Topic: Looking to buy a new recorder (minidisc)

[digifish_music]

These days you can use SD recorders like mini-disc.  A 2 GB SD card runs as cheap as $5 - you can use a new card for every recording and keep em all on that book shelf.  You should be able to get about 3 hours of 16/44 on that 2 GB card.

there ya go.  best of both worlds.

While on the subject...

SanDisk has recently introduced a Write Once Read Many (WORM) SD card

http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=4353

this is said to have an archive life of up to 100 years. Standard SD cards may start to lose data at around 10 years (apparently). That said, I remember people would only guarantee CDs for 10 years when they first came out.

Capacities for the WORM card are only 128 Meg at the moment, with larger capacities to follow. You know they won't be cheap either

EDIT: although I could be wrong...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/20/1gb-write-once-sandisk-memory-cards-to-cost-5-99/

digifish

[prof_peabody]

Nice find, +T

These days you can use SD recorders like mini-disc.  A 2 GB SD card runs as cheap as $5 - you can use a new card for every recording and keep em all on that book shelf.  You should be able to get about 3 hours of 16/44 on that 2 GB card.

there ya go.  best of both worlds.

While on the subject...

SanDisk has recently introduced a Write Once Read Many (WORM) SD card

http://www.sandisk.com/Corporate/PressRoom/PressReleases/PressRelease.aspx?ID=4353

this is said to have an archive life of up to 100 years. Standard SD cards may start to lose data at around 10 years (apparently). That said, I remember people would only guarantee CDs for 10 years when they first came out.

Capacities for the WORM card are only 128 Meg at the moment, with larger capacities to follow. You know they won't be cheap either

EDIT: although I could be wrong...

http://www.engadget.com/2007/11/20/1gb-write-once-sandisk-memory-cards-to-cost-5-99/

digifish

[stantheman1976]

This is why the argument of solid state vs. tape is significant to me.  No medium alive today besides tape is meant to store data long term.  I consider long term more than 10 years.  Hard drives have a typical life span of 3-5 years.  Some do last much longer but some die sooner.  Recordable optical media like CD-R and DVD+/-R can go bad even quicker than a hard drive or can last longer.  It's a crap shoot, even using top grade blanks.  SD and CF cards have not been around long enough in the consumer market to prove their reliability for 10-15 years of storage.  The article above states that SD cards will start to lose data after 10 years.  Now they're developing cards that this, hopefully, won't happen to.

I know the argument of redundant backups very well and I'm not trying to argue against the convenience of solid state and hard drive recorders.  I love my iRivers and D50 but I like to be able to put my project back to a tape and know that it will most likely be viable in 10 years without having to back it up in 3 different places numerous times over that 10 year period.

These are just my thoughts on the matter.  I try to look at every side and hope others do the same.   

[rastasean]

This is why the argument of solid state vs. tape is significant to me.  No medium alive today besides tape is meant to store data long term.  I consider long term more than 10 years.  Hard drives have a typical life span of 3-5 years.  Some do last much longer but some die sooner.  Recordable optical media like CD-R and DVD+/-R can go bad even quicker than a hard drive or can last longer.  It's a crap shoot, even using top grade blanks.  SD and CF cards have not been around long enough in the consumer market to prove their reliability for 10-15 years of storage.  The article above states that SD cards will start to lose data after 10 years.  Now they're developing cards that this, hopefully, won't happen to.

I know the argument of redundant backups very well and I'm not trying to argue against the convenience of solid state and hard drive recorders.  I love my iRivers and D50 but I like to be able to put my project back to a tape and know that it will most likely be viable in 10 years without having to back it up in 3 different places numerous times over that 10 year period.

These are just my thoughts on the matter.  I try to look at every side and hope others do the same.   

So just keep your tapes away from magnets, right?

[prof_peabody]

This is why the argument of solid state vs. tape is significant to me.  No medium alive today besides tape is meant to store data long term.  I consider long term more than 10 years.  Hard drives have a typical life span of 3-5 years.  Some do last much longer but some die sooner.  Recordable optical media like CD-R and DVD+/-R can go bad even quicker than a hard drive or can last longer.  It's a crap shoot, even using top grade blanks.  SD and CF cards have not been around long enough in the consumer market to prove their reliability for 10-15 years of storage.  The article above states that SD cards will start to lose data after 10 years.  Now they're developing cards that this, hopefully, won't happen to.

I know the argument of redundant backups very well and I'm not trying to argue against the convenience of solid state and hard drive recorders.  I love my iRivers and D50 but I like to be able to put my project back to a tape and know that it will most likely be viable in 10 years without having to back it up in 3 different places numerous times over that 10 year period.

These are just my thoughts on the matter.  I try to look at every side and hope others do the same.   

Kodak claims their archival dvds are good for 100 years.  That's better than DAT.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/service/faqs/faq1629.shtml

[prof_peabody]

I'd also like to point out that Kodak warranties their archival grade cds to 100 years.  They claim the actual lifetime should be much longer.

http://www.kodak.com/global/plugins/acrobat/en/service/cdrMedia/lifetime.pdf

Dats will slowly degrade especially if you do not keep them in a magnetically shielded container.  I have tried to restore digital VHS data tapes from the 80s before and can tell you that if you keep them in a cardboard box, you may find it very hard to recover the data 25 years later...

[nolonemo]

Hard drives have a typical life span of 3-5 years.

Since the fundamental storage principle is the same (magnetized particles), I would expect a hard drive that is stored to last as long as a tape, if you just filled up the drive and stored it.  Indeed, the one big problem with tape is bleed-through over time (I don't know if this applies to DAT tape, but it certainly does to analog audio tape) - my dad had an extensive reel to reel collection that was rendered useless by bleed-through over a 30-40 year period. 

IMO, the biggest problem with long term storage is not the stability of the storage media, but the increasing pace of obsolescence of the technology required to access it.  How many of you have recently tried to access that data you backed up on 5-1/4" floppies?

[Industrial]

I actually haven't been as worried about minidiscs as backup.  It's just nice to have the media that you taped the concert for.  I would rather pay the extra amount and be able to look at the pile of MD tapes I have everyday when I pass them on the shelves.  The RH1 looks pretty good and I think I am going to go for that.  Now I was wondering if you could adjust incoming sound levels into the device while you already have mics or a cable from the soundboard in it?

[boojum]

You can adjust levels on the RH1 on the fly.  I believe it is the only SONY that allows this.  It comes in handy.  That said, set your levels low and leave them alone.  You may want to lower them after the first number but do not fiddle with the gain after that.  The recording will be all over the place.  You can fiddle with that in post.     

[stantheman1976]

Sound advice from boojum.  Remember, you can always add volume after the fact but you can't do much for a recording that is overloaded. 

With the recent purchase of my D50 I've jumped into 24 bit and I'm amazed at how quiet it is.  I recorded church service with the recorder set on stage front center.  I had no idea how loud it would be so I set the level on 1 out of 10.  I was recording at 24/48 and ending up having to boost something like 24-28dB.  Surprisingly there was no noticeable noise added.  I don't know if that is sepcifically because of it being 24 bit or if it had to do with the D50 mics and preamp being of good quality.  Either way I am very pelased with the recorder.

[itook2much]

You can adjust levels on the RH1 on the fly.  I believe it is the only SONY that allows this

My MZ-NH1 does so as well.