Freesound Forums

hi there,
i have been looking at getting a minidisc player for field recording purposes and would like some advice/opinions on my choices, i have chosen this minidisc player
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-MZ-NH900-Silver-Hi-MiniDisc-Walkman/dp/B0001ZN768/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1209577227&sr=8-12
and this stero microphone
http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/options.php?id=1534&gclid=CKCtj5mqg5MCFQGtQwodlV4bDw
basically, i was wondering if people think these will be good for field recordings
also, a more specific (if perhaps noobish) question is:
the minidisc player has a 'mic-in' input - will this be a stero input? ie: will it make stereo recordings with the stero mic plugged into the mic-input?
any advice/info/help would be much appreciated,
thanks very much
jonathan

Hello, the minidisc mic input is stereo. Cheers.

I feel like your money might be better spent if you bought a Zoom H4 instead. It would be about the same cost, and the H4's built-in mics sound pretty darn good for the price. I've never recorded with an atr-25, but the reviews didn't look too promising to me. Also, keep in mind that minidisc recorders don't do mp3's; they use the ATRAC3plus format. It wouldn't be an issue if you only plan to record uncompressed audio, but it's something to keep in mind.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zoom-H4-Handy-Recorder-512mb/dp/B000L0I0YC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1209624520&sr=1-1

Just my two cents. Best of luck with whatever you end up getting

-Will

Well, on the other hand there is still a lot going for minidisk recorders. I think that often the preamps produce less hiss then on some other recorders and you can devide a track easy and erase the part, you don´t want. Plus, there is the storage away from the computer.

A HiMD recoder records in the PCM mode, which is uncompressed audio.

Microphones: well the Soundman OKM binaural microphones are great and the Shure wl187s or try to do your own setup with Panasonic microphone capsules you can buy at Ebay for just a few pounds.: http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,94446.0.html

I am gonna have to agree with thetruwu on this one. Mini-disc is second rate to most hard disc recorders out on the market. I have used the H4 in the past and there doesn't seem to be much of an issue with hiss at all. The H4 has editing features just like mini disc recorders but also includes a lot of editing that mini disc doesn't, like it's 4 track abilities. Also if you ever want to upgrade to professional microphones the phantom power and xlr jacks are very useful. Another key feature that the H4 includes is the multiple file formats and sample rates it can directly record to. I would also like to go ahead and second thetruwu by saying the onboard mics are suprisingly good, and far exceeded my expectations.

great guys this is really useful stuff, thanks very much.
i am now looking at the zoom h2, being a bit cheaper than the h4, what do you reckon?
thanks again

there are lots of recordings on freesound with both recorders. search for "h2" and "h4" and you'll find lots of recordings to make your own decision.