Mini Disk Recorders: Best quality for the best price?

Factual Questions
1

Hello, all.

I am in the market for a Mini-Disk recorder. Primarily, I want to use it to do live recordings for music and get a clean, crisp sound. I know nothing about brands…prices…where to buy them online…

I don’t want to get a lesser model for an overblown price because I’m ignorant and it looks good on a website. Any informed advice? Also, what sort of mic should I get with it, and will it come with it, or should I buy it seperately…

Thanks, Y’all. - Freewill39.

2

You may already be aware of this, but MiniDiscs use lossy compression (sort of like MP3) to fit lots of recording time onto those tiny discs. They’re reputed to sound pretty good (I’ve never used one personally) but they probably don’t sound as clear as CDs do.

If sound quality is important, a MiniDisc may not be what you want, or at least, you might want to compare it to other options first.

On the other hand, if you’re familiar with the sound quality of the format, and you’re happy with it, then nevermind. :smiley:

3

I have used a Mini-Disk recorder once before, so yes, I do know what it can do and like the quality. I am looking to just get some good quality live recording sounds, not to be used professionally beyond my own listening and possibly mixing into something else. But, Lagged2Death, as long as you mention it, do you have a better idea of something hand held and portable that I could get that would provide a better recording quality? I’d be interested to know if you did.

Of course, I otherwise stick to my original plan and still seek advice about Mini Disk recorders.

  • Freewill39.
4
      • Minidiscs do use a highly lossy compression but it sounds very good, as long as you only record to it once. I got one a ccouple or three years back and it sounds very good–its only problem is that you MUST run it off wall current or use a larger battery adaptor–because it only uses a single AA battery that runs down after 45 minutes or so–and the thing keeps on recording, but the quality goes to SH1T. Mine came with NiMH rechargeable batteries and has a built-in recharger (which is nice) but the meter doesn’t really read accurately enough to tell when it’s going downhill, so you only know it when you go back and listen to the recordings. And when I shopped around, all of the ones available (Sony or Sharp) only used one single-AA battery. You get a bit more time (an hour perhaps) if you use a disposeable alkaline AA battery.
        http://www.planetminidisc.com/ is one general-info+sales site. -->If you want to use a mic, then make sure teh one you buy has a mic jack! All don’t. And mine makes a “buzzing”, a mechanical noise every 30 seonds, for about five seconds–which is the actual disc recording being done. So I have to put it behind me and keep the (directional) mics in front of me.
        http://www.microphonemadness.com sells good-quality miniature mics for cheap–the dynamic ones sound very good. For $120 or so, minidisc recorders give amazingly good sound.
  • However, now there are hard-drive recorders that hold a lot of music, and portable CD recorders may have come down in price too–when I last saw, there was one place selling them and they wanted like $650 for it. Portable DAT recorders were still $700 or so when I looked, and since they were basically studio-level equipment, there was no indications that they were going to become cheaper anytime soon–they had already been out several years. But still you would want to look the HD-based and CD-R units up as well.
    ~
5
      • Yikes! They still want $700 for the portable audio CD-R I remember seeing:
        http://www.zzounds.com/item--MARCDR300
        oh well.
        , , , , , , ,
        …[shopping] I am finding a few portable CD/DVD players for $250-$300 that can hook up to a computer through a USB cable and function as CD/DVD burners for various audio file types, but nothing else that does portable CD-audio recording.
        Nuts.
        ~