Buying a recorder..

[lalomania]

Hi,

I used to have a mz-r500 minidisc but i lost it, (yes i literally lost it and ive lost all hope in finding it). So im now determined to buy another player/recoder. Ive been searching for quite some time for a recorder/player thats exactly what I need. I had reached to the conclusion that the Sony MZ-RH910 was what I wanted. But Im now having lots of second thoughts.

Minidscs may be discontinued, Sonicstage is hard to use, i may find it hard to buy a batery when my md's battery dies. The list goes on

Nevertheless i still thought that md's excelent recording capabilities and atrac3's awsome sound made up for these downpoints.

Until ive seen that some harddrive and flash players also have recoring capabilites. such as:

u3

What i want is the unit to have great audio quality, great recording quality(im a musician), ability to up/download from a PC.

I dont really know what to do, I love MDs and some of my old recordings are on MD but they are on the prosses of dying and i dont want to be tied to a dying technology.

Help what is the best player/recorder for me?

[DrDann]

go for the NH-700, from planetminidisc.com. You will NOT be disappointed.

[A440]

go for the NH-700, from planetminidisc.com. You will NOT be disappointed.

It's pretty hard to figure out what format the Cowon U3 uses for recording. WMA? MP3? The manual says you can set bitrate, but I can't find what format it uses (one of the menu examples says .wma). You can get uncompressed .wav (PCM) on the NH700.

The Cowon has a maximum storage of 2GB. You'd have to keep uploading and clearing your recordings off it, as opposed to the removable storage of Hi-MD.

And the NH700 takes a regular, easily replaceable AA battery. What happens when the rechargeable Cowon runs down?

If it had mic-in and .wav recording (and for all I know it does have .wav recording), it would be tempting.

[lalomania]

The thing is that concerning a MD i think i still prefer the mz-rh910. After reading rh910 and mh-700 the only diferences that i notice are battery and that the mz-rh910 doesnt have ac-adapter connection (did i get this right?)

if these are the only diferences i might consider buying the mh-700. (dont know why i still think that the mz-rh910 has better audio quality, must be that ive been reading about it for quite some time)

Concerning batteries (MD or not MD batteries), is there a way to buy them from another manufaturer. Lets say that MD and all its accesiories are put off the market, is there anyway in which i can buy a new MD battery (maybe a compatible cellular battery or something?).

The thing is that my biggest doubt is MD or not MD?, is there a good recorder other from the minidisc (i know its not the smartest thing to ask this in a md forum, but im desperate), lets say something similar to the u3, but with better recording capabilities?

THANKS

[raintheory]

The RH910 should have an AC adaper connection. I know for sure that the RH10 does, but you have to slide a little thing in order to access it (closes off the USB connector to avoid damage from too much current I suppose).

In my opinion, Flash/HDD based units with recording features are still a rather new technology, versus MD which has been around for over 10 years now. I think I would trust my recording needs in the hands of a tried and true technology (especially one with cheap removeable media), versus a newer technology (how much are 1+GB flash cards going for now?). Also, particularly for HDD based stuff, if the drive goes bad you're screwed. For MD if the disc goes bad, you just pop a new one in.

That, as well as the facty that I don't think I've seen any other flash or hdd based recorders that you can actually change the battery yourself (without having to send it in) or that have a AA option.

Also just noticed that the U3 or whatnot has a built-in mic... not sure how well that will record. I'd much rather have a mic-in so I can choose what mic(s) to use depending on the situation.

But then again, I'm sure having used MD since the early 90's has me at least slightly biased.

EDIT: As far as the batteries are concerned for the NH700 or RH910... The NH700 uses standard AA batteries, I don't think MD going off the market will have an effect on the production of those (at least I hope not). Also, the RH910 as far as I know has a AA attachment so you could use those even if they for some reason discontinue the manufacturing of the rechargeable batteries for the unit.

Edited June 18, 2006 by raintheory

[DrDann]

The AA attachment doesn't work if the main battery is 100% dead...... that is why I went with the 700 myself, for the AA battery ability. As far as SQ, they both use the same recording technology/codecs, as far as I know. I use HI-SP and find it fantastic.

[lalomania]

The AA attachment doesn't work if the main battery is 100% dead...... that is why I went with the 700 myself, for the AA battery ability. As far as SQ, they both use the same recording technology/codecs, as far as I know. I use HI-SP and find it fantastic.

Do yo mean that the RH910 and the NH700 are identical except fot the battery?

ive been reading about the MH700 and ive noticed that it doesnt have some audio posibilities that other MDs have but i cuoldnt compare it face to face with the RH700 Comparison Table

[lalomania]

So... anybody?

Are the RH910 and NH700 identical except for the battery? (i read something about the RH910 being 2nd generation and the NH700 not, what does it mean?)

And is there a shop in NY city in which i can buy them?

PLEASE i need help

TANKS!

[A440]

First things first: the RH700 does not have a mic jack. Only Line-in. So it's actually a downgrade from the NH700 (and all of Sony's previous 7xx models, which had mic jacks).

The second generation has a few changes from the first. How important they are is up to you. Second generation (RH) units can play both ATRAC (the MD format) and mp3. On the NH (first generation) units, everything has to be converted to ATRAC, compressing the mp3s one more time. That might seem like RH is better--except that mp3 playback on the RH910 and RH10 has mediocre sound quality. Mp3 playback was only improved in the new RH1, still not available in the USA.

Another difference: NH units can record (in realtime via mic-in or line-in) in formats compatible with older MD units: SP, LP2 and LP4. They can't upload those formats to your PC, and if you don't have an older MD there's no reason for you to care. The RH units eliminated the old formats, probably to make room in the firmware for mp3 playback.

Also, RH units have a shiny finish that scratches up in no time.

Bottom line: If you're using the unit as a recorder, and don't have old MD units that you want to play things back on, NH and RH units are functionally the same: they record in PCM, Hi-SP and Hi-LP for uploading to your computer.

If you have a lot of mp3 and want to put them on a minidisc for portable play, you might prefer the RH, but you'd probably be better off with a good mp3 player.

The NH700 exists mostly on Ebay and from online minidisc stores, and I still think it's the better bargain. For a physical store in New York City, try J&R ( http://www.jr.com ) or B&H ( http://www.bhphotovideo.com ), which may still have RH units.

Edited June 22, 2006 by A440