[darkangel9685]

Just wondering if anyone here has played with minidisc players. Which one did you use/have? Did you like/loathe it? Would you still use it today?

just asking

 

[Awk.Pine]

I always really liked minidiscs. Nice size, durable, long battery life; recordable, and at different compression levels too. Problem was getting the music onto the discs--it needs to be done either real time or with Sony's crappy software. If I could burn minidiscs as easily as I can burn CDs, they'd definitely be appealing. But, now, I've gone to DAPs, and it takes seconds to transfer a mp3 to a player, rather than minutes to transfer a song to a disc.

 

[pkshiu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkangel9685 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just wondering if anyone here has played with minidisc players. Which one did you use/have? Did you like/loathe it? Would you still use it today? just asking

That brings back memory. I owned three different MD player/recorder. Used it a lot when I travel a lot to Japan. They are the best. I wrote about it on my site long time ago (2003): http://www.pkshiu.com/tech/minidisc.html

I loved that format. Cheap media. Ridiculously long battery life. Back then only those players have the "stick" remote control, which I love. Is it useful today? Tough call. These days I am tempted to use SD cards as the removable media, and get one of those portable players that takes SD card. My treo 700p does, but it is difficult to use as a player.

 

[Zappa74]

I've been using minidisc for years now... only for recording purposes though. Currently using one of the HI-MD recorders and I love it. Tons of recording time, cheap media and the ability to upload recordings via USB.

Great format for recording. Not so much for listening.

 

[driguez]

I used to have a MD for recording purposes in my DJ days... thats all i used it for though, recording.

 

[Superbaldguy]

It's nice to see a rare MiniDisc thread on here.

I own a dozen portable Sony units plus a great Sony MXD-D5C deck/recorder. Although I recently bought a 5.5G 30GB iPod, I still find myself preferring the MD format for both recording and playback. The superior sound quality is the key, plus the very useful remotes that come as standard gear on most models, making the short-corded headphones a pleasure to use.

You don't need a headphone amp as long as you resign yourself to using low-impedance phones, so carrying a "rig" is far easier than most who have to struggle with using iPods and amps.

The latest versions of SonicStage are fine, work well, no crashing - of course, you can still record in real-time (and not always have to be dependent on a PC) and do live stuff, having a ton of flexibility that just doesn't exist with other DAP's.

Sadly, Sony hasn't churned out anything new in the last year or so. The MZ-RH1 is a great machine and it caters well to the so-called pro recording market, but is it the last of the line? eBay is a decent source for bargains in used MD units, plenty to be had out there.

I like my iPod as I can carry a lot of my music with high bitrates, but it lacks personality - even a cheap MD recorder looks cooler, IMHO.

 

[Dr Morbid]

I finally abandoned MD/HiMD last year altogether. I got really sick of the Sony nonsense and the utter lack of thought put into the operation and design. Things were made harder to use in the interest of obvious cost cutting or simplicity. The format was nice, durability was decent, other than the poor Sony build quality. Then there's the low mW output that completely crippled the sound quality (as verified when played out through my computer's headphone output). Battery life is phenomenal, track access is a tradeoff for this advantage. Trackmarking is great as well. Too bad Sony messed up so many times, as we could all be using ATRAC and MD if it wasn't for their idiocy in management. It could also be a good thing, as such things as MP3 and ogg sound better and are less restrictive. Drop and drag is great as well. Loved how Sony made their direct transfers USB 1.1, instead of 2.0. Even if they used 2.0, at least the physical record/transfer wall encountered in magneto-optical technology would have been faster than 1.1.

Basically, I view Sony as the GM of the electronics industry. They have decent ideas, but implementation of everything seems to be run by the beancounters and falls just barely short of being a great feature.

I can't stand sonicstage, restrictive and just piss-poor to use.

I used to be a big supporter for many years, but eff Sony. I'm done with MD and with Sony. There is so much more out there that's better and supported, unlike HiMD when they introduced it and I had to get my discs from Australia.

 

[darkangel9685]

I feel like i'm the only one who activly uses and actually likes sonicstage.

