Thanks ermine-- one last question!

[Steelflight]

Ok I guess I will have to eat some top ramen and macaroni for a few months to cover the expenses :).

I want the cheapest setup that will get the job done (record barn owl calls). What HiMD and shotgun mic should I get?

Thanks again-- hopefully this is last time I have to bug you!

-Kristin

[Steelflight]

What about this model. I found it on Amazon for 200 bucks. ~200 bucks is about my spending range!

Sony MZ-NH700 Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman

Thanks.

[ermine]

What about this model. I found it on Amazon for 200 bucks. ~200 bucks is about my spending range!

Sony MZ-NH700 Hi-MD MiniDisc Walkman

Thanks.

Great little recorder. That model is exactly what I used to make the good recording of the long-tails. I know that this one will run overnight on a single chaged NiMH battery in HiMD-LP mode because I used that to record the new years fireworks and it was still recording when I got up to stop it. You get 34 hours in Hi-LP and 8 hours in Hi-SP mode. Both are fine for your application, though I would tend to use Hi-SP if the 8 hour limit is workable, as you might be able to confirm with sonograms your species ID. The more compression you use, the less distinct the sonograms.

The main pain with that recorder is it defaults to AGC each time you go out of record mode and you end up with seven button presses to go into manual record, which is what you need for nature recording of any type.

If the CD you get with it has an earlier version of the sonicstage transfer program than 3.4 , go onto http://forums.minidisc.org and d/l Sonicstage 3.4 (or get it from Sony if you can find the link) as that has lifted most of the transfer restrictions you will have grown to know and hate with your old deck...