Another MD fanatic

Please excuse my ignorance here but what was Atrac-X? As regards all the other formats, both past and present, one thing has never changed. In the beginning there was the wax cylinder. These were ridiculously expensive to the average man in the street (imagine ONE SONG costing a weeks wages) and they were also fiddley to operate. Then along came the flat disc, dead simple to use and at least a little bit cheaper. Yet the sound quality of a cylinder is far superior to a 78 of similar age, I know because I've heard some. We all know which one took off, wax cylinders had finished by the 1920's but the flat disc is still with us (in vinyl). Cost and convenience will win every time, sound quality doesn't come into it. Just look at how many people are listening to low bitrate MP3's on their phones. All of which I find a bit sad really.

The time it would take to put 350 MDs onto your laptop in real time is mind-boggling! If you really want to give it a go here's a brief summary. You can use the mic/line input on your laptop but you'll probably get better results if you use a USB "thingy". First off, using a programme such as Audacity you record the contents of the MD as one long track. Then you've got to divide it up into each separate song. And you may wish to even out the volume levels and do one or two other bits of tweaking. Then you need to label each track. Finally convert them to SonicStage, MP3, or whatever. As a general guide you can expect it to take roughly double the length of time, so to do one 74 min MD will take over 2 hours. I know because I've done it, but I certainly don't make a habit of it. I reckon if you were lucky you should get through those 350 MDs in just over 800 hours! Wasn't my intention to put you off completely, just wanted to put the whole thing into perspective for you. As you can see it's ok for one or two discs but not really practical for such a vast number. Mind you, the cost of an RH1 isn't practical either (not for me at any rate). One final point. When the music was originally put on the MDs there were some losses (although most of us can't hear them). To now record the music to your laptop, fiddle about with it, then convert it again (and to LP at that), would the sound quality suffer to the point where it became noticeable? Please note I do not want to start a debate on that point ( I know some people have strong views on this subject). Hope this is of some help to you.

Ah yes, forgot all about the Sharp MT270/290. One thing to remember (especially considering your experiences with the DR80) is that the MT270 has the bass boost button on the body as it doesn't have a remote but the MT290 (with remote) has no bass button on the body. Certainly fits all your criteria, easy to find & relatively cheap, one AA, MDLP. Quite a small dinky little thing. And on the subject of the DR80, have you tried any other Sharp remotes with it? Don't know that much about later Sharp models but on the earlier ones the remotes were pretty universal. At least in respect that all the buttons would function correctly even if displays/backlights may not work. Looks as though Sharp carried on using the same connector for the remote so might be worth a go.

As Mosaic has already suggested, I have been using Sharp MT20 & Sharp SR75 for the last year or two and I love them. They can both still be found fairly cheaply. Couple of points to note, the only difference (as far as I know) between the MT15/16/20 and the SR40/50/60/75 etc is in the accessories that came with them when new, some had a remote and some didn't, some had rechargeable AA's etc, etc. There may of course be some experts out there that know more about them than I do. Also note the MT15/16/20 takes TWO AA batteries, which makes it quite a heavy, chunky thing. Oddly that's one of the things I like about it, nice and solid. At least it doesn't look like it's going to break just by sneezing on it! The SR models just need the one AA. Of course non of those are MDLP which may be a problem for you. I've also got a Sony MZ R410 which is MDLP and runs off a single AA but there's one drawback (IMO) - it's rubbish! Tiny display that you can hardly see, I found it fiddly to use and the volume you can get from it is pathetic.

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.

Hi, I'll second that. I've been using the latest SS for a while on 64 bit Windows 7 with an Aiwa NX9 and I've not had any problems. I had also read all the horror stories about what rubbish software it was supposed to be but once I'd started using it I was beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. If you do run in to any difficulties shout up, there's usually somebody on here that will be able to assist. They're a helpful lot you know! Have fun

This time it's a faulty Sharp MT170. Works perfectly - as long as it's lying down flat. If I stand it up on it's end it soon starts skipping and also makes a very unhealthy sounding clattering noise. Not come across this behaviour before so don't know if it's anything common. Any suggestions anybody?