Yeah, versions prior to v3.5 sucked hard, by the newest version(4.3) is awesome, runs well and isn't as restrictive as previous versions.

just give it patience, as I find most most can't stand to learn the ins and outs of the inferface.

 

[shigzeo]

i have used md steadily from 1999. i was an adamant ipod sux yo member as well. i have owned RECORDERS: sony mzr-37 (purple) rare and sexy, Sharp MDMT15, MDR DR7, Panasonic (the one with the slide strip) and sony's MZR - R10 for hi md. As for portables, the Kenwood that shares the amplifier with the "yay for sound quality" rubbish new hd player, and two sharp auvi units.

my home hifi setup is with sharps auvi. it is the sd-sg11 that has md/cd combo and separate speaker amplifier. i never cared for sony music software, so i just used md the way it was meant to be used. optical from my usb transit or macbook and then to my sd-sg11. great sound and the only portables that do not hiss with high sensitivity headphones. i have hundreds of disks still in my home and will probably never properly ditch md.

recording unparalleled, battery life (due to wimpy amplifiers) is phenom, build like tanks (recorders by sharp) and had chic factor that never anything else matched.

*This trekk along memory lane is my 666 post. Time to reflect on anything evil mentioned here.

 

[DSlayerZX]

I owned a MD player, I must say, the battery life of those tiny things are LONG~~~~~
is like 40 hours if I use a Duracell battery. I used the supporting sony software, but personally loathe it because of its stability.

 

[Dr Morbid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkangel9685 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I feel like i'm the only one who activly uses and actually likes sonicstage. Yeah, versions prior to v3.5 sucked hard, by the newest version(4.3) is awesome, runs well and isn't as restrictive as previous versions. just give it patience, as I find most most can't stand to learn the ins and outs of the inferface.

That's the flaw. Programs should first allow an in to immediately use some basic features easily, then allow you to easily progress and find the advanced features as you need them. Sonicstage is not one of these programs.

I also banned sony stuff from my computer after the Rootkit fiasco, and their low pass filters on the MD's that made mp3's sound like crap. Then there are the people that tried to go back and forth between their player and computer, only to find the program wiped out their music because of copyright protection nonsense.

 

[pata2001]

I used to use MD because:
-gapless (albeit Atrac only)
-unlimited storage (when 256MB DAPs were the norm)
-high expectation for HiMD
-excellent battery life (when MP3 DAPs were struggling to go above 8 hour per charge)

In between, we see:
-MP3 DAPs gaining better and better battery life. Now 2G iPod nano gets 24hour battery life per charge
-HiMD suffers worse battery life than legacy MD
-slow sub USB1.1 speed on HiMD, while MP3 DAPs gained USB2.0 speed
-Only Sony (and later on, Onkyo) supporting HiMD. All the other previous supporters (Panasonic, Sharp, Kenwood, etc) moved on.
-Sony being super lazy in promoting and supporting their own products (how long does it take for Sonicstage to be freed from DRM?)

Now, I have an iPod because:
-gapless with MP3 and AAC (no need to be locked into a propietary format)
-iTunes is a much better music management software compared to Sonicstage, plut it's unicode
-in the event I switch to Mac, I know I can still use my iPod.

Just look at Sony USA. They don't even bother to release the new Sony DAPs in the US. As for MD, it's clear that Sony will abandon it sooner or later, with the RH1 being the only unit released last year. Don't get me wrong, it's still a viable platform for good quality portable recording. However, as a consumer music player, MD/HiMD is not a viable option anymore.

 

[Fang]

I used to own a Sony MD, bought it about 6 yrs ago but it stopped working after nearly 3 yrs of use, it couldn't load any discs at all. I remember it had a long battery life but nowadays DAPs are easier to use, have larger screens and most DAPs have a decent battery life

 

[Wildcard30]

I still have a Sony JB920 deck, Panasonic SJ-M220 Portable Recorder, Sharp MD-ST55 Player and a Sony MZ-E44 Player. They don't see much use anymore once I moved to the Ipod I did a comparison between the Ipod and the Panasonic through my Tomahawk and the Ipod just sounded better.

 

[D-EJ915]

Gapless + sick decks + good sound + battery life = win

Minidisc is awesome, I really love it, but I never use portable so it's kinda pointless for me.