I was an MD taper for 4 years, and I've got an ancient Sony Deck (MZ-R30) and 2 Sharp MD-MS722's that have seen more play than Schilling.
I recently upgraded to dat and the first show I taped, I said "Why the FUCK did I wait so long?"
the fact you can put 3 hours straight on a dat is still amazing and lovely to me. And very, much needed, especially in a stealthing situation.
MD's with optical outs are theoretically illegal to make anymore, but you can still own one, and usually they're on eBay for 50-75 bucks. They're a Sony Home Unit.
If you're going to go with MD get a sharp - I had another sony, a newer one, and it fell apart after 6 months (then was stolen out of my car, heh.. thanks karma and theft insurance!). My Sharps I've had since June of 2000, bought through minidisco.com, and now one of the shells, a screw fell out so it likes to try to open. They're both getting old, so they've been retired, and it's DAT for me.
I don't like the idea of completely digital without some kind of media. Call it old, or farfetched, or whatever, but at least a DAT won't suffer a hard drive crash and be wiped out..
just keep the magnets away