minidisc audio recorders

First insert a battery in the minidisc recorder. This usually is a AA battery that you slide into a cylinder on a side or the back of the minidisc recorder.

Now insert a minidisc into the minidisc recorder. There's a slider/button you press (usually labeled "open") to open the minidisc compartment. Insert the minidisc face up with the arrow on the disc pointing in.

Note: Make sure the small tab on the side of the minidisc is moved to the left to the recordable position (sliding the tab to the right will prevent recording and accidental erasure of what you've recorded). And be sure to label your minidisc so you can keep track of what you've recorded.

Next you need to plug a microphone into the minidisc recorder.

If you're using a professional grade microphone with an XLR connector, you'll need a cable that has an XLR connection on one end for the microphone and a 1/8th inch mini-jack connection on the other end that plugs into the "mic" jack in the minidisc recorder.

Finally you should plug headphones into the headphone jack in the minidisc recorder (which usually is labeled "headphones" or has an icon for a set of headphones).

Most minidiscs come with a pair of cheap headphones, but you might want to get higher quality headphones to ensure better audio recording.

Now put the minidisc recorder in record mode (you're not actually going to be recording yet, just going into record mode so you can select some audio settings before you start recording).

On the Sharp Net MD and MD-MT90 minidisc recorders, you do this by pushing the record button (labeled rec).

Set the recording mode to mono (which is the setting you'll usually use for interviews).

On the Sharp Net MD minidisc recorder, to set the recording to mono first make sure a microphone is plugged into the mindisc and then press the record button. You then set recording to mono by pressing the small blue menu-enter button and then pressing the right arrow on the main large button until the words REC MODE are displayed.

Press the small blue menu-enter button again, and then press the right arrow on the main large button to toggle through the settings (SP, LP2, LP4) until the word MONO is displayed. Finally, press the the blue menu-enter button again and wait about 7 seconds for the selection to be set.

On the Sharp MD-MT90 minidisc recorder, you set recording to mono by pressing the mode button (labeled mode/chrg), which toggles between mono and stereo (which is not labeled).