There is one special requirement with ebay - Patience! Take your time with it and you will eventually find some real bargains. One other point, and I don't know how bothered you are about this, but for purely practical purposes I usually go for models that run from a standard AA battery (non of those silly gumsticks for me thank you) although this obviously limits the choices considerably. And that is a lovely looking example of an R700 you've got there.

I've sent you a PM which may be of help.

Another fascinating article MDietrich, as always. I must say though I certainly doubt if my ears would detect these differences. By the way, have you ever tried recording any pure sine waves to MD? I've done it and everything was ok until it got up to 10 kHz, then it all went a bit strange. Try it and see what you think. And to Sony_Fan - I find the biggest advantage of using a remote is simply in titling! This can be done in a fraction of the time it takes on a portable and can be done while the deck is still recording.

You've hit the nail on the head there. Those of us that are old enough (and I suspect I'm a little older than jammydodger1, but not as old as Jim, sorry Jim) have indeed experienced it all so we can at least make some sort of informed decision as to what sounds best. A lot of young people will say MP3 sounds best simply because they've never known any different and have nothing to compare it with. We obviously all have our own preferences and what sounds great to one person might not to somebody else. And of course there are other factors that influence people. For example I'm convinced the Ipod only took off as well as it did because it became "cool & trendy". Well it certainly wasn't for mind-blowing sound quality was it? Must admit I still find something magical in that sound of the stylus first dropping on to the record, the hum of the surface noise, and maybe the odd crackle. But that's just me, it might annoy the hell out of someone who's only ever known the clarity of CD.

When I bought my very first MD deck the first thing I did was to record all my 7 inch singles to MD, purely for the convenience of listening to them all. I remember it being a rather time consuming affair, sometimes taking 2 or 3 attempts to get the levels right due to the variations between one record and another. I've still got those discs and yes, when listening to them they don't sound any different to the original records. I've still got the original singles as well. I have also on some occasions recorded MP3 files from my PC to MD (in real time, SP mode) and these usually end up sounding BETTER when played back on MD. This is simply because ALL of my MD players are such superior quality to that silly little toy of an MP3 player I've got (frequency response 80 Hz to 18 kHz). Yep, 80 Hz is as low as it goes, not surprisingly I usually refer to it as "the gutless wonder".

Perhaps you could give us all some tips about painting MD players, it's a nice way to make old scratched players look good again and completely unique. What type of paint do you use? I guess you spray them? Is it easier to paint metal cases or plastic ones? And does the paint chip easily? Thank you

Yes Jim, I know exactly what you mean, me too! By the way, nice to see you're currently listening to Led Zep. I thought it was just me that spends most of their time listening to stuff 30, 40 or 50 years old (or older). Still, I guess people will still be listening to Zep in another 100 years from now.

Oh if only life was that simple. This whole subject of "aren't 0's & 1's all the same" has been brought up in countless forums in the past. If this was true all MD's would sound the same, all cd players would sound the same, all DVD's, etc, etc. And we all know they don't. Even if we have two MD's that are both type R they may well have different DAC's plus there are a multitude of other things that can influence the sound before it reaches your ears. Whether or not these differences are always noticeable is sometimes debateable. Someone more knowledgeable than myself can probably expand on this topic far better than I can.

Thanks for your comment Jim, I suspected the MR220 may have shot it completely. I suppose wouldn't be massive problem to replace, seen plenty go for around £20-£25 mark, even less sometimes. MR230 lot less common so I might have a further poke around with that. Always baffled me how things can "go faulty" while sat in the box! Both of these worked perfectly last time I used them, about 2 or 3 months ago, then bingo, they're both faulty for no apparent reason. And I never leave the batteries in while not in use.

