Sony Introduces New Hi-MD Portable Recorders

Jul 25, 2005

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New from Sony are two Hi-MD portable recorders. The new MZ-M100 and MZ-M10 MiniDisc-based field recorders are designed for musicians and broadcast professionals, and offer sound recording and playback capabilities combined with extensive storage capacity at an attractive price.

"These units represent a significant leap in affordable field recording," said Paul Foschino, senior manager for professional audio in Sony Electronic's Broadcast and Production Systems Division. "Their ability to record and playback high quality uncompressed PCM linear audio and to transfer those files directly to computers for editing represents a tremendous savings in time. These capabilities, coupled with long battery life and easy-to-read display visibility address the real-world needs of recording engineers and journalists."

The new recorders, with removable 1GB MiniDiscs, allow up to 94 minutes of uncompressed recording time and as much as 34 hours in ATRAC3 plus format. The low cost of the Hi-MD media, which has a suggested list price of $7, allows users to archive their original recordings and makes data transfer extremely easy and inexpensive.

The Hi-MD MZ-M100 features a six-line large EL (Organic Electro-luminescence) display and the Hi-MD MZ-M10 has a large five-line LCD display. The new recorders also include:

• ECM-DS 70P stereo microphone
• MDR-EO931 ear bud headphones for improved field monitoring
• Recording capability from multiple sources: mic in jack, USB port for uploading material to MAC or Windows/PC
• Supports PCM linear (44.1 kHz, 16 bit), MP3/ATRAC3 / ATRAC3plus recording formats
• Extended-life rechargeable internal battery

The Hi-MD MZ-M100 and the Hi-MD MZ-M10 are both planned to be available in August at suggested list prices of $439.95 and $329.95, respectively.

For more information, visit their web site at www.sony.com.