Do you envisage using MD forever?

[nameloc01]

Having decided to 'about-turn' on my decision earlier in the year to slowly move away from MiniDisc, I have invested in some more units this year as well as plenty of new blanks. So basically, I'm in it for the long run, and don't really envisage a life without MiniDisc (I'm 37 now).

I also use an AppleTV for music, utitlising an iPod Touch as a remote control, thus not needing the AppleTV plugged into a display, it's just connected to my Hi-Fi. But find this solution slightly boring to use (although many friends think it's a brilliant solution to having a large music collection). To me, the fun and reward of making a decent/themed compilation onto MD just more satisfying. Not to mention the audio quality still being (IMO) the best for a modern format that uses lossy compression.

So, it would be interesting to know how long you guys and girls think you might be utilising MD's. I myself feel I have enough units to last my lifetime, as I treat them well, and very rarely take anything MD related out of the house!

Hit me with it - Will I be the only pensioner using this format, in 30 years time???!

I just bought my second M-100 yesterday, so makes 3 decks for me (have an RH910 too)

I continually buy blanks, even times when I'm not doing a lot of taping..so I have quite a surplus. I completely plan on using my HI-MD decks until all of the decks are worn out or I can't get blanks anymore....whichever comes first. But I don't think either are gonna even for a long,long time.

[GQ Smooth]

... WHAT?

Tottenham Court Road is hi-fi heaven in London, and still (apparently) amply stocked with MD supplies. Otherwise known to locals as TCR, TBR...

As to MD, I've just realised I can't ever do without mine, especially the MZ-B10 for me. Nothing else in the MP3, Wav etc recorder world comes close in handiness, features, quality size, battery life, value for money than this magic little box. In fact I've just ordered another MZ-B10 on Amazon...

Barock thanks for explaining.

Edited January 13, 2009 by Old Skool D

[Juan22]

I got my first minidisc at the age of 13, now im 18 and I hope to use them for the rest of my life.

I feel lucky being able to recognize and apreciate all those things ipod and mp3 users seem to not know...soundquality, durability, versatility, RECORDING!, price etc.

I asked myself this question some years ago...as everyone I knew seemed to go into the whole mp3 ipod trend, but I just knew my minidisc was special because it was always there for me, still is in fact. some of my friends bought ipods and thats good for them but I kept my minidisc and im more than happy with it.

Over the years I started saving equipment...now I have about 25 blanks and 6 machines, I think those will last me a very long time!

Up The Minidisc!

[Aleko]

I´ve being using MD since 2002 , It has never turn me down.

Have 60 recorded discs and about 40 ,80min and 12 Hi MD blanks.

With my Sony MDS JB940 can do almost anything in editing matters

and with m200 am very happy too.

definitely not planing in leaving MD behind.

Edited January 14, 2009 by Aleko

[Xeys_00]

All I need now is a good mdlp deck with optical in and out, brand new. Yes, I know it will be more expensive, but I like my stuff new.

[sfbp]

About 99% sure you won't find any new deck except Onkyo.

However there are always plenty around. The trick is to find one with MDLP Type-S playback. AFAIK the models that support this (and also have optical out) are:

MDS-JB980

MXD-D400

MDS-JE780

The only one of these that will be BNIB is the combo MXD-D400 - there is a guy with a stock of them on Yahoo Japan, for about 40,000 yen, which is even more than the Onkyo line, I think. Of course when you buy Onkyo you are buying HiMD in order to get MDLP, and it doesn't have optical out (there exists no HiMD unit that does!).

MDS-JB940 turns up from time to time, too, but it doesn't have Type-S which is necessary if you really want to listen to LP2 recordings on your stereo system (forget LP4).

[Juan22]

Yes, Im looking for a deck as well.

I have a 1990 stereo in my room, its got LP, Cassette, CD and Radio, but It would be great if I could add an MD deck. I can still play through the stereo cable but its not the same...

[Aleko]

MDS-JB940 turns up from time to time, too, but it doesn't have Type-S which is necessary if you really want to listen to LP2 recordings on your stereo system (forget LP4).

[KJ_Palmer]

I'll answer, if I may. Type-S is a playback only enhancement for MDLP. Your JB940 does indeed have LP2, buit not Type-S, therefore does not benefit from the playback improvement that newer Type-S machines like the JB980 or 780 offer. The recordings themselves aren't affected by Type-S, just playback.

[sfbp]

Egg-zactly.

[kino170878]

If you can live without Hi-MD there are still plenty of shops in the UK selling brand new Sony MDS-JE480 decks. Don't know for how much longer though.

[Aleko]

I'll answer, if I may. Type-S is a playback only enhancement for MDLP. Your JB940 does indeed have LP2, buit not Type-S, therefore does not benefit from the playback improvement that newer Type-S machines like the JB980 or 780 offer. The recordings themselves aren't affected by Type-S, just playback.

Ok, go it now , is there a grat diference in sound quality having the Type S .? Can you turn it on and off by will?

So if I record any MD using my MDS940 an play it back in a machine MDSJB980 will it sound better?

Thanks

Edited January 16, 2009 by Aleko

[sfbp]

IMO the native LP2 playback is not worthy of the term HiFi (ie onto and amplifier and speakers). It's probably fine for portable listening, at least with the phones I use, which are nothing special, standard Sony.

However with Type-S the result starts to match "legacy" (ie SP) minidisc recordings.

Yes, it doesn't matter where they were encoded. However it seems likely that SonicStage does a better job than a deck, which may be limited by the power of the compressor which is implemented essentially in hardware, and has to be completed in real time.

