Well I guess I gotta vent a little hear.
As one of the few if not the only guy ever to show up at the LNS
field class with a consumer MD as his equipment.
Consumer MD equipment far exceeds any cassette out there.
It is not sub-standard and can yield professional results and still
fit in your shirt pocket.
100% of the time I can get better audio than a phd sitting behind a
desk with their mkh's while using my little shirt pocket md in a
swamp.
I bet my consumer md uses a higher bit rate than the hhb portadisk.
Rich Peet
> Certain persons in Cornell tested the very earliest ATRAC, which did
> change the sound in unacceptable ways and declared the technology
> totally useless, and then closed their minds to even testing it
again.
> I'm not sure they were even open to the technology before testing.
They
> also raised technical objections that showed a lack of
understanding of
> the physiology of hearing in vertebrates. And did not relate to what
> ATRAC actually does. Many nature recordists got their start at
Cornell,
> and tend to not question what they say and give it too much weight
over
> other sources of information. Ever since, even into this year,
Cornell
> continued to do the same thing. Their website section on equipment
has
> had that original report as the entire thing to say about MD all
this
> time. In most discussions, that report is virtually always quoted to
> show what's wrong with ATRAC. A number of us have tried to
counteract
> this over the years with some limited success. Each person we get to
> actually seriously try MD generally finds just how wrong Cornell has
> been when it comes to modern ATRAC. Cornell has even gotten into MD
in a
> very limited way, they were pretty much forced to equip themselves
to
> handle recordings sent in on MD. But, so far they don't seem to use
the
> recorders in the field. Stubborn bunch tied to old technology.
>
> I'm interested in the solid state and microdrive setups for the
future.
> Right now I feel the cost of media is a big disadvantage. And for
anyone
> who keeps the actual original recording they are, of course a
problem
> and will have to be transferred to more durable storage for
archiving.
> Not a big issue, I keep my original MD disks, but in reality never
go
> back to them once I've transferred the recordings to aiff files on
> optical disks. I use the PCMCIA type III cards in my digital
camera, a
> Minolta RD-175, and have yet to have one fail in many years of using
> that, and I understand the microdrives are just as good. I do, of
> course, transfer the photos off disk to optical, generally the same
day.
>
> I expect by the time I manage to wear out my HHb Portadisc there
will be
> some really good stuff out at reasonable prices. That is assuming
that
> the music industry does not kill sound recording separate from
them. Of
> course I may die before the Portadisc wears out. In my experience MD
> recorders are very durable. As is the media. I have no need to
change now.
>
> A last note, when I got my first MD, I got it because I considered
tape
> unreliable and wanted a more durable and reliable storage medium.
With
> the heat and humidity of Georgia, cassette, or any tape system was
> unreliable. I also wanted to go digital, I was moving from cassette
and
> reel to reel. I was familiar with optical disks, having used them
with
> my macs for some time and knew how reliable they are. I agonized
quite a
> bit over ATRAC, was very mad the recorder did not have a
uncompressed
> recording mode. I read the Cornell report for the first time back
then,
> but also read quite a bit that was available that clearly
demonstrated
> that the report was not longer valid back then. So, with a lot of
> reluctance I bought my first MD, the then just out Sony MZ-R30. The
> excellent recordings I got quickly swept away any fears. And the
> sonograms I did reinforced that this was a quality recording
system. I
> have never regretted going MD. Who cares if it's compressed, it's
> results that matter.
>
> Walt
>
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