Is Minidisc dead?
 

Well is it?

Basically I'm restricted as to what I can add to my setup - at the moment -
as my CD player/preamp is the Quad 99 CD-P. Anything I add has to be
digital. I was thinking of a minidisc seperate as I own a oprtable minidisc
player and it's not particularly reliable when it omes to recording entire
albums, quite often completely missing information. So I'm looking for
something a little more sturdy.

Would I be better to perhaps go for a CD burner and a Discman portable
player? Or perhaps one of those Yamaha things with the built in hard drive?

Suggestions please
The EggKing

Is Minidisc dead?
 

In article , The EggKing wrote:
Well is it?

It's hardly going to spontaneously stop working for no apparent reason,
and I expect the media to be cheaply available for a very long time;
I think it's niche, but fairly safe niche, as a portable recording
format in particular.

If removable media, random access, and rewritability matter to you
(which they do for me), it's still one of the digital formats of choice
I think.

- Andrew (very happy with his Sony MZ-N1, thanks :) )

Is Minidisc dead?
 

In message , Andrew
Walkingshaw writes
In article , The EggKing wrote:
Well is it?

It's hardly going to spontaneously stop working for no apparent reason,
and I expect the media to be cheaply available for a very long time;
I think it's niche, but fairly safe niche, as a portable recording
format in particular.

If removable media, random access, and rewritability matter to you
(which they do for me), it's still one of the digital formats of choice
I think.

- Andrew (very happy with his Sony MZ-N1, thanks :) )

And Minidisc is the obvious format for car use. (Works well for me)

(I really can't understand why people put up with huge clunky CDs in the
car, they are a nightmare just to put in the player!)
--
Chris Morriss

Is Minidisc dead?
 

A certain The EggKing, of uk.rec.audio "fame", writes :

Would I be better to perhaps go for a CD burner and a Discman portable
player? Or perhaps one of those Yamaha things with the built in hard drive?

I love Minidisc but it's only strength is portability (and for that
reason it is by no means "dead"!). If you need to record works, keep
them on CDs.

--

"Jokes mentioning ducks were considered particularly funny." - cnn.com

Is Minidisc dead?
 

As Sony are still a main player in this market it will be around for a very
long
time.

I wouldn't bet on that. I beleive Sony have already stopped further design
improvements to the medium.
From it's concept it never did make a huge stamping ground on the UK market
and since it's a Sony patented design no other bugger can join in!

I personaly think it wont be long before it vanishes into the background
just like analogue cassette.


Steve

Is Minidisc dead?
 

A certain Stevie Boy, of uk.rec.audio "fame", writes :

I wouldn't bet on that. I beleive Sony have already stopped further design
improvements to the medium.

I haven't seen that substantiated, they have invested a great deal in
improvements to the medium lately, although it is getting to the point
where they really have nowhere else to go.

From it's concept it never did make a huge stamping ground on the UK market
and since it's a Sony patented design no other bugger can join in!

Dunno about that, as plenty of other people make MD walkmans.

The problem is more likely to be due to competition from solid state
portable media, which does what MD does far better - except for the cost
of the media. The walkmans you can get these days with hard disks onto
which you can load thousands of tracks seem to eliminate the compelling
reason to hold on to removable media unless your collection is
particularly huge.

--

"Jokes mentioning ducks were considered particularly funny." - cnn.com

Is Minidisc dead?
 

" I haven't seen that substantiated, they have invested a great deal in
improvements to the medium lately, although it is getting to the point
where they really have nowhere else to go.

I haven't seen that substantiated either... but have heard some silent
background whispers.

The problem being facing stiff competition from MP3 weather this format is
better or not.

This is where the MD excelled at as a compressed recording format rather
than a playback medium since pre-recorded music is not available in droves
in music outlets.

From it's concept it never did make a huge stamping ground on the UK
market
and since it's a Sony patented design no other bugger can join in!

Dunno about that, as plenty of other people make MD walkmans.

Oh! You've surprised me. Not one to look at the portable market much other
than the proliferation of MP3 players on the market of recent times.

The problem is more likely to be due to competition from solid state
portable media, which does what MD does far better - except for the cost
of the media.

Yes true but in these computer times... soon plumet.
Until then MD has some holding ground.

The walkmans you can get these days with hard disks onto
which you can load thousands of tracks seem to eliminate the compelling
reason to hold on to removable media unless your collection is
particularly huge.

--

I wonder how sick people will feel when the hardiscs fail? I'm sure some
will. Maybe not much of an issue right now but if someone has hundreds of
songs on 1 disc and they paid to have them on there.......


Steve

Is Minidisc dead?
 

Hi, it sort of depends what you want and when you want it. As I see it MD is
no more. You have to go solid state for portable

Not if you don't like the cost, which is considerable. Blank MDs are
dirt cheap.

