MiniDisk

[GA Russell]

I've been considering buying a MiniDisk for the past few weeks.

BJ's has one for $119. which includes $10. worth of extra blank disks, a USB cable, and a wall plug.

Walmart has one for $149. which includes a car adaptor kit and a car remote control.

The research I have found at minidisco.com and at Sony's Music Club website indicates that nearly all of the happy users are joggers. There have been many posts by musicians who recorded themselves on their MiniDisks, and are now angry that the software which comes with the unit prevents them from transferring their recordings to their computers digitally.

A number of people have suggested that the unit is fine, but the software is very frustrating.

Does anyone have any personal experience with a MiniDisk? What is your opinion?

I am not a jogger. I can burn CD-Roms on my computer. So it isn't clear to me why I should get started with the MiniDisk.

[solarjazzband]

I use one for about 5 years, and it still works! I'm really happy with it, it is an amazing apparatus! Especcialy because you can record whatever you want, in such a small thing, 5 cm by 5 cm I guess. It fits in your pocket!
You can hear where ever you want. It's amazing.
I've sony, it costed about $200 I guess

[Parkertown]

Don't MiniDiscs compress their music to fit?

[GA Russell]

Scott, my understanding is (and I could be wrong)...

MiniDisk uses its own code, called ATRAC, which I think is in its pure form the same as wav with the inaudible bits (there's a pun!) omitted.

I gather from my research that many MiniDisk users download songs from Kazaa in mp3 format, and load them onto the MiniDisk, which does the work of converting to ATRAC.

I have been a consumer of what is now becoming known as "Old Time Radio" for nearly 30 years. I have recently learned that quite a lot of these old shows are available for purchase on the internet, burned onto a CD as an mp3 with a 22 bit rate. I think the standard mp3 is 44 bit rate, and audiophiles go higher.

So now I'm wondering...If my computer will play the 22 bit rate recording, which apparently it will with winamp, will the MiniDisk read that? I think the answer is yes, and I hope to get an answer in the next week.

I keep vacillating on this MiniDisk deal. A week ago I was going to forget it, but now I'm back in the hunt!

[solarjazzband]

Parkertown is right, it compress the music a little, but not really hearable.

[vibes]

GA Russell, I'd be very careful about buying a Sony player. While I've never used the never computer interface for the NetMD's, I am well-acquainted with the team at Best Buy corporate that buys these things. I've heard nothing but complaints about this interface, and not just because of the way you can't transfer music back and forth. I suggest looking around at other players and brands before settling on a Sony (that's the easiest brand to find these days). Also, be careful with the lower-priced players - they often lack features that I would find very important, such as a microphone input.

I had two Sony portables and ditched them after hearing a few Sharp portables. The same goes for my minidisc shelf system. I tried out many Sony's, but the Sharps always sounded better, so that's what I bought. I highly recommend checking out Sharp. They're not easy to find at retail, but finding them online shouldn't be too difficult, like at minidisco.com. Good luck!

[Claude]

I wouldn´t invest into Minidisc anymore. MP3 is much more flexible and the handling is so much faster, because the sound files can be prepared on the PC (ripping CDs, recording radio or vinyl, downloading from the web) and used for various purposes (writing an audio CD, a CD-ROM with high quality MP3 files for use in a DVD player, lower qualty MP3s that fit on a portable player, etc).

Jogging: Get a small mp3 player with flash memory, it has no mechanics and it ´s extremely light. 128MB players store one hour of music, and it is filled in a couple of minutes.

Traveling: get a MP3-CD or hard disc player. Many hours of high quality music fit on the hard disc or only a few CD-Roms. CD-Rs are much cheaper than Minidiscs.

At home: many DVD players play MP3-CDs (sounds better than most PC soundcards).

Minidisc may be a better option if you don´t want to use a PC.

