibly reinstalling all of MDAC from your Windows disc or from Microsoft, if you can figure out what they're talking about? http://msdn.microsoft.com/data/learning/MDAC/

Iriver H120 and H140 (20 and 40 GB) have Line and Optical inputs (and outputs). You could get one of those and use a battery box for music recording with mics. I've seen the H120 (without a remote) for about $130 shipped on eBay. You'd need to install the Rockbox open-source firmware. It allows .wav recording with files up to 2GB, and automatically starts a new file after that.