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Which type of Minidisc for interviews?

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medium wave

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Hi everyone,

This forum is great - so much useful information. :)

I'm looking at recording some interviews and have fallen in love with the Hi-MD units, especially the Sony NH700. However, they are quite hard to find new and fairly pricey on eBay here in the UK. They seem cheaper from US ebay sellers, but will I have problems charging the battery?

So - I'm just wondering if it's worth saving a little longer and going for the Hi-MD, or going for a NetMD for recording and make sure it has line out, or invest in a deck for playback (which oddly seem fairy cheap second hand) for about £30.

I like the idea of USB transfer on the Hi-MD, but also like the idea of a deck I can connect to a mixer, use for different things etc.

Any thoughts much appreciated!

Cheers,

Jim

Edited by medium wave
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i'd stick with the himd idea rather than the netmd - himd is really a two way technology where as with netmd, despite a few workarounds, is really just pc->md or recording->md.

the extra money will have been worthwhile the first time you need to use the audio on anything other than the md player imo.

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Going back to your original question:

The NH700 runs on a regular AA battery, which is a very good feature. A rechargeable comes with it that will recharge in the unit, but I never do that--either I use my own long-life AA rechargeables in my own charger (three times the life of the one that comes with the unit) or I just put in a regular Duracell AA. Most of the new NH700s that are still around are actually from Australia, so US sellers add a US adapter that won't be useful to you. (I don't know if the original Australian one is the same as a British one). But in the two years I have had my Hi-MD I have never once used the adapter. You don't need it.

The NH700 is a little less convenient to use than the RH1--you have to go through some extra menus to record with Manual Volume. (But for interviews you don't need Manual Volume--the default, Auto Gain Control, is better.) Since you are new to minidisc, you do not need what us old-timers have paid a premium for: uploading our old MD recordings, which can only be done with the RH1.

I have the NHF800, same as the NH700 plus a radio remote, and it's a great little recorder--long battery life, excellent sound. The MZ-RH1 is prettier, slightly more convenient, etc., but if budget is a question then I would have no reservations about getting the NH700.

I actually prefer the AA battery in the NH700/NHF800 to the flat rechargeable one in the RH1, since you can find a replacement anywhere if you need one.

Edited by A440
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I also have a NHF800 and I agree with pretty much everything said by A440. There are advantages to the RH1 for sure but IMO the battery is a pretty big disadvantage in all HIMD's from the 2nd generation models on up.

I will put up with having to go through a few menus to setup manual audio control in order to get a recorder that uses a battery as common as the AA. You will just never have a problem getting a battery for one of the 1st generation units. I'm not so sure that will be the case a few years down the road with the RH1.

I realize that most people will replace their recorder before battery availability becomes an issue but I still have my first MD recorder and I still use it. I expect my NHF800 to be useful for several years to come. It would be a shame to not be able to get a battery for it while it is still functional. Obviously I can't predict that will happen but I can predict that I will be able to get batteries for my NHF800 for a long time into the future.

Then of course there's the price difference. For quite a long time a company offered first generation HIMD recorders on eBay for prices that were quite good. The NHF800 sometimes sold for around $100 and I've seen the NH700 go for around $75. I bought a slightly used NHF800 with a bunch of discs for $115. That's quite a bit less than the RH1 costs.

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