I’d like to get people’s opinions on minidisc recorders that are worth looking into. I don’t need something with fancy features, just basic but good quality recording. Precise names are appreciated because they will be input into google.com =)
Thanks!
Incidentally, does anyone know of a good method for transferring data that is on minicassette onto some other media (regular cassette, preferably computer-based)? I’ve got lots of old tapes I’d like to save.
Sony and Sharp decks are good. A great source for comparison is this site: http://www.minidisc.org - they have a lot of reviews and info on Mini Disc. The band I play with (a 3 piece accompianing 5 vocalist) uses MD for bkgrnd tracks. I carry my big deck (a Sony MDS-JE640) from my home studio, just because 1) it doesn’t go into sleep mode, which can be a pain if someone takes a while introducing a song, and 2) it has AutoPause, which stops after every track.
The portable recorders also do a nice job of grabbing audio in the field. I use one for the radio station I work for. Not quite CD quality, but good enough for these old ears.
Sorry for the long post! Finally, a subject I know something about! Just got a little excited…
Happy Trails!
Cal
No post is too long! =) If anyone wants to give a lot of info and doesn’t want to put it on the board, feel free to email me!
Thanks for the URL, I didn’t know about that site. I’ll check it out.
Basically I would like to be able to record music at sessions, but there is only one session per month by me and so I don’t want to spend a lot of money JUST for that. I’d rather buy whistles. Actually, I’d rather pay rent. Anyway, so I want to find out what else they can do, compare and contrast, etc. Ability to work with a computer is valued. What media formats do they hold? MP3? Wav? CD audio?
I’ve never used or seen a MD player. How much time can be on one disc? Or is it a memory type thing? Are the discs rewriteable like a casette or more like a regular CD ROM? What features would you recommend as indispensible, and which ones are nice but not necessary? Which features are not worth the money, ie you never use them?
I’ll listen to anybody, I’ve got a whole line of soapboxes here…=)
–Beth
As far as learning more about MDs, there is some great info on that site I mentioned. A basic disc gets 74 minutes of stereo audio - double that if you go mono. There are some out there that interact with computers, but I’ve never explored that arena… MDs are reusable, and you can add cuts more than once. You can even edit the audio and remove cuts without erasing the whole MD. (although editing on the portables is a little hard, but it can be done…) There are also some cool little stereo mics that are great for capturing field audio - check some of the retailers on the site, like MiniDisco and Mini Disc Access. Basically, the site is going to give you a TON of info on MD. Give me a holler if you’ve got more questions once you’ve seen the site.
Happy Trails!
Hi Cal,
Thanks for your input! Especially the http://www.kidsradio.org. I book marked it to look into later in depth, but just a quick one: do you involve whistles in your ministry?
Mack
Beth, apologies for using your thread to change the subject.
Mack
Do I get a discount on a later Hoover order for it? 
I think highly of the Sony MZ-R700 minidisc player/recorder. Combine it with the Sony ECM-MS907 stereo mic and you’ll have a very potent setup. Whatever you decide on be aware that not all player/recorders have a mic input. Sounds hard to believe but it’s true. Some pretty good prices for the above are available from online dealers and Ebay as well. And, as with whistles there are many, many recorders available to choose from with some going for sky-high prices.
On 2001-09-28 14:08, thesackrat wrote:
I think highly of the Sony MZ-R700 minidisc player/recorder. Combine it with the Sony ECM-MS907 stereo mic and you’ll have a very potent setup.
Hello thesackrat -
Thanks for the advice! May I ask what you like best about the MZ-R700? How much does the mic usually go for? What do you like best about that mic?
–Beth
On 2001-09-28 10:10, Mack.Hoover wrote:
Hi Cal,
Thanks for your input! Especially the > http://www.kidsradio.org> . I book marked it to look into later in depth, but just a quick one: do you involve whistles in your ministry?
Mack
Actually, I do - not on His Kids Radio, but in church (I’m actually playing whistle and organ together for the offering this Sunday) and with the group I mentioned earlier. We sing/play in area churches - 5 ladies singing (of which my wife holds down the lowest part) and three guys in the band (drums, guitar/mandolin and me on bass/keyboard/whistles…).
We use MDs for our backing tracks, for numbers where we want thicker instrumentation or where I’m playing whistle instead of bass or keys. Here’s the nifty part: When I record the tracks, I pan all the instruments Right, and in the left channel have a click track for the drummer. He listens on a little earbud, and keeps us right on the track. I send a mono feed of just the Right channel to the PA, and the drummer is the only one who hears the click.
See - we got this back to MDs… just took a longer route! 
Happy Trails!
AVANUTRIA,
First of all I chose Sony over Sharp (and others) because I have had pretty good luck with their products. In their current product line there are 4 models, the 500, 700, 750 and 900. New models are out now and on the way but I didn’t care to wait.
