Beginner's Question: Is Minidisc better than a digital voice recorder?

[djab44]

Hello,

I'm a beginner when it comes to the pros and cons of minidiscs.

I'm about to carry out several interviews for a research project that I need to record, and possibly broadcast on radio. I understand BBC radio and others use(d) the Sony MZ-R55 or similar models.

Is MiniDisc the best technology fo high-quality recording? Are there any digital voice recorders in the same league? Can you give me a sense of the comparative advantages of both?

Finally, any suggestions as to reasonably priced models?

Thanks for your help.

[Strungup]

Hello,

I'm a beginner when it comes to the pros and cons of minidiscs.

I'm about to carry out several interviews for a research project that I need to record, and possibly broadcast on radio. I understand BBC radio and others use(d) the Sony MZ-R55 or similar models.

Is MiniDisc the best technology fo high-quality recording? Are there any digital voice recorders in the same league? Can you give me a sense of the comparative advantages of both?

Finally, any suggestions as to reasonably priced models?

Thanks for your help.

Most Voice recorders are just that , Limited frequency response , and Highly compressed low quality recording , they are getting better , but the models that are of resonable quality are of not so reasonable cost .

The MD will in the Long run and on a broader scale give a lot more bang for the buck ( Think of all the freinds with CD's that you dont have but would like to have a copy of ) that alone justifies the cost of the MD recorder , ad a Decent mic then your on to Concert and field recording. Your voice recorder just doesnt come close to the options that MD gives you .

The MZ-R55 is a great unit , I miss mine, I still have the R50 which is the best one Sony made ( aside from the very first one , which is in its own class just for starting the Digital revolution) The RH1 is the current Miracle but it is expensive (Yes I have one) and it gives you all the goodies.

But for interviews see if you can find a MZ-B10 , it has a built in Mic (Mono) but it has Line In , and Optical Input as well as a Stereo Mic input , It just doesnt have manual recording level control .

Edited April 22, 2007 by Guitarfxr

[raintheory]

One possible issue might be ease of Recorder>PC integration. For these older MiniDisc units, you need to record to your PC via analog line in realtime, whereas some digital recorders these days might allow drag & drop which would be faster.

[A440]

The MZ-R55 was introduced in 1998. You would be unlikely to find a new one now. And if you did, you would not be able to upload recordings to your computer--only record them from the headphone jack, as raintheory said.

Hi-MD recorders--the best for your purposes are MZ-NH700 or MZ-RH1--will allow you to upload to a PC (both units) or a Mac (MZ-RH1 only). The upload is done through Sony software that is free but adds an extra step.

However, if you just want a recorder to put in front of a subject and get a high-quality interview recording that you can drag-and-drop into the computer, you might prefer a high-quality digital recorder with built-in mics: the Edirol R09.

The difference is price. You can find the MZ-NH700 for under $200. It's a great little recorder.

http://www.minidiscaccess.com/generic76.html

The MZ-RH1 is around $300 at many places. The Edirol is around $400.

You would need to get mics for the Hi-MD Recorders, but for voice recording you can find a good mic for under $50. Don't get the Hi-MD bundles with the Sony mic. You can get a better mic for the price difference at places like http://www.soundprofessionals.com .

For ultra-cheap digital interview recordings--as backup for my MD on something important--I have also used an Iriver T30 (the red one is 1GB, the gray one is only 512 MB), which you can find for under $100. It has a built-in mic, records to good-quality mp3 (after you go through various menus), and it uses drag-and-drop (with a firmware upgrade to UMS). It is not the CD-quality recording you would get with Hi-MD or Edirol, and you need to put it close to your subject, but it would do the job.

As Guitarfxr said, lots of things are called digital voice recorders. Most of them are very low quality to be used for dictation, not for broadcast. At the very least you want it to record .mp3 at a bitrate of 192 kbps or above. If they don't tell you what the bitrate is, and a little sticklike thing promises to store 30 hours of recording, you're probably getting low quality.

