Who still use Minidiscs?

[Domino]

I want to get one. Start cheap at first but if I like it get this:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MZM200-Profe ... 076&sr=8-1

[jonny5]

I actually have one I traded my old MP3 player for with a bunch of discs. I don't think I've ever actually used it.

I was thinking it would be good for digital recording, but it doesn't really fit into my setup at this point, especially when I can record at higher bit rates direct with my audio gear.

[kernow]

Not for a few years now, probably 8 or so, it was a great codec at the time though, stuff sounded great. I had one of the first portable sony players ever released. Still buy CD's though which a lot of people find strange. wtf ? A new cd can be had for £5 or so where the 128K AAC album to download on itunes is £7 .. uh yeah.

[Domino]

I still do CDs, just I'm lazy on buying a DAP and I'm gay for weird formats. I still carry this thing around:




The one thing that made me like MDs in the first place is on the top recording and the idea of a digital "cassette" format (like copy like tapes and etc.).

I should get a DAP but I don't want to spend $800 right now. :/


And kern I'm curious, what's your setup is like?

[terry330]

Yeah, I have a MD/CD deck still. Haven't used it in a awhile but it was great when I did. I think the format would have done better outside of japan had it been marketed properly. The only people I know who ever had them were either musicians or techies. Most people didn't seem to know they even existed or if they did they didn't know how versitile they were.

I put mine in the closet when I started to build my modest HiFi setup. Can't really see much of a use for it anymore.

[Domino]

I was planning to use it for portable use. I don't mind a desk unit but that would just be recording and other features as well. What can I say, I'm gay for weird formats.

[kernow]

And kern I'm curious, what's your setup is like?

I have a Quad 99 CDP-2 CD player with built in pre-amp ~$1700 and a 909 Power Amplifier ~$1600 with dali suite 2.8 speakers.



Not uber hifi but its pretty nice for CD

*captain-offtopic*

[greg]

I am a total MiniDisc enthusiast. I have two CD/MD shelf units, an MD unit for my main stereo, two MD Walkmans, and an MD car stereo (it only plays MDs). MDs make so much better sense for making compilations, which I am constantly doing. MP3 players just don't even come close. I'll compile a compilation onto MD, then make a CD for friends.

Specineff, it's your turn to contribute.

[Domino]

And kern I'm curious, what's your setup is like?

I have a Quad 99 CDP-2 CD player with built in pre-amp ~$1700 and a 909 Power Amplifier ~$1600 with dali suite 2.8 speakers.

That's not a bad digital setup. I'm not too big on digital, I have all my digital on FLAC files on my computer and use a $150 DAC (sound quality is like an entry level CD player like the Rega and Cambridge Audio, etc.). I use a Grado headphone setup since I'm not too keen with speakers.

I just put stuff on tape since I like the coloration of tape and for me sounds more musicial than many hi-end CD players in the market. IMO a high-end Nakamichi tape deck should give your Quads a run for its money.

greg: For a TOTL unit I might get this: http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MZ-M200+RH1.html

You can still get it new at $350 in US.

[kernow]

And kern I'm curious, what's your setup is like?

I have a Quad 99 CDP-2 CD player with built in pre-amp ~$1700 and a 909 Power Amplifier ~$1600 with dali suite 2.8 speakers.

That's not a bad digital setup. I'm not too big on digital, I have all my digital on FLAC files on my computer and use a $150 DAC (sound quality is like an entry level CD player like the Rega and Cambridge Audio, etc.). I use a Grado headphone setup since I'm not too keen with speakers.

CD player has 6 digital inputs so can be used as a 24/96 DAC also so I run an airport express and lossless itunes into it

[Domino]

CD player has 6 digital inputs also so I run an airport express and lossless itunes into it

Not bad kern. I don't have different audio devices so I only need to use a computer DAC and that's it. My DAC can output digital via coax and toslink up to 24 bit/192khz (if you want, all my FLAC is still redbook standard and it's good enough for me).

For your Airport express do you connect the CD player by toslink, coax, BNC, AES?

[kernow]

Just toslink, it only has toslink and coax

I wouldn't mind something that could pipe 24/96 into it, the airport is limited to 16/44 sadly.

[Domino]

Just toslink, it only has toslink and coax

I wouldn't mind something that could pipe 24/96 into it, the airport is limited to 16/44 sadly.

