I want a recording device in order to do the following:

I've been researching the minidisc recorders and the Nomad Jukebox 3.

For what it's worth, I bought a Sony MZ NF-810 last week (seems like
close to Sony's top of the line for mini disc machines). Nice little
device, but I think I'm going to replace it with an iRiver.

The minidisc is pretty cool: 320 minutes on a disc....but you still
have to carry around the minidiscs and swap them to get the
programming you want. Also, the Sony "SonicStage" application used
for managing songs/playlists has a pretty poor UI and uses a
proprietary-albeit-more-efficient format (as opposed to MP3).

The iRiver type of device attracts me because *everything* is on the
device...nothing to fumble with, nothing to carry.

Seems to me like minidisc device still has a few good points:

1) Price: I think I paid about $250....and I'll probably wind up
selling it for half that.

2) Durability: Several people who sound like they know say that hard
drive devices aren't that good for, say, jogging - something about
bouncing it around while it's taking one of it's intermittant gulps of
data from the HD.

3) Batteries: THe iPod replacement battery is reputedly something like
a hundred bucks and, according to some, not readily available and
warranty-voiding if the user cracks the case to install it. Can't
imagine iRiver's is any better. The minidisc takes a user-replacable
"gum stick" battery and can work on a single plain-vanilla AA alkaline
when needed.


Seems to me like if five hours of music on a disc is good enough, the
minidisc might be good enough.

Actually, I may keep this one if I can figure out how to conveniently
create MD discs from MusicMatch Jukebox playlists.

OTOH, anybody want a Sony MD player cheap?