BJ

I use the homebrew binaural mic listed in minidisc.org's "Construction Projects" page. I'm usually buried in the crowd somewhere, so I'm already not getting the best sound (even though that mic is amazing). I just record in LP2 and it sounds great. If I had the chance to plug in to the sound board, I'd use SP, no question. But for crowd recording, LP is fine. For one concert, my brother brought his MZ-R37 and a nice Sony mic (he shelled out about $90 for it) and I brought my MZ-R900 and my homebrew mic ($5) and recorded in LP2. We brought them back to his place, played both recordings on his (high end!) stereo, and agreed the recordings were almost identical. Of course, I got a little more of the show recorded, since he had to switch discs. :wink:

I'd also say Sony's MZ-R900 is worth looking up. I love mine to bits. It meets all your criteria and much more.

I actually took the thing apart to hammer out a couple of dents in the case, so it was without battery for half an hour and still saved its settings. Impressive! One of these days I'll find a cheap remote for it. Thanks for the info, though--you never know when it may come in handy. :wink:

Any MD with good skip protection should do it. Sony's G-Protection is pretty slick. You'll just need a cassette adapter (one of those dummy cassettes attached to a headphone cable) to use in your head unit.

I counted myself lucky to get mine for $80. Yours was a steal. The 505 is a brilliant little machine.

I'm listening to my JVC XM-R70 right now, so here we go! It's a solid unit, all aluminum casing, nice big 2-line display and a basic package of features (standard play modes, etc). It records beautifully and doesn't seem to give off much mechanical noise at all unless you're switching tracks or at the TOC read/update. Nice stuff: - the jog dial on the side of the unit is great! - big ol' display is informative and easy to see (not backlit, though--don't be fooled!) - controls are intuitive and easy to figure out - built very well Weird stuff: - the jog dial is ONLY used for titling--not track selection - only one bass setting--it's good and clear, but REALLY bass-y - play modes/bass setting only changed with the remote, not on the main unit :x - when titling, the unit saves title data, then resets to the first track - after power down, the unit starts playing the track at the beginning instead of picking up in the middle where it left off. Overall, the JVC is a VERY well made machine with a couple quirks that took me by surprise. Great sound, so-so volume (its output is the lowest of all my portables) and decent battery life. I got this one used off eBay, and it looks as though the previous owner crushed it under something--there were two rather deep dents/gouges in the top (which I hammered out) and a cracked plastic piece near the jog dial--and the unit has yet to give me any problems at all. If you're going to be doing field recording, you might want a machine that allows you to adjust the record volume while it records, and I think only the Sharps do that (I haven't tried on the JVC yet). I've had amazing luck with my Sharp MD-MS702 (the precurser to the 722), so you might be pleased with that model. If you want a solid machine with many bells and whistles, I hate to say it, but you might want to go for a Sony MZ-R900. I got mine two years ago, and I still grin like a moron when I use it. It's great machine, and you can probably find one pretty cheap these days. The 900 still won't let you adjust recording level while recording, however. Hope I was helpful.

Well all right then.

Congratulations! That's a cool idea--sounds like one of those slap-on-the-forehead moments. The last time I had one of those was a couple weeks ago. They host the world's largest trivia contest here (54 straight hours of trivia questions broadcast on the local college radio station--we placed 134th this year out of over 500). Two of the trivia questions consist of 8 snippets of songs strung together that you have to decipher and identify by artist/title. It's tougher than it sounds; just when you think you've got one, the next starts and you've lost it. With my MD, we were able to record the music questions, divide up each snippet into its 8 elements and loop each one whilst we figured out what it was. :oops: ....well....I thought it was cool. I'll just go away now.

I have over 1000 CDs (a modest number, I'm finding out) and treat them all with kid gloves--and yet some of my favourite, most expensive discs get mysterious, crippling SCRATCHES in them! It's not FAIR! Now, I have tons of MDs as well, and I treat them all like crap--they rattle around in pockets, backpacks, my car, the floor, sofa cushions, etc. I've cracked the cases on a few of them, played catch across a room full of tables, dropped them in mud puddles...you get the idea. I have yet to have an MD fail on me. These things ROCK. An MD won't disintigrate as quickly as flash memory or a HD-based player (Andy's right--I'd rather buy a series of $2 MDs than replace a $300 HD when it crashes). What MDs have that CDs don't: editability. I listen to music constantly, and of course I'll get sick of songs from time to time. On MD, I just delete the old song and add a new one. We had MD in the house years before I bought a CD burner, and it took a while to explain to my girlfriend that she couldn't just replace a song on one of her CD mixes like she can on her MDs--she had to do the whole disc over. Her words: "Well, that's LAME!" :wink: Everything else I want to say has been covered. Last thoughts: I do have an RCA Kazoo MP3 player, and I do enjoy it. But I hear more artifacts on that thing than I care to experience, no matter how I encode my MP3s. I use it enough to buy one with more memory, but when I was at the store, money in hand to buy it, I saw the MZ-N505 for the same amount and chose it instead. I'm thrilled with my decision. The restrictions Sony placed on Net MD are trifling and pretty easy to work around (though USB upload would be nice). If MDs ever go the way of Beta, I'm buying as many blanks as I can find, and I'll use my machines until they turn to dust.

I was under the impression that the machines that use the LR6 (AA) type battery completely power down after 15 minutes or so once the unit is turned off. You would lose your manual recording levels. However, given the battery life of the 707, why not just keep it on rec/pause, ready to go during the recording session? No band is going to hit the stage for more than 5 hours (unless you're recording Phish or someone). And if it comes to that, keep a few extra batteries and swap 'em during breaks.

