I have used various portable analog tape recorders for years. I have miles of tape. A friend bought a Sony minidisc recorder a little over a year ago. He played me a recording he had made at a jam. I immediately went out and bought the same recorder he had, a Sony MD Walkman MZ-R37. I've never looked back.

Sound quality: no comparison. Ease of use: no comparison. Imagine never having to rewind or fast-forward a tape again. Random access beats sequential every time. Editing: no comparison. Delete exactly the part of the recording you don't want. Rearrange the order of the tracks at will.

The easiest way to get started is to go to someplace like Circuit City and buy whatever recorder is cheapest that day. The MZ-R37 currently sells for about $170 US. Most minidisc recorders do not come with a microphone. Use whatever external mic you have been using with your analog recorder. If you've got no external mic, they'll probably have one or more Sony mics at the same store. I use both a (big) Sony ECM-MS907 and a little Sony lapel mic. I happy with both. There's also Radio Shack. Buy LOTS of discs. You'll be playing with your new toy a lot.

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