What's the best way to record rehearsals for later practice?

[Tom S.]

I would like to record our praise band rehearsals so I can build a library of the songs we play and use them to practice. This would also allow me to run through them before rehearsal. I currently use a Sony MD player. It works fairly well, but there is no good way to preserve the songs in a library with reasonable access since it uses ATRAC format and you can't digitally export them. I need a low price option and don't need professional quality. I can record from a Mic or the board so long as I have a way to edit out the space between songs, store them in some kind of library and retrieve them. What would you suggest? Please explain how it would work.

[utah]

You may want to consider just upgrading your MD unit to one of the new Sony HI-MD units.

First, they store 1 gig of music on the new 1-Gig disc, allowing for 2.5 times more storage. Second, they allow digital uploading to your PC via the USB cable, versus the one way transfer on your current MD unit.

They also use ATRAC, but that's a decent compression system that works better than many others even though it's not a popular say as Mpeg.

[Tom S.]

Originally Posted by utah

They also use ATRAC, but that's a decent compression system that works better than many others even though it's not a popular say as Mpeg.

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. So is the file stored on the PC also in ATRAC then? If I wanted to share the file with another band member, I assume they would have to have an MD unit or equivalent (as opposed to an MP3 file that could be played on the PC or other player?)

[harlon]

Do you already own a laptop???

[Tom S.]

Originally Posted by harlon

Do you already own a laptop???

Yes, I have a laptop with USB, serial, infrared and blue tooth