Re: [Harp-L] Re: Microtrack v Minidisc



"jazmaan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <dmf273@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Or for the absolute audio purists it will record 100
> minutes of uncompressed 24 bit WAV onto a 1GB card.   

not quite.  16 bit audio gets you 100 minutes. 24 bit audio 
gets 3779.0 seconds in 1G, or about 63 minutes.

> Minidisc doesn't even come close 

it comes identical for 16bit.  not close for 24bit, which it
doesn't do.  it's just math: bytes/sample * channels * samples/sec.

> nor does it offer such a range of recording options.   

agreed.  i also concur with your not wanting to record at
less than 128 kb.  for all intents and purposes, i'd consider it
2 options: uncompressed or 320k compressed.  the latter being
a good tradeoff of quality vs. recording time.

> Of course the 1GB card is just for easy comparison.   CF and 
> Microdrive cards also come in 2, 4 and 6 GB sizes and the prices 
> are dropping sharply.  (Especially for Microdrives.)   

currently a 4G microdrive is about $149 online.  that's plenty of space to record
your average concert without wirrying about running out.

> They may never reach the $7 per GB price point of HI-MD, 

yep.  while the storage pricepoint strongly favors minidsc now, this will clearly
change as time goes on.  i consider minidisc an interim technology, likely to
fade away as the storage equation changes.  by the time that happens, i'll
probably be ready to replace my current rig, and will reevaluate then.

> but, in my opinion, the other benefits of the
> Microtrack far outweigh the price disadvantage of its media cards.

good.  i hope you enjoy yours.

fwiw, i'm not any kind of minidisc partisan.  i just got one, it suits
my needs, i'm happy.  my only point in this discussion is to point
out the tradeoffs of each so people can make their own decision
about what's best for them.  frankly, i don't think there's a wrong
answer here.  either one offers capability that would've cost many
times more not so long ago, in a small and convenient package.
i look forward to many more high quality recordings from people
who wouldn't have even considered spending the perhaps thousands
of dollars a recording rig used to cost.  everybody wins.


----
Garry Hodgson, Technical Consultant, AT&T Labs

Your love, your anger, your kindness, your hate.
All of it creates the future for you and your children.
What kind of future are you creating today?




This archive was generated by a fusion of Pipermail 0.09 (Mailman edition) and MHonArc 2.6.8.