Least Expensive Mic-in & Mic Options?

[Guest musicboy]

Hi Folks,

I have realized that my budget is very low, and yet I still need a MD recorder.

I need a mic in.

I would also like to be able to transfer the recording to the computer, but I don't mind doing it analog if possible to save money.

Can you get reasonable results recording to your computer in analog?

Once on the computer do I need special software to convert it to a format that can be posted on a web site? WAV file, etc?

Will I be able to recorder to computer in analog with all MD recorders? If not what models?

OK. Thanks for your impute on helping me save some bucks and answering my quesitons.

musicboy

[A440]

The lowest-priced Sonys with mic-in are the 700 series: MZ-R700 (which is not NetMD, so no high-speed download of tracks FROM computer to MD) and MZ-N707 (which is NetMD). I have used both as recorders and I was very happy with them until Hi-MD spoiled me.

Sharp's numbering system is more confusing--take a look in the equipment browser on the minidisc.org homepage.

Any recorder (or player) can be recorded in realtime to your computer from the headphone jack, and if your connections are good you'll get perfectly usable results.

To get the recording to the computer, you connect headphone-out to line in on your computer and use a recording program like (free) Audacity. You'll get good results IF your soundcard inputs are good, which isn't always the case. But if all you have is a mic-in on your soundcard (like many laptops), you can get a USB line-in connector like the Griffin iMic for about $40.

Audacity's default is to save recordings in its own format, but you can also have it save to .wav ("Export to .wav"), which doesn't need any further conversion.

With dbpoweramp, which is free at www.dbpoweramp.com, you can convert any file from format to format: mp3, etc.

For economy, your best move is to look at Ebay for a used MD. You want to look closely at the picture (see if there's a lot of wear around the buttons, for instance) and read the seller feedback to be careful. But a lot of people got MDs and didn't really use them.