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Hi Matt, Welcome to the forum. Before I answer it bothers me that you're spelling "obsolete" wrong. Now that is out the way: Aw man, I was kinda hoping you were serious about the "stuck in the past" thing, I was just about to sharpen my pitchfork - no doubt along with my fellow MDers. :-) What is YOUR attraction to the (now technically obselete) format, Minidisc? I used to be a big user and evangelist of the format. My attraction now is part "train set" effect, part fed-up with mp3 players and part nostalgia. Truth be told, I also like being different and retro, if everyone has an iPod I DO NOT want one. I also like creating compendiums of new music. I normally build up a playlist on my PC (where I listen to all my music these days) until I have ~2h 30mins of tracks "favourited". Then I record them to an MD in real-time for playback now and again. 1. How old were you when you first 'bought into' the format? 25 or so. 2. Do you still regularly use your very first player? No it was sold. I have re-bought exactly same spec as primary unit. 3. Do you regularly 'use' your items, or are some purely of interest as a 'collector'? Bit of both. 4. Do you listen to 'new' music on your discs, or prefer to keep the format for music 'of the era'? Bit of both. 5. Do you own more items than you can 'practically use'? Guilty as charged. 6. Did you 'go away' from MiniDisc', only to return to it at a later date? I did. 7. Do you associate use of your player with 'fond memories', or is it a purely 'practical' consideration? Bit of both. (the question/answer format shows me you really are a Police officer :-) Questions for you: will you share your conclusions with us? Will it be made public? Who else are you asking?

Hello! 1. How old were you when you first 'bought into' the format? I was 17 and it was 1997. I replaced my cassette walkman, that someone stole from me in the library, by a MD player/recorder 2. Do you still regularly use your very first player? No, it broke after years of dedicated service 3. Do you regularly 'use' your items, or are some purely of interest as a 'collector'? I use regularly some of my items but have indulged myself in some sort of reasonable collecting of items. 4. Do you listen to 'new' music on your discs, or prefer to keep the format for music 'of the era'? I do listen to new music, by new I mean music I didn't listen to before, being the last Daft Punk album or Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde, that I decided to listen only when I finally recorded it on a MD. 5. Do you own more items than you can 'practically use'? Yes I do but, like stated earlier, I am keeping my collection reasonable. 6. Did you 'go away' from MiniDisc', only to return to it at a later date? Yes. My first player broke circa 2003 and I only returned to the format in 2010 7. Do you associate use of your player with 'fond memories', or is it a purely 'practical' consideration? I do associate MD format with fond memories of friendships and music discoveries.

It´s the same here. A few months ago I got a FiiO X3 (portable HiRes player) which easily beats every MD device in sound quality and also includes a very good and powerful headphone amp... but despite this I´ve started again to skip tracks or albums. Just because I can do it and the process of changing an album is so fast. I wonder... when listening to music with the PC, the situation is the same, yet I listen to albums in full without skipping around. On the other hand: having a choice when for example riding a train is good too. When taking MD along the ride I have to be very strict on what album to chose (because of space constraints)... and it happened often that I´ve wished I´ve taken another album. With the FiiO X3 this problem has become moot again.

I want to add to something about the tangible point. I don't like the invisible - I like to interact with my music - which is why I don't really have any music stored as mp3s - rather just CDs and vinyl. But ironically for me it doesn't just mean physical - as peculiar a concept I think of duration and the time spent in the moment as a tangible concept as well. You hear a lot these days about the lost art of the mix tape. I had a discussion about it with my significant other last night, as I heard yesterday Billy Joe Armstrong (Green Day) recently bought a cassette recorder to return to the format. I suggested that making a mix tape meant more because it took 90 mins to make. That it wasn't just about the song choice, but those 3.5 mins it takes to record each song. During those moments, you're both thinking about the next song, but also imagining how the recipient will feel when listening to it - there's so much more time to get wrapped up in all the emotions that go with a mix tape. Obviously the words tape and minidisc are interchangeable here - if they're both being made in real-time. She argued, rightly so, that you can replicate that experience with playlists - e.g. on Spotify or in iTunes - and that it doesn't just have to be a silent experience of dragging song titles into a playlist without listening. Whilst it's inarguable, I just never find myself doing that. It's funny, when i had my R30, I was the only person I knew who had one. I made mix tapes for people, but I'd actually "master" them on the R30 - much easier to reorganise after the fact before committing to tape. Tape does get a bad rap though. Obviously not up to the standard of MD, but a good deck with a good tape could reach pretty great heights.