[Jim R]

I've been using a portable MD player/recorder as well as a stereo component MD recorder for quite a few years (got them not too many years after MD's hit the market). Both are Sony's, and I've had very good luck with both of them. I used to record most of my LP's and cassettes onto MD, back before CD burners really began to get popular. I don't really know much about the more recent technoligies, and I'm sure there are some nice options out there, but I'm happy with the performance of MD's. The portable players are great for walks, yard working, traveling, etc. The greatest thing about using MD's vs CDR's is the editing flexibility. You don't have the limitations that a CDRW has, for example. No need to "finalize"... you can always make changes, add or erase tracks at any time. MD's are extremely easy to edit- whether you want to combine recorded segments, divide, erase, reorder the sequence, etc. You can also insert names for the discs as well as individual tracks. Like I said, there may be better technology out there for particular applications (such as getting music off the computer), but as a recording medium to replace the old cassette tapes, MD's have worked out great for me.

[Chris A.]

I have a Sony Net MD Walkman MZ-N707. I bought it mainly because it has a USB port, but the software that comes with it only works with Windows, which is a platform I have no use for.

I use it for interviews and to carry some music around with me, but I should have bought an iPod.

[tonym]

have a look here for some advice:

http://www.minidisct.com/forum/index.php?s=

[Chris A.]

Originally posted by tonym
have a look here for some advice:

http://www.minidisct.com/forum/index.php?s=

Thanks, that's just what I was looking for. Just a quick look at the board has me encouraged. :D

[GA Russell]

Thanks Tony!

That's a great find!

[GA Russell]

The prices keep coming down. BJ's is now at $95 for a 410 model with five extra disks. (But as I mentioned earlier, no wall plug.)

Walmart is $125. for a 510 with a car adaptor kit and remote control. Can't tell if there's a wall plug as well.

[Tenorman]

Somewhere in the lost postings, I got into a fairly substantial discussion on this subject.

There are are two types of minidisc hardware - Hi-Fi and portable. By Hi-Fi I mean a stacking deck. Mine is a Sony JA 30 ES
My portable is a Sharp 722. Both of these are becoming "antiques" in the fast moving world of portable Hi-Fi.

The important thing is that straightforward MD recording on to the HI-Fi deck with a digital Link from CD is almost indistinguishable from the original CD in all but the best (i.e. most expensive) systems. Record on to a portable and the difference in sound is more noticeable. I do have to say that with some of the filtration options available on a Hi-Fi deck, the sound of a poorly mastered CD can be "improved" i.e. made more pleasant to listen to. Normally I have filters off

MD is compressed. MP3 is more noticeably compressed. But it has to be remembered that CD is not pure sound either - the top and bottom frequencies have been removed.

In saying all that MD is a tape replacement - not a substitute for CDs. Record a million times; swap tracks around, chuck 'em in the bottom of a brief case. I use them as the preferred medium for travelling with. So far I have not found an MP3 player that can come up to the level of my (now 5 year old) Sharp as a portable. And on the Hi-Fi forget it. MP3 cannot come close to Minidisc for sound quality

But then IMHO CD cannot come up to the level of good 180 gram vinyl in sound quality, and that is partly because the Vinyl has all the frequencies which CD has chopped. I haven't got DVDA or SACD so cannot make that comparison. But I live in hope:smokin:

[GA Russell]

I saw today that Walmart now has the 410 alone for $75.

The decline of the price of the MiniDisk makes me wonder if Sony is making one last attempt to move these things in a big way.

[Tenorman]

I understand in the US the Minidisc did not take off in a big way. In the UK the portable minidisc is outselling the portable CD by quite a bit. A lot of them are being used as MP3 storage rather than straight MD, but they are the most common portable you see on the London Underground.

[GA Russell]

What's the price in the UK, Tenorman?

[Tenorman]

I'll run a check later for the 410 street price, but my bet at the moment is Pound for Dollar. i.e. $100 in USA £100 in the UK it is the general standard for most things in the electronics arena, including CDs. We have a Sales Tax here (VAT) at 17.5%

OK 1 quick search later came up with internet prices of £80 to £90 plus delivery of anything from £4 to £8. (All including tax at 17.5%) I would therefore expect the High Street shops to be in the region of £100 and the discounters to be around the £90 mark. The Sony MZ R410 is being described as an entry level machine with Long Play facility. There appears to be no facility for recording or playing MP3