Buying A Minidisc

[scottykarate]

Hi, im brand new here and have been reading through all the great forum topics.

Iam in the market for a recordable minidisc. My main and probably only use will be recording rehearsals and liveshows with it, so im vollying the question out to those who know....what should i buy?

The nh-900 + remote sounds good so far and im guessing someone will tell me that i should wait till april and i guess ican if it'll make a big difference. All im after is crisp, clean sound with lots of bottom end response and a unit that is durable and longlasting....not very gizmo driven, although a backlight is always helpful.

Sony has fallen out of favour with me of late...had and heard alot of horror stories about guarantees and sound quality.

Anyway, be great to hear what you have to say, thanks so much!

scotty.

[Fat Tires]

I think that the NH900 would be a fine unit for you. You can record on the fly and upload your recording to your PC via USB. The NH900 is nice because it uses both a gumstick battery and has the ability to use an AA battery too. You can swap one battery while running on the other, so it'd work very well for situations when you must record for long periods oftime while away from the ability to use AC power.

As to durability, there have been few to no complaints about the NH900. I think it'd be a fine choice. As the next generation of recorders, they look very good, but the main benefit I see in them is MP3 playback, aesthetics, and, some battery life improvements that be dealt with by using high capacity rechargable batteries. I'd look to see if you can find a bargain on a NH900 and get one if I were in your shoes.

[scottykarate]

Thanks Nismo, appreciated.

Is the RM-MC40 ELK remote included, do you know, with this MD?

I ask because, im canadian and in calling my local SONY store my price quoted was $349 cdn. BUT that does not include the mic, nor was there any talk of a remote.....Nor was there a NH900B offered, I understand that you americans have access to the next model up.

My its time for some cross border shopping?

again, thanks.

[yamagatacamille]

^the north american model is only supplied w/ the 38EL; whilst the World tourist model is supplied with the 40ELK -- kurisu owns the NH900 tourist model, maybe he can tell you more.

sonystyle canada should have the flagship model -- the NH1; maybe you should check retail shops, like future shop, etc.

[Fat Tires]

In the US, we can only get a silver NH900 with the RM-MC-38EL. A microphone would be an additional cost. For US residents it'd be cheaper to buy a NH900 online for less than MSRP then buy a RM-MC40ELK from eBay. I'd imagine that it's the same for others.

You could also get a Japanese market NH900 from Audiocubes, that will come with the 40ELK, but as Kurisu found out first hand, you won't get black either. Team Digital sells a black one, but it comes with the 38EL remote.

[A440]

Unfortunately, Sony is the only game in town for Hi-MDs. I took a look at the Sharp website the other day, and "MiniDisc Recorders" are among the--gasp--discontinued items.

Back to the opening question. My apologies to the NH-900 fans, but:

If all you care about is recording and you don't care about a fancy-pants remote then all you need is an NH-700 (or NHF-800, depending on what's available in Canada).

It apparently has the same recording capabilities as the NH900. The amp (for playback) is not digital, but there's plenty of bass, and if you're uploading to the computer anyway, it's irrelevant.

Instead of carrying around the unit and an outboard battery pack, you can just carry around the unit and a Duracell for when the battery eventually runs down, which is likely to be well after you've filled the MD, played it back and edited it.

Hard to tell whether the NH-900 is more durable than the others. Part of the body is aluminum rather than plastic, so perhaps. It does have pitch control, as does the NH1.

None of these units comes with a microphone. If it did, it would be with one of Sony's second-rate mics instead of the excellent ones you can get from Sound Professionals, Microphone Madness, Reactive Sounds, Core-Sound, etc.

[atrain]

i'd second nis & camille's recommendations

[Featfan80]

I recently (a month and a half ago) bought the 900 to record my daughters Christian rock band and have been very pleased so far. I bought my mirophone set from Sound Professionals for $109, not the most expensive but not cheap either. The sound has been very good, but I had to keep the manual volume setting low to avoid topping out. I just ordered a battery box to increase the SPL allowed by the mics. I plan to try both mic in and line it recording next at their practice on Monday and will post an update. About the batteries, someone posted on this site about a clearance sale on an upgrade rechargeable battery for $3.50 and I bought 3. With the new batteries, I haven't needed to use the AA addition for a 2 hour PCM recording session and for just playback, it lasts two days of moderate to heavy use without a recharge. Also with SS 2.3 and the new WCT, I haven't had any problems downloading and burning CD's.

[scottykarate]

Thanks for all the input. I ended up going with the Sony Nh 900, as it was onsale for $20 more than the Nh800. So far I have yet to do much with it, busy,

But i'd like to use my nice tube mic to record, with an A.R.T pre-amp in front of it (its a phantom powered mic). Im assuming that other mics bought for MD are passive (non-powered) and that there is a 'power-stage' with the 900.

Am I able to use an 'active' (powered) mic with MD's. My concern is blowin' it up.

Again, thanks for the input, you guys had everything to do with my choice.

Cheers!

[Mikami]

Sharp does not yet market a HI-MD recorder or player.

However, Sharp does still make recorders marketed for and sold mostly in Japan.Take a look at this: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Recorders_Sharp.html

As, you can see the last portable recorder was made in 2004, but they have made a MD boom box this year, too.

Check out this page:

http://www.sharp.co.jp/corporate/news/050308-a.html