[LAU] Looking for advice on a field recording device

Philipp Überbacher hollunder at lavabit.com
Tue Jul 30 09:06:08 UTC 2013


On Mon, 29 Jul 2013 18:50:56 +0100
"Barney Holmes" <djbarney at djbarney.org> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> The Sony Minidisc (remember those?) was considered a desirable item
> for live recording in its time. I'm currently experimenting with a
> Sony Walkman Minidisc Net MD (Walkman MZ-N707 Type-R) that I picked
> up in a charity shop for ~6 pounds. Its probably a collectors item,
> it was first introduced in 2002. But I'm curious if it lives up to
> all the recommendations I heard at the time from live sound
> recordists.
> 
> Did some seaside and other recordings just using a basic mono
> microphone. Sounds OK when I play back on headphones from the device.
> I'm currently transferring to my PC. The problem with the Minidisc is
> that it has too much DRM on it (which is one of the reasons it failed
> as a technology). Fibre optic connection only works INTO the device.
> Recordings cannot be transferred off the device in digital form and
> have to be re-recorded through an analog output - but the quality
> loss is negligible I think. Currently looking at "linux-minidisc" for
> some possible ways around the DRM.
> 
> Who knows what other second had devices are out there ? It's amazing
> what you can find in charity shops as well ;)
> 
> djbarney

I had one of those, many years ago. I only used it as a music player,
but I had to use some really buggy sony software to get any music on
it, and it was in some obscure format. Not too long
after the first mp3 players showed up and then the ipod hype started.
That was pretty much the end of MD. I know there are some enthusiasts
left, but I don't shed a tear.

Regards,
Philipp



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