mikey c

Have we reached the point in time for this device to be the RH1 replacement. http://www.minidisco.com/Zoom-H2 Now why didn't Sony think of this? Any thoughts?

So I got one of these back last late June and may have been one of the first of the first few hundred maybe. Kinda curious about that if a sn# shows when. Anyway... I love this thing and would recommend it to anyone that wants to record their own audio. Pricy? Maybe. But when you get it and figure out all the cool things it does and what you can use it for, it can easily justify the cost. I'll use it to record gigs and such with a nice AT822 mic and get wonderful results. I was always one to carry around the old Sony tcs310 recorder back in my youth, having it around to catch stuff esp. in music college at UNT. The RH1 serves a fantastic purpose. And now with the uploading feature working on both pc and mac it simplifies the listening of original recordings by simply burning a cd from Sonic stage or Toast. Heck, I even went out and put a Sony car stereo in my vehicle that plays the atrac files burned to cd (rw). I'll record a whole weekend's worth of gigs and load up a 20 cent cd for nearly 8 hours of stuff to listen to. The legacy thing too is nice. I've got about 90-100 md disks from over the years and now am able to drop them to cd archive. Bummer about the pc and Sonicstage and it's limitations. If only it was more Mac friendly, but that won't happen. And I would kinda wish for a way to convert atrac to mp3 without the need to burn a disk. Oh well. Coming from having some early models, this machine is a blessing. Greg...just do what you were thinking in question 2 and then rip them as mp3 in iTunes. I take them into Sonicstage to tweak or normalize or fragment if needed. And try to do all your combining and dividing in Sonicstage on the pc first (drag).

Wow! So I'm up at my local Sams Club yesterday and saw an Energizer 2x AA usb device for sale at around 30 bucks that will (could?) power the RH1. Is this what we are looking for to supply extra battery power to the RH1 when needed? Designed for USB cel phones (Razr) this thing apparently will supply 3 v. to whatever it is connected to. Really? Is this true and safe to use knowing the 4.5 to 5v needed to charge the unit? Just sharing a find with curiosity, MC

I say we just remove them if they bug us. I think? Gosh it's the only USB cable I own with magnetic rocks on each end. I think I'll keep an eye on this topic to wait to see where this goes. Hmm. (hey faulk, I know of that little town called mckinney, i did my music undergrad in denton-neat area that north texas)

I got mine in the mail today ordered on the 28th. I really wasn't expecting it until next week, go figure. I feel extremely lucky! Wait until you see it!! I think I'll do a stealth recording of me and the Mrs. at the italian restaurant tonite for later upload...(just obsessively kidding). I'll just die if the legacy thing actually works. I've got disks going back many years. In hibernation for the next few days. I may have my trusty mz-m100 for sale too shortly.

I received my unit today one week early to my surprise! Those guys even kindly shipped it 2nd day at no extra charge. Wow go figure. Sound Professional is right. --- This thing is so very cool! I actually got chills taking it out of the box, And boy is it "small". Hey what's up with all those magnet attachments on every single data cable? Is that really something to be concerned with using those still attached? --- Gonna charge it up 3 + hours before use of course and installed all the pc software and will later try it with the mac. Just sharing my excitement with all those who just got theirs. More opinions later. MC

I too ordered from Sound Professionals on June 28th and they called to let me know that I may be receiving a unit from their next shipment on Wednesday the 5th. I'm hoping to see it next week sometime. MC

I placed an order on June 28 from The Sound Professionals and expect to see delivery sometime next week. I was told that the second shipment will arrive Wed. or Thurs. of this week. I kinda liked the $20 off the added microphone deal and picked up a mic type that I didn't already have. I gotta have this machine now! It's just got to be the coolest MD recorder ever. --- For those that have already taken delivery and have played with it a bit, I had a features question? Is it true that the play mode is only selectable from the remote and not the unit's front button controls? (pg. 43-44 of the manual). MC