Two actually. MR220 won't recognise disc in machine. Spins and spins..... and spins, then eventually stops. Sometimes display shows "no disc" but a couple of times "system error" has come up in display. I'm assuming laser has bit the dust so no point in messing around with it. 2nd one. MR230 won't recognise battery in player, even a fully charged one. Works fine with external AA case. Have examined battery contacts (with a magnifier) and can't see any grotty green stuff or other corrosion. I've come across this before, also suspiciously on a Panasonic so beginning to wonder, is it a common problem? Must admit I'm a bit sick about the MR220 as I bought it new about 11 years ago and paid £180 for it! And I've still got the box and all the accessories! Any comments or suggestions regarding either of above greatly appreciated. Wonder if Jim's reading this? Thanks

Very interesting reading. Without doubt we all to some degree become "brainwashed" by what we're used to hearing. For example, if you've been listening to the same gear for 10 years then try something different chances are you won't like it simply for that reason - it's different! And of course we all have our individual tastes and preferences. I've got a portable Tascam PCM recorder that has such clarity that to my ears make it sound cold, clinical, hard, bright, etc. Whatever you want to call it, you get the picture. Put it this way, it certainly won't be replacing my MD's. My experiments with LP4 were unfortunately a disaster, lots of nasty audible artefacts. I found LP2 to be ok and I would guess perfectly good enough for a large proportion of people. I don't normally use it due to the compatibility issue. Obviously ALL my portable players will play SP but only a couple will play LP modes. Can't comment on HiMD, never had one. Having said all that I still believe in the old saying "Listen to the music, not the faults". On your MD of course!

Fascinating articles although not sure my ears would notice significant difference. Having said that of the two MD decks I've owned, both Sony, D-D40 & JE480 I've always preferred the sound of the D-D40. Not sure why it sounds any different, and I only ever use SP so it's not down to the ATRAC type S of the 480. Was the output more tuned to the CD player combined in the D-D40? I'd really love to hear what you do with "loudness war" recordings, they annoy the hell out of me. It'd be great to be able to take one of these obnoxious sounding CD's and copy a much more "mellow" version to MD.

Yes, I fully understand that some people are glad to get their hands on any discs, especially new ones. I was myself at one time, until I'd accumulated quite a few. It was just the principle behind it that I was deliberating. And for the benefit of those not in the UK, Goodmans are still around and is a very popular brand here. But be aware, Goodmans branded products are usually very much at the budget end of the market so don't expect miracles. Can't speak for the Goodmans MD's specifically but I had a Goodmans CD player & amp about 15 years ago (was all I could afford at the time), all I'll say is they definitely weren't the best!

Why oh why do so many Ebay sellers insist on throwing in a couple of blank discs with a minidisc player? Does the desire to make something appear more saleable override common sense? Just wondered.....

These are brilliant. You should be very proud of yourself, you probably have the most unique collection of minidiscs in the world. You must have lots of patience. And don't worry about your English, we can understand what you're saying. I think most of us are just glad to find someone else that is still so passionate about minidiscs, no matter what part of the world you are from. I looked up Zard on YouTube, I didn't understand the words of the songs but I could see she was a beautiful lady with a beautiful voice.

Bought a Sharp MS701 for £3 last year, only thing I can find wrong is the backlight on the remote is intermittent. Everything still functions ok on both player and remote. As the Li-ion battery was dead and there was no mains adaptor or AA battery case I'm guessing the seller couldn't check it so sold it as spares or repair to prevent any comebacks. Looking back now I really don't know what made me buy it, but I'm glad I did! Steve

After reading through this thread I guess I've been pretty lucky. Most of the players I've bought over the last year and a bit have come with a number of discs, and there's been quite a few new sealed ones. Nothing rare but I've now got just over 50 new discs, Sony, TDK, Maxell & JVC in a mix of 74 & 80 mins. Also I've used Maxell discs off and on for at least 10 years and can't say I've ever had any bother with them. Only time I've had a problem with new discs was with some 74 min TDK's. Every disc from the pack eventually showed a crack in the case on the left hand side just above the centre. I can only assume it was a duff batch. Steve

Anyone got one? Either to sell, photocopy or upload to this site. Doesn't appear to be one available. As far as I can tell I've figured out all the operating functions & features but you never know, there may be something I've missed. Be nice to have the manual anyway, just for the hell of it. If I can get hold of one I'll gladly scan it and send the scan for posting on the site. Thanks, Steve