c1vineoflife Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) Hey everyone. I'm new to the boards. Anywho, this is going to be my first minidisc purchase ever, and I wanna make it a smart one if I'm gonna shell out $300 - $400, which is why I'm asking you all this question.I've been doing my research, and it has brought me to this conclusion: For what I want to do, it's a close enough competition between the MZ-RH10 and the MZ-M100.Before I go any further, let me tell you what I want to accomplish by purchasing a minidisc recorder:I want to make high quality recordings on the go. Period. The fact that with the 1GB discs I can hold like an hour and a half uncompressed audio is also nice, because that means I can use it as a suitable replacement for an iPod (yea, yea...it's not 30 gigs, but who really needs that much music at any given time anyway?). But, that aside, my main purpose is for doing high quality recordings on the go. My reason for starting to look for portable records was for recording ideas (I'm a singer/song writer), but hearing how great the quality is, it would also solve my problem of making quality, and affordable, recordings of my gigs and stuff.So anywho, now that you all know what I need to accomplish, is anyone hear in a position to give advice on one or the other, or maybe even both...and which one I should get? Any help is GREATLY appreciated. Thanks everyone!William-----------------------Edit* If anyone thinks another model would be better suited for what I need, please feel free to tell me. Thanks again! Edited May 11, 2006 by c1vineoflife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) If you are debating between those models the only difference is that the MZ-M100 is Mac-compatible (in regards to uploading PCM recordings). the RH10 won't work on a mac.You may want to research the upcoming RH1 though if you are working at all with a Mac, mainly because you will be able to upload Hi-SP/Hi-LP as well (not just PCM like the M100), also there is supposedly going to be software coming out that will allow transfer of tracks to the RH1 from Mac. The M100 only allows uploads, and only in PCM format.If you don't need Mac support, the RH10 would suffice, but there are additional features of the RH1 that may be worth the extra cash (soundprofessionals is taking pre-orders for the RH1 for $299). Read the specs page below, and the review posted there for more in-depth info. Hope this helps some...RH10/M100 Specs: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-M100+RH10.htmlRH1 Specs: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-RH1.htmlEDIT: Welcome to the forums by the way. Edited May 11, 2006 by raintheory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A440 Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 Do you need to upload to a Mac rather than a PC? That's the only reason to get the MZ-100, which is otherwise the same as the RH910. The RH10 has a bright display on the front of the unit, for which you pay an extra $50-$60 over the RH910. The MZ-RH1, to be released in the US within the next month or two, has a lot of features geared to recording, and will also upload to Macs, with more uploading options than the MZ-100. If you're a Mac user, wait for that one. Otherwise, the recording guts of all the Hi-MD units are apparently the same. What changes is playback (through the unit's headphone-jack amplifier), features and controls. Recordings you upload to your computer will not sound any different. If you have a PC and just want a basic recorder and want to save some money, get the MZ-NH700 ($150 from http://www.minidisco.com or http://www.minidiscaccess.com ). Runs on one AA battery, which is a great convenience (and one eliminated on the RH1). There's a lot of excitement here about the forthcoming RH1, mostly because those of us who have been using MD for a long time will finally be able to upload our old recordings for the first time. The RH1 also fixes one of the most persistent annoyances about Sony MD recorders, which is that on current units, you have to click through some menus each time you want to start recording at Manual Volume (essential for music). But if you're new to the format and using a PC, and don't mind those five clicks each time you record, a NH700 will do everything you need. I've been using my MZ-NHF800 (the same unit as the NH700 with added FM radio) almost daily since August 2004--even dropped it a few times--and it's going strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c1vineoflife Posted May 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 raintheory - Thanks for such a quick response! And thanks for the welcome! I'm very happy to soon join the, what looks to be, very closely-knit community of MD owners. The RH1 looks like it's a bit above my price range (and I really do mean a bit...as in not that much). I didnt know that the M100 and the RH10 were pretty much the same. I don't own a mac, but my girlfriend does, and I might upload recordings that I do at her house to her computer. So that would be a nice feature (though by no means a deal breaker). The only thing is, and please tell me if this is a reputable company or not, planetminidisc.com is selling the M100, just as it is everywhere else, for $250, and it comes with the ECM-DS70P Stereo Mic (which i would otherwise need to buy seperately), where as the RH10 is $230 without the mic, $280 if I got the mic too. So it would seem to my advantage to get the M100. My only question though, is that I've heard the the M10 is horrible (for some reason), so does the M100 take after that at all?A440 - Thanks for the quick response as well! As I stated in my response to raintheory's response, the RH1 might be a tad above my price range. Also, I'm getting antsy, and I wanna get this thing ASAP As for the NH700, I'd rather have the 6-Line, Non-LCD, Backlit display of the M100. I like to listen in my room in the dark, and I'd like to see the display without having to turn on a light (except the backlight of the M100 ) I do like that the NH800 has radio capabilities. Can i buy that remote and using it on the M100, or is it strictly for the NH800? