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Noticed that the Sony PCM-D50 recorder is discontinued. I like mine so much I almost wanted to buy one as a backup. I love the noise floor, battery life, and heavy duty-ness of the unit. What other field recorders this size are this good?

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where does it say it's discontinued? – georgi Feb 7 2012 at 0:12
tinyurl.com/85luedh my bad, "no longer available". The rep on the sony lot said discontinued. I'm hoping Shaun's intel correct though. – Jake Feb 8 2012 at 2:18

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I contacted Sony, and they have said that the PCM-D50 is not being discontinued, but the D1 is. So, keep buying them awesome Sony hand-held recorders.

UPDATE #1: Fly in the ointment. Someone heard from a different Sony rep that they are going to be discontinued. So, now we're all confused. Gonna try following up again tomorrow.

UPDATE #2: Contacted Sony rep again, and asked about this info given by the rep that Jake spoke to. I asked if that rep might have been confused. Here's the response:

"That’s entirely possible. I can assure you that the D50 has not been discontinued. However, I’m sure a replacement model will come at some point. We are always looking at ways to improve our products."

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Hooray! (for the D50..) – James Bryant Feb 7 2012 at 21:30
That's a bummer about the D1. It's a great device, that you don't hear much about. I've had mine since before they even introduced the D50. It's the perfect travel recorder. If I had the cash, I'd buy a couple backups...or hopefully we'll see another higher end hand-held from them. – Justin Pearson Feb 7 2012 at 21:51
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 nice job sir. thanks for clearing it up. – Rene Feb 7 2012 at 23:11
Hoping your sony rep is right Shaun and thanks for checking. I Wonder if it's just an update to the unit then? The sony store on the lot said they're discontinued but the website just says no longer available. tinyurl.com/85luedh – Jake Feb 8 2012 at 1:30
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Wow, that's a damn shame as IMO there's not another handheld like this one in the market at this price point.

I actually had a D50 go bad on me and got a new one from Sony within a week or so. Preamp crapped out. The input stage is actually pretty fragile if you're swapping in a lot of sources. If you're just using internals than the thing is built like a tank.

With the D50 off the market, I'm not sure which of the other handhelds will hold the top rank with regards to internal mics in the sub $600 category. Probably worth figuring out at this point.

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looks like the sony pro site still lists the D50 as available. still, it's days are likely numbered....

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the D1 doesn't offer enough over the D50 to justify for the huge premium they used to ask. The M10 is not good enough to hit the "prosumer" market, so it makes no sense to discontinue the D50 without offering a replacement.....

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God, I was so convinced about buying the D50, just saw that and now I am doubting! Does anybody know if a new one is coming soon? Anybody?

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the D50 has NOT been discontinued, and is still widely available. – Shaun Farley Jan 15 at 21:50
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just thought i'd add to the confusion - i had a D50 die on me, apparently the whole circuit board needs replacing, and tried various shops in london, none of which were able to source any parts. which implies that it has been discontinued after all. possibly.

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it could also just mean that Sony doesn't sell replacement parts for that unit...not uncommon. – Shaun Farley Jan 16 at 12:34
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I've owned the D50 since 2008. The unit has been rock solid for me. I've even used it as a recorder (bypassing the internal mics) with a feed from a SD MixPre with surprisingly solid results from the 1/8" jack. I use the mic now as a discrete recorder when I don't want to bring attention to myself.

If you want to achieve the highest quality results for this semi-pro recorder the Rycote system is imperative. Don't let handling noise ruin your great recordings.

When recording ambiences be careful not to raise the pre so high, as it can get a little noisy when raising it to 7 or so; this seems to be my only issue with the unit.

In my opinion it's a good buy because it's not something you still wouldn't want to own when upgrading your recorder.

The design is also awesome, I feel like a Ghostbuster when I'm using it.

Hope this information helps.

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