I found this little thing at Kmart this week on sale for 80 bucks and have been playing with it for a few days. Pretty amazing! The Emerson MP215 MP3 Player http://www.kmart.com/product/index.jsp?pro...rentPage=family I'm sorry, but I am quite impressed that a "toy" this simple and affordable can have the bidirectional features that all of us want and need on HiMD. And ya know we all love MD for what it does so well (myself owning several models for years) but personally I still can't understand why Sony hasn't gotten it together (yea me too I've been waiting since April). Oh, and by the way this little thing works on the OSX Mac flawlessly with no drivers or nothing. I just plugged it in (yes,I have a pc as well-please don't dog me for being a Mac guy, its OSX just simply works great). I'll tell ya, Sony may want to go back to the drawing board and hit us with something better in the next generation. I may simply have to "hang" with my pair of trusty mzr700's with their nice metal bodies. I use them practically every day for all kinds of audio recording stuff.

I was thinking and hoping: could one take an old md blank, reformat it to the new 300mb, use it in the new hi-md for a while, and then take it back to (old)md usage by erasing the disk in the older machine, thus making it reusable in older non hi-md recorders as an 80 minute blank again and again? Wow, am I asking for too much flexibility here? Boy I would really be dissapointed if once the 80 minute md blank was formatted to hi-md, it couldn't be taken back (after erasing of course) and always had to be used in hi-md modes. Does this make any sense to anybody, or am I dreaming? Hey how about that as a project for the guy out there that just got his new 600. I'd really like to know if this is a possibility. I would really be impressed. It would be a real drag to have an assortment of disks that forever only work in hi-md machines and can't be taken backwards (via erase disk of course). I already have nearly a hundred reusable blanks. By the way non have ever failed. --- Another thing that was on my mind... I think I read rumor on the board that the new 700 will not be available here in the states? Is this a truism? Funny that my old rz700 was available and bought at B Buy and it would be kind of a drag to have to purchase the 800 with that silly remote radio thingy if not really needed. I remember reading some past reviews of similar models with the radio remote that didn't favor well because of poor reception quality. I have lots of crappy reception radios around and with a simple 1/8 mini to 1/8 mini, I have flexibility to record off the radio via headphone out to line in. That is more than the new hi-md's will apparanty do (no recording from radio). Hmm...

Ya know, for as long as I have had these units, one of my biggest dissapointments was when my R50 battery wouldn't charge anymore. It almost rendered that model useless as a portable device. It now remains tethered to my home stereo rig mostly because of the darn gum battery I was so happy when the R700 ( I sure hope I see the new HI-MD R700 here in the US, it's almost perfect) was able to use a standard AA battery. That AA battery case thing on the back of the R50 never did work well for me either. It just never attached tightly enough (cheezy) and seemed to make the unit hard (clumzy) to handle. I can't tell you the unsuccessful times I tried to get that thing into concerts with the AA battery pack. That stupid gum battery only held an hour charge and took overnight to recharge...and...well...it was just too crazy and unreliable to deal with. Now, with a simple AA loaded (2100 mah Panasonic rechargable) it "never" goes dead. I can't believe somtimes I'll swear to get 8-10 hours recording (LP4). Plus, in my pants pocket ('cause I'm paranoid) I may carry a AA backup that will get me thru. My point: If I could buy a replacement gum battery at Walgreens in the middle of the night, when I needed it, for 50 cents, I would trust it. By the way, how much are those gum replacements anyway? So what, that the new (old) models using AA have a hump on the back (unless you simply need the advantage of the thinner units). Now, if the new 900 has a usable pitch/ half speed function (as a musician I use this for transcribing) I may consider. But that darn gum battery... Mikey P.S. Did I read somewhere about a Cheryl Crow concert on an airplane today, or is that put off as well?

