Minidisc-- still worth pursuing?

[mmay519]

Hi, Everyone--

I see lots of MD players and portables, very affordable priced on Ebay, and was thinking it might be nice to get back into it. Has anyone else considered doing this?

Mike

[shadowlord]

i own a few decks and portables since a have a lot of disk from the formats hey-days.
but to be honest the small mechanics are very delicate.
for example the deck and portable i started with, have broken long ago.

if you can get units for cheap and you want to try it out, i say go for it.

[Scorpion8]

Hi, Everyone--

I see lots of MD players and portables, very affordable priced on Ebay, and was thinking it might be nice to get back into it. Has anyone else considered doing this? Mike

I've thought about the same thing. MD players and recorders show up on CL all the time, and (oddly) the discs are still readily available here. One day I may have to add to the "obsolete warehouse stash".....

[SaSi_Sidi]

I find it's an interesting format to have if you are interested in "all formats recordable".

However, since it is a compressed audio format, at best equal to 128kbps MP3, I would find it much more usefull to record MP3 CDs that are much more widely playable on various home and car decks.

[close652]

I think at best it equals to a 320 kbps MP3.

[Pentium100]

IIRC MiniDiscs use magneto-optical technology to record audio, so if they are like computer MOs they may be able to hold onto the audio for a long time (MOs can retain their data for >50years). The uncompressed version could be used for archiving.

[DolbySProject]

If they had only come out with HiMD from the get go, maybe it would still be a vibrant technology today. As far as ease of use in a standalone digital recorder, up against CD recorders, it just kicked all kinds of butt. Non-linear editing capabilities magnified the limitations (and pain in the butt factor) of get it right the first time or do it all over, CD recording (standalone, that is). Very portable, text ability. I thought it was great. It was just the sound... I could never get used to the compression. I found myself turning up the volume all the time to try and hear what wasn't actually there (non HiMD). I thought for sure it would be a winner with the average consumer looking to replace their cassette decks; but, I was wrong.

I think mine was a Sony MDS JE520. (Later it seems some units started dropping TOSLink outputs so hooking it up to a better D/A was out of the question - why?) The loading mechanism was broken by a church I lent it to for recording a service. I gave up then. But, they (Sony) were on to something. The "industry" went in another direction and I happily stuck with analog. If I could find (if there is such a beast) a Sony ES HiMD deck built like their JA50ES/JA3ES home decks, I might think about it... but would probably just by more reel tape.

[Elite-ist]

I use both a portable and home-use Sony Mini Disc player/recorder. Bought them from the original owner last year, who kept all the packaging, brochures, accessories intact. They are model #s MZ-N510 Type S and MXD-D5C. Here are two links for more info on these models:

http://www.sony.lv/product/paw-minidisc---net-md-walkman/mz-n510#pageType=TechnicalSpecs

http://www99.epinions.com/review/pr-CD_Players_Sony_MXD_D5C_Hi_Fi_stereo_CD_changer_MD _recorder_MXD_D5C/content_45876416132

Love the versatility of this format, as DolbyS has stated. And the discs are still available for recording.

Nando.

[Dimitar Georgiev]

Hi, Everyone--

I see lots of MD players and portables, very affordable priced on Ebay, and was thinking it might be nice to get back into it. Has anyone else considered doing this?

Mike

All right but how many hours is the life of MD deck transport ? 5,000h ? more ?

D.

[R.Daneel]

All right but how many hours is the life of MD deck transport ? 5,000h ? more ?

D.

Hi!

it depends on whether you use it for recording or for playback. The laser emits 05mW beam like an average cd player during plaback but during recording it can go much higher so it provides enough heat for recording. I guess on average, md deck should last as long as a good cd player. I use them a lot and never had any problems so far. the portable units are truly amazing machines - soundwise and technology wise. Sound better than any Ipod and can stand a lot of rough handling - the kind that would kill off any hdd based player.

[Skywavebe]

When I was given the word, I was selling these on this and another forum as well to yous guys. The broadcast one are the only units I would rely on.
There may be a lot of life left in units that are made by Denon.
See images.

[tcp100]

I find it's an interesting format to have if you are interested in "all formats recordable".

However, since it is a compressed audio format, at best equal to 128kbps MP3, I would find it much more usefull to record MP3 CDs that are much more widely playable on various home and car decks.

The later versions of ATRAC (all players are backwards compatible) are significantly better than 128kbps MP3.

http://www.minidisc.org/hi-md_faq.html#_q99

Standard ATRAC is 292kbps.

Since a Hi-MD deck can do Linear PCM as well as higher bit rate ATRAC3plus, you may want to look into the MZ-RH1/MZ-M200. It's still generally available. It's a portable unit, but it's quite versatile.

[R.Daneel]

Since a Hi-MD deck can do Linear PCM as well as higher bit rate ATRAC3plus, you may want to look into the MZ-RH1/MZ-M200. It's still generally available. It's a portable unit, but it's quite versatile.

Not necessarily. I have the RH1 and NH1 units. they are the same soundwise as the RH1 uses the same dsp, a/d converter and mic preamp. The sound is actually better in standard md SP mode than in LPCM hi-md mode. Out of minidisc portable units I certainly do recommend them. They are the most advanced and reliable. Out of cassette decks, Sony ES series such as the MDS-JA20ES or 333ES will do just fine. Older designs such as the MDS-JA50ES or 30ES are better built but lack the type-R dsp and it does show.

[JXBJXB]

I regularly use a Denon DMD-1000 home MD deck to digitally dub LPs at the same time I record them on a Nak. I use the resulting cassettes for personal listening. I take the MD, carefully edit it to put in proper track marks, and then digitally copy that to a CD-R (via toslink or coax to a standalone Pioneer PDR-509). The resulting CD is then used to load my wife's iPod, and 90% of the time iTunes recognizes the CD appropriately via CDDB.

The sound quality on the iPod from files converted in this way is actually excellent.

Minidisc's editing capabilities are fantastic, and the sound quality, while a little dry, is almost indistinguishable from my DAT deck. The Denon is a pretty nice unit, comparable to the Sony ES home line, so maybe that has something to do with it.