MD for on the road

[IWood]

Hi folks--

I'm new to the format, but it seems to be the way to go because Apple, in their infinite wisdom, has made the iPod useless for my purposes.

Basically: I'm going to travel across the United States by trike, camping out most of the way. I'll be recording, editing, and producing podcasts as I go, and making them available on my website. I'll need to record voice and "ambient" sounds (for that Theater of The Mind thing).

I'll have a laptop (Windows XP) to do editing and production of the podcasts, with 2 USB 2.0 ports, a firewire port, and an SD card slot.

Basically, I need:

• Direct transfer of recorded audio files as .WAV or .MP3 via USB or firewire (or an SD card?)
• Decent rechargeable battery life. Because I'm using a solar rig, the MD will need to take either standard rechargeable batteries (AAA, AA etc.) or have a "car charger" as an available accessory.

I'd appreciate any guidance you can offer.

Thanks,

IW

[A440]

Any Hi-MD unit EXCEPT the NH-600, NH-600D or DH10 will work for you. They all record via mic in PCM or Sony's compressed formats (Hi-SP), which can be uploaded and converted to .wav, which can then be converted to whatever you want.

The MZ-NH700 or MZ-NHF800 would be best. They're basically the same unit: they run on one AA battery for many hours. The F in MZ-NHF800 is because it adds an FM radio in its remote. It was the version sold in the U.S. (A rechargeable AA will recharge in the unit, but you'd be better off buying a separate battery recharger and 2500 mAh rechargeables.)

But those are 2004 units and getting harder to find. This year's units, the RH910 and the more expensive RH10 (fancy OLED display lights up the face of the unit) will also work: they take a rechargeable gumstick battery with an outboard pod for an AA battery. RH910 is $170 here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller...oughType=search

Cute as it is, don't get the NH1, which has weird proprietary connections and battery.

And don't use the software disc that comes with your unit! Use SonicStage 3.3, from the Downloads tab here. SonicStage versions 3.2 and 3.3 allow unlimited uploads; previous versions, like the one you may find with your MD unit, only allowed ONE upload.

Meanwhile, here's a good place for batteries and chargers:

http://www.thomas-distributing.com/aa-nimh...geablebatteries

Edited December 2, 2005 by A440

[greenmachine]

Also avoid the MZ-NH710, which also has no mic-in.

[A440]

Also avoid the MZ-NH710, which also has no mic-in.

That's the RH710.

[IWood]

Thanks folks!

And here's another noooooob question: are the discs rewritable?

If not, how many minutes of stereo, good-quality (or at least podcast-quality) audio can I fit onto each one?

[greenmachine]

They're theoretically rewritable up to one million times

Recording times

-for standard 80 min MDs:

>10h Hi-LP (low quality-might be good enough for speech)

>2h20min Hi-SP (high quality)

>28min PCM (very high quality)

-for 1GB HiMDs:

>34h Hi-LP

>7h50min Hi-SP

>1h30min PCM