"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Eeyore wrote:
Why is optical media so efffing ****e ? ?

Will transcribe ASAP.

I've been using MDs from shortly after they came out and haven't had any
problems with them.

There's plenty of 'birdie tone' like spuriae in various places. Haven't
found the mini-jack to mini-jack lead yet btw. I gets used about once every
few years.

Graham

In article ,
Eeyore wrote:


"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Eeyore wrote:
Why is optical media so efffing ****e ? ?

Will transcribe ASAP.

I've been using MDs from shortly after they came out and haven't had
any problems with them.

There's plenty of 'birdie tone' like spuriae in various places. Haven't
found the mini-jack to mini-jack lead yet btw. I gets used about once
every few years.

Ah - right. All my machines are mains ones - don't have a portable. I have
a stack of them I used to use for grams work in TV studios after 1/4"
became semi obsolete and before things like the 460 were around.
They're Sony JB-930 modified to balance in/out - although I used earlier
Sony machines to start with. It was a cheaper/ more versatile solution
than using pro MD machines.

Graham

--
*All generalizations are false.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Eeyore wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
Eeyore wrote:
Why is optical media so efffing ****e ? ?

Will transcribe ASAP.

I've been using MDs from shortly after they came out and haven't had
any problems with them.

There's plenty of 'birdie tone' like spuriae in various places. Haven't
found the mini-jack to mini-jack lead yet btw. I gets used about once
every few years.

Ah - right. All my machines are mains ones - don't have a portable. I have
a stack of them I used to use for grams work in TV studios after 1/4"
became semi obsolete and before things like the 460 were around.
They're Sony JB-930 modified to balance in/out - although I used earlier
Sony machines to start with. It was a cheaper/ more versatile solution
than using pro MD machines.

OK, thanks for that.

Mine is a Sony MZ-R70 MD Walkman. I gather it was a fairly high end model at
the time. I won it in a Virgin competition ! Otherwise I'd not really have had
any use for one. I was using Sharp MD-R80 media FWIW.

Maybe I should check some other MDs I recorded ?

Graham

In article ,
Eeyore wrote:
There's plenty of 'birdie tone' like spuriae in various places.
Haven't found the mini-jack to mini-jack lead yet btw. I gets used
about once every few years.

Ah - right. All my machines are mains ones - don't have a portable. I
have a stack of them I used to use for grams work in TV studios after
1/4" became semi obsolete and before things like the 460 were around.
They're Sony JB-930 modified to balance in/out - although I used
earlier Sony machines to start with. It was a cheaper/ more versatile
solution than using pro MD machines.

OK, thanks for that.

Mine is a Sony MZ-R70 MD Walkman. I gather it was a fairly high end
model at the time. I won it in a Virgin competition ! Otherwise I'd not
really have had any use for one. I was using Sharp MD-R80 media FWIW.

Maybe I should check some other MDs I recorded ?

I'm sure it's possible to have faulty discs - and they may well
deteriorate with age if the storage conditions are less than ideal. But
I've not had a problem as I said.

I loved MD as a replacement for cassette and was surprised it never really
caught on.

--
*One of us is thinking about sex... OK, it's me.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I loved MD as a replacement for cassette and was surprised it never really
caught on.

Loadsa reasons.

Mainly the iPod & other MP3 players killed it ... Initially another
format (DCC) caused consumer confusion. Shops didn't want to stock the
read-only MiniDisc format and Sony were a bit too restrictive on ATRAC &
SCMS usage and (for serious use) direct data access on the actual
MiniDisc itself.

I bought into Sony MiniDisc for the Hi-Fi (JB-920), the Car (MDX-C6500R)
and the Pocket (MZ-R30). The JB-920 only gets used nowadays for AD/DA
conversions with my PC but the other items are getting coated with a
fine layer of dust ....

--
Adrian C

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I loved MD as a replacement for cassette and was surprised it never
really
caught on.

