Looking For Info On Trade-offs

[rejuvenate]

I've been doing some online research. First off my needs:

I am travelling for a couple of weeks to Scotland/Ireland, and would like a MD recorder with good battery life. I do have a charger for AA batteries with all the appropriate plug converters. I plan to:

1) listen to mp3's on the long plane trip to the UK.

2) make some recordings of local musicians in pubs. (probably around 6 hours total).

3) listen to mp3's on the plane trip back from the UK

4) Over many years to come make recordings of local sessions.

I'm looking for a recorder/player in the $150 to $250 range.

So here's what I have found out so far:

Sony mz-rh910

Hi-MD format means less discs to organize. Nice to have but I can manage 10 regular MD discs with no problems. uploading mp3's direct to the rh910 seems to be a great plus. It looks like the internal gumstick battery is upgrade-able. Somewhere on this forum I read the quality of this unit is much better than the older sony's with regard to recording.

Is the recording functionality going to be sufficient for quieter settings (folk music)?

Would I need an adapter to get AC power in the UK for this?

Sony mz-b10

The 2 AA battery power source is what caught my attention on this one. I can charge AA batteries on the road easily. But will the internal microphone be sufficient, or will I really want to get an external microphone (thus bumping up the cost). It is also a little bit larger in physical size (but maybe not compared to the other units with the external battery pack)

Sharp md-mt280

The only real question I have for this one is about the internal battery. I don't see it listed anywhere as upgradeable to the Sony NH-14WM or other battery. Owners seem to be really pleased with the recording capabilities of this model, particularly the sync-recording which apparently doesn't get fooled by quiet sections of recording as easily as the sony brand.

--

So here's my thinking at the moment:

If the gumstick battery for the Sharp md-mt280 is upgrade-able, I think that's the model to get (or alternatively if it can recharge in the UK with a simple adapter). I say this because 1) the recording capabilities seem much better for my situation, and 2) it's less expensive, allowing me to put money towards a better microphone

Does anyone have any info on the Sharp internal battery? Or does anyone have other reccomendations?

Thanks for any info!

[A440]

If you want to upload the recordings onto your PC--instead of recording them in realtime out of the analog headphone jack--then you should get a Hi-MD. You'll need an outboard microphone, which would be essential anyway for recording music. Built in mics are for dictation and speech, not music. They pick up machine noise, too.

The recording capability is as good as your mics. Look at the Gallery (very top of this page) and live recording archives to hear some recordings. I recently recorded a church choir, a cappella, with very basic mics (Sound Professionals BMC-2, $29 on Ebay) and it came out well.

I recommend, if you can find one, the NH-700 or NHF-800--basically the same unit, but the NHF-800 has an FM radio in the remote. Both came out last year. They are both Hi-MD, capable of recording nearly 8 hours per 1GB disc in Hi-SP mode, and since they're Hi-MD you can upload your recording to the computer. They also run quite a long time on one AA battery--no gumstick necessary.

The B10 is ancient, made for recording business meetings, and extra-large for the built-in speaker you don't need. You won't be able to download MP3s onto it--you would have to record them in realtime. Not for you.

I don't see a Sharp MD-MT280 in the Browser on the minidisc.org homepage, but the MT290 is also not NetMD, so as with the B10, no quick downloading of MP3s to the unit (and no uploading either). The MT270 has no mic input.

Anything from the pre-Hi-MD era is a few years old and possibly used. Digital uploading is the great and long overdue step forward made by Hi-MD. If you really want to put up with realtime recording into the PC for the recordings you make, then get one of the most recent NetMD models (Sony MZ-Nx or latter-day Sharps, like the DR series) so that you can at least download MP3s from computer to minidisc. If it's not NetMD, you'll have to record every song you want to bring with you in realtime.