Mini disc question

[MoMack]

Can you record with all mini disc players? ie. the portable ones.. would they all come with mics? And can you hook them up to computers to load music onto the discs?

Anybody?

THanks.

[safety 4th]

1 - no, some are just minidisc PLAYERS, and are only for playback...they tend to be the cheapest ones you can find. Most portable minidisc players do have recording capabilities, just make sure what you're looking at has an input (line in) and a record button.

2 - I've never seen one that comes WITH a mic. That is something you would need to buy separately. Some minidisc players have an extra input that says "mic in" and it's usually red. This input provides power to some mini condensor mics you can buy specially for minidisc players. They aren't the best for recording shows though.

Almost all minidisc recorders have one line in that is both an analog and digital input. If you plug a miniplug into it (like a headphone jack), you can record from an analog source (usually with one of the cables you use to hook up a discman to a stereo...RCA to miniplug). If you have a sourse with an optical digital output (like a high end cd player), you can hook up the optical cable and record digitally to the minidisc player too.

3 - Sony's minidisc players usually have something called "net md", which basically means you can hook your minidisc player up to a USB port on your computer and dump songs onto it. The downside to this is you have to use software that sony provides and it has this weird check in/check out system that limits how many times you can put a song onto a disc (check their website for info on net md)

Take a look at www.minidisc.org - they'll be able to answer most of your questions. I think there's also a www.minidisco.org with a lot of info, but I can't get it to load.

Hope this helps

[aberg83]

If you're getting into live recording, DON'T get a minidisc recorder... go the route I recently took and buy a Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 refurbed on ebay for $180 US... it's WELL worth it... 20GB space, record in wav format, firewire transfers, digital input.... makes for killer recordings... mix that with a UA-5 and a nice set of mics, and you're smokin!

[MoMack]

Thanks for the tips.

It was a gift for someone that has their mind set, but I'm not sure the one I saw was what I'm after...

[Weirdness]

Yo!

If you're considering getting into MD recording right now, you should look into the new format that they've just come up with called I believe HIMD. Firstly, you get a 1gig disc which poses a major advantage and the second thing is that apparently this thing has .wav capabilities meaning that you don't have to deal with all the compression bullshit. Also, you can connect this puppy to your computer and upload the files via USB digitally rather than having to buy another home deck with a digital out in order to make perfect transfers.

All that being said, it has not 100% been said yet wether you can use the line/mic input and still record uncompressed. The answer to this one should come out within the next couple of weeks. If I find out the answer, I'll post it here.

Seems to me the retail on the cheaper unit is $349 canadian which isn't so bad. All of the new models are in the new "Sony Style" magazine which you can get at any Sony dealer.

Also consider the Creative Nomad JB3 which is a portable hard drive(20-40gig) device which has become quite popular recently and does not require that you pay for any media.