Before I go back on-topic do you even have any 24/96 on you? I think it's better just to buy a good CD, FLAC it, and forget it to be honest. There's still not enough 24/96 that warrents interest.

[kernow]

Very true, I'd just download it or buy it from a store, but you're right its pointless.

I am tempted to play some SACD on the PS3 and have it running into the DAC at 24/96 though. Will do one day.

[Domino]

Very true, I'd just download it or buy it from a store, but you're right its pointless.

I am tempted to play some SACD on the PS3 and have it running into the DAC at 24/96 though. Will do one day.

Is there anything on SACD you even want? The format is full of jazz and cassicial and cost at least $30+ per disc.

I would deal with CDs and get some XRCDs for the Blue Note issues but that's it.

Edit: You know after the first rev PS3 they remove SACD support so not all fat PS3s will play SACD. Look for the SACD logo on the system.

[kernow]

Yeah I have a 60GB, with SACD support, but you're right theres bugger all I'd want on SACD.

[PainAmplifier]

I want to get one. Start cheap at first but if I like it get this:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-MZM200-Profe ... 076&sr=8-1

I love my MD's. I have a CD/MC deck I bought for dubbing, a portable MD and a Sony X-Plod MD for the car. All of it is getting a bit old now though and I'm going to be sad when it comes time to replace them due to eventual mechanical failure. (I just missed out on upgrading to HiMD before the local stores stopped carrying that format...)

The MD format was and still is to an extent, a great format for portable, home and car music. It's been pretty much superseded by USB/flash and hard drive based music devices like the iPod and the Zune however. Even though switching between locations is a bit more awkward.

It didn't need to be, but Sony failed to execute by keeping the price of portable MD players too high for too long and focusing far too much on DRM instead of making it *easier* to copy your CD's to MD's and editing them afterwards. Which is a bit ironic, as it's been reported that in Japan where MD did make it big, it was a fairly common practice for places to *rent* MD's and ask you if you wanted to buy some blanks at the same time. (Reported by Minidisco and a few other community sites as I recall.)

While the format still is technologically relevant to todays world, the opportunity to take enough of the market to be worthwhile is pretty much non-existent these days. The 'masses' are pretty much sold on digital downloads and the music scene has been derailing itself with manufactured crap bands and a resulting lack of talent for years now. Just look at the crop of music games out there...the percentage of 'recent' music on them is pretty much minimal

But hey! Who knows? It seems like VINYL is making a fairly big comeback these days, so maybe MD has some legs in it yet...

[Domino]

I love my MD's. I have a CD/MC deck I bought for dubbing, a portable MD and a Sony X-Plod MD for the car. All of it is getting a bit old now though and I'm going to be sad when it comes time to replace them due to eventual mechanical failure. (I just missed out on upgrading to HiMD before the local stores stopped carrying that format...)

The MD format was and still is to an extent, a great format for portable, home and car music. It's been pretty much superseded by USB/flash and hard drive based music devices like the iPod and the Zune however. Even though switching between locations is a bit more awkward.

It didn't need to be, but Sony failed to execute by keeping the price of portable MD players too high for too long and focusing far too much on DRM instead of making it *easier* to copy your CD's to MD's and editing them afterwards. Which is a bit ironic, as it's been reported that in Japan where MD did make it big, it was a fairly common practice for places to *rent* MD's and ask you if you wanted to buy some blanks at the same time. (Reported by Minidisco and a few other community sites as I recall.)

While the format still is technologically relevant to todays world, the opportunity to take enough of the market to be worthwhile is pretty much non-existent these days. The 'masses' are pretty much sold on digital downloads and the music scene has been derailing itself with manufactured crap bands and a resulting lack of talent for years now. Just look at the crop of music games out there...the percentage of 'recent' music on them is pretty much minimal

But hey! Who knows? It seems like VINYL is making a fairly big comeback these days, so maybe MD has some legs in it yet...

At least from what I saw with MDs you need to spend a lot of time and care of putting what music you want on a disc since before using computers with MDs you use toslink in and line in so the player can convert it to ATRAC and such. I think it's cool since with my issues of many regular flash and HD portables you can have very little effort on putting what music you want with it. It's like you don't care whats get in your hard drive or flash device. At least with my experience with tapes I have to be very careful what I put on it. The best of the best I say.