The 500 has no mic input. The 700 adds mic recording and some other features. The 750 is a 700 with AM/FM radio added. The 900 was more than I wanted to spend. For me it was a no-brainer. Through careful shopping on the internet I was able to buy the 700 for what most everyone else was selling the 500 for.
It comes with a rechargable battery but can be used with one “AA” cell. This is very important if you find the rechargable battery “isn’t.” It records 74 minutes (also 80) in the highest quality mode but can be switched to record up to _5 hours with pretty fair quality. It easily fits in a shirt pocket and is light as a feather. The controls are all “up front” and easy to understand and use. Additionally there is a little (wired) remote control. And best of all the sound is simply super.
The 907 mic is single unit stereo and has switchable pickup angles. It mates very well with the Sony MD recorders and produces excellent sound.
CUL
Thanks guys. I’m going to go with either the R700DPC or R900DPC, and the recommended mic. Ailin’s going to show me his R700 at the next session here in Rochester, and at some point in the next few weeks I’m going to the Sony Outlet store in Grove City, PA.
Any further posts will be read and appreciated!
–Beth
I came across this in an epinions review of the Sony R900DPC:
The digital USB PC interface is nice but is limited to downloading music files from the PC to the mini disc player / recorder only, and it only does it in real time. In my situation, I need to upload my live recordings from the mini disc player / recorder to my PC’s hard drive, and that can’t be done digitally. There is no digital output on the mini disc player / recorder, only digital input, so if you want to upload, you have to do it via the analog output to the PC’s sound card input.
Those of you who use your MD to port to the computer: How do you transfer live sessions from MD to your computer?
Those of you who use your MD to port to the computer: How do you transfer live sessions from MD to your computer?
The hard way.
I plug an audio cable into the Minidisks headphone jack, and plug the other end into my sound card’s microphone jack, and then use Goldwave to record the 2-3 hours of stuff as one big sound file.
Then I spend a couple of hours cutting out the chit chat, and breaking the file into tracks of sets…fortunately, goldwave has a feature that lets you highlight part of the music, and port it straight out to an mp3 file, so it’s really not that difficult a job..just time consuming.
Greg
I’m similar to Greg, only I use digital transfers - optical out from my deck to converter to a coaxial connector to my soundcard. I’m using a multi-channel studio card, so that changes things a little…
Rather than using mic in, a lot of soundcards give you an option for line in as well as mic in. The line in will be (usually) a stereo 1/8" jack, which is what you use out of most walkman-style decks. Depending on how hot the output of your deck is, the mic in could distort. Experiment and see.
Another great program for editing audio on the computer is Cool Edit 2000 from Syntrillium Software (www.syntrillium.com). It’s affordable, has a lot of pro features, is expandable, and runs on almost any computer with a soundcard. The pro version of the program is nice but not necessary, since the MP3 functionality of Cool Edit 2000 is actually better than the Pro version.
Hope this casts some additional light on the murky world of digital audio!
Good news for anyone looking for a MD player - the Sony MZ-R909 seems to have just come out, causing the prices to drop a bit across the board. Anyone heard anything about this one yet? Apparently they’ve added a few bells and whistles, and at least some places it is selling for the same price as the 900 used to.
Pages at which to see it:
http://www.minidisco.com/minispecs/sonymzr909-hd.html
http://www.minidisc.org/brian_youn/MZR909/
[ This Message was edited by: avanutria on 2001-10-08 23:15 ]
I’ve taken the plunge (never was an early adopter) with a Sony N-707. A very neat package and I’m surprised at how easy it is to use.
It comes with a USB cable and software for transferring music from PC (not Macintosh, surprisingly). You can dump a CD onto the minidisc in LP4 (highest compression) in about 10 minutes. Using this compression you can get 4 or 5 CDs onto one minidisc. It’s also very easy to record LPs from my home stereo and I’m looking forward to putting some real old gems into a more accessible format.
However what I really got it for was to record live music. I should have read this thread first because rather than the MS-907 mike recommended by thesackrat, I took the DS-70P model 
. I had read on a web site that it “integrates design features that deliver high-quality input for recording musical instruments and solo vocalists.”
What was not stated was that because it plugs directly into the side of the unit, it picks up loads of motor noise. Grrr!
So here’s my question for the techies: this being a “plug-in power” model, is there any reason why I cannot simply use an extension cord with this mike?
Thanks…
I don’t see why you couldn’t. And at a few dollars for the cord it’s a cheap experiment.
StevieJ -
I have that same darn mic and I too have been frustrated by it picking up motor noise. An extension works fine, but I find it’s not a particularly good mic anyways.
Chris
Actually, does anyone know anything about the Sharp MD-MT99CS? I’m about to buy it 'cause it sells for only 120$US, and seems good enough to do the job. Is it a piece of crap?