Blu-Wav

Note that GP now make suitable 1450mAH Ni-MH prismatic batteries - see: http://www.tantronics.co.uk/acatalog/Porta..._Batteries.html Also, mAH is not a measure of current (amperage) but of capacity. Just as an alkaline AA may be used in conjunction with the internal battery, a rechargeable Ni-MH AA may also be used, and capacities up to 2500mAH are currently available. If recording on to a 1GB disc in PCM mode a fully charged 2500mAH AA battery combined with even the standard 900mAH internal battery should allow over two hours of continuous recording. The standard 900mAH battery offers about 5/8ths of the maximum capacity currently available (1450mAH), but then again 5/8ths of a 2500mAH Ni-MH AA is around 1600mAHs, and 1300, 1800 and 2000mAH Ni-MH AAs are still common (at lower prices than 2500mAH batteries, not surprisingly). At least we're not stuck with the early 350mAH Ni-Cd AAs...

Hi! Fidelity ... note that the playback sound quality of the 900 is much better when using a 1.25V 2350mAH external AA Ni-MH battery in conjunction with the internal gumstick (whether 900, 1350 or 1400 mAH). Vital Statistics For the 900, with 2350 + 1400 mAH I'm getting over 50@64kbps, 36@256kbps and 26@1411kbps (hours of playback). For the Record Now that the batteries are run in, I'm getting over 2 hours with 3750mAH recording in pcm (1411kbps) mode, but if Hi-MD supported lossless compression like Apple and others (down to around 700kbps with true CD quality) I would expect over 3 hours recording from a single charge and 3 hours capacity on a single 1GB disc - great for a concert or nice compilation. Nothing to Lose Lossless would also support nearly an hour on a standard "80 minute" minidisc formatted for Hi-MD - i.e. easily enough to copy most CDs exactly for portable use on a "60, 74 or 80 minute" minidisc - and I've seen Sony/Maxell/TDK minidiscs going for less than 50 pence. Charge of the Heavy Brigade ... but if you want to get the maximum playback/recording duration out of your high capacity Ni-MHs it's important to use an "intelligent" charger which fully charges them, rather than one which charges for a set number of hours and then switches to trickle charging. I use one with a built-in fan to keep the batteries cool, and which can charge 2350mAH Ni-MHs from flat in less than four hours (I know you can get chargers that can do it in an hour, or even 15 minutes with specially designed batteries, but I find four hours fast enough for my needs at the moment)