From: "Dave" <>
>
> Are there any high fidelity recorders that use
> memory cards? I'm a little reluctant to go down
> the minidisc path when my main objective is to
> capture birdsongs in order to edit and create
> small mp3 audio files for the pc. Compact flash (CF)
> cards are fairly cheap if they are used as temporary
> storage (as with a digital camera) and obviously they
> have ruggedness and reliability advantages since
> there are no moving parts. Thanks.
I started with minidisc with the then just released MZ-R30, 8 years ago.
What wore out on that was not the moving parts you think of, it was the
tiny buttons, or more correctly the tiny switches under them.
Particularly the pause button, though others wore out different ones.
And it took a lot of recording to do that. It is possible to replace
those however. Eventually I got a second MZ-R30, used off ebay. Then,
when it first came out a few years ago I moved up to the high end, a HHb
Portadisc. Which has human sized controls. But, note both MZ-R30's still
run as well as new. (I did switch replacement on one) We now use them
for their original intended purpose, walkman playing music. I've not
even had to clean the heads on them.
In all 8 years I've never had a media failure. I've never had a TOC
failure. I've never had a recording fail. Period. I did make a error and
erase a disk once, entirely my fault for forgetting which disk it was. I
have dropped the MZ-R30's a few times, onto hard pavement etc. Even
while recording (they kept on recording with no skip). The tiny size is
a problem when pushing buttons. Some scratches and dents to the case.
The Portadisc I've not dropped, being heavier it's more likely to incur
some damage, though it's built very rugged for ENG use. I've the
PortaBrace case built for it, and that's where it lives. I've recorded
on a couple hundred disks, maybe more. Some nature recording, some
music. And those disks are archival. I'm absolutely sure of a recording
once it's on disk.
So, what ruggedness and reliability advantages? Against near perfection
in that department it would seem that there is no advantage. Note that
the solid state recorders can have the same switch problem.
So far the actual performance for the price of solid state recorders is
far below the standard set by minidisc. And that standard is very high.
Solid state is a expensive, non-archival medium. Hard disk recorders are
not only delicate, but all that capacity encourages putting all your
eggs in one basket. You can loose a lot of recording when they fail. In
time there may be some good solid state recorders that can do as well as
possible with minidisc, but not yet.
BTW, my digital camera is even older, and uses Type III PCMCIA hard
disks. Moving parts. None of those have failed either. Of course I'm
very careful about dropping those.
Walt
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