mmp64

The reason that that it "sounds good" when you transpose MP3 to ATRAC is because of the Sony hardware. IMHO. If you listen to an MP3 file on a Sony device vs. an iPod or similar, you most likely will discover that the MP3 sounds better on the Sony device, even though it is the same file.

Well, of course - lots of people did (though I was not one of them, because I went straight from cassette to MD). Some of the units I've bought on eBay though have come with portable cases - I even have one to wear on your arm when you walk or whatever. Agree that it seems silly.

Yes - I went through a big phase messing around with them. I still contend that the Sony Portable CD Players that play ATRAC, MP3, Audio CDs and have Radios are the most versatile portable audio devices of that generation. However - I was very surprised to find that they were not gapless. And they really didn't sound as good as MDs - assume that is because of the hardware and not the codec of course.

Just realized that if you follow the link - it goes to the Amazon page with one review - mine, from 2004!

I used to use a Xitel MD port all of the time - but that was a long time ago. It definitely was better quality than going out of the sound card, but now it doesn't really matter. Primarily I used it to record audio off of DVD concerts, and sometimes TV shows.

Not mine - and unfortunately only available for local pickup in CA - but - very cool. http://www.ebay.com/itm/COLLECTABLE-RARE-SONY-MINIDISC-KIOSK-STORE-DISPLAY-w-Mini-Disc-Player-Booklets-/370723875420?pt=Music_Other_Formats&hash=item5650dd6a5c

Apple also perfected the integration of hardware and software. I went over because of Smart Playlists, which no one else had at the time, and as far as I know, still don't.

What I've done is compare HiSP on a Sony ATRAC CD player to 256K MP3, and then of course 256K MP3 on an ATRAC CD player vs. a Sony Walkman (NWZ-A816) vs. an iPod. I don't have one of the later HiMD units that plays MP3s, though my NWZ-NH1 plays MP3s, though on the first generation of Sony ATRAC devices that supported MP3, they "crippled" the playback and bypassed EQ and other sound processing so it is not a fair comparison. To me - 256K MP3 (LAME, VBR) and HiSP were equivalent on the CD player, but HiSP on my MD units still sounded better. 256K MP3 on the NWZ-A816 sounded very close to HiSP on my MD units, and 192K WMA sounded equivalent. The same MP3 file was inferior on an iPod. Of course, I don't use EQ on iPod because it is terrible, and I did on the Sony because it is excellent. The particular model of Walkman I have (it is basically retired now because of age and converting to Mac a few years ago) had several different kinds of EQ, Bass Enhancement, etc. etc. The current "S" series has more audio processing vs. the "E" series. Usually I don't like too much sound processing, but Sony really has done a great job with these units. So - I guess what I'm trying to say is - Sony just seems to make great sounding devices, regardless of the format. One thing I found very interesting was comparing 64K WMA on the NWZ-A816 to HiLP on my MD units. To me - WMA was WAY better. I'd be curious to see if anyone else has ever compared this. However - having said all of that - I would still say that to me - the best sounding portable audio is still real-time encoded SP.

I don't really think it's ATRAC - I think it is Sony's hardware. MP3s and AAC files sound better on Sony's MP3 players vs. other MP3 players.

How about: 1) Real-time SP vs. HiSP (256) 2) HiSP (256) vs. HiSP (352). 3) LP2 vs. ATRAC3+ 128

Hi. I actually have never had any problems with my Standard and Net MD units. All are still fully functioning. On my HI-MD units - on my 900, the battery expanded because it overcharged. Others have had this problem. The result was it will no longer fully charge any battery so is basically useless as a portable device. The jog dial on my 600 no longer works, and the remote on my 800 stopped working. As far as Codec - when I make an MD now, I do it real-time on a deck, hooked up to a CD player, using SP. Partly this is because my use of MD is now primarily at home, for careful listening. I believe real-time SP is the best sounding. I also lost my ATRAC library a while ago (crashed hard drive), and shortly after that switched back to Mac. Going back a bit in time, I did make extensive use of LP2 - primarily ripped using Simple Burner. It is very nice and convenient, but not as nice as SP of course. My HI-MD library was almost all HiSP, and I still have all of those discs. I also went through a stage where I ripped critical CDs at 352k. 352k on my NH1 us pretty impressive.

Putting aside Codec questions - I have decided to focus on Net MD or Standard MD units because of reliability, cost and availability (in the U.S., at least). There are very few HiMD units available, and the ones that are available are expensive. i also think that older units are more reliable. At one point I own all of the first-generation HiMD units - the only one that is still fully functioning is the MZ-NH1. All of my Net MD and Standard MD units are still functioning, even though they are all older, and have had much more use. And finally - you can buy Net MD and Standard MD units (mostly used, but in very good condition) beginning at 25 U.S. dollars on eBay.

They are actually one my favorite MD devices. They are built like tanks - I have one I've been using off and on for what seems like 10 years - and I think I bought it used. I know I've ripped hundreds of CDs using it. Probably thousands, actually. The fact that they take "AA" batteries also makes them very versatile.