I think the ongoing collapse in large CF cards prefaces the end of MD

--
reply to thechachman-n-o-s-p-a-m@yahoo-DOT-co-DOT-uk (remove nospam)

Is Minidisc dead?
 

A certain Chachi, of uk.rec.audio "fame", writes :

Hi, it sort of depends what you want and when you want it. As I see it MD is
no more. You have to go solid state for portable

Not if you don't like the cost, which is considerable. Blank MDs are
dirt cheap.

I think the ongoing collapse in large CF cards prefaces the end of MD

CF cards have not collapsed to the price of MD blanks. Although I do
remember a time when MD blanks cost about ten times what they do now (ie
pretty close to the current price of an equivalent CF card).

--

"Jokes mentioning ducks were considered particularly funny." - cnn.com

Is Minidisc dead?
 

The EggKing in uk.rec.audio:

Well is it?

If by dead you mean can't buy music on it then it was never alive, but the
format seems at least as useful as ever. There are perhaps more people
using them now than any other time.

The compression used is a little old fashioned next to mp3, itself invented
more than twelve years ago. Maybe you are more patient than I, but if I
were to buy player it would be one with pc conectivity so that the music
could be transfered faster than at play speeds. Some of the more recent
minidisk devices do this. I think Sony call them NetMD or somthing.

No brand, but still good mp3 players can be had quite cheaply, maybe you
can hunt down a 'george'[1] in the uk (Richer used to have them, but were
asking a high price and I remember seeing a few on ebay)

Lastly, if you want a portable device with cheap media consider an 8cm cd
player, the discs hold 180Mb, which is good for quite a few mp3 albums. You
can burn or read in virtually any cd drive/player. Anything mechanical now
is stopgap, mind, solid state is the future.

[1] see http://www.dansdata.com/usbmp3.htm

--
Jim H
3.1415...4999999 and so on... Richard Feynman

Is Minidisc dead?
 

Arny Krueger in uk.rec.audio:

"The EggKing" wrote in message


IMO anybody who is looking at the portable audio situation today needs to
consider products like the Creative Labs Nomad Jukebox III. No sound
quality issues due to lossy compression unless you want it, tons of
capacity, small size and low cost.

Agreed that they're nice devices, shame about the battery life and large
size.

--
Jim H
3.1415...4999999 and so on... Richard Feynman

Is Minidisc dead?
 

In message , Laurence Payne
writes
Minidisk uses a lossy compression system. If you can't hear the
difference, or don't care, you're a music-lover rather than an
audiophile and can save a lot of money :-)


Oh I can hear the difference, but for my in-car use then MD is ideal.
I'm certainly not going to mess about with anything the size and
awkwardness of a CD in the car.
One, because I wouldn't risk my CDs getting scratched, so I would have
to make a copy for the car, and two, because CD in the car is so
'twentieth century'.
--
Chris Morriss

Is Minidisc dead?
 

In message , The EggKing
writes
Hmmm, thanks for all the opinions. I'm in the process of helping a family
member put together a new PC. So I reckon once my minidisc player dies I'll
leave the format alone. Hopefully by that time SS gear will have dropped in
price so I can stick my music into something the size of a matchbox.

I think I'll levae it a a seperate. I would only be using it to record and
never to play back through my system. I think it's fine as a oprtable medium
and in less than perfect listening situations (eg. on a train or in a car)
when you can't erally give two hoots about the losses. But put through a
decent setup you're definately missing something.

Thanks again
The EggKing



But the latest ATRAC is audibly superior to 128k MP3.

Are there any in-car units that have a CF slot?
--
Chris Morriss

Is Minidisc dead?
 

But the latest ATRAC is audibly superior to 128k MP3.


But what about 320k MP3? which for some odd reason is stated as CD quality.

Steve

Is Minidisc dead?
 

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 19:22:56 +0100, Chris Morriss
wrote:

And Minidisc is the obvious format for car use. (Works well for me)

(I really can't understand why people put up with huge clunky CDs in the
car, they are a nightmare just to put in the player!)

DAT is, in my view, even better. I can fit a three hour opera on a
tape costing a few pounds at full CD quality. This is more than
sufficient for most journeys. Another advantage is that DAT is
effectively jog-proof.

It's such a shame that portable DAT recorders are so expensive,
especially since my old Casio machine is no longer working very well.
:-(


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

Is Minidisc dead?
 

Stevie Boy wrote:

" If you ask me, 320k is excessive, especially for portable use.

Well considering the quality of 180k mp3 you can download from the web I
would want something better for my car. Having heard this over my Hi-Fi via
pc not to impressed... but then 320k of same material barely sounded much
better....maybe other factors come into play (soundcard creative
soundblaster live).

There is a huge difference in the quality of different encoders. While
the differences are obvious when listening through studio monitors, I
find running the LAME encoder at a constant bit rate of 160kb/s to give
me acceptable results for casual portable listening. I use constant bit
rate for best compatibility with the widest variety of players.

