iPod Replacement?

[maskedman]

Hi there.

This is a first post and an excursion into the unknown, so please be patient with me.

I'm looking for the *best* minidisc player so that I can listen to a lot of mp3's that I have - especially audio books, as well as being able to record lectures from college. Here are my requirements:

- AA battery

- Able to play mp3's (or mp3's converted to atrac, but better if plays native mp3 format)

- Able to download to minidisc from PC quite quickly (but not so important)

- I like the idea of being able to use 1Gb discs

- Need line out

- Radio would be nice, but not essential

- Able to record lectures and have *some* way of uploading them to PC for putting on CD

BTW am I right in thinking that you can bookmark tracks on a minidisc ie: if you are listening to an audiobook, you can make a mark and return later to the exact point you left off from? This would be *very* important for me.

I would appreciate any help, even just a list of model numbers to look at.

Many thanks,

Martin

[RobA]

The only units that take an internal AA are the NH600(D), NH700, and NHF800. All the others except the RH1 and NH1 have double AA attachments, which are kind of inconvienant. The only models with lineout are the RH1, NH1, and NH900, only one of which can use a AA via attachment. Only the 2nd and 3rd gen models can play native mp3s (RH or DH models) but are really not worth the hassle, as there is a mp3 glitch in all the second gens and converting to atrac is quick and easy, plus it gives you much more storage space than mp3. Since you need live recording stay away from the DH710 and NH600D. If you can deal without mic in (and use a battery powered mic) and RH710 or NH600 would do nicely, both of which take internal AA's. The only radio unit is the NHF800 or NH700 and buying a radio remote for it.

So to fit your exact criteria, there really is not unit that can do all of what you want. The closest I can see is the NH900 which will take AA via attachment, has line out, and mic in/line in. Another option would be the NHF800 if you want a radio, want internal AA's, and can deal without the line out. The RH10 is also a very nice unit with a beautiful OLED display, but it has no line out and only takes AA's via attachment.

See more in the equipment browser: http://minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

And welcome to the forums.

[Tiesto]

- AA battery

- Able to play mp3's (or mp3's converted to atrac, but better if plays native mp3 format)

- Able to download to minidisc from PC quite quickly (but not so important)

- I like the idea of being able to use 1Gb discs

- Need line out

- Radio would be nice, but not essential

- Able to record lectures and have *some* way of uploading them to PC for putting on CD

I will just name them (they are Sony):

1- MZ-RH10 and MZ-NH900 (internal gumstick battery and external AA battery case), MZ-DH710 and MZ-NHF800 (internal AA).

2- MZ-RH10 and MZ-DH710 play native mp3

3- MZ-RH10, MZ-DH710, MZ-NH900 and MZ-NHF800

4- MZ-RH10, MZ-DH710, MZ-NH900 and MZ-NHF800

5- MZ-NH900

6- MZ-NHF800

7- MZ-RH10, MZ-NH900 and MZ-NHF800

BTW am I right in thinking that you can bookmark tracks on a minidisc ie: if you are listening to an audiobook, you can make a mark and return later to the exact point you left off from? This would be *very* important for me.

8- MZ-RH10 and MZ-NH900 have a time mark for live recordings so you can skip or back to the point where you put the mark.

[Stuge]

Hey ,Are you right now using I-pod??

[jonny mac]

There is no one unit that will satisfy all these requirements. From what you want I think the new RH1 would best fit your needs. It won't take an AA battery but has good battery life on it's LiIon, which is removeable and you could buy a spare and keep it charged up. It is also the only MD unit that will play unconverted MP3s without a high-frequency filter. It is also the fastest MD unit for uploading and downloading data/music.

There's no radio but then there's only one HiMD unit that has a radio, that's the NHF800, which lacks MP3 playback and line-out.

Hope that helps.

[A440]

Clarifying slightly from Tiesto's post: ALL Hi-MDs allow you to push the Track button during recording and make a track (or a bookmark) you can easily find later. The units he lists have a time stamp to tell you exactly when the recording was made.

Line-out is a matter of naming. Some Hi-MD's have a Line-Out menu item that turns off all EQ and raises the volume to maximum. On the others, you can do the same things yourself. It's all coming out of the headphone jack, not a separate jack.

You'll be fine with an NHF800 (AA battery, radio remote).

It doesn't play back mp3, but the conversion is simple. Even the units that play mp3 don't let you drag-and-drop them--everything goes through SonicStage.

All Hi-MD's upload recordings to PC. That's what they're for.

Look at http://www.minidisco.com and http://www.minidiscaccess.com for NHF800 deals, or on Ebay.

[jaylen]

Another vote for the NHF800/NH700. There are 3 pretty popular eBay sellers (Edit: digitallimits, minidiscmimi, pramit) that have those units for sale - $125 for the NH700 and $150 for the NHF800, including shipping. Or, if you can wait for their auctions, the units sell for slightly cheaper. I also have a video iPod and you'll find that a Hi-MD unit complements it well. Good luck!

Edited May 21, 2006 by jaylen

[maskedman]

So to fit your exact criteria, there really is not unit that can do all of what you want. The closest I can see is the NH900 which will take AA via attachment, has line out, and mic in/line in. Another option would be the NHF800 if you want a radio, want internal AA's, and can deal without the line out. The RH10 is also a very nice unit with a beautiful OLED display, but it has no line out and only takes AA's via attachment.

See more in the equipment browser: http://minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html

And welcome to the forums.

Thank you for your welcome and for taking the time to point me towards the most suitable models. Looks like the NHF800 or the 700 will do me.