My collection of Type R vs. Type S discussions captured from various posts on this board over many years (I did not write any of this): "type R : only works on recording side on SP only it's a better alogrithm to analyse the bits from ur recording source type S : type S DOES include type R additional thing is the improvement on playback of LP2/LP4 tracks type S only works when u have a player that have type S and only works when playing LP2/LP4 tracks, will not works for SP tracks main difference : type R works at recording side type S works both at recording side(coz it include type R) and playback side(for LP2/LP4 only) type S claimed to produce better sound at playback side on treble part of LP2/LP4 tracks and, type R only work in real time recording any fast cd-->md dubbing won't have type R function if u doubt about type R only work at real time, u can contact Sony CS representative at ur region no, this information is hidden from ur manuals but, if u ever contact any one in Sony who know something about MD, they will surely tell u what I've just told u "ATRAC Type-S is just a combined, one-chip DSP for the ATRAC Type-R codec used for SP mode and the ATRAC3 codec used for MDLP modes. Supposedly, Type-S increases the SNR of LP2 and LP4 encodings by 6dB upon playback, but doesn't offer any improvement for SP encodings.""

You are exactly right. I have come back to SP for the simple reason that it works on every unit I have. BTW - I think that ended up being one of the things that contributed to the downfall of MD - too many formats and complexities in figuring out what worked with what (for average people, not us).

For the reasons you mentioned (price, scarcity, etc.) - I basically abandoned HiMD a couple of years ago. That doesn't mean I don't listen to my large collection - it just means that I really don't make HiMD discs any more. SP and NetMD units are much more plentiful, affordable, and IMHO, robust.

The point of music in the cloud is access. I have about 40 GB of music, so yes, I could put that all on one device. However, with the cloud - I can listen to my library on multiple devices - my computer (and in theory, anybody's computer), my internet radio (Squeezebox), my iPhone, etc. etc. As far as data charges - that depends on your ISP. Most ISPs are not yet charging overage fees, and compared to streaming a movie on Netflix, streaming music is small change.

Well... there are no more portable units being produced AFAIK. But I expect my stash, particularly my Standard and Net MD units to last until I am either deaf or dead, which ever comes first.

Well, in Windows Media Player, that used to require a Registry edit to do that. I've been on a Mac for a while so am not sure what the setting are now. I checked my Son's laptop running Windows 7 and 192k is still the highest setting in WMP, which I assume is the most common way "normal" people (and none of us on this forum are normal) rip WMA files.

Yes, you are correct. Rdio in particular does this - in fact - you can "follow" other users and thus have access to all of their playlists. Of course, you have access to all of the same music as they do, but you just may not be aware of certain artists. So - it is really about music discovery. BTW - pretty sure #2 is what Apple is going to unveil today. They bought LaLa a couple of years ago and that is how LaLa worked. If you were recording from a PC - you would likely be recording something similar to LP2-quality audio. If recording from a smart phone - most services let you download audio to the device - in some cases that is HE-AAC 64k+ - but in other cases it is much higher. MOG lets you download 320K MP3. Rdio is higher too but not sure exactly what it is. Sounds like 160K or maybe 192K to me. There is no way to transfer those files from the device so you would have to record via the headphone jack - or possibly through another device if you are using an iPhone attached to a dock, or using Airplay. BTW- - Napster used to let you download 192k WMA files to your PC and listen to them there, and/or transfer them to compatible devices (i.e., my Sony Walkman). For test purposes, I did experiment with doing real-time SP recording via the optical out (via my old Xitel interface). The results were quite good, as 192k WMA is very high quality (it is in fact the highest quality WMA bit rate).

I would be curious to know how many people collect them. Of course, there are cross-collectors - people who, for example, want everything ever recorded by Bruce Springsteen, on every format. BTW - I actually have Boston Don't Look Back. And a Romantics Greatest Hits MD.

There are basically three types: 1) Store your music library on a remote server (Amazon, or MP3Tunes) - literally copy your files from your hard drive to a remote server. 2) A service will scan your library and create a pointer to files that you have on your hard drive to songs that the service has in it's library and has made available to stream. 3) A subscription model, such as Rdio, Napster, Rhapsody, etc. in which you pay a fixed monthly fee to listen, on demand, to whatever they have made available to stream. Most support multiple devices - so Rhapsody, which I subscribe to, lets you listen via Tivo, Computer, Smart Phone, Logitech devices, Internet TVs, etc. etc. The purpose of all of this is of course to be able to listen to large amounts of music without needing to store it on physical media. Also - the subscription services let you listen to millions and millions of songs for the same fee - so - if you were curious about a band, or a certain album - you could check it out and decide if you want to buy it or not. The drawback is bandwidth caps and charges, and some services use fairly low quality streams to keep (your) costs down and improve performance and reliability on slower networks. The file format for most of these are either AAC+ or WMA because these formats support DRM. BTW - there is nothing "bad" about MP3. It is just a file format. In my opinion, much of what we consider superior (in terms of sound quality) about ATRAC is because of Sony's hardware, not the file format. I think both AAC and WMA sound better than ATRAC at lower bitrates. For me, the ideal would be a combination of a service that lets me listen to my library, and "their" library. Services like Rhapsody have millions of songs available, but not every band has gotten on board yet. For example, the three biggest selling bands in the US (historically) are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and The Eagles - and none of them are available on subscription services.

HiMD units seem to command a premium because of their scarcity, though I recently almost bought a MZ-NH900 for around $150 which is pretty reasonable. Standard and Net MD units are very cheap. As far as blanks - certain Japanese blanks are expensive. Sony, etc. aren't that bad. I've noticed that pre-recorded MDs are also very expensive, though not sure if anyone is actually buying them. Does anyone on here collect pre-recorded MDs? Because if we don't who does? Who really pays $60 for a copy of Boston "Don't Look Back?"

He should use standard SP to ensure maximum compatibility. There are a lot more standard and NetMD units out there vs. HiMD.

I think it's worth at least that as a piece of pop art if nothing else.