If you only ever intend to record voice, and you have a recent iPod, you can also get an iPod accessory that will record voice onto it. http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage...oduct_Id=158384

http://www.xtrememac.com/audio/earphones_r...romemo_nano_2g/

They have limitations, so you should look at reviews.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collectio...dges_belk.shtml

Edited April 22, 2007 by A440

[bobt]

I agree with all and would suggest the best bank for the buck is the NH700, espcially if you can find a good used one, or a Sony store who may have left overs. Any Hi-MD with a mic input would work, minidiscs are cheap, especially for voice recording you can put a lot onto a disc, the discs last forever(or close enough), and with Hi-MD are relatively easily uploaded to your puter. If you have a Mac, the you do have to go RH1, not a bad way to go.

JMHO

Bob

[King Ghidora]

I would suggest getting a iriver IFP-xxx series MP3 recorder. The mic pre-amp isn't as good as a MD pre-amp but you can get a IFP-890 for under $20 on eBay. I have bought 2 of them recently for recording interviews for my video projects. They will give you about the same quality as the original MD recorders if you upload both to a computer because there is an additional analog to digital step when uploading from a MD to a computer. Of course the newer model HIMD recorders can upload digitally but so can the iriver IFP-890. It's also a very small unit so you can get yourself a cheap lavalier mic (lapel mic) and have a very good setup for under $50. Giant Squid makes very good lav's that sell for $25.

This is of course the cheapest way to go which means it isn't the highest quality way to go. But it will far exceed the quality of the voice recorders you mention. My kids got those for Christmas one year from their aunt and to be honest they just don't come close to the quality of even the iriver IFP series.

There are IFP's with more memory and less memory but recording mono at a high mp3 bit rate will give you quite a bit of recording time even with the 256 meg IFP-890. There's a chart on this web page that lists recording times for a 512 meg model so just cut the times in half for the 256 meg 890.

If you want a handheld mic there are still inexpensive choices available. People say the ATR25 works pretty well but I haven't used one myself and I haven't heard any examples. But I have used the IFP-890 and the Giant Squid omni lav. I have 2 of each of these for recording interviews in addition to my HIMD recorder. The HIMD is certainly better but the price is still going up on used models because people think they won't be available much longer. I paid $115 for mine about a year ago and I could probably sell it for $50 more than that now.

I'm just guessing that you are trying to do things on a budget because you mentioned the voice recorders. If I'm wrong you would probably want to get a HIMD or a newer iriver model or one of the Zoom models. The Zoom H2 looks very appealing to me and I'm thinking seriously about getting one myself. And the Zoom H4 offers the ability to use XLR balanced mics with phantom power if you want which would give you the ability to record with the best handheld mics like the EV-RE50 (which doesn't require phantom power but is a balanced XLR mic).

But if you want to go the cheapest route where you can still get decent quality try the IFP with a Giant Squid. It will be much better than a voice recorder and it's simple to transfer files to a computer for editing or whatever.

Edited April 22, 2007 by King Ghidora

[A440]

King G--

I have an Iriver IFP-795 and I read that updating the firmware lowers the top quality of mp3 to 96 kbps. So I have kept the original firmware, which offers higher bitrates, but that means I also have to use Iriver Music Manager rather than drag-and-drop. Still easier than SonicStage, but slightly annoying. I always thought the 800 series was basically the same device in a different housing. Is the firmware situation the same?

Also, I've seen a lot of putdowns of the Zoom H4. But if that Zoom H2 has good mic preamps and is only $200 when it arrives next month.....look out!

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/H2/

[King Ghidora]

Yeah the 800 series is essentially the same as the 700 series except for the way they look. And yes it's the same deal on upgrading to the new firmware that allows direct access. The iriver software isn't so bad and it definitely isn't bad enough to make me want to cut way back on the quality of the recordings. I have no idea why they did things that way but it wasn't such a good idea. I don't know if they did it deliberately to discourage copying of copyrighted stuff or what but it doesn't do anything but cause a hassle IMO.

