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I am a audio novice looking to buy a audio recorder, I did some searches and these 2 pop up alot. Anyone use them or can recomend one or the other. I want to use it to record live samples and maybe record naration.

Sony MZ-RH10 or Sony MZ-M100

thanks

\V

I use the Sony MZ-RH910, and it works wonderfully... as far as the RH10 or the M100, I don't really know...

I think the that professionally-geared M100 and M10 are the equivalents of the RH10 and RH910, respectively. The RH10/M100 have a glowing OEL display while the M10/RH910 have a non-backlit regular LCD display and do not come with a remote (not a great remote, BTW). I think the M100/M10 may have a better front cover (aluminum under the plastic?), which, IMO, is not worth the premium.

Otherwise I believe they are identical. The 910 also has mic input , 16/44.1 PCM recording, and USB IO.

I bought an M100 on sale over Christmas but returned it and bought an RH910 for half the price. For that difference, I can live without blacklighting.

Hope this helps.

oxy

p.s. stay away from the 710, which does not have mic input.

I have the mz-rh10, which I believe is identical to the mz-m100 minus the t-microphone. I just have to say that it sounds simply amazing for the price. I originaly bought an edirol r-1 and returned it in a day because the converters sounded like crap and the inputs were noisy. I did a double blind listening test comparing the mz-rh10 and a tascam dm-24 using a rode nt4 mic and a sound devices mixpre preamp.
Guess which converters I picked out as having better imaging and depth? The little sony minidisc at 16bit beat out my tascam board at 24bit everytime! That coming from me means alot because I think the dm24 has a much better sound then most mid level units. The dm-24 is far better sounding than My echo indigo card, and sounds better than a presonos firepod I had a chance to compare it to as well. I think the Sony Hi-Md format is the way to go for cheap portable recording at the moment. The Edirol R-1 sounds like crap and I've heard nothing but horror stories about the build quality and software stability of the M-Audio MicroTRack. Sony have been making MiniDisc players for a long time now and I think they have the formula pretty well down. The battery lasts for ages and with the new generation recording uncompressed audio with the ability to upload files to a computer, there is nothing to compare
it to in my opinion.

My MD Recorder is SONY MZ-RH10. I'm gonna simply name some good points and bad ones.
[good] Compact, light-weight, long battery life, non-compressed PCM recording, good sound quality (for the price I mean), lower cost memory material against compact flash, etc.
File transfer to the pc. Recorded files are sent to the pc via USB, and decoded into sound files that you can handle on the desktop. THAT takes much time. Sometimes it takes LONGER than real-time transfer. I prefer just drag-and-drop operation like other recording gears. Weak display. I can't read back-lit information well in the sun. I have to make shade on the display with a hand. Ordinary monochrome LCD might be better. Also I can't use it as level meter because it disappears soon after recording has started for battery protection. Lack of preference memory. Default recording mode is AUTO. In that way, low signals are always boosted to normal amplitude, and high signals are compressed awkwardly. It is suitable for speaches like interviews to be sure, but not for field-recordings. So I have to change to MANUAL every time before recording just like a ritual. MZ-RH10 doesn't remember my preferences. This is the very reason I don't use this cute product as my main recording device.

Though I wrote more in than [good], I don't mean MZ-RH10 is useless. Rather I think it is unbelievably nice product for beginners of recording.

Heigh-hoo, There is a preference to have the display stay on. I believe it is under the option menu. "Default recording mode is AUTO. In that way, low signals are always boosted to normal amplitude, and high signals are compressed awkwardly. It is suitable for speaches like interviews to be sure, but not for field-recordings. So I have to change to MANUAL every time before recording just like a ritual." I use my MZ-RH10 with a seperate pre-amp so setting the record mode to manual does not bother me so much because the last gain setting is remembered, after you select MANUAL once the menu is already under the curser for next time. In regards to the transfer time, yes it is a bit of a pain but I've found it to be about 2x realtime speed and the conversion to wav afterward is very fast indeed. I usually set it up to transfer and then grab a cup of coffee, doesn't bother me to much. I just want To let people know that the Hi-Md format is a viable alternative to the R-1 and the MicroTrack. I believe it has advantages over both of those products. The main disadvantage is surely having to set up manual record each time. But this is really only a couple of button presses in reality.

Hi, patchen. I tried changing setting as you said. Now I'm smiling over the display that never fades away. Thanks for the tip.
I also use an external mic-preamp between the MD recorder and microphones. My preamp is Shure FP24, which I think is identical to SoundDevices MixPre. (Is that right?) That awfully great device takes care of mic signals, so I think it's basically OK to record sounds at Auto Rec-Level mode. Still, I like the natural touch of sounds I record at Manual mode, so I think I will choose it every time I do recordings.

By the way, has vuzz decided which model to buy?

Heigh-Hoo,
Yes, Mine is actually an FP24 as well. Here is a tip. I set My limiter to a certain threshold, with the limiter set I
sent a test signal to the inputs of the FP24. With this test signal tripping the limiter I set the input of the Minidisc to a level
just below digital clipping. With the limiter set on the preamp no signal will clip the inputs of the MD regardless of the gain -setting on the FP24. Now, next time I set the record level to MANUAL on the MD the record gain I set before is remembered, and the only gain adjustments I have to look at are on the MixPre. Pretty good trick huh? Just remember to put the hold switch on after you hit record. I've missed a couple of recordings mysteriously when the recorder was somehow stopped in my shoulder pouch.
Cheers,
Patchen

patchen, setting threshold on preamp is a solution for avoiding unpredictable loudness. Yes. I'll try next time.

HOLD switch reminds me of seatbelts of a car. Those who have never smacked their car doubt if they really need to fasten them. But, experienced people know it's a must.