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That's a great price. What is the condition? The big thing with the NH600 is that it uses AA batteries.

I've been hunting for md players. I came across a guy in Shanghai who is selling one. He is asking for about $3200 USD.

For me, personally and subjectively: a. multiple discs -- This is actually a PLUS! I can bring several colorful and cool discs to show people! I usually have 4 with me. b. hi-md -- Well, SP quality beats everything except PCM. I'm also "rejecting" hi-md because of the designs. Non-factor. c. mp3 -- Not a problem for me. My music is mostly on CD's. Even though I was a broke college kid, I did buy CD's. I have over 400 CD's, and that is my source of music. THE BEST SOURCE! SP! SP! When I need convenience and average quality, I can access my complete library with a click in iTunes or iPhone. Agreed! Just like how obvious it is for SP to be better than mp3's and aac's, LP4 is also obviously bad (inaccurate with artifacts) to my ears. And none of my headphones/earphones are over $100.

First, I want to humbly say a big "thank you" to two MD GODS who are helping me out with some blanks and units. I'm searching for more colorful md players, and I guess I might as well put this list out in the open. Kenwood V33 in yellow Panasonic MJ100 in orange Panasonic MJ500 in green Sharp DS30 in blue/purple Sharp DS70 in red or white Sharp DS77 in red or white Ideally, the units should be in mint condition with all accessories and boxed. I know that is unrealistic. So, generally, the units must work and be in B or better condition, with NO dents, nicks, or deep scratches. Light wear is fine, but not heavy wear. They should come with their original matching charging docks and remotes. Thank you!

Running a lab at home and doing a science experiment to see if LP4 can be saved with better equipment and Type-S... is it really necessary? It's 2012. Better to just record in SP mode or use Sonicstage and LP2. Mere mortals should just enjoy the music!

Yes, the emotions, the warmth, the heart, the anger, the pain, the "something" that is in the MD music! Truthfully, in the beginning, I was just collecting for the sake of collecting. To fill that gap in my heart. Recover from it too. The "forgotten" MD quality blew me away when testing. It's always a pleasure to see a post from the lovely Mio!

I understand that Sony believed LP4 was not "useless," and that is why they introduced it. They believed that it could compete with 128k mp3's back in the day. I also understand that you can put more music onto a disc because of LP4. For me, personally and subjectively, there are better solutions for those "needs." Minidisc stands for quality sound and portability for me. I just go SP and enjoy the beautiful music.

Do you still have the Axia select your style discs? Thanks!

Do you still have the Axia select your style discs? Thanks!

Hi everybody, I'm looking for the minidiscs called "AXIA IM SELECT YOUR STYLE." They have 5 different designs for both the 74 min and 80 min discs, so it's actually a total of 10 designs. I'm specifically looking for the two green ones and the 74 min one in red. If you can offer a full set in mint condition, that would be great!

Is this unit still available? Of course the ebay page is gone already, so I cannot see the details or photos. I will send you a message. Thanks in advance! BTW, your md photo album really helped me out when I was "studying" the md gear!

Thank you for the informative response! My main belief is that SP mode beats both mp3 and aac, hands down. It is so obvious to me when listening. In your tests, you should have disabled all eq and extras. It would have been fairer. But as alluded in the other thread, it is possible that even hi-md was optimized with statistics rather than sound. What I mean is that Sony engineers just worked and worked until hi-md achieved a certain spec. My belief is that for SP mode, Sony engineers actually used their ears (and gone through many many tests) for optimization. Most of my music are on real CD's, so I just record at 4x speed to SP mode. For the few mp3's that I have, I use Sonicstage and LP2. Not painful at all. I personally think that you should just ignore hi-lp and LP4. They are probably and mostly useless.

Thanks for the link. It was a good read. I have my personal preferences on MD gear too. But I can safely say that minidisc sounds better than mp3. Both MD hardware and ATRAC help. BTW, I mostly use SP mode.

I strongly believe in this. Moreover, maybe nowadays the engineers and directors are tone-deaf (hyperbole) or just not musical...

I don't have a hi-md device, so I can't test it out. But maybe others can try an SP-quality song versus the same song in 320k mp3, on a RH1 or RH10. Something tells me that the SP version (ATRAC) will sound better. Or is it just blind faith?

I guess we can agree that MD hardware was engineered for sound quality. But even in MD-land, I don't think Sony's hardware is the best. I found that the Sony MD players only have an "average" sound signature--not good, not bad, acceptable. I like the Panasonic sound the best. The bass is tight, the highs are not harsh, and the soundstage is amazing. The Sharp units have a full sound with good bass (but a bit muddy). Have you tried the current Sony MP3 players? Are they actually much better than the Apple stuff? http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&categoryId=16178&N=4294946142 The E Series looks fun.

