Is this allowed?

[terminator]

I'm pretty sure the answer will be a big fat "no you mong!", so i'll make this brief. I have three options for recording live shows.
1) A friend of mines iRiver iHP120.
2) My brand spanking new iAudio M3L
3) An old minidisc player (in sp, lp2 or lp4 mode).

Now, my brandspanking new iAudio player only records to mp3 (up to 320kbps) with the line in. So i presume this wouldn't be allowed. I'm not sure what format the iriver records to, so i'd need someone to tell me if it'd be allowable or not to seed something recorded using that. And the minidisc i would assume would be out of the question, what with it being a highly compressed format even in SP mode.

[ffooky]

Before you opt for the iRiver, check this thread and the link within:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=29826&hl=

Disgraceful if you ask me.

[terminator]

well, i'm just wondering if any of these are acceptable. As far as i know, the only thing that might be acceptable is the iRiver, as it can encode to wav (the 'glitch' makes it a dubious choice). I don't think the mp3's recorded by the iAudio, or the minidisc would be acceptable here.

[bowman]

Does iRiver allow analog input?

[U2Lynne]

The iAudio player is definitely out, for the reasons you said. I did a quick search on the iRiver and it looks like it only records in mp3 mode too (someone can correct me).

As for the MD player, this is from our Audio Seeding Policy (in the FAQ):
11. Mini-disc is accepted ONLY if it's from the original source master.
Quite simply, mini-disc uses a compression format which decreases the quality of a recorrding slightly from true CD quality. Since there are many excellent sounding MD sources in circulation, these are accepted provided that the original recording was made with an MD. Converting from other formats into MD and then to lossless audio is prohibited. Also, shows that have been through multiple MD generations are prohibited. Please seed your MD masters directly to lossless files, but keep the quality as good as possible by not seeding multiple gen MD stuff.

Please record in the normal recording format though (SP), not in LP2 or LP4 since those are of lesser quality.

[terminator]

Yeah, i had just read the section about minidiscs in the guide, and i was a bit surprised.

Surely 320kbps mp3 recorded through a good mic would be better than Minidisc SP recorded through the same mic. But, if its allowed, i won't complain :p Its likely to be the only way i can get it recorded, unless the iAudio gets wav-recording support. (i can live in hope).

[RainDawg]

Before you opt for the iRiver, check this thread and the link within:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=29826&hl=

Disgraceful if you ask me.

Disgraceful indeed. Even more distubing is the method the method to fix this posted by someone linked from the middle post. That's going to ruin the ENTIRE recording over a few clicks, that shouldn't even be there in the first place.

I was going to suggest using the iRiver as I knew that it could record to wav, but after hearing that, I feel like making anything recorded with one of these illegal....that's inexcusible.

So, that leaves us with the MD, in SP mode. Use it, no one here will have a problem with that.

[feralicious]

Regarding mini-discs, aren't there consumer level and pro level recorders? I know there were some out there for $150 dollars at Good Guys and such yet to record dialog for my film we bought a $1500 HHB mini disc recorder. Surely the quality is vastly different and maybe that should be taken into consideration when allowing MD recordings. It would be like having a cheap handheld cassette recorder versus a really good cassette deck/recorder with many settings and such, and we know there would be a huge difference there. Just my $0.02.

[Five]

I'd love to see some samples from one of these "pro" mini disc recorders. Probably the preamps in it are better but I somehow doubt the encoder is any different. With a "cheapo" MD you can still use the linein and get some kind of a stealth preamp to boost the quality a little more.

[feralicious]

Hm... okay. I'm swamped with projects atm, but I'll try to figure out how best to do this. I don't want to try to tape a real show... maybe I'll tape a snippet of a high quality show off my stereo? what do you suggest?

Also, bear in mind, I don't know all the ins and outs of the machine. We set it up with some guidance from my partner's friend specifically for dialog. And the mic was chosen for dialog purposes as well, I forget the model number but it's a Sennheiser.

[Five]

Hm... okay. I'm swamped with projects atm, but I'll try to figure out how best to do this. I don't want to try to tape a real show... maybe I'll tape a snippet of a high quality show off my stereo? what do you suggest?

Also, bear in mind, I don't know all the ins and outs of the machine. We set it up with some guidance from my partner's friend specifically for dialog. And the mic was chosen for dialog purposes as well, I forget the model number but it's a Sennheiser.
Yeah, just use a high quality show off your stereo as suggested. Take your time, send me a pm when you've got something for me.

[New Homebrew]

I bet if you sold all the stuff you mentioned you would have the cash for a used portable DAT deck. I have seen D8 decks advertised for $200 at some of the DAT enthusiast websites.