ocszay

thanks for the advice. go with sony hi-md, even though on a mac i won't be able to use what's most useful about it? i must admit, the idea of recording on md in uncompressed format is pretty appealing. thanks for the help.

thanks for the essential wisdom of these forums. i've spent some time reading this collection of thoughts, and also some of the more technical information on the minidisc community sites. but since things change, i must beg forgiveness in asking which to buy... i've had a sony mz-r37 for about 5 years and have never had a problem. however, a lost screw on the door hinge, some recent problems responding to human commands, and the like, have made me realized that this very swell piece of audio equipment may be passing into the technological night. i've used it to record ambient sound, lectures, literary and arts events, and more. i've recorded hundred if not thousands of hours of recording and this little device has served me well. besides the issue with manual recording control (on the fly), i've been happy with what it's done and how it's done it since i'm on a mac, i guess i'm going going to be able to use the HI-MD on this go-around (please correct me if that's turned out not to be true), so i'm wondering if i should go with a sharp, or what. my concerns are as follows: audio fidelity need mic in and line out all things equal, i'm tempted by the fact that the sharp units can adjust recording volume on the fly don't really care for net-md functions, since i'm on a mac and won't be using it for music or anything like that anyhow. my budget is pretty flexible. i'm happy to spend more if i thought it was going to be a durable product...like my trusty r37, which i've dropped unprotected probably a dozen times...are the sharp 420s really made like the "sony plastic"? i would hope that my lucky 100 dollar investment in my r37 five years ago could be repeated, even if at at what seems to be drastic inflationary rates. am i correct to interpret the lack of basic functionality is the going trend in MD? (the near-elimination of mic-inputs, etc.) it seems odd to me that there would be no "anthropologist's and birder's edition" anyhow-- i guess my question is whether to go with the sharp 420 model or something else??? please advise... & thanks for all the help you've already provided!