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which MD to buy?

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a1steak

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I know I need a minidisc recorder. The Hi-MD coming out sounded like it had everything I needed, but it's not going to be out in time. I leave in three weeks to work in S. America, going to be recording bird songs. I want to get some sort of device and start learning how to use it, but I don't have a good idea which one might be right for me. Here's what I need out of the thing, if anyone can help me it would be much appreciated. I have a grant to buy it so rough prices and a good place to purchase from would help a lot too.

*Needs to be rugged -- The area is very humid, will have to keep it in a dry bag with drying agents

*Needs to be able to be operated fairly fast -- Got to record the buggers before they stop singing

I don't know if it is possible to delete tracks in the middle of discs on MD units, I think it might be. Do all/some/any units have this option?

I have $400 in my grant for this thing, so assuming $100 on battery packs and discs, etc., I could spend $300 or so on a unit, I imagine that is plenty. Any help would be great. Thanks

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the most expensive hi-md is 400 bucks. u can get it online for 370 if u know where to find. just do a search on froogle.google.com. as for the battery and disc, they are super cheap. 2 bucks for normal MD, 7 bucks for a hi-MD, and about 12-20 bucks for a spare lithium battery.

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And to answer one of your other queries, you can delete tracks in the middle of any MD recording.

It's difficult to know which MD recorder to recommend for you. About the most rugged recorder is the Sony MZ-S1, but that doesn't have a mic-in. Most other recorders are rather delicate in comparison I think. Perhaps the MZ-N710 could take a bit of rough and tumble?

The MiniDisc.Org Equipment Browser should give you a few more ideas...

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Rugged, with a mic input. Hm..

I could consider the Sharp MD-MT290, Sharp IM-DR420 or maybe the Sharp DR7. Sony's recorders are nice, but a unit out of this trio should give you the best results. Will you be doing SP-only recordings? How do you plan to upload? [in this scenario, without Hi-MD, you'd have to have a deck/'shelf with optical out and a soundcard with optical in.

p.s. I merged your double-posted topic. Please do not double-post in the future. Thanks

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thanks for the help y'all. tekstyle i know how much a Hi-MD unit costs, the issue is i can't get one in time. i was asking about traditional MD units. i will look into those sharp units, they sound promising. as for uploading, that was the reason why i wanted Hi-MD, but it is not critical. mostly what i want to do is record bird songs, have them available to study when i'm not in the field (without the Hi-MD I will have to take careful notes on what track is what), and reproduce them when necessary (using a battery-powered speaker) to attract the species i'm trying to find. so uploading would be cool to keep a record of what i'm doing, but not absolutely necessary. thanks again for the help, and sorry about double posting, i didn't notice this board at first.

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