KJ_Palmer

I believe ATRAC only applies to material on a recorded minidisc. So you should, in effect be listening to a 'pure' signal converted to analogue through the unit's DAC.

Well, yes, LP2 is surprising good, especially for portable use. Even with decks it's very acceptable, although the differences become more obvious. If you're planning on archiving material, eg. master copies or live recordings, I'd still go for SP mode, but for those portable mixes, LP2 is hard to beat.

Personally, I use an external charger - a Varta Trio charger. I can charge up to 4 batteries at a go, so never run out of juice (helpful on busy mornings to avoid missing that train). I can use higher capacity NiMHs (2000mAh). OK, they'll probably charge in the N707, but I don't want to take the chance. Saves wear and tear on my N707 DC input. OK, scraping the barrel here...

The difference is more in the quality of the casing than the disks themselves and quality of recording. A cheap Memorex for example will sound exactly the same, say as a more expensive TDK or Sony. But having bought a few of the former, they seem more likely to break, or the shutters fall off or get stuck in a player, or let in dust etc. I've seen a few cracks in some older cheaper disk casings, and while they seem to play fine, it's a slight worry about their ultimate longevity. I mostly use the cheaper ones I have now for throwaway recordings.

Yes, it looks like you've run into the dreaded SCMS of digital recording. You're always all right with analogue recording, of course...

There might be some variation between different machines. On my portable MZ-R500, 254 'tracks' are created, each about one second long. The resulting sound is recognisable as bits of the original track, but highly garbled or blurred. Totally useless. My deck just flashes the words 'Cannot Copy' and remains in pause, but least it doesn't pretend to record...

In my opinion, I don't think the B100 would be ideal for this kind of live recording. It's basically designed for ease of use, ie. one-touch recording, built in mic/speakers etc. but lacks some recording versatility, and some other "standard" features. You can't manually set the recording level - it only uses automatic gain control. The built in mic and voice synching is fine for interviewing, but for music you'd really need an external mic, to avoid picking up motor noise, and for better quality music recording. It's also a bit pricy, though that might not be a worry. You may be better off with another portable recorder. Don't get me wrong - I love my B100 to bits, but wouldn't use it for serious music recording, it's not really designed for that.

I was (am?) a bit confused by this too. From the manual I assume that after the 65 mins "pre-charge" and all the lights/remote go off, there's another 2.5 hours to go before it's 100% charged. I've done this every time and it seems to be OK.

Hi chuchichan. Yes I own the G750, and have it with me right now. I like the size, it's not as tiny as the newer models (I have the E10), but it's still darn small. I don't really notice it in my pocket Being AA powered it has the dreaded 'battery hump', but that's not a problem for me. The AM reception is also very good and clear. Overall it's an excellent unit.

Don't worry, you won't hurt the disk. I always try record right up to the end, and there's never any distortion or mixing effects. My current record is 75 tracks in LP4 mode. Use that space!

Well, I haven't got a real brand preference, anything goes really: TDK (MD-C80YEA, RXG, XSiv), Sony Color series, Maxell XL-II 80. Haven't had a dud yet! I think the cheapest disks from Memorex etc are best avoided due to their slightly shoddy build quality (of the case), though I have some of these for temporary recording and they seem fine. The material for the disks themselves seems standard, and I believe there's no actual difference in recording quality between makes, depsite the claims.

The R500 doen't have a remote input slot, so you can't use one with this.

I've got minidiscs recorded over 5 years ago, and they all still play perfectly, without a blip, and I've reused discs plenty of times... Maybe let you know in 25 years or so. I'd say, keep your discs dust free, in their covers, treat them well and they'll (probably) last a lifetime.

The G750 is a great, solid and reiable unit, a fine representative of its generation . The FM tuner is really very good. OK you can't record from it, but that's what my home system is for! I've hacked it up to an MZ-R900 (http://www.minidisc.org/mzr700_to_mzr900.html) which has improved the sound quite a bit (with the treble/bass settings) and added a whole bag of 'advanced' features. Even without the hack, I'd highly recommend the G750.

If you get an MD deck with optical output (Sony MDS-JE780, JB980 etc)you can record your MDs digitally onto CDR/W, as long as you have the right connections on your PC or CD recorder. All in realtime, at the moment there's no upload facility in the MD world...

But you can transfer from MD to CD-R (or any other format), I do it all the time. What you can't do is faster than real-time uploading onto a PC. Furthermore, if you don't have a deck with optical out you're stuck with analogue 'transfer' from MD, but that still yields very good results. I'd say MD would be very useful for your purposes, if you can live with the initial real-time transfer.

The MZ-N710 seems to be the direct successor to the N707.

Any cheap stereo (or mono) mike will do. The plug in power types are probably most suitable, eg. electret condensers or dynamics. It will need a 3.5mm input jack.

You need an optical cable, if your console has digital out, or a stereo line lead. SP always gives the best recordings under any circumstances, LP4 the worst. LP2 is a very good compromise between the two.

It's simple. In a nutshell: Just connect a stereo lead from your cassette player to the line in on your MD recorder. Set the MD to record, play the tape and press stop when everything's finished. OK, you may want to adjust recording/volume levels first, but practice will make perfect.

The casing of the N707 is a tad sturdier, the buttons feel more responsive, and (if it's important) looks a bit better than the 505. Not forgetting the mic input - you never know when it might be handy. Oh, and the better remote. I'd say it's worth the extra 20 quid.

As the 510 has a timer (I think), you could switch this to Timer Rec, making sure you had no MD inserted. With no MD, the unit will automatically go into DAC mode when set to record. The wall socket might have to be switched off first though, or a timer with an on/off button used. I'll try this out later myself. Sorry - it doesn't work - you need a disk inserted or set to DAC manually.

The trouble with the speed control is that the pitch changes too, so unless you're good at transposing, it has limited uses for learning pieces (if you want to play along). I find the pitch control good for playing along with early music (eg. Baroque) which is often played at lower than modern concert pitch. I believe the N10 and E10 have fixed pitch speed controls, so it might be worth looking into these models.

As to minidisk accessories in the UK, try a few of the following: MD blanks from Richer Sounds, Dixons etc, HMV, Woolworth's (!) Cables/mics etc from high street hi-fi outlets Cases from Dixons again Replacement earpads from HMV. And then there's the Internet...

That feature would indeed be most useful on a portabe. In the meantime, most decks and pretty much all mini/micro systems have a timer feature, if you are able to invest in one. :wink: