hettingr

I have spent several years recording LOTS of live music with a Sony MZR50 (silver). At some point it developed mechanical problems, so I looked for a replacement, and was appalled that the new model doesn't have a 'LINE OUT'. Then I look online and everyone is crying the blues that there is no digital out. (I agree, I wish there was. And I would love to find Mac software to work with the digital files and the recorder). HOWEVER...... The earphone port on the new blue Sony functions as a line out. I attach a mini stereo cable (from Radio Shack) to the earphone out, the other end to iMic, which is attached to the USB port on my imac (there is no line in on my imac, can you believe it?). I edit in Sound Studio, which makes .wav and other files. I then drop them to CD's or use itunes to convert them to mp3 to send in email. It's not too complicated. You can edit files directly on the recorder if you just want to keep them on minidisk. I've had mine set on LP4 (5+hours per disk) and haven't had a reason to change it back, so there's scads of room. This is more than acceptable for the work I do. I lost 6 months of time because I didn't realize that the earphone port can be audio out...DUH. Cheers, maggie hettinger PS. Looking at the equipment, be aware that you also need a powered microphone to complete your system. (uses batteries)