The equipment browser is cool and very helpful, thanks for the link

M

8- MZ-RH10 and MZ-NH900 have a time mark for live recordings so you can skip or back to the point where you put the mark.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Now here's the big question. Can I play back a long track (e.g. an audiobook) and make a bookmark in the middle of that track at the position I have stopped listening to, and then return to that exact same postion at a later time?

I'm talking about a real bookmark function (not just a resume function).

M

Hey ,Are you right now using I-pod??

No I'm not, but I was looking at buying one ..... but no record function, no radio, no user replaceable battery, and pretty pricy.

The minidisc is attractive for all the above functions, and the ability to add cheap discs (memory) at any time.

M

There is no one unit that will satisfy all these requirements. From what you want I think the new RH1 would best fit your needs. It won't take an AA battery but has good battery life on it's LiIon, which is removeable and you could buy a spare and keep it charged up. It is also the only MD unit that will play unconverted MP3s without a high-frequency filter. It is also the fastest MD unit for uploading and downloading data/music.

There's no radio but then there's only one HiMD unit that has a radio, that's the NHF800, which lacks MP3 playback and line-out.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for your reply. Reading up a little more, I don't think the native mp3 ability is so important (converting to atrac seems easy enough to do). I also, don't think the radio is that important. I have a small (512MB) mp3 player and radio. The radio is pretty poor and I find that I rarely use it. If I had a minidisc player I'm sure that I would have discs of audiobooks or music to listen to instead. Also, I didn't realise until looking into this a little further that the radio is in the remote and consequently makes the remote heavier and larger. Mmmm not so sure about that!

M

Clarifying slightly from Tiesto's post: ALL Hi-MDs allow you to push the Track button during recording and make a track (or a bookmark) you can easily find later. The units he lists have a time stamp to tell you exactly when the recording was made.

Thanks for the reply .... and for the links you gave.

The bookmarking function you mention is on a recording that I make. What about bookmarking an already recorded track. I'm thinking of a long track (eg an audiobook) - the ability to listen and bookmark the position in the track when I stop listening, and then retiurn to that same place later on. Is that possible?

M

Another vote for the NHF800/NH700. There are 3 pretty popular eBay sellers (Edit: digitallimits, minidiscmimi, pramit) that have those units for sale - $125 for the NH700 and $150 for the NHF800, including shipping. Or, if you can wait for their auctions, the units sell for slightly cheaper. I also have a video iPod and you'll find that a Hi-MD unit complements it well. Good luck!

Thanks for replying. Yes, the 800 or 700 look to be most suitable for me. Thanks for the links on ebay, that will be helpful to look at.

M

[jonny mac]

There seems to be some confusion over bookmarking. You cannot bookmark a time in a track. Bookmarking is for specific tracks, to identify your favourites on the disc, similar to a playlist. It doesn't mark a time part-way through a track.

What people are talking about are track-marks. If you record in real-time (ie not with the computer) then you can insert track marks to divide one track into two. You could use this function to do what you want but it means editing the disc every time and also that you'll need to record them through the line-in.

Bear in mind, if you leave the disc in the machine then playback will resume from where it previously stopped.

[maskedman]

There seems to be some confusion over bookmarking. You cannot bookmark a time in a track. Bookmarking is for specific tracks, to identify your favourites on the disc, similar to a playlist. It doesn't mark a time part-way through a track.

What people are talking about are track-marks. If you record in real-time (ie not with the computer) then you can insert track marks to divide one track into two. You could use this function to do what you want but it means editing the disc every time and also that you'll need to record them through the line-in.

Bear in mind, if you leave the disc in the machine then playback will resume from where it previously stopped.

Thanks for clearing that up. I *think* I get it now. I guess in my case the solution for listening to audiobooks that I download from the computer to MD is to break them up into many tracks with a splitter program. That way I can mark the particular track that I stop listening to and return to it later?

One more question .... how are the bookmarks saved? If I remove the disc, do I lose the bookmarks, or does the MD player keep track of them somehow? I'm thinking that i may have a disc of audiobook and another disc of music and swap between them. But would I still be able to keep a track of where i am up to in listening to the audiobook?

Can anyone help?

M

[A440]

Sorry, I guess I confused things.

You can place track marks during recording or playback. The track marks stay on the disc unless you remove them.

I don't know about a bookmarking function--I've never had one in any of the MDs I own. But if you're listening and need to stop, you can simply turn off the MD and have it resume where you were. When you switch discs, that info will be lost. You'll have to note what track you were in and skip to it next time you play that particular disc.

[jaylen]

For the NH700 and NHF800, you can bookmark tracks, but I'm not for certain if you can bookmark within a track. I've used the bookmarking function with my NH1 before (I haven't tried it on my other MD units though) - you just hold enter for 2 seconds. The bookmarked tracks will play only per their track number and in no other order. You can also erase the bookmarks as the track is playing. Whether this bookmark-type playback is intact once the disc is ejected will have to be confirmed by someone else as I don't have access to my MD units right now.

[jonny mac]

If you're downloading from a computer you can import the mp3 into Sonicstage, convert it to ATRAC (at whatever bitrate suits you) and then divide it into smaller tracks before downloading to the MD player.

You cannot bookmark within a track.

Most HiMD player (and some legacy models) have a disc memory feature. When turned on the MD player will remember the settings (EQ and bookmarks) for particular discs even after they're ejected. There are limits for the number of discs and the number of bookmarks but this depends on the player. Higher-end units have more memory. See the equipment browser for more info on this.