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t0fler Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 raintheory - Thanks for such a quick response! And thanks for the welcome! I'm very happy to soon join the, what looks to be, very closely-knit community of MD owners. The RH1 looks like it's a bit above my price range (and I really do mean a bit...as in not that much). I didnt know that the M100 and the RH10 were pretty much the same. I don't own a mac, but my girlfriend does, and I might upload recordings that I do at her house to her computer. So that would be a nice feature (though by no means a deal breaker). The only thing is, and please tell me if this is a reputable company or not, planetminidisc.com is selling the M100, just as it is everywhere else, for $250, and it comes with the ECM-DS70P Stereo Mic (which i would otherwise need to buy seperately), where as the RH10 is $230 without the mic, $280 if I got the mic too. So it would seem to my advantage to get the M100. My only question though, is that I've heard the the M10 is horrible (for some reason), so does the M100 take after that at all?A440 - Thanks for the quick response as well! As I stated in my response to raintheory's response, the RH1 might be a tad above my price range. Also, I'm getting antsy, and I wanna get this thing ASAP As for the NH700, I'd rather have the 6-Line, Non-LCD, Backlit display of the M100. I like to listen in my room in the dark, and I'd like to see the display without having to turn on a light (except the backlight of the M100 ) I do like that the NH800 has radio capabilities. Can i buy that remote and using it on the M100, or is it strictly for the NH800?the remote is for the NHF800 only, if your not doing mac recording there is no difference between the M100 and the RH10 just in price Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 raintheory - Thanks for such a quick response! And thanks for the welcome! I'm very happy to soon join the, what looks to be, very closely-knit community of MD owners. The RH1 looks like it's a bit above my price range (and I really do mean a bit...as in not that much). I didnt know that the M100 and the RH10 were pretty much the same. I don't own a mac, but my girlfriend does, and I might upload recordings that I do at her house to her computer. So that would be a nice feature (though by no means a deal breaker). The only thing is, and please tell me if this is a reputable company or not, planetminidisc.com is selling the M100, just as it is everywhere else, for $250, and it comes with the ECM-DS70P Stereo Mic (which i would otherwise need to buy seperately), where as the RH10 is $230 without the mic, $280 if I got the mic too. So it would seem to my advantage to get the M100. My only question though, is that I've heard the the M10 is horrible (for some reason), so does the M100 take after that at all?I believe planet minidisc is the same as minidisco ( http://www.minidisco.com ) which I have ordered from numerous times and would highly recommend.The only difference I am aware of between the M10 and M100 is the OLED display, the M10 has LCD. The OLED display is awesome as long as you aren't in bright sunlight (can be kind of hard to see). As far as the Mic that is included with the M100, I haven't actually used that particular mic so I can't comment on it. Seems like it should work just fine though.To me it sounds like a better deal to go for the M100, unless you are fine with LCD in which case the M10 is essentially the same unit. I wish the M100 had been available for only $20 more back when I got my RH10! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogville Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) The fact that with the 1GB discs I can hold like an hour and a half uncompressed audio is also niceWilliam-----------------------Edit* If anyone thinks another model would be better suited for what I need, please feel free to tell me. Thanks again!I still haven't got a hi-md, but hope that it can hold more than 1 hour and a half . As far as I know you can hold at maximum quality (pcm) 8 or 9 albums in one hi-md. Let somebody check me if I'm wrong Edited May 11, 2006 by dogville Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) Hi-MD 1gb discs can cold ~1h34min PCM uncompressed.http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html#_q93So maybe 8 albums if they are 12min long. Edited May 11, 2006 by raintheory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogville Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) Hi-MD 1gb discs can cold ~1h34min PCM uncompressed.http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html#_q93So maybe 8 albums if they are 12min long. Obviously I was wrongPlease, be so kind to clear up one thing to me. If I want to upload music to a hi-md, how many albums more or less can I upload with no compression?. If I can record 80 or 74 minutes in my old MZ-E20, I guess I will be able to upload more on a hi-md, or not?. Maybe I'm confusing RECORD with UPLOAD. Please, I'm newbie at this so be so kind to explain it to me.thanks so much Edited May 11, 2006 by dogville Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaylen Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 the remote is for the NHF800 onlyThe radio remote can also be used with the NH700. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) Please, be so kind to clear up one thing to me. If I want to upload music to a hi-md, how many albums more or less can I upload with no compression?. I'm losing something because if I can upload or record 1 cd and a half (so so) in my old MZ-E20, I guess I will be able to upload more on a hi-md, or not?. Maybe I'm confusing RECORD with UPLOAD. Please, I'm newbie at this so be so kind to explain it to me.thanks so much With no compression at all (i.e. PCM/WAV format) you would get probably an album and a half on a 1gb Hi-MD disc. Maybe 2 albums depending on their lengths.As far as your old recorder, the standard recording format would be SP which is ~292kbps (for contrast PCM is 1.4Mbps).Hi-MD recorders can reord in Hi-SP (~256kbps) which would basically be the quivalent of SP on your older recorder. Actually it would most likely sound better because of advancements in the ATRAC encoding. With Hi-SP you would be able to get probably 8 or so albums on a 1gb Hi-MD disc. Close to 8 hours recording time.Hope this clears things up a bit. EDIT: I thought the MZ-E20 was just a player and couldn't record.?Also, great avatar, love king crimson Edited May 11, 2006 by raintheory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogville Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) With no compression at all (i.e. PCM/WAV format) you would get probably an album and a half on a 1gb Hi-MD disc. Maybe 2 albums depending on their lengths.As far as your old recorder, the standard recording format would be SP which is ~292kbps (for contrast PCM is 1.4Mbps).Hi-MD recorders can reord in Hi-SP (~256kbps) which would basically be the quivalent of SP on your older recorder. Actually it would most likely sound better because of advancements in the ATRAC encoding. With Hi-SP you would be able to get probably 8 or so albums on a 1gb Hi-MD disc. Close to 8 hours recording time.Hope this clears things up a bit. EDIT: I thought the MZ-E20 was just a player and couldn't record.?Also, great avatar, love king crimsonThanks Raintheory. You've cleared it up very well. I was confusing PCM with SP. Well, I must admit that my old MZ-E20 is only a player. I record my minidiscs on a MDS-JE500. What a pity to know I can only record a cd and a half with no compression . I love maximum quality and thought the hi-md would provide me that and more upload capacity.Does playing on SP provide good quality?. How much compression does SP have?.Sorry to bother you with so many questions, but I was thinking of buying a RH-1 and now I'm a bit disappointed (due to my ignorance, of course)Regards Edited May 11, 2006 by dogville Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) Thanks Raintheory. You've cleared it up very well. I was confusing PCM with SP. Well, I must admit that my old MZ-E20 is only a player. I record my minidiscs on a MDS-JE500. What a pity to know I can only record a cd and a half with no compression . I love maximum quality and thought the hi-md would provide me that and more upload capacity.RegardsUsing SonicStage to transfer tracks to Hi-MD you can also record at 352kbps which is pretty good high-quality compression. 352kbps is only available via SonicStage, so you wouldn't be able to record a track via mic or line-in at that bitrate.True SP isn't available in any Hi-MD units. There is a "fake" SP (which is actually LP2 dressed like SP) for compatibility with older units. Although you can only record this way through SonicStage.I use Hi-SP personally for just about anything except for mastering (I use Hi-MD pretty recularly for my own music). Edited May 11, 2006 by raintheory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogville Posted May 11, 2006 Report Share Posted May 11, 2006 (edited) Using SonicStage to transfer tracks to Hi-MD you can also record at 352kbps which is pretty good high-quality compression. 352kbps is only available via SonicStage, so you wouldn't be able to record a track via mic or line-in at that bitrate.True SP isn't available in any Hi-MD units. There is a "fake" SP (which is actually LP2 dressed like SP) for compatibility with older units. Although you can only record this way through SonicStage.I use Hi-SP personally for just about anything except for mastering (I use Hi-MD pretty recularly for my own music).So, what have I been recording all these years with my MDS-JE500?. I guess SP, don't you?. All this time thinking I was listening to my md recordings on my MZ-E20 without compression.IGNORANCE IS BLISS . I need a lot to learn. Edited May 12, 2006 by dogville Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c1vineoflife Posted May 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2006 Thank you all for the help! Anyone have anymore suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c1vineoflife Posted May 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 Well, I put in an order at planetminidisc.com for the MZ-M100! Thanks again for all your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fifty9 Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 True SP isn't available in any Hi-MD units. There is a "fake" SP (which is actually LP2 dressed like SP) for compatibility with older units. Although you can only record this way through SonicStage.Only the second generation HiMD units are unable to record in true SP. SonicStage uses the "fake" SP for compatibility, but the first generation HiMD units and the RH1 are capable of recording in legacy formats. Legacy meaning SP, MDLP and mono. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raintheory Posted May 16, 2006 Report Share Posted May 16, 2006 Only the second generation HiMD units are unable to record in true SP. SonicStage uses the "fake" SP for compatibility, but the first generation HiMD units and the RH1 are capable of recording in legacy formats. Legacy meaning SP, MDLP and mono.You're absolutely correct, thanks for catching that one. The first gen units can record (on the unit itself) in SP.SonicStage however, cannot transfer anything in true SP, 1st gen or otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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