Do any of you use portable Sony MiniDisc recorders?

[PCOSGurl]

I've purchased and returned SO many mp3 players in the last 4 days that I'm WORN OUT, and I think I'm sticking with the Sony MiniDisc player/recorder. The one I have is old, so I'm going to get the newer Hi-MD MZ-RH910.

The iRiver had AWESOME sound, but the flash models were so tiny that they were tough to operate, and I think I would ALWAYS have to have th manual with me.

For some silly reason, I decided to try the Creative Zen Micro :roll: - boy did that thing sound terrible.

iPod? Not for me. The iRiver and the Sony both sound better, both use regular batteries, and their accessories are cheaper. iPod RULED in the music download area, though (and my mom decided she's keeping hers, even though my dad and I are going for the Sony models.) (They are visiting me and I couldn't buy all of this gear for myself without getting them something, too :wink: )

I still might get a 128mb iRiver for 'on the go' stuff, but other than that, I don't see myself falling in love with the interface...

Anyone have any experience with Sony's? Which models?

[audiocollective]

sony = not good!
we talked about this a lot in some of our first podcasts when we were trying to get a mobile setup going. we looked into every model of the sony minidisks because we both had old ones and lots of minidisks. the big problem is that sony doesn’t understand what the user wants. a lot of the models don’t support recording with a microphone and if they do you can not transfer them to you computer without jumping through a lot of hoops. The idea behind minidisks has so much potential but sony messed it all up.

we use the iRiver IFP 895 and 899's now. they work great and take only a little time to get use to. the recording quality is about as good as minidisk but you can transfer the file to your computer.

With minidisk you have to record it through your sound card in real time. that can take a long time if you have a longer audio segment you want to edit. make sure you read all the stuff about the sony minidisk recorder before you buy it because you may think it does something when it doesn’t, only the higher models have a microphone preamp.
the iRiver 800's or 700's would be your best bet.

[ferg]

I use an iRiver IFP 795, and I never cease to be amazed.
I cannot believe I got this thing for $135.

The 512 MB of memory allows me about 3 1/2 hours of recording time at 320 KBps. It is very quiet as well. I use this for ALL of my recording, mobile and otherwise.

The interface is only semi-intuitive, but once you've used it, the stuff is easy to remember. This is the price you pay for having all the features it has.

My only beef is that the internal microphone is nearly useless due to the lack of a recording level for it - it is way too sensitive for nearly everything I do.

I solved that by buying one of these:

http://reactivesounds.com/rp1.php

The truth is, if I was solo, I could record my entire podcast with that tiny little setup.

[Filmosity]

I have an old Sony MZR70 portable minidisc recorder, and I love it. I can't afford an iRiver or whatever right now, and this thing serves me well. I get a 'hard copy' of my raw show...an instant backup.

The downside is that you do have to encode the show in real time. But my recorder has two headphone/lineout jacks, so theoretically I could just plug in my headphones to one, and a line to my comp in the other, recording live to Audacity. I would actually do it that way if my **** comp wasn't so loud. The portability is good, but there can be problems with skipping if you shake it too much, and you're limited as far as time...74 minutes i think.

I'm one of those people who still like to have a hard copy of things, so I"m sticking with my minidisc...for now.

-Chris

[TINKOFF RADIO]

I have an old Sony MZ-R900 and the sound quality and portability are amazing, especially when you use a better quality microphone. I also have the iRiver 899 - and I far prefer it, just because the drag and drop of the recording to the desktop is a huge convenience. Reecording anything in real-time to do a transfer is a royal PIA. Think about it, if I spend 10 hours a week recording my show - then it would take at a baseline 10 more hours to transfer it to my computer. With the iRiver - it's record, drag-drop and I'm good to go. The time factor alone makes all the difference.

Adam

[Catholic Insider]

I'm using a minidisc and a sony stereo microphone for all my soundseeing tours, and the quality of the sound is amazing. However, I agree that I experience drop outs and skipping if I'm moving the unit too much. The fact that you have to rerecord everything with your computer again because you can't move the audiofiles directly to your computer is also tiresome. I've been told that the hi-md recorders have the possibility to transfer files to the computer by means of a PC program, but the software seems to be rather unreliable. And you can only transfer the files once (so I've been told).

I also explored the iRiver alternative, and bought myself an iRiver 899. However, when I plugged in my Sony stereo microphone, the white noise during the recordings was huge. This is probably due to the fact that there's no pre-amp on the iRiver, so it tries to compensate for the weak signal of the microphone by boosting the levels (and the noise). Another huge disadvantage of the iRiver is the fact that it only records in MP3. So no direct wave recording. If you use an mp3, edit it in your podcast, and re-encode it in mp3, the quality drops considerably, and you get lots of audio artefacts. Of course, for medium quality podcasts (in terms of samplerate), this is not such a problem, but for good quality audio production, the iRiver just isn't good enough. And yes, the interface is a disaster. Although the newer iRivers are better (e.g. the IFP 999).