In the topic of "what were they at Sony Design thinking", why are there no mic/line inputs on these latest models!!! I can't possibly imagine owning an audio recorder that duh...doesn't record audio (thru line in and mic in). You can't tell me that everybody uses these for Net-MD downloading and ripping mp3 audio from computer and that it actually works well. Hell, do an iPod and be done with it. (I am proudly both a Mac and PC user). You know, I can't tell you the times that someone has seen my very usable mzr 700 and actually hasn't even a clue as to what it is and does. Hell, when I plug in the mic, they really get confused. I'm actually tired of explaining it. Are my friends that ignorant, or is the MD just not advertised as it should be. Try this...pay a visit to Target,Walmart, Best Buy, or Circuit City and pull a unit off the shelf and take it to the clerk at the counter and start asking questions. You will invariably get nothing from them and in most cases they will appear to be clueless. Pity. Hell, sometimes at night before bed, I load up the cd changer and fill my MD while I sleep. No computer ripping needed. It really doesn't get any simpler than that. (anybody remember cassette recording as a child of the late 60's)? And as a musician for over 30 years, this thing goes with me everywhere either checking out tunes (5.33 hours per disk), or recording our gigs and shows easily. Are we to expect that Sony considers leaving off uesful features a good thing? You can't tell me that they didn't "think" of these things during R & D. 1) why no mic or even in some cases line inputs? This is very dissapointing!!! 2) poor advertising and promotion. I'll bet half the worlds' musicians and/ or music loving consumers either could use one, or want one. Sony just doesn't explain enough of what these MD's can do. 3) and I almost forgot to mention, why no vcr like timer recording feature which would be incredibly useful. Hell, it's even on the ICD-B10 recorder (by the way they took off the timer start and stop feature on the newer 10 hour recording models...Jesus)!!! Am I (we) gonna have to look to another manufacturer to get what we want? Why do I seem to find Sony always building an almost perfect machine? Am I to picky? Mikey C P.S. I was one of the lucky ones that aquired a new mzr 700 (my backup model) discovered from Target being blown out at $62 back some time ago in 2002. I couldn't believe my luck as I only stopped in for shampoo and toothpaste. Of course, again, the clerk didn't know what it was, but I never the less snatched it from her (them) and excitedly went about my way confident of my good deal.

am I silly to want one of the new models the day it releases even though I already own several? Am I alone out there? I don't know about you guys, but I use mine every day for a lot of different things. --- Has anybody noted the ballpark price of the new coming R700 ? I'd lean to the 900, except that darn gum battery has me worried; finding it more convenient to use a replaceable/rechargable AA for good reason. MC

I sent this comment to N.Y. Times writer KEN BELSON in response to his article posted today. Relating to your April 19th article of the Sony Minidisk and its unpopularity here in the US, you failed (as many do) to recognize a very important feature present on 85% of all MD recorders. Many of us for years have been using these cleverly designed devices because of their ability to record live audio through their own built in microphone input. Supply an optional stereo microphone and enjoy the luxury of recording up to 5.3 hours of stereo on-location recording. A simple 1/8 inch stereo line in is also present to record from any audio source in real time. This device is simply the cassette recorder replacement of the new age (remember how cool and convenient that was)? Yea we know high speed MP3 downloading is an advantage bla, bla, bla… But this device is just plain useful beyond simple comparative explanation. It’s a pity that Sony doesn’t market its potential better. For musicians like myself, the mic-in feature alone makes MD worth twice the price (anybody remember the Sony portable DAT recorder at $800, microphone extra). Do we (music lovers) need to alert everyone about the new Hi-MD models coming around the corner that will increase the recording time to a measly 30 hours plus (on removable disks by the way) with nearly a half a dozen switchable fidelity options? Even if I possessed the last MD recorder on the planet, I still would have nearly 100 blank reusable disks (non have failed in 6 years) to record with until the MD unit eventually frys. P.S. I may even have the unit placed in my casket (recording in LP4 mode) when I am laid to rest. Sincerely, Michael Carosello