Loque

Well I don't think that it is worth kidding yourself that anyone is going to create a new piece of MD equipment...

Yeah it's different I grant you, but I think it's a good thing, I feel that with some polishing (i'd be glad to help if required I'm quite experienced with IPB) this place could be great. I understand the loss of MD forums though, they were great, but quite a few of the people are still here, not that I can say I was hugely experienced anyway from there. However, we're all brought together by the common love of the MD format if nothing else, and there's no other place quite like it. *Hugg*

Due to working, I haven't really found a great deal of time to play about with recording disks. I did however manage to record a couple of tracks onto a disc just to see if it worked, it does, much like a charm. I have to say *ducks and finds cover* That I have never used a minidisc to 'record' per-se, have literally just used it to play my songs. Hence why the experience is a little foreign and cumbersome to me. I guess it has it's advantages though - I'm having all kinds of problems with my new MP3 player not accepting M4A files. It's a shame because otherwise it's a great player on the audio quality front. But I digress, I did record a few tracks off a lossless rip from my mac last night, then shoved it in the Pioneer. It sounded excellent, so very much better than what normally comes out of my PC suprisingly enough. Yeah, the Nak is a relic from 2000 I believe, but it still looks (and, obviously works) like new. It's a complete joy to use as well, the jealousy is well founded More information it's one of these : http://www.nkmca.com/auto/minidisc/md_45z.htm From what I can tell the MZ R50 is rarer than hens teeth, and more expensive than diamonds, but I will keep an eye out for one.

Can't say I am a massive LP record fan, (too young) nor am I a musician, but I sure do love the minidiscs.

I doubt it, Sony loves to not release it's source code, or anything in general to third party developers...

Incredibly useful bit of information that. I initially tried to do things through sonicstage, then as you said the only way to do it is through optical. Not a great problem in terms of possibility as my setup is full optical, but really, it's not practical. I'm experimenting with recording and track marking, but I'm not a fan of doing things this way, unfortunately it's a necessity for the Nak to run on MDSP due to the fact they didn't make Hi-MD head units, and I love playing minidiscs in the car a little too much.

It, in my opinion is a real shame. There are obvious, competitive reasons why MP3 players will win out, one is the potential size and design on the players, others is the style and ease of use. The average Joe doesn't seem to care too much about audio quality, so long as the player is highly portable and looks good and, crucially, is backed up by excellent software, for example the ipod. Sonicstage contributed massively to the downfall of the Minidisc format, it was poor software. Having hardware specific software is ok, again going back to itunes and the ipod, but it has to be very well done, frequently updated and well supported. I don't think Sonicstage ticks any of these boxes. Sony's solution to this could have been to open the format up a little to allow third party developers to implement their own software, but it makes me scoff even writing 'Sony' and 'opening up to third party developers' in a sentence. The physical size of the players doesn't help as I've had many of my friends comment on the brick like nature of an MD player. I frequently remind them that this is a double edged sword as my MD player has been run over and shot and still works. I'm suprised there's nothing really in the in-car entertainment market for them. In my eyes they are the ultimate head unit simply because of the versatility of the MD itself. You can quite happily chuck an MD into the backseat knowing it wont shatter or break. It is indeed a great shame though that they do seem to be running scarce. Sony haven't helped themselves by pricing the RH-1 so high, but from what I hear it is quite a machine. Coupled with the fact that the only place that seems to sell minidisc is the local sony store. Honestly. My local tech store sells Floppy Disks, but not minidiscs. Is that what things have come to. I'm quite suprised that Data MDs didn't take off either to be honest. Again, it's a much more hardwearing and versatile format to Floppies or even CDs

Without meaning to sound pointless, is the only reason to get this because it has optical, because every onboard soundcard has an Optical out these days. Not having invested a great deal of time into what sound comes out of my PC I can't speak subjectively. I was however going to plump for one of those Onkyo 'cards, and I think it's about time I did something. Are these really that good, or is it worth the extortion of this http://www.audiocubes2.com/category/Computer+Accessories/product/Onkyo_SE-200PCI_HD_PCI_Digital_Audio_Board.html ?

I think you're right bluecrab. I don't know an awful lot about the Nak, other than it is the God of all In Car Entertainment. Even on an Aux Lead it's pretty much Aural Sex. But from what I can fathom it does seem to be MD-SP only, unfortunately. Your right on the Pioneer, I bought it for the princely sum of

Morning all, I have a Nakamichi MD Player in my car, which does not play Hi-MD Disks. This is fair enough as there isn't an in car Hi-MD player that exists, unfortunately. But this unit does not play regular MDs either, it lists the tracks, lists a timer as each track is played, but no noise come out. I thought this was an error with the unit (It is about 12 years old). This was until I recently purchased a Pioneer MD707 off ebay. Where the exact same thing happened. Except this time I get a message of 'No Audio' before the disk playing silently. This lead me to great confusion. Luckily enough I managed to borrow a few ancient Disks of a DJ of mine who had some things that he wanted me to listen to. Lo-and-behold, they worked seamlessly on both players. These disks were made in the mid nineties, and looking into it it seems they were made in MD-SP. I have been using my MZ-N510, which I believe to be an MD-LP Net MD recorder. Is there any way I can make this device record in SP format. Alternatively, what hardware do I need to create MDSP disks? And if anyone shouts RH-1 at me I might just shoot something. Much as I love minidiscs, and I am considering importing an Onkyo deck in the near future,

Not something I have ever tried, but it would be kinda useful I have to admit. I can't really think of any obvious problems if you slap a sticker on the side, how to print out something on a template though I have no idea. Must be possible though, try getting some kind of Japanese software or something?

I know the constant and entriely justified bleating about sonicstage that continually plagues MD, but I use OS X for most of my computing, either that or 64bit OS. The prospect of an MD working well on a Mac computer excites me, does anybody know how well the system that Sony have added for OS X (On the RH-1) works?

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm well aware that there are technically more capable alternatives that are around, the only things that are remotely in consideration for me are other Sony flash based solutions, and I do have an NWZ-A816 kicking around the place somewhere, and it's not bad. I just have many good memories with the minidiscs, enjoy using them and.. Grh.. I can't really explain it, but I actually just enjoy listening to music on them, not just particular songs. That flash player you specified looks interesting, do you have any ideas on a price? I'm not up for parting with a few grand for it, but it does look like something I'd be interested in, almost for running alongside MD. That's some bad news about the headunit. I really don't understand why anyone wouldn't make one. Minidiscs seem to me to be perfect media for cars; shock proof, you can throw them round the place as well. I actually have my eyes on that Onkyo 275 system. Are they actually any good? Any other alternatives around? The MZ-RH1 is quite an aesthetically pleasing unit, what's the extra features you describe? I actually had a NH600, which was built, in my eyes like a tank. It got ran over, and shot four times with a pretty powerful air rifle, I have retired the unit with honours!

They'll always be on ebay. I have to go to my local Sony Store to get mine though - nowhere else sells them.

Hi there, I have actually made a massive U-turn on pretty much everything Audio based now. Last night I got my iPhone stolen, I have no music player and I miss the fantastic Build quality/audio Quality of a good Sony Minidisc Player. Personally I like to have a uniform setup for everything that I use. At the moment I have a Nakamichi Minidisc Head Unit in my car (honestly, if you get a chance to obtain one, do it) but it's a net-MD one, and an MZ-N510 net md portable recorder. I'm after a Portable MD Player, new Head unit, and a deck (WITH AN OPTICAL SPDIF Input) and they all have to be HI-MD. Does anyone have any ideas at all? Price doesn't matter so much as I know these things last for bloody ages, and I want a quality product.