So for now, I'll continue to use the minidisc, but I really hope Sony will bring us a harddisk recorder with the same quality recording possibilities and mike-preamp as the minidisc, but with better file-transfer possibilities.

[PCOSGurl]

...the interface is a disaster. Although the newer iRivers are better (e.g. the IFP 999)...
I was JUST looking at the 999 since they are now going for the same price as the 899...(or less in some cases.)

The 999 was out of my budget until this morning when I saw that they had dropped by $100 in a couple of places.

[F7sound]

I used to use the Sony MZR-700 minidisc which worked fine, but I went to the iRiver 899 back in March which is so much easier, faster to transfer files, and the sound quality is equal to or slightly better than minidisc (I'm a professional sound engineer, so I get geeky over stuff like that).

No way I'd go back to minidisc.

Michael Oster
F7 Sound and Vision
http://www.F7sound.com
the Difficult Listening Channel - http://www.F7sound.com/podcasts.htm
my blog - http://michaeloster.blogspot.com

[gemgemgem]

from audiocollective:
the big problem is that sony doesn’t understand what the user wants. a lot of the models don’t support recording with a microphone and if they do you can not transfer them to you computer without jumping through a lot of hoops.

1. actually sony does make a lot of minidisc portables that support recordings. they probably make one "play-only" md walkman for every one or two new "record-capable" md walkman.

"minidisc recorders" usually have an "R" before the model name, for example R700 R900 something like that.
they also have a bunch that are only for playing mds, and these usually start with an "E" before the model name. like E600 something like that.
keep that in mind so you won't get confused when buying. or worse, buy the wrong type. :)
(or you can check out this browser of different MD units (http://minidisc.org/equipment_browser.html))

2. i agree with the second thing you said though.
sony does make it hell for people to transfer music you've recorded (either through line-in or microphone) yourself back to the computer.
i think they're really paranoid about piracy and all that jazz. but the lame thing is, you're the one who made the recording. you can't pirate *yourself*. whatever. logic bending stuff.. ehh..

sony minidiscs record really great sound. i have two portable recorders, a sony mz-r900 and sony mz-n910 (net md).

the sony mz-r900 obviously can't directly upload to the computer since it's an older model from 2001 and can't directly connect to the computer.
you *can* record the stuff you've taped into it to your PC though by playing the sound into the computer's line-in in real time. which is lame because it's a waste of time.

the lame thing is, my net md (mz-n910), which can directly interface with my computer via USB doesn't allow "uploadings" of audio.

it's lame as hell. it supports dumping of music from your computer to your MD via USB (aside from microphone and line-in recording), but it doesn't allow uploadings. so what's the point of it being able to connect to the computer via USB?

if you want to upload stuff you've taped yourself, you have to do it the way our forefathers did it in the cassette tape era, record the sound back to your computer's line-in in real time.

sony minidisc recorders really records good quality sound though. i have a couple of discs of stuff i recorded outdoors that i want to include in my podcast, but i haven't had the time to throw it into my computer, because i don't have the time to wait for it to record the stuff back to my PC in real time.

i suppose you can go out and take a walk while your PC is taping the stuff on your MD, but i'm OC like that. i need to be there when it's doing the recording.
--------------

the great thing though is that i've read that sony's new Hi-MD minidisc recorders allow you to upload to your computer recordings you've made yourself on your MD.
perhaps the person who mentioned getting an RH10 a few posts up can confirm that?

if that's truly the case, then i think MD would really be perfect for outdoor (by this i mean when you're not by your computer) recordings for your podcast.

(the lame thing is i read that you still can't use a Hi-MD recorder to upload to the PC the recordings you made using older, non Hi-MD units. bleh bleh bleh..)

[revupreview]

The inability of minidisc content to be directly uploadable to computer is a major pain, and is due to Sony's (and others') paranoia over piracy. If you're trying to keep your audio entirely in the digital domain it makes no sense to convert to analogue and back to digital again, just to get it onto your hard disk.

That said, it's minidisc that I use, because of the quality, and because it's what I have. I also have a CD recorder as part of my hifi, so I can digitally transfer MD to CD-R or CD-RW, and skip the undesirable intermediate analogue conversion stage. The CD can be read directly by the PC and imported to iTunes, Audacity or whatever.

