would it be worthwhile to archive my cd's onto minidisc?

[headphonegeek]

due to the fact that the md utilizes data compression the sound is not as good as the cd.also listening to md through good headphones?what do others think about this issue?

 

[bangraman]

Comparatively worthless IMO bearing in mind the alternatives out there. Rip it in FLAC, Apple Lossless, etc and save onto DVD-R for permanent storage.

 

[enzoferrari650]

no dont do it. Pointless.

 

[h-man]

AGreed, why go "lossy"

 

[HiWire]

Waste of time. Your CDs will probably last longer than the MDs. As to headphone listening to MD players - I don't think there is a problem. I would simply use the least lossy or lossless format if possible (e.g. HiMD). Enjoy!

 

[DLP]

You'll have a lot of MDs you won't be touching. Trust me, I did it. It was a big mistake, both logically and financially. You will probably have a lot of MDs you'll have music on you don't want to listen to but don't want to record over, plus MDs aren't cheap if you try to maintain a large collection.

 

[jefemeister]

MD is an all but dead format.

 

[Nattapong]

Don't do it... I did it ... spend .. I don't know how much for MD ... then.. never use it???

... don't want to delete them.... and.. well.. whatever.. now .. going to ipod...

MD .. to me... is dead.... can't think of what to use with it.....

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Actually, I cannot recommend archiving CDs onto any compressed format (ATRAC, MP3, FLAC, Apple Lossless, blah blah blah) whatsoever - even so-called "lossless" compressed codecs become "lossy" once you do second and subsequent re-conversions. And hard drives are just about the worst choice of media to archive anything at all whatsoever - they have a maximum usable service life and shelf life (once you start doing anything at all whatsoever on that HD) of only 3 to 5 years at most (shelf life of HDs is indefinite only if that HD has NEVER been operated or used at all whatsoever).

The only decent way to archive CDs for long-term storage is (gasp!) tape (analog or digital).

 

[Embio]

oh come off it.

there is no audible difference at all between CD and ATRAC3 292/ATRAC3+ 256

no difference at all that the human ear can tell, its called 'phsyco-acoustics' and its the removing of all your ear cant hear!

honestly

yes it IS a good idea to MD it all, i did it and love it!

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Embio oh come off it. there is no audible difference at all between CD and ATRAC3 292/ATRAC3+ 256 no difference at all that the human ear can tell, its called 'phsyco-acoustics' and its the removing of all your ear cant hear! honestly yes it IS a good idea to MD it all, i did it and love it!

Also, some consumer digital audio formats are copy-protected. Thus, archiving CDs onto MD is pointless; after all, why would you digitally archive a CD onto MD, only to have that "archived" MD rendered digitally uncopyable onto another generation? (Sure, you could "archive" CDs onto MD using the analogue outs and inputs - but then, you'd have to deal with loss in quality caused by crappy DACs and ADCs and multiple D/A and A/D conversions.)

 

[Embio]

u mean SCMS? cant you make one further copy of the MD and continue to make copys of it?

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Embio u mean SCMS? cant you make one further copy of the MD and continue to make copys of it?

Nope. Once you've copied a CD onto MD using the optical or coaxial digital connection, you cannot make a further copy of that MD using the digital connections.

If on the other hand you've copied the CD onto MD using the analogue connections, then you can make a further copy generation from that MD; however, you cannot make still further copies from MDs that you've just made copies off the original MD - you'll have to go back to the first MD that you've made from analogue sources.

In other words, you're limited to one digital generation in the copying process.

 

[waffenschmidt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eagle_Driver Actually, I cannot recommend archiving CDs onto any compressed format (ATRAC, MP3, FLAC, Apple Lossless, blah blah blah) whatsoever - even so-called "lossless" compressed codecs become "lossy" once you do second and subsequent re-conversions. And hard drives are just about the worst choice of media to archive anything at all whatsoever - they have a maximum usable service life and shelf life (once you start doing anything at all whatsoever on that HD) of only 3 to 5 years at most (shelf life of HDs is indefinite only if that HD has NEVER been operated or used at all whatsoever). The only decent way to archive CDs for long-term storage is (gasp!) tape (analog or digital).

Lossless compressed formats (FLAC, Apple Lossless, Monkey's Audio) are lossless by definition. If you convert a lossless file into a lossy format (ATRAC, MP3, etc.) the new file is lossy, but assuming you didn't delete the original file it's still lossless and can be converted back to the original WAV without any loss.

Hard drives are probably not the greatest long-term archiving medium, but they are cheap and convenient, especially if you anticipate converting to various lossy or lossless formats for use on portables in the future. My strategy is to rip to WAV on a HD, burn CDs for daily use, and have the original CDs themselves serve as the "archive" medium. The WAVs on my hard drive can be used to burn subsequent CDs if necessary, or can be converted to any lossy or lossless format I choose. If I start to run out of space, I can convert my WAVs to any of the lossless compressed formats without loss.

While I'm not an expert on tape, archiving to analog tape is by no means lossless. Assuming the original source is a CD, the data is digital. Putting it on analog tape means converting from digital to analog. Assuming you're ultimately going to want to create another CD out of it, you have an analog to digital conversion to get it back again. So you have two conversions (D-A and A-D) plus whatever you lose writing to the tape and whatever you lose reading from the tape. Doesn't sound like a real smart strategy compared to saving the data in its original (digital) format.

 

[h-man]

Honestly, I love the MD format as an occassional use for taping good stuff off my digital radio (Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy etc) but since I've had my ipod I don't really use it as a main portable music rig, which is a shame really, because as has been mentioned, the SP sound quality is excellent. But then, so is 224 AAC