Also I always have a thing with a psychical medium. I think it's cool with my Walkman in my backback I can take out different tapes and such, similar in the ways of doing vinyl with its big packaging and such.

At least with MDs I can change different discs and in a way still be picky on what goes on the disc in the first place.

Plus some girls walk up to me and said "Hey that's cool the portable tape player, it's so big too."

And this is on my desk ATM:

[Specineff]

Specineff, it's your turn to contribute.

Cursed work, keeping me from posting in this totally righteous topic!

I fell in love with the format since I first saw it in 1993. Working at a small radio station, I became familiar with it, and discovered just how awesome it was. Got an R-37 back in 2000, pretty solid thing, except for the battery door. Got later a Sharp SR60 which was the bees knees, way better than Sony's model. I also had gotten a hold of a deck for cheap, which now graces Greg's entertainment center.

Then Hi-Minidisc arrived. Just what I had always wanted: A machine that can record from almost any source, whether it's analog through line-in and mic, or digitally through Toslink. And in WAV quality, on top of Sony's ATRAC 3+ format. Uploading and freely editing in a computer, after removing the restrictions? I was sold. This past August, I had Greg, Undamned and another friend drop by for my birthday, and had playing in the background a specific shmup soundtrack compilation recorded with my RH1 in PCM/WAV format. All I had to do was upload to the computer, trim the tracks and make CDs out of them to hand out to them chaps as a little thank-you token. I want to see an Ipod do that!

Domino, forget Amazon. Go to forums.sonyinsider.com and check their classifieds section. It's the newer version of what was minidisc.org, and mostly everyone is a nice and honest fellow there. I've sold and bought many other units, with only one snag, which was easily resolved. Heck, I myself am selling an MZ-NH1 unit, but it would be a bit opportunistic to offer it without showing you what's available there. Give it a shot.

My collection:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Top row, left to right: MZ-NH1 (FOR SALE!) NH900 (Workhorse) RH1/MZM200 (Other workhorse)
Bottom row: MZ-EH50, player only (For sale too). EH-70. JVC PJ-1, old-style Non-HIMD player only. Bought them so I wouldn't expose myself to losing the recorders in my daily commute. With the exception of the JVC, all of them have a digital amp that has spoiled me rotten with its amazing sound.

[greg]

Holy crap, is your avatar Count Chocula now? That's awesome.

[Stormwatch]

And this is on my desk ATM: [pic]

Is that an HP PSC 1210 printer/scanner? I used to have one of those.

[Domino]

And this is on my desk ATM: [pic]

Is that an HP PSC 1210 printer/scanner? I used to have one of those.

Close, the PSC 1410. Bastard still works.

[DEL]

Yes I use minidiscs for recording and playing @CD quality in my car.

[SuperPang]

Yeah I have a 60GB, with SACD support, but you're right theres bugger all I'd want on SACD.

My Oppo BD player supports SACD so for a larf I bought Blonde on Blonde and Dark Side Of The Moon. The latter in particular is bloody amazing on my AV setup, which isn't actually that impressive for regular stereo CD. It made me want to buy some weed for the first time in 10 years it's that engrossing.

[kernow]

Nice, I would have done it already if I didn't have to drag the TV in too. I wonder if it plays 24bit wav over optical also or something. hmm.

[Specineff]

Holy crap, is your avatar Count Chocula now? That's awesome.

He rocks the sideburns in ways that the rest of us can only dream of.

[KBZ]

loved my Sony MZ-NF520D before it got stolen. Would love to replace it, but should I be looking for something better in the sub $100 price range?

[Domino]

MMMM wow. An old contact got a hold of me offering me just a Minidisc deck MDS-JE330 (gets the job done for pre Hi-MD era stuff), and about 13 discs for $40 today. For free the guy even threw in a MZ-R70 portable (the remote for it SUCKS). I just record Herbie Hancock Future Shock from computer DAC (the songs were in FLAC) to the MDS-JE330 (Minidisc.org said ATRAC 4.5). Then after the recording I just test in the track and album and play the songs on the MZ-R70. It's pretty good to be honest for a lossy codec. Call me impress even more when I get the NH1 in a few days.