I strongly agree with the discussion here!! Again, I guess the ATRAC format was designed for sound and music.

The big thing for me is design. Unfortunately, all the hi-md's look... bad? It's just my personal opinion. The orange RH10 is kinda cool, but otherwise... hmm... The designs are too "industrial" and the colors are too mature. But even with the RH10, the fonts on the OLED are ugly. Besides the old R91 and my one-week stint with the N910, I also had a $40 NE410 for a while before getting an iPod. So I am familiar with LP2/LP4 and sonicstage. I have decided to just stick with SP mode from my cd's (4x cd -> md) and use sonicstage LP2 for mp3's. One problem that I haven't gotten around to solving... itunes-purchased AAC (m4a). I really don't want to go from m4a -> mp3 -> 132k atrac Any suggestions?

Well, I still love simplicity. I'm a big Apple fan (not fanboy level), and I cannot imagine giving up my iPhone and iMac. Apple products help me get things done, and they are beautifully engineered and designed. Don't forget the software. We have to understand that minidiscs are going the way of vinyl and cassette tapes. The one thing that I will always have with me is the iPhone. The MD devices are more like toys for me. Something to play with, something to clean, something to admire. Yes, I'll use them in public, but I won't be making MD's out of all my CD's and mp3's and have a collection. It just doesn't make sense. There are just too many hoops to jump through to get things done in MD land--inconvenient. It's a hobby. BTW, I'm not liking all the MD cords and adapters on my desk. I didn't know that the MD players could only be charged with the stands. So that's how they made them thinner! I'll probably get a battery charger and put the stands away.

Honestly, in the past I was very much jealous and envious of everyone in the MD forums. People were posting pictorials and asking for advice on which MD systems to buy next. It was a conscious decision to buy back some of the MD players that I believed to be beautifully-designed. Mostly to collect. Last month, I spent some time browsing the equipment pages on minidisc.org and clicking around in google. I decided to "acquire" about 6 or 7 models and some cute and colorful minidiscs (about 60). All in all, this whole process has filled that gap and longing in my heart. I was testing the MD players, and I wanted to "feel" the sounds from the different brands (Sony vs. Sharp). But what happened was that I became lost in the music. I was just sitting there and enjoying the shit! Before I knew it, I finished a 45-minute album. It did shock me. I thought… this hasn't happened in a looooong time. Thinking back, I would get headaches from the iPods and iPhones. It doesn't matter if it's in the living room, on a train, or in a plane. I know I've been busy with work, but without realizing, I actually didn't want to listen to music on the iPhone! Yes, they are 320k mp3's and 256k AAC's, ripped myself, but they hurt my head! My conclusion is that the ATRAC format is better suited for music. I know it's also digital compression (like 1's and 0's), but there is much more warmth, energy, and emotion in the music.

So, lately I've had some time to actually think and feel. I'm going back to minidisc! I was reading some posts on Windows 7 64-bit here and trying to download some programs. I was gonna register for the downloads, but the system alerted me that I actually have an account. I was like... wow... omg? I checked my profile history, and my last post was 6 years ago. At the time, I was a seriously broke college student trying to survive on ramen and udon (no joke). I only had the blue R91 and could not afford anything better. I also checked my history at the T-station forum. I actually bought an orange N910 in 2004 for my birthday. But I was unhappy with it. There was "noise" when no music was playing. It was a low volume hiss. I sent it back. Later, I got the 30GB iPod and then the iPhones. I've tried to live a simple life in the past few years. I moved several times and learned to not buy crap and also sell things that I do not need. But lately I've been longing for beautifully designed things and something to hold on to. I mean, the iPhone is beautiful and very powerful. But it's just boring? I've had every iPhone, and I've done all the hacks and jailbreaking before. I guess I've just had too much simplicity and zen in the last few years. Ha. In the past two months, I've bought 6 minidisc players, a desktop system, and many many beautiful discs. I guess now I have the means to buy what I was longing for back then. It does feel good. Sony E610 with the colorful stripes Sony E620 in blue Sony E710 in teal blue Sony E720 in pink Sharp DS5 in green Panasonic MJ18 with the ice-cream Sony LAM-Z05 system in silver You can guess I love colorful stuff. I will post more later.

Yeah, I think solid-state is the way to go for me. Then there would be no noise at all. However, those devices are comparatively more expensive. I will have to think about it. The Fostex MR-8 seems decent and well-priced, but it is too big. Any suggestions for models are welcome. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. I have a Sony R91 unit, and I sometimes use it to record my own music. I just attach a mic to it and record myself singing while playing the guitar. But the unit makes a loud noise when spinning up a disc and recoding-- the mic also picks up those motor sounds. Do the new Hi-MD units have this problem? Do they make loud noises? I am thinking of buying a Hi-MD unit if it is noiseless. I want to continue using my basic setup. Thank you.