Mic = Line In?

[K.O.T.W]

Hey Guys,

My Name's Ben, and I'm the forum newbie from Sydney.

My friend is offloading his Sharp MD-MT180 Portable Minidisc Recorder for $30, and I was seeking some advice on the device, in regards to whether I should buy it.

As a radio host, I need a minidisc recorder to record any interviews I do outside of the studio, but this Sharp one only has a Line In and a Headphones input. If I plug the mic into the Line In input, will that work?

Also how easy is it to buy a charger for the AD-N55BT Rechargable Battery?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Ben.

[KJ_Palmer]

No, your mic won't work with the line in, assuming it's a standard dynamic or electret mic 'powered' by a small battery. For speech, you'd need an external mic pre-amplifier to amplify the weak signals from the microphone, which means extra batteries and the box for the circuitry. Better to get a recorder with a mic input. Some even have a built in microphone.

[A440]

Old minidisc units--anything that is called NetMD or MD, like that Sharp, which is VERY old--do not allow you to upload recordings to your computer. You would have to record the recordings in realtime out of the headphone jack. Many radio journalists have done this through the years, but you don't have to any more.

Hi-MD allows you to upload recordings to your computer, through a cumbersome piece of Sony software, SonicStage. The only Hi-MD units worth getting, in my opinion, are the basic MZ-NH700--which only works with Windows PCs--and the elegant MZ-RH1, which works with PCs and Macs. The MZ-RH1 is top of the line and also has other features: plays mp3s without conversion to Sony's format, and is the only unit that can upload old MD recordings.

MZ-NH700

http://www.minidiscaccess.com/item.html?PRID=1553219 (Don't worry about the AC adapter--you'll be using batteries, which have a very long life.)

MZ-RH1

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4415...3_Minidisc.html

These are very portable hi-fi recorders, which is why minidisc users tolerate SonicStage.

But at this late date, minidisc may not be the most sensible unit for you, since flash memory recorders are arriving that don't bother with the encryption of minidisc.

The Zoom H2, supposedly due in August, has a built-in microphone and promises very hi-fi recording and direct uploading (no SonicStage)--for $200, which is about the price of the MZ-NH700. The unanswered questions, since the H2 is not on the market yet, are about reliability, build quality and the quality of the inputs. You could also look at the Edirol R09.

Zoom H2

http://www.samsontech.com/products/product...cfm?prodID=1916

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4801...al.html/kw/ZOH2

For super-cheap immediate use, you could seek out an IRiver IFP7xx unit--795 is 512MB, 799 is 1GB. They're discontinued, but you can find them on Ebay for under $100. They have a mic input (stereo miniplug) and their own built-in mic for mp3 recording. The iRiver T30, also discontinued but available, has a little built-in mic that's not bad--you'd have to decide if the quality is good enough for radio--but only a line input. The red T30 is 1GB.

Edited July 18, 2007 by A440