I'd say the Sony MZ-R900 or the N909 if they'll swing it. Otherwise, why not the N707? It's NetMD, but it has all the other bells and whistles as well.

If you need to try a Koss headphone, all the Radio Shack 'phones are manufactured by Koss (so they really ARE the same thing) and I believe Radio Shack have many of their headphones open so you can try 'em out. Personally, I can't use 'buds--they just don't stay in my ears. I usually use either the (sadly discontinued) Koss SportaPro foldables--they fold up pretty nicely, have rich bass and very crisp highs. I also like the Radio Shack Pro35 (Koss)--brilliant sound that will not distort under high volume. I just wish Koss would stop installing those stupid inline volume/mute buttons on their higher end headphones. Here's another question to add to the pile: I'm interested in the noise-dampening headphones on the market. They're supposed to cut down on outside noise from aeroplanes and cars (I MUST havemy MD with me when I travel), but how does that affect the sound? And do these 'phones even sound good at all?

Devilbunny's got it right. Get yourself a male-male 3.5mm stereo miniplug cable, plug one end into the headphone jack of your MD and the other into the line input jack on your computer's sound card, and use your favourite software to record the playing MD. That's how I get my vinyl transferred--works rather well.

I think the only way to do it is to make an analogue copy. Any digital copy won't work. Analogue might be a realtime process, and it may not be a pristine copy, but it still sounds pretty darn good.

Also, I think the 56 hours refers to playing (under those lab conditions) at LP4--so if all you listen to are SP discs, you won't get the advertised battery life. I never kept track of the battery life on my 505--I just figure if I can go a week or more of normal use without recharging (which I can!) then I'm happy. Sad--it doesn't take much to make me happy.

The 500 doesn't accept a remote, but the 505 does (even though the 505 ALSO doesn't come with one). If I remember right, the 500 is the only LP machine that wasn't designed for a remote--I hate to say it, but you might be screwed! Keep an eye out, though. Now that Sony's introduced some new models, the old stuff (the 505, & 707) should get a little cheaper. A remote (even used on Ebay) will set you back about $45+, so you might just as well upgrade.

I have an ancient Sony NH-DM2AA battery (nimh) in my 505, and it works just fine. The power rating is 1.2V 1400mAh. It seems to work just fine, recharges in the player, etc. I bought it used and I've been using it quite a bit for the past three years. I'd say go for nimh--they're heartier and they don't have a memory like nicd.

You can't fix the eject on the Orion? Might be cheaper. The only deck I own (or have ever owned) is a Sharp MD-R3. It will edit OpenMG's protected tracks, but it won't play LP2/4 tracks. And I certainly would NOT recommend it--this machine is a lemon if there ever was one. Mine works fine most of the time, but I've heard nothing but horror stories from everybody who has ever owned one (the block is extremely touchy and will misalign at the slightest jostle--like during shipping). Having said that, maybe you can find one super-cheap on eBay. :roll:

Is this possible? I got a JVC XM-R70--a brick, but a really nice machine--but no inline remote control. The instruction book says to adjust the bass and play modes with the remote...so am I screwed? I usually listen to MDs randomised, and JVC's ACBass is a little heavy for running through my car stereo (it's on now all the time). Is it at ALL possible to change the bass/play settings from the main unit? I know this isn't a real popular machine, but I thought I'd ask just in case.

If you "check out" a track through Open MG, it can only be erased/edited through Open MG, otherwise it's protected. That's why I use Simple Burner whenever I possibly can--I do like the option to edit on the go.

Go to: http://www.minidisc.org/part_hacking.html#...uction_Projects and check out the section on TOC cloning (it's like the 5th item on the list). I don't know if a non-LP recorder will clone an LP TOC, but it's worth a shot. Don't record over that MD--the data is still there and is recoverable. You won't get your track marks, but you'll get the rest.

MD is just like a CD as far as how it plays--you can randomise the disc, skip tracks, and (unlike the CD) delete a track if you don't like it and record something else it its place! The 510 is newer, but I'd agree with the previous post: the 710 gives you more features you might find handy, even if it's just fine tuning the sound instead of relying on Bass1 or Bass2 presets.

I only have one LP4 disc, and that's only so I could fit 5 Henry Rollins spoken word discs on it for travel. Spoken word sounds fine. Music sounds fragile, even in my car, so I wouldn't recommend it. Otherwise, I use LP2 for almost everything else. The quality is pretty decent. BUT. If I get used to listening to an LP2 recording, then switch off and go back to the original CD, even without a side by side comparison I notice the difference. It's like someone pulled the cotton out of my ears. So: SP - great sound; use it for archives or quiet listening on nice headphones. LP2 - very very good sound--fine for headphones and bombing around LP4 - speech only, as music tends to sound weak and brittle. Of course, for someone used to MP3s, LP4 will sound fantastic. (sorry, I couldn't resist the jab)

I seem to remember reading somewhere that the 700 doesn't have a clock. If it did (also from somewhere), I think the power shuts totally off to conserve the AA battery, where it doesn't in the 900, so the clock would reset to 12:00 each time anyway. My guess is that the 700 probably uses the 900's (or another) LCD.

I've had good luck with Sony, TDK, Axia, Denon (my fave) and Maxell. Bad luck with Hi-Space and Memorex, due to cheap casings (both sometimes get stuck in my players because the shutter gets warped) and some read issues on the Hi-Space discs. As for sound quality, it's all pretty much the same.