mini disc recorder

[jocunsa at georgetown.edu]

Sonja & others,

I have been using minidisc here in Kalimantan, Indonesia with success.
I don't know about spectrographic analysis using this technology.  I
like md's because they are less intrusive and cheaper.  I recommend
Sanyo's.  I have bought minidisc recorders from the following website:
www.minidisco.com.  They are in the states and are very knowledgeable
about the technology.  I also suggest looking at a discussion board
before you buy the product, because this technology is new and not all
manufacturers are up to standard.  I believe the discussion board can
be found on the minidisco.com website.

good luck & take it easy,

andy j.

----- Original Message -----
From: mannheim at umich.edu
Date: Sunday, July 1, 2001 5:41 pm
Subject: Re: mini disc recorder

> Sonja,
>
> I will be very brief in answering this since I am writing from Perú.
>
> The short answer is that you need both a DAT and a soundboard that
> is fully digital.  I was surprised to find that some soundboards
> have digital ports but convert the signal to analogue before
> converting it back to digital.  It does not make a lot of sense to
> me as an engineering solution, but I don´t know what
> considerations go into designing a sound board.
>
> You will need a DAT for later instrumental work because the
> encoding used by minidiscs is a lossy form of encoding, where
> parts of the signal are dropped.  The resulting signal is very
> good to the ear (I am a minidisc fan and have one with me) but not
> up to speed for sound analysis.
>
> I do recommend minidiscs for things like preparing speech samples
> for lectures and so forth, where signal losses are not at issue.
> It is also not the case that the losses are all in inaudible ranges.
>
> There is a midisc home page that discusses the technology in
> detail (though the compression formulae are proprietary to Sony).
> I recommend it to you (though I do not have the address at hand).
> It wll also likely have discussion of the digital capture issue,
> since it is one that is frequently discussed on e-lists of
> minidisc enthusiasts.
>
> A common piece of advice in response to your question is that the
> key piece of equipment that is most often overlooked is the
> microphone.  It is important that you chose a good microphone
> (which will cost $$$) and one that is suited to the kinds of
> recordings that you want to do.  Others will have better guidence
> than I do.
>
> Regards,
>
> Bruce
>
>
>
>
>
> >I know this has been discussed before and that I saved some
> messages,
> >but they're at school I think and I'm leaving tomorrow to collect
> new
> >data. I don't know if there are archives somewhere for this list
> (I'm
> >not typically a procrastinator but I planned to use a recorder
> from
> >our Linguistics Program and discovered that's it checked out for
> the
> >summer).
> >
> >I'm going to do two sets of interviews. one set that will likely
> >require spectrographic analyses. I want digital recordings so
> they
> >can be put on the computer. I would imagine my choices to be a
> mini
> >disc or a dat or possibly an analog recorder like a marantz that
> can
> >be converted to digital. My primary interest is in the content of
> the
> >interviews and the later transcription for the other set of
> >interviews.
> >
> >I don't know much about a mini disc recorder or a dat. I need
> >something that will have a good microphone, preferrably an
> internal
> >mic or with a fairly non-intrusive external mic. I read good
> things
> >on this list for the mini disc as well as some drawbacks (neither
> of
> >which I remember much right now). In any event, I'd like to know
> if
> >someone can tell me about a good mini disc or dat recorder
> they've
> >used for the situation I need to use it in.
> >
> >The mini disc supply here in Athens is limited to two Sony
> >models--one analog and one digital. But, according to the
> saleperson,
> >I'd need to buy a mic--and they don't have one. So, in addition
> to
> >good models I also need to know if a separate mic purchase is
> needed
> >as well.
> >
> >At this point, any useful info would be much appreciated.  --Sonja
> >
> >**************************************************************
> >Sonja L. Lanehart
> >Department of English                 706-542-2260 (office)
> >University of Georgia                 706-542-1261 (messages)
> >300 Park Hall                         706-542-2181 (fax)
> >Athens, GA 30602-6205                 lanehart at arches.uga.edu
> >**************************************************************
> >
>