MZ-1

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. The remote was probably "glowing in the dark". The silver color probably didn't help, either. I never track mark at a concert and try to keep both hands free as much as possible. At least the security were willing to work with you. What was your location? Up front? Floor? I try to keep everything as low as possible to let surrounding bodies hide any actions needed and try not to look down, if at all avoidable. Paul

If I recall, the mecanical noise is the result of a battery-saving method. The MZ-1 was pretty quiet during recording but it was an incredible battery hog. Paul

The MZ-1 is incredibly bulky by today's standards but it has: 1. The mentioned optical output 2. Mechanical switch for mic AGC on/off 3. Mechanical adjustment for manual mic gain 4. *Strong* headphone output 5. Backlit display Working rechargeable batteries are near impossible to find now. The titiling functions are a bit primitive and limted as well. If stealthiness is not needed (and batteries are working) it would still be decent recorder, in my view, to take to clubs as it is very easy to use. Paul

Whoops! The MZ-RH10 with OLED. ;-) I have several of the Sony "10" portables and I get all mixed up: D-NE10, SRF-M10, MZ-N10. Add the MZ-RH10 and I'm sunk... Haven't taken the RH10 out to a concert/club yet but I'm eager to try. Over the years I've recorded on MD: in-store appearances, outdoor concerts and recording soundchecks by holding the microphone up to cracks in the venue's doors -- not the best sound but really interesting to listen to as many of the songs are not performed in concert. Can't imagine going to a show without an MD now. I do have one disheartening story. On the way to a Johnny Cash concert some years ago, I managed to sneak everything in but the &!@!*& microphone. I left it in the car -- couldn't believe it. What could I do? I enjoyed the show. Mr. Cash then died and that was it. I've been kicking myself ever since. That was the only and *last* time that ever happened. Paul

Bit of history here: I used the Enegizer Lithium AA batteries in the Sony MZ-R3 for a number of years for concert recordings. The R3 had relatively high current draw and I could easily record a complete concert without fears of running out of battery power. The original Ni-MH batteries were rated at 1100mah, if I recall. The R3 now uses the 2500mah Ni-MH. At the time though, those Lithiums were very much welcome (and light in weight!). Expensive little boogers though. Paul

Regulated power supplies have some advantages: 1. Reduces hum while listening 2. Constant voltage up to the rated current draw. *Unregulated* AC adapters are rated for a particular voltage and current. With enough current draw the voltage drops to the specified voltage and all is OK. If the unit does not draw enough current, the voltage may remain higher than the unit can handle, causing failure. The newer switching power supplies can accomplish the above (with much less weight), unfortunately most switching power supplies are RF trash generators and can interfere with radio reception -- especially when used in conjunction with a radio. Paul

Recording an acoustic "sit-down" concert some years ago, the MZ-R3 generated some mechanical noise picked up by the mic. In first listening to it I kept thinking what is that noise? A camera? I had always listened to the R3 with headphones and really wasn't concious of the mechanical noise that player generated. The solution was to keep the recorder and mic separated as far apart as possible. The mechanical noise from the MZ-NH10 reminds me of the MZ-R3. Paul

Great experiences! Things are a bit tougher now. For a little bit of my early MD live recording experiences, read on... MZ-1 era: Concerts: Preparation. Sony MZ-1, Sony ECM one-point stereo microphone, three MZ-1 battery bricks, three blank MDs (60 then 74 mins). Make sure the Ni-Cd batteries were freshly reconditioned, the time stamp clock had the proper time. One MD and battery was then preloaded in the player. Back in the early 90's with the MZ-1 the idea was the "overall presentation" -- dark clothes, don't look like a taper (no wires hanging out) and don't look guilty (make eye contact with the ticket takers and smile). I wore slightly oversized clothes. Everything went into pockets and didn't look too bulky. I'm surprised the MZ-1 didn't look like a brick swinging around in my pants pocket but it didn't -- maybe the rounded edges helped. A big challenge was going through the turnstiles and not banging the recorder into anything -- a little sideways twist while moving foward did the trick. Ah! Inside. The next hurdle was connecting the microphone. This was done while seated. The microphone was retrieve and connected while looking "normal" and not to draw attention to myself by looking "busy" with something. Ushers were always a challenge -- luckilly they usually seemed preoccupied with patrons. The recording process. Two and one-half hours of mayhem: The first disc would record smoothly, just slide the "Rec" switch a few seconds before concert start. I wore dark clothes and both the MZ-1 and microphone were Sony's very dark brown/black. No problems there. I could hold the mic chest high and no one noticed. Had to keep an eye on the watch. One battery per disc was the rule, otherwise it would be too complicated to keep track of the unsynchronized MD/battery and too many breaks would occur. Unused batteries and discs in one pocket, spent discs and batteries in the other. Had to choose breaks carefully to maximize disc time (MD blanks were $12USD, then) and battery time. When the time came - stop (writing the TOC seemed to take forever), eject the disc (motorized loading/unloading), slide out the battery, dump in pocket, load battery, load disc, slide "REC" switch. Thank goodness for the switchable AGC and manual recording gain on this unit. All accomplished in a few seconds -- kind of like a race car, pit stop. Given the limited disc/battery time, one had to be mindful of timing encores properly. Cleanup. After the show, the lights go up and everything was hastily put away, with the last discs and battery remaining in the unit. Exit was easy. Clubs: Clubs were another world. Without a doubt, my best recordings were in clubs. No stealthiness needed. I would simply ask the musician and the answer was always "Yes". Armed with that permission I could ideally place myself and microphone. While some clubs had better sound than others, there was one restaurant/club that would yield incredible results -- excellent stereo separation and tonal balance. In fact, recordings in this same club turned out so well, they were used as bonus tracks in a Japanese CD release of this artitst's music. The MZ-1 would get lots of attention and between sets it was always fun to explain it and give a quick demonstration. Other recollections: MZ-R3 era. Two big plusses and a big minus. One big plus was the dramatic decrease in size. Bulky by today's standards, the MZ-R3 was about the size and thickness of two packs of cards. Another big plus was the battery management. Regular AA batteries. While R3's drain was still quite high, using a pair of fresh *Lithium* photo AA batteries would give enough juice to last a concert and then some. They weren't cheap but high capacity Ni-MH weren't offered (I think the originals were 1100mah). The "big minus" was, to everyone's chagrin ever since, the introduction of the default AGC setting. After so many years, and no real change obviously this is some sort of "evil plan". While the disc changing was helped by not having the battery change step, navigating the (non-backlit) R3 in the dark to get to manual record mode was a *royal pain*. Still, some nice concert recordings were made with this unit and club recordings (despite the AGC) were quite managable. Aiwa AM-F70: Whew! This was one slick little recorder. Smaller still, no battery problems, configurable manual gain. Sneaking this little jewel in was a breeze. Recording shows with this unit was a joy. It also sounded pretty great also. In my view one of the last, great, pre-LP portable recorders. Disc swapping is still a bit of a problem (as always) but much more manageable. I had lots of fun with this unit. Conclusion, Despite the rough conditions all the players have held up remarkably well -- never a mechanical failure. I still have all these units and all work flawlessly. All the recordings still play -- even in the newly acquired MZ-NH10. The NH10 offers some intriguing possibilities: No battery or disc swap (Hi-SP) PCM recording (disc swap) Set the evil Sony manual gain only once (Hi-SP) I think I'm going to miss the removal of the time stamp feature in the NH10. It's kind of fun to see the date and time of a recording -- brings back some memories. Paul