My fairly ancient Sony MZ-R55 has a pretty flexible mic input with switchable sensitivity, as well as auto and manual recording level, and built-in time-stamping of recordings. It pre-dates MDLP, so my max recording time in one take is 80 min (or 160 min in mono).

I have a more recent Sharp model with NetMD, but I didn't get it for that reason (NetMD is an unnecessarily crippled system -- I bought the Sharp because it would wait in Sync-Pause indefinitely, which none of the Sony portables would do).

[Seth]

I want to start recording a mobile podcast here in LA and while I've had experience with minidisc players as a filmmaker, I'm getting more and more interested with iRiver after reading some of the posts here.

To Roderick: What is the model of mindisc player you record with? I listened to one of your podcasts and heard you use an ecm model for your mics. Do you use the minidisc player as your sole recording device?

To Audiocollective: What sort of microphone system do you use with your iRiver 800's? Have you had any clarity problems?

Thanks for your help guys, I'm on my way and getting excited.

[s]

Wow, Ferg, your iRiver recorded stuff still sounds really good. I guess that wee reporter's mic requires less power than Fr. Roderick's stereo mic; I've had some issues with hiss myself when using a power-hungry ATR-20 through a USB adapter (even the iMic didn't give the ATR20 enough juice to cut out the hiss).

Has anyone had better luck with an iRiver and a battery-powered stereo mic, like this one (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00001W0DT/102-6510341-9844901)? Or maybe even a smaller lapel-type stereo mic powered with a button-cell battery like this (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000095SB2/102-6510341-9844901)?

[Catholic Insider]

To Roderick: What is the model of mindisc player you record with? I listened to one of your podcasts and heard you use an ecm model for your mics. Do you use the minidisc player as your sole recording device?

I have a MZ-R700 Walkman. I don't think it has protection against skipping, which might explain some of the problems I had with it. But it has now completely stopped working, so I have to find a new solution.

I'm searching for a device that allows me to continue using my Sony microphone. The problem with the iRiver is that it generates an unacceptable level of white noise when I use it in combination with the Sone mike.

On the other hand, minidisc recordings are quickly disappearing over here in Holland. I talked to a vendor who told me that almost all shops are discontinuing minidisc players, because everybody wants to have mp3 players. I saw a minidisc recorder with a price tag of 250 euro. Way too expensive for what it offers in my opinion. But do I have any alternative...? I fear the worst.

Why oh why doesn't Sony release a harddisk-based player with the same recording capabilities as their current minidisc recorders? I just don't get it.

Oh by the way, I only record my soundseeing tours with the minidisc recorder. The rest of the show is recorded straight to my laptop.

[audiocollective]

the great thing though is that i've read that sony's new Hi-MD minidisc recorders allow you to upload to your computer recordings you've made yourself on your MD.
perhaps the person who mentioned getting an RH10 a few posts up can confirm that?

if that's truly the case, then i think MD would really be perfect for outdoor (by this i mean when you're not by your computer) recordings for your podcast.

(the lame thing is i read that you still can't use a Hi-MD recorder to upload to the PC the recordings you made using older, non Hi-MD units. bleh bleh bleh..)

the only problem is that you can only use the audio files in sonys program. it dosent let you just move it to your computer and use it any program you like! I think Sony is trying to put themselves out of business in the portable audio player market.

[pwfenton]

To Roderick: What is the model of mindisc player you record with? I listened to one of your podcasts and heard you use an ecm model for your mics. Do you use the minidisc player as your sole recording device?

I have a MZ-R700 Walkman. I don't think it has protection against skipping, which might explain some of the problems I had with it. But it has now completely stopped working, so I have to find a new solution.

I'm searching for a device that allows me to continue using my Sony microphone. The problem with the iRiver is that it generates an unacceptable level of white noise when I use it in combination with the Sone mike.
.

I am a former minidisc user, and a fervent admirer of The Catholic Insider. I have switched to a flash recorder. It may be more expensive than most of us can justify, but I am using a Marantz PMD 670 for location recording. It records digitally to CompactFlash memory cards, and it transfers to the PC via USB. There is also a newer, cheaper, more compact version called a PMD 660 that works as well, that I probably would have purchased had it existed when i got my 670.
This is what everyone would have if they could. No moving parts, professional connections, digital transfer.

BTW the mic Father Roderick uses is fantastic. I own one. Since I sold my portable minidisc recorder, I have lent this mic to my daughter who is getting into podcasting, but I highly recommend it to anyone. It is a great all-around mic for portable recording.

[JesusGeek]

http://www.d-mpro.com/users/folder.asp?FolderID=3629&CatID=18&SubCatID=169
that marantz pmd660 looks pretty sweet... but $500 is a pretty substantial piece of hardware.