[goldfinger1111]

Hi there,

anyone around here still into MDs?

Started with an old Sony MZ-R30 and switched to a MZ-RH10 when it was released a couple of years ago.

Really liked it for it's MIC input(good rehearsal recordings), the OLED display, the 1GB capacity and stuff. Nowadays that's changed a bit.
Every MP3 player's got a higher capacity, the 1GB Hi-MDs are pretty expensive and those gumstripes are rather hard to find at a reasonable price.
Some of those gumstripes even started inflating during recharge...

... inside the player.

I like the features of the player, but the thought of a new player is quite tempting.

 

[Nagasaki_Kid]

I'm recently got a n510 for cheap, but still not as good as some of my older discman. It sounds fuller than my meizu m6 but lacks detail in the highs compared to the meizu.

 

[Beyerfan70]

Yep i've used them for years and love them to bits.
I have an Rh1 at the moment which is without doubt the best sounding portable player i have.
Plus i can use atrac on it which i adore.
Beats all other lossy codecs stone dead.
Sure you can get high capacity players now but none of them sound as good.
If i ever want to be excited and thrilled by my music i pick the Rh1 up,plug in my dt231 galactic and literally get lost in music.
No other dap can take me there.

 

[ILikeMusic]

Quote:

Plus i can use atrac on it which i adore. Beats all other lossy codecs stone dead.

Not in any of the listening tests I've seen.

 

[MoSXS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ILikeMusic /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not in any of the listening tests I've seen.

Yeah no kidding. Atrac3/plus generally came in dead last in listening tests. Didn't Hydrogen Audio drop atrac from listening tests because it scored so low in so many tests without any kind of improvements? Aside from the limited hardware and software support...

Atrac3 was the reason I stopped using MD and went iPod.

 

[shigzeo]

atrac was the biggest marketing oriented codec i have ever used. it is nice but no where near as advanced as mp3 or aac or ogg or... anything. true in hydrogenaudio.org, it generally came in the last place or near last (not as bad as low anchor) in 80% of tests. sometimes it was okay but sony really milked the marketing and lying for all it was worth.

this is coming from a 7 year md user

 

[Drag0n]

I have a Sony MD, but i havent used it in awhile.

 

[booboohihi]

i use sony rh1 with usb wav recording~the best portable player

 

[pata2001]

I still use MD for recording. There are not much alternative out there for a "cheap" high quality consumer recorder with mic and optical inputs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beyerfan70 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Plus i can use atrac on it which i adore. Beats all other lossy codecs stone dead.

Yeah, Atrac is so great that Sony themselves abandoned it and co-developed AAC.

 

[IceClass]

I have a MZR3 kit with about 30 sealed MDs I'd trade.

 

[lightbulbjim]

Yep, I have a NH-900 that I use for recording and an EH1 that I use for playing. I still have a mint E10 and a JE510 deck, neither of which see much use as they don't do HiMD.

That said, I'm moving overseas this year and want to travel light, so sadly I have a Sansa Fuze on the way to take the first step in replacing my MD gear. I'll miss it, the EH1 (Japan built) especially is of a very high quality.

One thing I sure won't miss though is SonicStage...

 

[h-man]

I used to be a really heavy md-user, and although sentimentality precludes me getting rid of all my old md kit, I never use it now - fully ipod-ed i'm afraid!

 

[ILikeMusic]

I can't imagine what purpose an MD player would serve these days, beyond nostalgia. Most any modern codec tests better than ATRAC, and why mess with a bunch of disks when you can store your entire library on a DAP? I suppose that if you need PCM recording capability and already own a record-capable MD player then it may have some life left in it, but there are several HD-based devices on the market that will do a better job of even that.

MD was a great product in its time, but time moves on...

 

[boomzilla]

still using rh1, line out to predator, into darth beyers...totally eargasmic...i am a bit of an ipod retard...which encoder is best to use, just found the 256 kbps option...am set up for ipod to lod to predator...can't imagine it would sound better than the best recording option, 1hr 35min on a 1 gig disc, but am open to new ideas...like the convenience of ipod, just think the md rh1 rig sounds better...glenn

 

[auricolari]

I used to love MiniDiscs - had them for a good ten years, running the gamut from an MZ-R30 to an RH1. But, I never found much need for MDs by the time the RH1 came out, so I sold it two years ago and haven't missed it. Anytime I get nostalgic for MD, I have an old MZ-R900 in my drawer to pull out.

That nostalgia soon fades once I hear ATRAC-encoded audio. Something about that codec drives me nuts! I remember going crazy after dubbing a bunch of LPs to MD (with Type-R) and hearing all these weird artifacts caused by the encoder not being able to encode surface noises and pops (which even my iRiver mp3 recorder had no problem with). Try recording Miles Davis' trumpet with Type-R - not pretty! Between the clumsiness (and near unavailability) of discs and the terrible quality of ATRAC, I can't imagine using MD's for serious purposes anymore. They've long been eclipsed for both recording and playback by other devices.