jpteasy

I've been following this discussion with interest. Since the hiss of cassette days I've always wanted my music to be crystal clear. When MD came on the scene in the UK I was so happy. Obviously over time Sony has modified and improved the MD experience and I think it has reached a point now where MD/HiMD covers all audio tastes. Ranging from PCM to 48 Atrac3plus. Unless you are an audiophile I think that PCM is overkill unless you are lucky enough to have one of the Onkyo HiMD separates or use HiMD through a high-end stereo system. I did a test using an Oasis track recorded digitally from a Hitachi portable DVD player. The track was Mucky Fingers and involves alot of percussion coupled with Noel Gallagher's high pitched vocals. The formats I used were; PCM, 352kps Atrac3plus, Standard SP, HiSP, HiLP and 48kps Atrac3plus. (I'm thinking of trying another test with the old MDLP formats to see the difference). PCM and 352kps were indistinguishable to my hearing (I'm 27). You could hear clearly the lisp when singing words with an 's' and his breathing when pausing etc. plus all the background information. The difference I heard between PCM/352 and Standard SP/HiSP was just a slight loss of some of the background information, but it was still there. Between HiSP and HiLP there is a noticebale difference however, it had merely dulled the 's' sounds and the pauses. The cymbal sounds had changed slightly, but nothing major. The majority of the background information disappears, but you quickly forget that this is missing and unless you listened to an uncompressed version previously would probably not notice. Between HiLP and 48kps you immediately begin to hear the artefacts appearing in the high pitched sounds and the distortion of the 's' sounds. There is a lack of background information which limits, for me, the enjoyment I can get from the music. In conclusion, in a previous post I mentioned my project to place onto MD all my favourite music in a variety of formats. Currently MDLP isn't used, but after reading this discussion I will be doing tests to see if it is worthwhile using it. For my recording I use; Atrac Advanced Lossless (on the PC @ 256 and 64) Standard SP, HiSP and HiLP. I rarely use my NetMD, preferring to use my MZ-R35 or MZ-RH710 so these 3 formats suit me perfectly. Just to clarify though for some who have mentioned other bitrates, when transferring from Sonicstage 4.3 you have a larger choice of bitrates you can send to your HiMD. You just can't use those bitrates when recording using the unit. PS Don't forget the beauty of MD/HiMD is that you don't have to compromise on quality or convenience like you do with an MP3 player. Just take an extra disc or two in your preferred format.

Hi I'm 27 and have been an avid user of MD since my 18th birthday, so don't worry you silver-audiophiles you are not alone. I remember visiting an electronics open day where new technologies where being shown off. Digital Television, DVD and LCD/Plasmas TVs were all still babies. VHS and analogue still ruling the day. Then, on a stand was a silver marvel. A Sony MZ-R35. £199.99 of pure audio pleasure. I tried it and loved every Atrac bit that my ears could hear. (oops silly me, it only plays what you can hear ) It was beautiful. Skip, skip. Pause, play. Stop. Record. Edit. The biggest reason I wanted one was because I hated cassette. Every player I had had would chew my tapes. I hated rewinding and fast-forwarding. People now would say that MP3 players etc. do the same, but can they move tracks? Delete them? Add track marks? Amend the title? can they be truly personalised? 2008 and my collection has grown with the latest addition to the family being the HiMD MZ-RH710. Cracking little player and recorder. If you ask me 1GB is plenty storage. Approx. 600 songs in HiLP 64bit Atrac3plus is enough. However, what is brilliant is I can opt to use HiSP or even PCM and the quality is stunning. I run out of room, oh I'll make Fave Oasis Disc 2. Every tap of the cymbal and snarl of Liam's voice can be heard. My wife has a Network Walkman NW-A000 series and is still compatible with Sonicstage. She gets the convenience of flash based memory, but at MD quality. For my 27th birthday she bought me an NWZ-A818 Network Walkman to play videos. I thought maybe I could set aside 1GB of the memory in case I don't have my HiMD with me, however the 'Z' in the name indicates it isn't Atrac compliant. I have put some MP3s on, but to get some kind of enjoyment from the sound they need to be recorded at 256kb/s! To show how current for me MD still is I am embarking on a massive recording project of all my favourite types of music. because I still use the various players dotted around I do need to make duplicate copies, but I don't mind. The reason why (and its been touched on earlier in the thread) is I make them no more than 80mins in length. A CD-R or SP MDs worth. Perfect for moving them around the various Atrac formats. This is my project; Dance - 3 MDs @ SP, 3 MD @ HiMD HiSP, 1 HiMD @ HiLP (approx. 60 songs) Rock - 3 MDs @ SP, 3 MD @ HiMD HiSP, 1 HiMD @ HiLP (approx. 60 songs) R'n'B - 3 MDs @ SP, 3 MD @ HiMD HiSP, 1 HiMD @ HiLP (approx. 60 songs) Oasis - 3 MDs @ SP, 3 MD @ HiMD HiSP, 1 HiMD @ HiLP (approx. 60 songs) Noel G - 3 MDs @ SP, 3 MD @ HiMD HiSP, 1 HiMD @ HiLP (approx. 60 songs) Michael Jackson - 3 MDs @ SP, 3 MD @ HiMD HiSP, 1 HiMD @ HiLP (approx. 60 songs) All Time Classics - 3 MDs @ SP, 3 MD @ HiMD HiSP, 1 HiMD @ HiLP (approx. 60 songs) HiMD Faves - All the above on one 1GB HiMD @ HiLP I appreciate music. I appreciate holding it in my hands. I appreciate the time taken to lay all the tracks down in a song including the background sounds. I appreciate the continued flexibility and indestructiveness of MD that I can amend my compilations until they are perfect for me...nobody else. I have read that Onkyo have a HiMD separate...lets get searching. Long live MiniDisc!!!!!! JP PS. I've seen iTunes being used and its crap. Sonictstage is fit for purpose.

Back to the original question I am still using both and I will continue to use both MD and HiMD. I have a number of MD units and at the moment one HiMD unit. Whether Mini Disc will survive the onslaught of MP3, AAC and all the other formats is a question sadly I can answer. It will not. July last year I bought my wife for her birthday a Sony NW-A800 series flash player. The player is fantastic. My wife had her own MD portables for a while, but the flash player is perfect for her use. The player is compatible with Sonicstage, excepts all Atrac bitrates except 292kps and therefore you would be tempted to say MD's successful heir. Unfortunately for my birthday in March my wife bought me a Sony NWZ-A800 series flash player as I wanted it to play videos. While I'm not upset as I have my trusted HiMD I was disappointed to note that Sony have stopped using Atrac. Instead there is a conversion tool that converts Atrac to MP3! Sony have realised that most of the consumers want simplicity at the cost of quality. Atrac is superior, but not everyone knows or uses it. I am not sticking to MD / HiMD just because. At this moment I have bought a new harddrive and I am reripping all my CDs to a higher Atrac Advanced Loseless bitrate. I am sticking to it because Atrac is the best music compression available and I value what i listen to. My first MD, an MZ-R35, is still going strong almost ten years since I was bought it for my 18th. I am confident that Sony have engineered their HiMD players to the same standard and so I am sticking to both. MD and HiMD have different uses for me. For around the home I use MD as I have a 3 disc changer in the living room and bedroom. I use MDLP for in the car as it has the advantage of HiMD in the absence of a dedicated player. I use HiMD when I am listening on my headphones and I use either Hi-SP or Hi-LP dependant upon the music (Oasis greatest band in the world). I never go below 64kps. I apply the same logic with the Network Walkmans we have as well. Never go below 64kps, but always Atrac.