1. How old were you when you first 'bought into' the format? That would be my current age, only looked into it this summer thanks to a guy who had a nice collection of J-pop on a bunch of minidiscs, and he had a player to go with it.. When it was more common, the gear for it was well out of my price range (i.e. I didn't have a job). 2. Do you still regularly use your very first player? That would be the MZ-RH1 and I'm using it right now. 3. Do you regularly 'use' your items, or are some purely of interest as a 'collector'? Both, if I collect gear, I want it to actually work. 4. Do you listen to 'new' music on your discs, or prefer to keep the format for music 'of the era'? Again, that japanese guy and his mix MDs are as much of 'the era' as I have now, mainly stuff from the late 90s. What I add to it is a bit of old and current stuff. 5. Do you own more items than you can 'practically use'? Maybe so, but only because a lot of these were in lots that were pretty damn cheap, haha. 6. Did you 'go away' from MiniDisc', only to return to it at a later date? See my answer to Question 1. 7. Do you associate use of your player with 'fond memories', or is it a purely 'practical' consideration? Since I never owned one back in the day, I can't really say it's for fond memories. Most of my music is either MP3 or CD. As much as I like using Mp3s on my smartphone or MP3 player, I am sick of having to go through constant players with irreplaceable batteries or with the worry that the music I have can be lost if the cloud goes down. I missed touching the music I own, but I've been so busy with the job I have MP3s saved time. But last night, I made a mix MD for the very first time. It was a painstaking process titling every song (made somewhat easier by the jogwheel on the MZ R50 I also own), but yet I enjoyed every minute. Hearing the finished product was pretty great too. I used to make mix tapes all the time before I got busy with other things, so it felt great to try it on Minidisc for the first time. Hope my answers are helpful to you..

1. How old were you when you first 'bought into' the format? 44. 2. Do you still regularly use your very first player? No, broke. 3. Do you regularly 'use' your items, or are some purely of interest as a 'collector'? Bit of both, couple of models have become favourites so they are used all the time. Those with peculiar obsolete batteries (e.g. Aiwa AM-F70) just sit on a shelf. 4. Do you listen to 'new' music on your discs, or prefer to keep the format for music 'of the era'? Any music. 5. Do you own more items than you can 'practically use'? Yes. 6. Did you 'go away' from MiniDisc', only to return to it at a later date? No, stuck with it ever since my first one. 7. Do you associate use of your player with 'fond memories', or is it a purely 'practical' consideration? Practical, if I use my MP3 player for a few days then go back to MD the improvement in sound quality is like a breath of fresh air. I've often wondered where the majority of regular MD users are located and it wouldn't surprise me if it's here in the UK. As a nation we traditionally tend to be more resistant to change than other countries so therefore hang on to old technology for longer. Good luck with your research.

1. How old were you when you first 'bought into' the format? 22 - in 1997 - i bought a MZ-R30 portable. 2. Do you still regularly use your very first player? No. Funny story really. I got my first portable whilst at University, and used it everywhere I went. Once I graduated a year later, I started driving everywhere so my MD was consigned to a drawer. I saved up for an in-car unit, and the R30 found a new purpose (recording discs for the car). Then the R30 died, so I replaced with a R90. Unfortunately, pretty soon after, my car was broken into and my in-car deck was stolen, along with the wallet containing all my discs. I couldn't bare to go through it all again, so I sold the R90 and replaced the in-car deck with a cd player. My MD days were over... 3. Do you regularly 'use' your items, or are some purely of interest as a 'collector'? I've just bought a MDS-JB940QS deck, because I miss MD, hate invisible music (ie mp3s), and love tangible formats (vinyl is my primary source of music). So not a collector, but hoping to become a regular MD user again (hence joining this community). 4. Do you listen to 'new' music on your discs, or prefer to keep the format for music 'of the era'? It'll be both. 5. Do you own more items than you can 'practically use'? In general, yes, but MD is a no. 6. Did you 'go away' from MiniDisc', only to return to it at a later date? Yes, about a 13 year gap. 7. Do you associate use of your player with 'fond memories', or is it a purely 'practical' consideration? I'd say in all honesty my return is more a nostalgic trip than a practical one, but I adore the tangible. My 'at-home' listening is always from either a vinyl record or a CD, and whilst I use my phone in the car and at work for music, I use my Spotify subscription. The sound quality is awful, even though I use a DAC.