Loadsa reasons.

Mainly the iPod & other MP3 players killed it ... Initially another format
(DCC) caused consumer confusion.

All of those appeared on the market long after MD, and DCC never amounted to
anything at all. What I think did significantly hurt it was the advent of
PCs with CD burners. It was a lot cheaper to burn a CD which could then be
played on existing CD players, and MD equipment was never cheap.

Shops didn't want to stock the read-only MiniDisc format and Sony were a
bit too restrictive on ATRAC & SCMS usage and (for serious use) direct
data access on the actual MiniDisc itself.

What "serious use" would direct-access have been?

David.

David Looser wrote:
Mainly the iPod & other MP3 players killed it ... Initially another format
(DCC) caused consumer confusion.

All of those appeared on the market long after MD, and DCC never amounted to
anything at all.

MD launched 1991, DCC launched 1992. Some Daily Mail readers held off
both, confused by it all...

The iPod wasn't that far behind after the sales of the MD walkmans
started taking off post 1996. I bought my MZ-R30 in 1998 and the first
iPod launched in 2001. (between that, I build my own "iPod", but that's
another story...)

What I think did significantly hurt it was the advent of
PCs with CD burners. It was a lot cheaper to burn a CD which could then be
played on existing CD players, and MD equipment was never cheap.

Yup, forgot about the CD burner. :-)

What "serious use" would direct-access have been?
David.

Direct copying without repeated ATRAC degradation.

--
Adrian C

"Adrian C" wrote in message
...
David Looser wrote:
Mainly the iPod & other MP3 players killed it ... Initially another
format (DCC) caused consumer confusion.

All of those appeared on the market long after MD, and DCC never amounted
to anything at all.

MD launched 1991, DCC launched 1992. Some Daily Mail readers held off
both, confused by it all...

Was DCC really that long ago?, how time flies :-(

But I remain to be convinced that Daily Mail readers would have bought
either,
or had ever heard of DCC. There was also DAT, originally intended for the
domestic market and launched in 1987. At the time some pundits were
predicting that it would be a serious threat to the then new CD format,
whilst in fact DAT made no noticeable impression on the domestic market at
all.

The iPod wasn't that far behind after the sales of the MD walkmans started
taking off post 1996. I bought my MZ-R30 in 1998 and the first iPod
launched in 2001. (between that, I build my own "iPod", but that's another
story...)

1991 to 2001 sounds like a fair time for MD to have established a
significant toe-hold in the market, if it was ever going to do so.

I guess that MD simply didn't have what it takes to make it as a domestic
format. Whilst it had a lot going for it as a replacement for carts in
broadcasting and theatre use it's advantages over the existing domestic
formats (mainly CD and analogue cassette) simply weren't enough to overcome
consumer resistance to spending money on yet another new (and expensive)
format.


What "serious use" would direct-access have been?


Direct copying without repeated ATRAC degradation.

Ah!, right.

David.

In article ,
Adrian C wrote:
I loved MD as a replacement for cassette and was surprised it never really
caught on.

Loadsa reasons.

Mainly the iPod & other MP3 players killed it ...

Well yes - many years later.

Initially another
format (DCC) caused consumer confusion.

I know of even fewer who bothered with that.

Shops didn't want to stock the read-only MiniDisc format and Sony were
a bit too restrictive on ATRAC & SCMS usage and (for serious use)
direct data access on the actual MiniDisc itself.

Still doesn't explain why it didn't catch on for those who made their own
copies of stuff. Could be the fact that car radios didn't often have them.

I bought into Sony MiniDisc for the Hi-Fi (JB-920), the Car (MDX-C6500R)
and the Pocket (MZ-R30). The JB-920 only gets used nowadays for AD/DA
conversions with my PC but the other items are getting coated with a
fine layer of dust ....

Yes - it's actually a very useful A-D and D-A convertor.

--
*I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.