Sony Hi-MD recorder

Advantages: Record to hard drive, DVD drive, watch and record at the same time.
Disadvantages: I needed to read the instruction manual!

...Last weekend our old video-recorder started chewing tapes, so it was about time that we upgraded. We already had a DVD recorder, but had been using it in tandem with our video recorder through an aerial booster that split the signal between the two machines without loss of quality. When it comes to such gadgets, being the sort of person that likes to see what I am buying, I went off to Comet's to see what was available. Being a Sony lover I was impressed by the RDR-HXD-890, one of the latest hard disk drive/DVD recorders from Sony's Range. It seems that black is back in vogue which I have always preferred; when I bought the last recorder, all I could get was silver, but there is a choice of black or silver with the RDR-HXD-890. When I got the machine home, I discovered that there were so many options on this machine that I had to... Read review

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Advantages: Loooonnnggg battery life, good sound quality Hi-MD
Disadvantages: Mediocre earphones, plastic body, 1gb discs too pricey

...this player because of it's Hi-MD feature which lets you store up to 45 CD's per Hi-MD disc. This is a tad optimistic and is the norm for manufacturer's unrealistic claims. The fact is the more CD's you squeeze on it the lower the quality they have to be ripped. The lowest quality sounds like AM radio so you can guess what your 45 CD's will sound like. The software supplied is nothing special, most of it is easy to use without instructions and you could have your first couple of CD's ripped and transferred to your minidisc in a few minutes. The player needs to be hooked up to the PC with the supplied cable and is recognised by windows as a mass storage device. You can drag and drop any file type you wish onto the minidisc including mp3's but you cannot play them back this way. The software first of all has to convert them to Sony's Atrac3... Read review

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Advantages: Takes regular sized audio cassettes, double-time recording, inexpensive model
Disadvantages: Needs to be used close to sound-source, a bit bulky for some tastes

...I always wanted a dictaphone as a child. Largely, I admit, for slightly dubious reasons (i.e. I wanted to plant it in my big sister's bedroom and find out if she was talking about me.) Many years on, as a student, I finally received one as a birthday gift so that I could record important lectures. This certainly did come in handy during those classes that, however hard I tried to stay alert, had me head down and drooling on the desk within minutes. The Sony TCM-200DV Cassette-Corder (or 'dictaphone' to you and me) is a fairly basic model compared to some products on the market - but it does what it says on the tin and it does it to a perfectly acceptable standard. The machine is silver (with a charcoal grey back panel and battery compartment) and weighs in at 171g - it's roughly the same size as a cassette-playing personal stereo... Read review

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