I've heard good and bad things about the H4. There are those that swear by it mainly because it has phantom power and XLR connectors. I've heard bad things about the R-09's too. My guess is that sometimes people expect a lot more than they're going to get for the amount of money they're spending. I'm still waiting to hear the final verdict on the H2. I think companies are taking orders for them already.

Mainly I think the H2 is going to be a good thing for video oriented recording. The surround sound setup is a big plus for anyone wanting to do certain types of video IMO. The features are certainly there but we'll just have to wait and see about the quality of the mics and the pre-amps.

I looked around a little and found a review of both the R-09 and the H4 from a guy who owns both. He posted his review on this web page. There are obviously lots of reviews by lots of people who have access to both but this guy says the quality of the H4 is better but the R-09 is easier to use. There are pros and cons of both I'm sure. And of course there are other recorders around too. One of the main reasons people don't like the H4 though is that it doesn't support plug in power mics. The H2 supports only plug in power mics. So I guess you have your choice. It would have been nice to be able to use XLR with phantom power or minijack plug in power on the same device but since I don't even have any balanced mics much less mics that require phantom power I know which one I would prefer. Maybe someday when I get my video business off the ground better I'll move up to pro mics and I'll want the H4 instead of the H2.

Edited April 23, 2007 by King Ghidora

[Strungup]

Two Models of the Sanyo Diply Talk , voice recorders 2007 catalouge ( I just picked it up today) Have PCM Recording ,MP3 recording , and the proprietary format as well , The freq response on the PCM recording is quoted as 40-20khz , on the Highest bit rate MP 3 it is quoted at 40-15khz

http://www.akiba-gadgets.com/?p=201

[King Ghidora]

I don't doubt for a second that voice recorders will improve in quality soon. The technology is already available and cheap to make them much better than they were originally. The model my kids have is on the level of a home recorded 8 track but with MP3 tech being pushed the way it is they should be able to build an excellent recorder now and sell it at a great price. In fact they do sell devices that do this but they call them MP3 players instead of voice recorders. The IFP series has a built in mic. I haven't actually tried the mic because I've heard it stinks but that recorder with a Giant Squid mic built in instead of the cheapie they used and you have an excellent recorder for under $50 or so. I'm sure this will happen soon. I just haven't seen it yet. It could be there are already good examples like the Sanyo you mention. Do you know about the quality of the mics?

[Strungup]

I don't doubt for a second that voice recorders will improve in quality soon. The technology is already available and cheap to make them much better than they were originally. The model my kids have is on the level of a home recorded 8 track but with MP3 tech being pushed the way it is they should be able to build an excellent recorder now and sell it at a great price. In fact they do sell devices that do this but they call them MP3 players instead of voice recorders. The IFP series has a built in mic. I haven't actually tried the mic because I've heard it stinks but that recorder with a Giant Squid mic built in instead of the cheapie they used and you have an excellent recorder for under $50 or so. I'm sure this will happen soon. I just haven't seen it yet. It could be there are already good examples like the Sanyo you mention. Do you know about the quality of the mics?

I havent gotten my hands on it yet , but from what I have read , in close range the quality is pretty good ( 1 meter distance)

apparently freq response is about 80- 17khz on the mics and S/N is about 67-68. But it has plugin power for external mics and variable rec level control. So Zoom , is probably using some of the same tech , and just packaging it differently

[Strungup]

Olympus has the DS model, not that I know if it's any good.

All the Olympus Models record in WMA format , straight to Windows Media Player,

Only a few of them at the moment go to WAV but universal MP3 is better than WMA most Audio editing progs can read MP3 , but none of them read WMA , has to go thru conversion first

Edited April 24, 2007 by Guitarfxr