Digital Recording Devices vs. the Old, Analog Type

Factual Questions
1

I’m interested in purchasing a new tape recorder, but a friend told me I should consider one of those new digital recorders. The advantages of the digital format seem obvious.

Whereas the old tape minirecorders could play about 90 minutes max, the new digital kind will record 5-25 hours of conversation, depending on the memory stick used. The digital type also allow the user to store conversations in dozens of mailboxes, and then download everything to one’s laptop/desktop.

That said, I’m concerned that there must be some tradeoff that I don’t know about.

Are the digital recorders prone to accidental erasure? Do they pick up distant conversations (a speak at a podium) as well as the analog, tape-based type?

In general, what are the up and downsides of the digital recorders?

2

Price. An analog recorder can be had for probably ten or twenty bucks. A digital recorder - especially if it uses solid-state media as you mentioned - can jump up into the $100 range.

That said, solid-state memory is pretty reliable and stable, in my opinion. You still have to keep it away from magnets and such, same as analog tape.

3
      • Random Comments, in no particular order:
  • The couple people I know of who have/use solid-state dictation recorders both hate the fact that -the ones they have- instantly erase. If you tell it to erase something and press the button, whatever was there is gone completely. Not like tape, where you can re-listen to it until you record over it.
  • The memory sticks are expensive.
  • The sound quality wasn’t that great in either, about the same as a regular telephone.
    …
  • Minidisc is a possible dictation-style solution: blank 74-minute discs are $2 each. the Walkman-style recorders cost about $120+ but can record at basically CD-quality. If they (the recorders) have the MDLP feature they can record 160 or 320 minutes at lower qualities on the same size disc (there’s only one size disk). Sony makes at least one “dictation” and a couple pressman-type units, but they’re all expensive, like $400+, -and I didn’t see anything in the specs that the cheaper units won’t do.
  • With minidisc, you can instantly skip to any track on the disk, instantly erase any track on the disk and rearrange the order of the tracks. Most units even alow text-display titling of the tracks, but it’s tedious to do. They suffer the same instant-erase problem though, but minidisc.org’s faq explains a couple of ways to prevent an “erase” from actually taking effect– since it doesn’t really happen when you think it does…
  • Minidisc recorders make a bit of mechanical noise as they run. You should use an external mic, even if it’s only got a 1-foot-long cord. An online place named Microphone Madness is the prime cheap mini-mic hookup.
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