RE: re-: [Harp-L] Portable Recorders

["Steve Shaw" <moorcot@xxxxxxx>]

> From: randysinger:

> My favorite minidisc player is the Sharp 1 bit portable recorder.  
> Regardless of what one you get, make sure you can adjust the input level of 
> the mic easily from the front of the unit instead of having to navigate 
> thru a menu system. This makes adjusting the mic level a breeze. I also 
> love the AKAI portable, it was the easiest to use, but only available, i 
> believe on Ebay

Good point about adjusting the mic input level.  You do have to get to grips 
with this and I have to admit that my Sony Hi-MD recorder (MZ-NH700) is a 
pain in this regard.  You can't just plug in and go as you risk having 
ruined recordings with digital clipping at the loud passages.  I still think 
Hi-MD is worth considering though (Sony models only AFAIK).  Consider that 
at high-quality you can record 80 minutes on a standard MD but for eight 
hours on a Hi-MD disc - you can leave it running through even a long 
gig/session and forget it (as long as you put a good battery in!).  You can 
even set it to make tracks every few minutes so that you can find things 
more easily later (a reversible procedure).   And you can upload mic 
recordings to your PC much faster with Hi-MD (though the software allows you 
to do this once only for reasons best known to Sony!!) because you do it via 
a USB port as opposed to a line-in, and it's digital transfer.  For 
top-notch recording quality there's a setting called linear PCM that enables 
you to record at full CD quality on to a Hi-MD disc (90 mins per disc).  Of 
course the other limiting factors will kick in as you won't be using the 
world's greatest mic, it's single mic only and you won't be in a studio.  
Still good though.

Steve

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