Cheers.

James.

Is Minidisc dead?
 

Stevie Boy in uk.rec.audio:


" If you ask me, 320k is excessive, especially for portable use.

Well considering the quality of 180k mp3 you can download from the web
I would want something better for my car. Having heard this over my
Hi-Fi via pc not to impressed... but then 320k of same material barely
sounded much better....maybe other factors come into play (soundcard
creative soundblaster live).

Try using
the --r3mix switch in lame.

Okay.... slow down there. --r3mix?

r3mix is the result of experiment by a few techy audiophiles to find the
best settings for arcieve audio. The lame people were so impressed by the
work they built a shorthand for the settings into the encoder. '--r3mix' is
technically synonymous with '--nspsytune --vbr-mtrh -V1 -mj -h -b96 --
lowpass 19.5 --athtype 3 --ns-sfb21 2 -Z --scale 0.98'

A lot of programs using lame have an r3mix checkbox, or they might still
let you specify the swiches. For example, in audiograbber, if you choose
lame as an external encoder you can enter --r3mix %s %d in the arguments
field.

IMO ExactAudioCopy is the best program for ripping cds, and is
(almost) free.


Almost? Go on look harder :-)

Well its 'cardware' - free but for the cost of a postcard to the creator. I
think that's pretty good.

--
Jim H
3.1415...4999999 and so on... Richard Feynman

Is Minidisc dead?
 

" Okay.... slow down there. --r3mix?

r3mix is the result of experiment by a few techy audiophiles to find the
best settings for arcieve audio. The lame people were so impressed by the
work they built a shorthand for the settings into the encoder. '--r3mix'
is
technically synonymous with '--nspsytune --vbr-mtrh -V1 -mj -h -b96 --
lowpass 19.5 --athtype 3 --ns-sfb21 2 -Z --scale 0.98'

I think you've given me just a bit to much info. Where's my martion
dictionary :-)

A lot of programs using lame have an r3mix checkbox, or they might still
let you specify the swiches. For example, in audiograbber, if you choose
lame as an external encoder you can enter --r3mix %s %d in the arguments
field.

Sounds more like for those who know a thing or two about --r3mix.

Go on mention a few others.

IMO ExactAudioCopy is the best program for ripping cds, and is
(almost) free.


Almost? Go on look harder :-)

Well its 'cardware' - free but for the cost of a postcard to the creator.
I
think that's pretty good.

--

Yea enough said.
3.1415...4999999 and so on... Richard Feynman

Is Minidisc dead?
 

Hi,

In message , Chesney Christ
writes
A certain Chachi, of uk.rec.audio "fame", writes :

Hi, it sort of depends what you want and when you want it. As I see
it MD is
no more. You have to go solid state for portable

Not if you don't like the cost, which is considerable. Blank MDs are
dirt cheap.

I think the ongoing collapse in large CF cards prefaces the end of MD

CF cards have not collapsed to the price of MD blanks. Although I do
remember a time when MD blanks cost about ten times what they do now
(ie pretty close to the current price of an equivalent CF card).

Spotted in Dubai airport last week by a colleague -

1GByte Compact Flash cards, 64 dollars. The only problem is, he didn't
know what kind of dollars!

Still miles from MD prices, but definitely heading in the right
direction.

--
Regards,
Glenn Booth

Is Minidisc dead?
 

On Fri, 01 Aug 2003 21:30:46 +0100, Laurence Payne
wrote:


I am actively looking for a replacement for my duff Sony DAT recorder.
Its main use is for time-shifting Radio 3.

What about your vcr?

Good point. Not bad quality for analogue ;-) It does score a bit low
on the 'gadget index'. :^)

The size of the tapes, compared with DAT, puts me off a little,
however. As does the potential conflict with my better half should she
want to record a television programme at the same time as I want to
record a radio concert.


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

Is Minidisc dead?
 

On Sat, 02 Aug 2003 00:30:55 +0100, Laurence Payne
wrote:

So get another one. Cheaper than any alternative I've seen suggested.
Aren't the nicam ones digital audio?

I seem to recollect that 'hi-fi' video uses analogue FM. Corrections
and clarification from the real experts on this group awaited with
interest.


--
Chris Isbell
Southampton
UK

Is Minidisc dead?
 

In article ,
Chris Isbell wrote:
I am actively looking for a replacement for my duff Sony DAT recorder.
Its main use is for time-shifting Radio 3. For this purpose even
three-hour DAT tapes are a bit on the short side for, say, a Mozart
opera with an interval. (Just be thankful that I am not overly keen on
Wagner operas! :-) An uninterrupted recording time of at least four
hours with lossless or no compression is my target. (To my ears, the
32kHz/12-bit LP mode on a DAT sounds poor.)

IMHO for this application, there's nothing to beat DAT at this moment -
or at a sensible cost. Perhaps a secondhand machine might be an option?

--
*The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread *

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn