Anyone here use a CD recorder ?

[IHP]

I heard a radio broadcast last night (Mingus at the Proms) that I simply have to own. The good old Beeb happen to be showing it on the TV at the weekend so I can record it onto the Tivo box for now. Which brings me to the above question. I could go the way of the CD recording or even, wait for it........the cassette deck ! The latter seem to be as cheap as chips used. Any views please ? This is something I've been mulling over for a little while, the radio is such a wonderful source of live performances.

Cheers.

[Andy831]

Colin (Mullardman) across on PFM uses one I think, Maybe call in and ask him that question.

[Landloper]

I heard a radio broadcast last night (Mingus at the Proms) that I simply have to own. The good old Beeb happen to be showing it on the TV at the weekend so I can record it onto the Tivo box for now. Which brings me to the above question. I could go the way of the CD recording or even, wait for it........the cassette deck ! The latter seem to be as cheap as chips used. Any views please ? This is something I've been mulling over for a little while, the radio is such a wonderful source of live performances.

Cheers.

I used to do a great deal of radio recording using cassette, then MD and a CD recorder. Some of the recordings i still listen to are live ones and remain far superior to any CD release of the same works I have come across since.

What mattered to me was:

1] The length of the broadcast. MD was best for works exceeding CDR capacity. MD was by far the easiest to edit as well.
2] FM or DAB? For the former I'd use CDR the latter MD.
3] I got good results from cassette, but editing was a long-winded affair. I recently transferred the last of my tape recordings to computer.
4] I have used computer to record through an audio interface. Again editing is easy.

Other things to consider:

Signal strength and stability.
Broadcast compression rate.


I principally used a Yamaha KX580 SE, a Sony MDS JB940, and as Pioneer PDR 609. Decent cassette decks go pretty cheap nowadays, CD Recorders such as the Pioneer can often be had for under £100, the MD recorders are a bit more costly.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Hi Ian
I mainly use the Yamaha CDRHD1500 these are a audio purpose CD ripper with an internal IDE type hard disk.
Their editing ability is similar to MD, and they have both coax Toslink and analog inputs that would suit FM.

A good percentage of radio stations also stream on the internet which might be OK for recording on a computer.
then again a good tuner is hard to beat.

[walpurgis]

I could never go back to cassette. I always found the sound quality fell short for me. I have no objection to using a CD recorder, but I've never tried one. No need, as I still have my faithful Pioneer MJ-D707 MiniDisc deck should I need to record anything. It's a joy to use and sounds amazingly good.

[Andy831]

Geoff are Recordable minidiscs still available?

Edit Google was my friend.......

[walpurgis]

Plenty on ebay.

[struth]

got loads lying about. you can still get them and there are differences i think. sure there are ie longer ones

[walpurgis]

Still got a couple of Sharp personal player/recorders as well, MD-MT80 and MD-MT88. I found these sound better than any of the Sony's I tried. They make decent recordings, sound great with small Sennheiser phones and you can plug them into the Hi-Fi. But the Pioneer deck is the best tool (can't cart it about though :)).

[Barry]

I have one somewhere. Think it's a Pioneer. Bought it for £50 with a load of CDRs.

The intention was to transfer some LPs to CDs for friends, but the operating instructions just looked too laborious and complicated, so I gave up!

[Tony01]

Do you know about get_iPlayer?
;)

https://squarepenguin.co.uk/

Download any BBC content (radio/TV). It gets around the 30 day delete policy of standard iPlayer. You can save in a variety of formats according to preference and intended playback device.

[Landloper]

Still got a couple of Sharp personal player/recorders as well, MD-MT80 and MD-MT88. I found these sound better than any of the Sony's I tried. They make decent recordings, sound great with small Sennheiser phones and you can plug them into the Hi-Fi. But the Pioneer deck is the best tool (can't cart it about though :)).

Agreed, Geoff. I still have a working Sharp MT888: fantastic playback and recording from such a small unit. I was totally amazed by the quality of the recordings. One of the best buys I ever made. Occasionally get it out and use it instead of an i-thing.

[jollyfix]

Still got a couple of Sharp personal player/recorders as well, MD-MT80 and MD-MT88. I found these sound better than any of the Sony's I tried. They make decent recordings, sound great with small Sennheiser phones and you can plug them into the Hi-Fi. But the Pioneer deck is the best tool (can't cart it about though :)).
Agree there Geoff and John. Sharp way better than the Sony MD. I bought the top of the range Sharp ( will look up what one), my mate bought top of the range Sony. Both good, but Sharp way better on sound and features . All reviews said Sharp better, my mate also.

[Landloper]

Agree there Geoff and John. Sharp way better than the Sony MD. I bought the top of the range Sharp ( will look up what one), my mate bought top of the range Sony. Both good, but Sharp way better on sound and features . All reviews said Sharp better, my mate also.

I had a variety of portables as well as separates and loved some of the Sony portable on account of their styling and weight; my favourite looker was the Sony MZe909. Looked fab but had a poor sound. Even the better sounding Sonys couldn't match the Sharp.

[IHP]

May I just say thank you for all the responses for the moment. I just can't read these right now having just had a rotten, hot and long drive (to pick up a TT !) and now have to go out ! Anyhoo, didn't want to appear rude and will look at these tomorrow, thank you.

[Sherwood]

Am I missing something. Why not just record it and then burn it to a cd using a pc drive? It can then be played on any cd player.

Geoff

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Do you know about get_iPlayer?
;)

https://squarepenguin.co.uk/

Download any BBC content (radio/TV). It gets around the 30 day delete policy of standard iPlayer. You can save in a variety of formats according to preference and intended playback device.

Why give in to have unnecessary time restrictions, and thereby monitoring placed on you. I am still enjoying BB King Live in Perth Western Australia that I recorded on a Teac 3300SX reel to reel over 35 years ago, broadcast on ABC FM.... As we travel around the world I say no body, no body shakes the boogie like James Boogaloo Bolan , shake your boogie Son .... my guitar Lucille , my name is BB King ... , absolutely priceless.

Best to avoid, just like wanting to go to prison, any restrictive proprietary software. http://distrowatch.com

[IHP]

Again, thanks for all the replies. As mentioned the source is a Virgin Tivo box and radio from this sounds just wonderful. Truth is I don't do any PC interface into my system for music, not because I've any difficulty or problem with this, it just doesn't appeal. I understand some won't get that.

I'm tempted by CDR or minidisc and will give this some consideration. Cost does not seem too excessive (in the scheme of things). Truth is I've also been distracted and have looked at reel to reels, my aren't they good looking !! As things stand logic has gone out of the window and I do fancy a play with this. There are a couple of nice looking Akai units on the Retrotech site, no idea at all about the SQ of these but the cost is not high.

Anyway, as can happen I'm now all over the shop but happy pondering the possibilities ;-). As I've said a number of times before, if this sort of thing is your biggest problem then life is good !

[Edward]

Hi

As mentioned by Tony (Tony01) this is available for download from the BBC with the _getiplayer application.

I downloaded the relevant prom concert (prom #53) and it downloads just fine (~350mb). For reasons I now forget the BBC don't seem/want to DRM the radio downloads so the downloaded file is not time limited. Certainly I was able to convert the file to another format which would not have been possible if the download was DRM protected.

The file is in m4a format - I was hoping that it would be in flac format considering that the BBC have been trialing hires broadcasts for this years proms. But anyway the M4A format sounds superb.

Edward

The prom lasted 2:44:58 - to be exact. :)

[Pete The Cat]

Pioneer CDR-609 as the signature shows. In conjunction with a Yamaha KX-580 cassette deck it's given me over a decade's worth of service transferring old Peel and Vance tapes to digital. Pretty good as a CD player in its own right in our lounge.

Pete

[Canetoad]

I use one too to digitise vinyl I can't get on CD. Works well!

[Minstrel SE]

I also have a Pioneer MD707 and two other Teac Minidisc recorders. I do like using minidisc and love the Pioneer which is a great unit.

I have a sharp portable that I could use with its Md x2 x4 recording options. I have found I dont generally record for more than 80 minutes at a time though

I have become a bit lazy in recording. I will put some Freeview radio recordings on my Humax.

I dabble with cassette for a bit of fun only...lets be frank that that there are much better options now. My little computer will do a lot of ripping digits and I havent kept up to date on its potential recording software

I should do more recording as theres plenty on radio 3 and 6 that I would like recorded.

[walpurgis]

Yep. Lets have a MiniDisc revival! :)

[Edward]

Again, thanks for all the replies. As mentioned the source is a Virgin Tivo box and radio from this sounds just wonderful. Truth is I don't do any PC interface into my system for music, not because I've any difficulty or problem with this, it just doesn't appeal. I understand some won't get that.

I'm tempted by CDR or minidisc and will give this some consideration. Cost does not seem too excessive (in the scheme of things). Truth is I've also been distracted and have looked at reel to reels, my aren't they good looking !! As things stand logic has gone out of the window and I do fancy a play with this. There are a couple of nice looking Akai units on the Retrotech site, no idea at all about the SQ of these but the cost is not high.

Anyway, as can happen I'm now all over the shop but happy pondering the possibilities ;-). As I've said a number of times before, if this sort of thing is your biggest problem then life is good !

Ian - did you get to look at the various possibilities? Where did you end up on this? As mentioned I downloaded from the BBC the actual broadcast you wanted. Happy to arrange for that to to be sent to you via some means. Or you can download it directly from the beeb yourself.

[Minstrel SE]

Yep. Lets have a MiniDisc revival! :)

Well people can go on about ATRAC and what it loses but its a format that made a lot of sense in terms of a caddy protecting the disc and the disc size. It sounds very good for the recording applications I use it for. It will present a very nice recording that could only really be picked apart by people with the most critical ear. Well you know what I mean..... Obviously I wouldn't present it as the best high res sound on offer.

The editing functions are a world apart from any tape and they can be recorded on many times more than a tape would comfortably last

I was spending £30 for a mint looking Pioneer so I wasnt exactly splashing out to own them. That is a key point with any format that would generally be considered as obsolete.

All the best
Martin

[mercalia]

Was surprised that still so many people using minidisc. Minidisc sounds even better if you pump the sound out to an external dac.
Other ways of recording ( from Freeview ) is to use a tv tuner in a Windows 7 pc and use Media Center as it has superlative EPG & unattended recording capabilities: it is then possible to extract the audio with a free toolkit software