Guest Anonymous Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 I'm looking for a relatively inexpensive, (ie. $150-$250US) MD recorder that has sound activation recording, can take input from various shotgun and parabolic mics, and can then upload recorded sounds easily, and without much more expense into a PC or Mac. I want to use this to record bird and nature sounds as well as some lectures and interviews. After reading as much of this excellent site and as much product info as I can find from Sony and Sharp, I'm very confused about whether such an obvious use for portable MD players is even possible. I've pretty much ruled out Sony, since it looks like they're really not suitable for uploading, (only downloading, which I find VERY bizarre). Can the Sharp MD-MT180 or MD-MT200 do what I want? What others should I be looking at? Is there anybody but Minidisco that has these? (Minidisco appears to be out of stock.) Thanks Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 MD as a format doesn't support uploading, it doesn't matter what brand. With pretty much any MD (with exception of expensive hardware hacked systems) you will be restricted to real-time MD to PC audio transfer (analog in the case of portables). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 25, 2003 Report Share Posted February 25, 2003 Thank you for such a very quick and clear reply. In my orig. post I mistyped one of the Sharp model numbers (should've been MD-MT190), but as you say, it looks like it doesn't matter anyway. I'm *stunned* that MD doesn't support simple uploading. But I'd much rather know that upfront than find out after I squandered more $$$. It looks like I'm stuck with the lowly audio cassette for awhile longer. :cry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locknut Posted February 28, 2003 Report Share Posted February 28, 2003 " and can then upload recorded sounds easily, and without much more expense into a PC or Mac. " " It looks like I'm stuck with the lowly audio cassette for awhile longer. " ===================== Hey sound trap, What IS your goal? Quality Recordings or FAST UPLOAD ? Maybe we need to be sure we define" Upload " the same way.... It Is true that current NetMD does not allow faster than RealTime transfer from MD--->PC But that does Not Mean you cannot transfer from Minidisc to PC - it is just in RealTime ( a 3 min recording takes 3 min ) " without much more expense into a PC or Mac. " = all you need is an audio cable from MD to your soundcard ( most MD units come with this/or you can find one anywhere for little $) NetMD transfers are not as fast as everyone had hoped for anyway...and with the checkin/out openMG thing...a real pain. So IF you want Quality recordings - why not transfer in RealTime ? If you can wait the extra min. the quality blows away your cassettes, at any transfer speed. * I would go with a Sharp unit for ease of access to manual recording level control. Good Luck, hope this helps.... Locknut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 28, 2003 Report Share Posted February 28, 2003 Thank you Locknut!! I just came to this forum again to ask another question I had about what was actually possible in terms of transfering data from MD to other mediums and you answered it very nicely. I can put up with realtime transfers, if the sound quality is high enough. Just to be sure, if I get the Sharp MD-MT190 which apparently only has headphone out, I'll be able to do realtime transfers by simply connecting headphone out to sound card? Is that right? If that's correct, I'll definitely order one. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mystyler Posted February 28, 2003 Report Share Posted February 28, 2003 sound trap, you are right about the MT190. Sharp units also seem to have this nifty feature that wil auto-switch to line out when turned to 30/30, bass off and if the load is great enough. Whatever it is, Sharps have superior line levels compared to Sonys, 194mV V 250mV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 Well, I went and did it. I ordered a Sharp MD-MT190W and last week Fedex delivered my own detestable purple bag. The cool thing is that the very first time I used it, I was able to get a mockingbird, two cardinals, a nuthatch and a downy woodpecker all in the first 10 minutes of recording. It's fairly easy to use, but the down side is that the stupid purple bag doesn't make any provision for all the accessories like battery adaptor, and cables and headphones and mic. The unit itself is about as small as one could make an MD player. But what with all the accessories and necessary bits, it takes up enough room that a much better case for all of it is in order. Also, the battery life is seriously below expectations. It's rated with the volume off and in the LP4 mode. Nobody using this gizmo as a serious recording device is likely to meet those two criteria. Also, if you try to power midget external speakers with it, battery life is measured almost in minutes, not hours. The add-on AA bat. pack is a total 'kluge'. I'm grateful to have it as an option, but doubt that it'll last in the field for even a year. It's too flimsy, and the connection is a sick joke. It'd be much better , IMO, to make the whole case large enough to house 2 Li batts, and a AA as backup. I like the fact that you can name tracks with this unit, but HATE how difficult it is to do in practice. I also hate how long it takes to write to disc. Don't even try to write to disc in the field. You'll just miss the next bird. I still haven't exactly figured out just how I'm going to transfer any sounds I get over into other media. But I'm already impressed with the fidelity of the bird sounds that I've gotten so far just on the couple of times that I've tried the unit this weekend. I can't wait to try it on frogs. With some playing around, I think that this will be capable of producing some good quality sounds in a format that is literally 'shirtpocketable'. It's already proven to be a HUGE improvement over the Sony cassette recorder that I had previously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 11, 2003 Report Share Posted March 11, 2003 http://www.minidisco.com carries a line of carrying cases for portable MDs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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