portable minidisk vs mp3 player

My portable minidisk just gave out and I?m debating whether to buy a new HI-MD recorder or an mp3 player. I like the recording capability of the MD, but I like the convenience of being able to dump a boatload (i.e. 40 gig) of tunes onto an mp3 player and carry them all around. It also seems like the minidisk is a dying technology. Are there any portable mp3?s that will let you get a decent recording from a mic? I basically just want to be able to record gigs and such for reference purposes.

Any suggestions?

Theirs a thing you can buy for an iPod so you can record. I'm not sure about the quality of it tho.

Thanks Kurt. I heard about that, but the sound quality is supposedly very poor. It's more designed for interviews and notes I think.

Has anyone used one of the iRiver mp3 players? It looks like those have a line in that can be used for a mic.

Being able to record on an MD would do it for me right there. 40 gig of tunes with an ipod or less with a standard mp3... i couldn't listen to that much in a session so why get it? As a drummer, being able to plug in to the board and record and crtique yourself, damn, that is where it is at for me.

I hear ya matricks. Being able to get a decent recording on the gig is definitely a big factor for me. That's why I think I'm leaning toward another portable MD. It sure would be nice to be able to carry around most of my CD collection and tunes I am learning on the same unit though. And I just wonder how much longer the MD format is going to be around.

Hey Kubla,
Hope you're fine.
Sony (maybe other brand but I don't really know) offers the Hi-MD format wich enable you to double the capacity of your MD: 74mns*2 (1Go).
The compression format (Atrac3) is pretty fair with your audio. The thing you have to check is the ability to record external source using this format (I don't really know too).
Talking about a portable HD, my opinion is that if your HD failed.....bye, bye your data.....
For example, don't talk me about a Palm Pilot.......I've returned to a paper organizer.....
And of course, I trust much more my MD than my MP3 Player.
See you !!

GET AN iPOD!! It's the best inevention since the wheel. You have to have one. Not only can you put all your entire cd collection on there (as well as your cheeky downloads [img]wink.gif[/img] ) But you can have all your comedy, audio books, teaching aids, play-a-longs, drumming materials, clinics etc... it seriously is the best bit of kit I've ever owned.

The other thing Kubla, is that you don't necessarily have to buy a 40gig iPod, you could always downscale AND get a cheap mini-disc player with the money you've saved!!

Nice! [img]cool.gif[/img]

Quote:

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Originally posted by Dazzler:
GET AN iPOD!! It's the best inevention since the wheel. You have to have one. Not only can you put all your entire cd collection on there (as well as your cheeky downloads [img]wink.gif[/img] ) But you can have all your comedy, audio books, teaching aids, play-a-longs, drumming materials, clinics etc... it seriously is the best bit of kit I've ever owned.

The other thing Kubla, is that you don't necessarily have to buy a 40gig iPod, you could always downscale AND get a cheap mini-disc player with the money you've saved!!

Nice! [img]cool.gif[/img]

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah other thing is. my friend is working at a major studio in Copenhagen, and he is allways taking the all the tracks from a recording home on an Ipod and continue his work at home. It's basically a portable HD for Digital Studio Recordings too. Pretty Neat.

I'm still waiting for them to lower the price though, but the monopoly on the technology by Apple seem to keep the price up for some time though [img]frown.gif[/img]

Thanks for all of the input guys! It is much appreciated.

My big question is can I get a decent live gig recording with an iPod using an external mic?

It looks like some of the other mp3 harddisk units like iRiver, Archos, or Samsung might be able to do this, but I haven't been able to find a definitive answer yet.

I wouldn't pur all of your music on an Ipod, what if it crashes, I've seen them crash, I never thought i'd use the term "fault tolerance" in the same text as music, but in this case the Ipod is an expensive hard drive with limited recording quality.

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News Flash: Sony releases an Atrac3 to Wav converter for it's HI MD line of MD recorders and players. This means that not only can you record at CD quality, but you are now no longer limited to the Atrac3 file format. YOu can now edit what you record on your portable HI MD unit.
http://sonyelectronics.sonystyle.com/walkmanmc/wav.html