You should have seen the setups at a "Page/Plant" concert when they had the "taper's section" -- huge poles with multiple mikes proably a good 15-20ft (6m) in the air. Incredible. Paul

The USB "charging" is not intended for a full charge though a partially drained battery could be "topped off". The manual explains this on page 62. Paul

The MZ-RH10 reminds me of the sounds the MZ-R3 makes -- occasional searching as if it's storing up data then dumping it, then repeating. Keep the microphone away! Paul

Just to note: I have one of the units with a SN after the ones mentioned on the Sony site with the letter problem. Occasionally: 1. see the search menu when changing volume 2. Fast Forward will drop out of that mode 3. Track skip needs an additional press to work None if it has gotten annoying but there does seem to be *somthing* about the control firmware. Paul

No offense here! The CS10 does have its limitations and to get good separation it needs to be up close. Still, I am surprised by the sonic results (Sony spec's the mic at 50Hz - 16kHz) and it passed a pat down check. So, I sort of feel lucky with it! Some years ago, I built and tried the separate microphone method and while the sonic results were quite good it just seemed too cumbersome and conspicuous with the wires. It sort of took away from the concert experience. Maybe I'll try a build another pair. With the CS10 -- it's clip and pretty much forget. Paul

Yes it does make sense. Noise exists in the digital as well as analog domain. Amplifiers produce noise - even the digital ones. Paul

Hello, I use a Sony ECM-CS10 business stereo microphone for live recording and it works for me very well. 1. <<<--- STEREO --->>> 2. Incredibly small. 3. Small clip can double as a stand, clever design. 4. Cord is nylon covered and is very durable. 5. Decent sound, in my view. 6. Not too expensive (less than $50USD). 7. Metal construction. 8. Can use power from the recorder. Paul

My recently purchased MZ-RH10 has a "crystal blue" in it -- kept it in the shrinkwrap. The first HiMD discs look like the first generation Sony 60 & 74 min MD -- gray/black and opaque. Glad to see some color come out. Paul

I find that background hiss is dependant upon the device and the sensitivity of headphones/earbuds. High sensitivity will produce a louder sound but at the expense of making everything (including background hiss) louder. For example, using a Sony SRF-M97 (miniature radio) I hear a constant hiss when using Sennheiser MX-500 earbuds. When using the Sennheiser PX-100 headphones in the same unit, there is no hiss. The Sennheiser PX-100 are spec'ed as less sensitive. The likely reason why no hiss is heard when changing tracks is that manufacturers typically activate a muting circuit when performing operations such as changing tracks (or in a radio, changing stations or presets). Without the muting circuit one might hear little clicks, chirps, or squeals as some sort of operation is being performed. Paul

I too was surprised about the quality of the ATRAC 3Plus at 64K. I really expected something horrible and, to me, it wasn't. Not without it's faults to be sure but I could listen to it and not just think "yuck" all the time. Paul

Novus Plastic Polish. Three-step plastic polish system. used it to remove a scratch on the MZ-1's display. Paul

I haen't had to try it on the RH10 but there is a product called Novus and it is a three-step polishing process made especially for plastic. I have used it to polish out a scratch in my old MZ-1's display. Generally, it polishes plastic very well and I normally use it to polish out scratches on old transistor radios. Paul

Video and higher capacity would seem to natural avenues of progression. It can be done -- look at UMD. Paul

I don't think the format is dying either. However, I do find it almost impossible to find the Hi-MD blanks for sale, locally. Players, no problem, discs -- where are they? Paul