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Sony MZ-M100 Hi-MD

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SocDoc

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first of all, this board is great (hats off to all the members)! second, i'm new to MiniDisc but trying to get a crash course before i head out to do field work this july. i'm a grad student in social documentation at UC Santa Cruz...anyway, on to the topic:

I purchased the Sony MZ-M100 from minidisco about a month-and-a-half ago and so far i'm happy with it (but what do i know lol). anyway, a few things have occurred that make me wonder about this model. 1) about 1 week after i bought mine the price dropped $100. now, i know this isn't exactly unheard of in the electronic's world, but $100?! 2) many outlets are now sold out of the M100; 3) it's really hard to find much info, reviews, or anything on the M100 now (even on sony's web site).

is there something "wrong" with this model? is sony jumping to a new model so soon? why? does any one here have some level advice/opinion and experience with this model?

thanks!

n

p.s. the only drawbacks that _i_ can tell at this time: the surface is VERY easily scratched (i've resolved this by using a small piece of the removable PDA film you can get for Palm Pilots and such); it's a little "clunky" when openning and ejecting a disc; difficult to see the menu in bright light; the buttons are a bit small for people with average size fingers...

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The MZ-M100 is based on the RH10, which is a discontinued model. Sony is coming out with an MZ-M200 very, very shortly. The MZ-M100's big selling point was that it was Mac compatible. As such, most people just bought RH10's for cheaper (who had PCs, or didn't need computer connectivity). So the model was never in particularly high demand.

You unfortunately jumped in right at the generational switch where the old equipment starts getting cleared out just before the new equipment comes in.

That said, there is nothing "wrong" with the model-- it's not like they're clearing them out due to defects. It's just "last year's model".

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The MZ-M100 is based on the RH10, which is a discontinued model. Sony is coming out with an MZ-M200 very, very shortly. The MZ-M100's big selling point was that it was Mac compatible. As such, most people just bought RH10's for cheaper (who had PCs, or didn't need computer connectivity). So the model was never in particularly high demand.

You unfortunately jumped in right at the generational switch where the old equipment starts getting cleared out just before the new equipment comes in.

That said, there is nothing "wrong" with the model-- it's not like they're clearing them out due to defects. It's just "last year's model".

hey, thanks. that helps ease me mind :)

so, my more technical questions are (and i apologize for the possible newbieness of them but then, hey, i am :)...i'm just trying to find some grounding in all this...and then may be i can settle down - lol):

i'm working on a project for radio broadcast. what kind of quality differences are there between recording in the LinearPCM versus Hi-SP? i've read the specs and all that but i'm still not confident i know what that means when it comes to bouncing that final edit out of ProTools. with my project, I will be doing formal interviews but mostly gathering sound from people working/talking (in such places as offices, meeting halls, homes and on the street). So far i've mainly been recording on Hi-SP using the 80 min MDs. They sound good but is that "good enough" quality for broadcasting? is it recommended to work in PCM?

n

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Greetings fellow M100 user! Recently got mine a few days ago. My only experience with radio journalism was engineering a podcast for Golden Tiger Studios (they do computer game modifications), and I'm no professional in this field so you may take my advice with a grain of salt if you want.

What kind of broadcasting event will this be? Live AM or FM radio? Podcasting? From what few tests I've tried thus far it seems like Hi-SP seems good enough. Seeing as how the spoken word will be the main focus of the recordings then the supreme quality of Linear PCM might be overkill, then again you really can't go wrong with PCM no matter what situation. I would suggest that you switch over to HiMD discs so that you don't run out of time and have to swap out your storage medium during lenghtly interviews.

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Greetings fellow M100 user! Recently got mine a few days ago. My only experience with radio journalism was engineering a podcast for Golden Tiger Studios (they do computer game modifications), and I'm no professional in this field so you may take my advice with a grain of salt if you want.

What kind of broadcasting event will this be? Live AM or FM radio? Podcasting? From what few tests I've tried thus far it seems like Hi-SP seems good enough. Seeing as how the spoken word will be the main focus of the recordings then the supreme quality of Linear PCM might be overkill, then again you really can't go wrong with PCM no matter what situation. I would suggest that you switch over to HiMD discs so that you don't run out of time and have to swap out your storage medium during lenghtly interviews.

cheers Lopar-XL! (i'm no pro either...not yet at least heheh) i'm shooting for FM radio but i will also use some of the audio to produce podcasting and multimedia for Web content. so, i've been test recording on PCM lateley and and it does seem like Hi-SP is more than adequate for podcasting but i'm just not sure about FM broadcasting. i'm figuring i'll just go PCM all the way unless i'm in a controlled environment for a one-on-one interview that is likely to go over the PCM 94 minute max.

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So the only real difference between the RH-10 and the M100 is Mac capability? Looks like the M100 has levels on the screen as well. TIA!

Mac compatibility and the M100 comes with a microphone I believe.

Only differences that I am aware of.

Maybe also the firmware bug of some of the first RH10's (including mine) where you can't see some of the letters when titling on the unit. The bug was fixed before the M100 so I would assume that it won't be an issue.

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Thanks. So this came out after the RH10 then?

If we call the RH's 3rd gen and the RZ 4th gen, then the M100 is like rev 3.5?

Mac compatibility and the M100 comes with a microphone I believe.

Only differences that I am aware of.

Maybe also the firmware bug of some of the first RH10's (including mine) where you can't see some of the letters when titling on the unit. The bug was fixed before the M100 so I would assume that it won't be an issue.

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