md-max

Just had a read of the small print in the manual. page 19: Make sure not to operate the recorder while charging the rechargeable battery even if the recorder is connected to AC power adapter. The operation may stop. Badly written but I assume they mean the operation of charging it rather than the operation of you operating it (eg playing a MD). In which case - BUGG*R! Aw, come on Sony, how hard can it be? Every other piece of electronic equipment in the world manages to charge up and operate at the same time. What's the problem?

Hmmm I wonder how we find out? (I'm hoping that it IS charging, just not telling us that it's doing so, in this situation... Seems stupid if it doesn't!)

If my MD is plugged into the mains and I'm playing a disc, is the battery charging at the same time? The battery indicator isn't present at all. If I press CHG so that it starts charging and then put in a disc and start playing it, does that make any difference? (My old dead Sharp one started charging the moment you plugged it into the mains and carried on charging while playing discs - you could see the little bars on the battery filling up nicely.)

"why-o-why didn´t he get a Hi-md for chrismas ?" Hee hee maybe we should start a fund, all chip in a fiver, and buy him one, eh?

My dreams last night included a minidisc player. Horrible big fat thick ugly thing. Urgh. I don't think it was actually a real MD model. Not sure quite what my subconscious was saying - I think my NH900 is lovely! (Well, the title said 'off topic'!...)

Sorry Michael1980, no idea about bit rates but here's the list of radio stations on freeview: http://www.freeview.co.uk/whatson/radio.html I don't have Sky so don't know what you've got on that (or more importantly, what particular stations you listen to!)

My sister in Japan reckons she's found packs of 3 for £10 (that's $19 or 2000 yen). Now that's more like it! We wait to see if they're for real!... (If it is, I should get her to bring over a suitcase-full sometime and stick 'em on ebay, eh?)

UK readers: digital-e now has the 1Gb discs for £4.79 (if you buy 25!) First time I've seen 'em under £5. But byte-for-byte they're not going to be worth it until they are more like £3... http://www.digital-e-uk.com/d-e/products.pl BTW this is a good retailer in my experience - I've bought lots of discs off them and never any problems, always speedy and prices seem good to me.

I'll get an extension lead. Don't fancy cutting holes in every t-shirt I own!

Do you find DAB significantly better than FM? I've never bothered getting a DAB receiver - heard too many people moaning that they're not all they're cracked up to be. Why not Radio 3?

Thanks, I wondered whether this might be the case. I'll try it out, but it sounds like basically the answer is to leave my NH900 permanently set to Hi-SP (saves all that fiddling about).

Three questions... 1. If I record from FM radio, is there any advantage in quality by using Hi-SP over Hi-LP? Would PCM make a noticeable difference or is it not worth it, given the quality of the source material? 2. Would I get a better quality recording if I used the audio out from my cable TV box (which I can get radio stations on) instead of FM radio? 3. The BBC offers a huge number of programmes on its website 'listen again' service. With a headphone socket on my PC I can easily record them to minidisc to listen to when it's convenient to me. It can sit there recording all day at work - hurrah for broadband! Does anyone know what sort of quality they would be? [edit - aha! if I maximise the radio player window, it says 44kbps - but I have to confess to not really understanding what that means, relative to other audio signals... hmmm and if I open the programme in the BBC radio player instead of realplayer then it shows a higher number, which varies but seems to settle at around 60] I am assuming this is significantly worse than FM / cable. Would Hi-LP be good enough to 'match' the quality that I will be getting, or does it not work like that? Should I always use Hi-SP over Hi-LP (and accept smaller recording time per disc)because I'll get a better result regardless of the input quality? Hope this makes sense. I'm confused by having too many options!

One of the reasons I chose my NH900 over the NH1 (apart from the price!) was that it has an AA battery pack, so wherever I am (even doing field recordings overseas in places without reliable electricity, from time to time; or out and about in the UK and not near a mains electrical socket to recharge) I can always use any old AA battery. That's a huge advantage in my book! And of course this site has a comparison - have you checked it already? http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-NH900.html

Since I got my Hi-MD unit a month or so back, I've been using Hi-SP - the quality sounds perfectly OK to my ears and just over 2 hours of music (using old 80 min discs) somehow 'feels' about right. At the risk of opening a can of worms - why bother with PCM, which would greatly reduce the amount of music? And isn't Hi-LP just terrible quality? My experience from years of all sorts of recording, initially on cassette (remember those?) and then years of (now sadly dead) Sharp MD, is that as long as the quality isn't absolutely terrible then your ears very quickly get used to whatever you're listing to and it (deep breath!) doesn't really matter that it's not the maximum possible quality. Come on, disagree with me!

So the unit will record and play fine without it but removing it might mess up other nearby equipment, yes? Hmmm I guess I ought to leave it on, as I often record things from the radio... Thanks

I have a lovely pretty new NH900 (and keep telling myself not to be sad and that I really don't need MP3 capability!). The cable from my remote to the (Sony-supplied) headphones is short so I can't clip it to my belt like my old Sharp one. I usually wear t-shirts rather than shirts with buttons. So where can I clip my remote control? Where do you clip yours?

Rather bulky and ugly but it was already on the remote control cable of my NH900 when I got it so I left well alone. But would it matter if I took it off?

I've just received a Sony armband case (they call it CD3) - £5 from amazon.co.uk and will let you know how I get on with it. First reactions (I've got an NH900) - Fits nicely. But doesn't fit with the extra AA battery case attached. Grr. Needs to go in sideways or upside down so that the headphone plug comes out in an appropriate direction. Looks least silly with the remote cable tucked into the case, leaving just the remote sticking out (and lying on top of the case). Feels like a tournequet and will take some getting used to but overall hmmm not too bad. As for the pocket in the flap that is supposedly big enough for a spare disc... well it is, but only without the case and even then, only just... As I say, I'll let you know how I get on!

Bought 5 because it seemed like a good idea. Then worked out that at current UK prices, 80 min discs are far cheaper per min of music / per Mb. But have just realised with delight that (using Hi-SP, which sounds perfectly OK to my ears) I can record the whole of this Sunday's 8hour Radio 3 World Music Day (their funny definiting of a day doesn't start until lunchtime) - on one disc - which means I can leave my MD hooked up to the radio (or better still the cable tv box - must remember to set the right channel!) all afternoon while I'm out and I don't have to fret about changing discs - hooray for 1Gb discs!

Um ... huh? If I push the pause then it pauses (and doesn't switch off after a few seconds) - even if I put the hold on straight away. Yes I do have a remote. I'll just have to get used to using that instead. Hang on a sec... Aha! just testing theses suggestions now I've discovered that pause then cancel (on the unit) DOES switch it off after a few seconds. That's useful. Hooray!

Ah, silly me. Clearly need to pay more attention in future, eh?! Cheers

MZ-NH900 (yes it's me again) Again is this a problem others have noticed? When I press the stop button it starts playing the next track instead. And I've had this problem over and over. What am I doing wrong?

MZ-NH900 Is anyone else having this problem? I plug in the charger but it doesn't start charging, even if I leave it alone for a while to notice that it's plugged in. I eventually managed to wake it up by putting in a disc, playing it then stopping it. Hmmm.

That's deeply scary. You say it's a fault of using HiSP and HiLP modes on 1Gb discs an 80 min discs. So have you found a mode that's safe? I've not yet had problems but I've not used my player that much yet for editing...

(erm what's CDDA?) Yes going direct from player to recorder would be lovely but the whole reason I got the new one was because the old one had died. Sigh...