If I wanted to "recover" LP2 recordings (currently this isn't a problem for me) I would be tempted to see what the optical out signal on my Type-S deck looked like when I read it into the computer. I'm honestly not certain whether the Type-S enhancement has been done by that point in the playback, but I am guessing yes.

[sfbp]

If you can live without Hi-MD there are still plenty of shops in the UK selling brand new Sony MDS-JE480 decks. Don't know for how much longer though.

However without the hack from here you won't have optical out from the JE480. Only the JE 780 (and JB980) has that (there's one on Ebay UK at the moment, and I am curious to see how much it goes for).

Stephen

[lacobo]

About a year ago I bought a Sony NAC-HD1 (ATRACK) and a (2nd hand) NW-A808 walkman (the last one that runs ATRAC). For playback this is an ideal combination. It has the soundquality of Minidisc and I can connect the 808 to the NAC and move music over. The NAC has now stored +200 CD's (with sleeve pictures) in lossless format and works like a charm. The NAC has also an internal AM/FM radio. It can schedule recordings and even editing is possible.

I've sold my MD-LP2 deck about two years ago. I still have 2 portable records (NH1 and RH1) but I hardly use them anymore, because of the A808. That little fellow runs ~30 hours on one battery load and combined with a speaker/loading dock it's very handy in use.

So no, I will not use MD forever, I use it now a few times a year to record something. That's all.

Bert

[sfbp]

Interesting-looking gadget! It looks like there is no support for Atrac3+, though?

However in essence the drive corresponds to the computer I use for Sonic Stage. I wonder whether there will be any more of these, or if this was a one-off. You can see all the ancestry from the MD decks.

Thanks for this. I had no idea it existed.

[Odyssey]

I've been involved with many of the formats for recording and am familiar enough to know what works.

Having been introduced to the MD with the MZ-R50, and yes I still have it and it still performs flawlessly, more than I can say for my Sony Deck. I have 3 other MD walkman including my MZ-R200.

My needs are easy enough to meet. I want to be able to play recorded material at home, car or walking and keep a backup system that is copyable. ( I do not consider MD recordings copyable because of the encryption break down when recording from a MD source.)

I do have Cassettes but they are fading out and for difficult recordings I have a Reel to Reel deck, yes that is fading too but it sure can beat some recording problems.

I also use my Panasonic DVR to record and mix sound recordings. The recordings go directly to a Hard Drive and can be edited almost as easily as the MD recorder. From here I can record to my CD's, and or MD's. CD's seem to be the best for home/car and backups as they don't use encryption like the MD does or the worse encryption of the IPod. I am happy with the CD Backups and unless I am recording live, I can record an MD from the CD back ups, then I can carry the MD in the car, motorcycle, Segway or when walking. Thats not to say that I do not use the MD at home also. What can I say, the size of the MD disc makes all the difference and sound quality is great. I am told the encryption makes a mark on the MD sound reproduction making the CD the better of the two, but as of yet, I can't hear a difference.

I also like to record nature sounds and the MD recorder was the way to go. You have to face it, the versatility of the MD recorder is like taking a recording studio with you out in the wilderness and make nature recordings. If I want the Nature recording on CD, I can record it over but as I said, recording from MD to a CD is not my first choice, but it does work, If you only record over that one level.

Up to this time, I have had no use for Sound Stage and until I do I won't deal with it.

Hi-MD has opened interesting windows as well including Data Storage, which I do use a few disks for that purpose. I have not yet gotten too dedicated to HiMD yet because I still have the older MD's that use the old 70/80 min MD's and I have a MD changer for the car that is not HiMD compatible.

I was sold on the MD technology a long time ago but I have often shuddered when Sony was playing those gadget games with the MD units. You know what that was about? Offering units with limited abilities instead of just one great unit, like the MZ-RH100 or MZ-R200. Of course these are being labeled as "Professional" units today.

I am a lifer as I don't see anything on the horizon that can be any better with the sound quality or ease to change music or what ever you may have recorded on those MD disks, be it 70/80 min or HiMD types.

I have begun to stockpile MD disks incase Sony decides to stop production as my current plans are to let the MD be a very important mode of storage for my music and other storage.

I laugh sometimes because I check some of the places that sell the current model MD Walkman recorder and they generally cannot keep them on the shelf. The reason I find it funny is because I have not seen ANY Advertisements of any kind for the MD recorders. Maybe if I looked at some sound recording rags, I may find something since they are the target market.

I talked to some people in Japan and they say the MD is a very heavily used recorder there. They love them! Also I am told Europe really likes the MD recorder. The US customer group was the only one that stayed away from the MD technology. It was a matter of being in the wrong place in a wrong time. That does not say that anything else is superior, I don't think there is, it just was not able to build up a following fast enough. Someone mentioned that the American public did not want to get caught in a product war and get "stuck" like the Sony BetaMax was caught up in.

That reminds me, seach the net for a title called "Blue Ray Is Dead", the article is scarry for this new technology.

My opinion of the MZ-R200 is "what a great, great recorder!!!" Why did Sony wait so darn long to get to this quality? Alright, so Sony is like everyone else, they needed to learn and discover like everyone else to build an MD product but Sony would commonly design MD players and not offer recording or recorders for net only, limiting the usage of the product. It just did not make sense to me. Sony could have made a recorder with all the toys, minus HiMD a long time ago, which might have made a difference in the popularity of the product. Then coming out now with the HiMD option and fancy screen display just tops it off.

So, in the unlikely event that something else may come and be more user friendly (yeah, right) and offer more than the MD recorder, I will look at it but I really don't have any reason to change. The MD does everything I need it to do and much more. It will be in my future for a long time.

O

[bluecrab]

I'll answer, if I may. Type-S is a playback only enhancement for MDLP. Your JB940 does indeed have LP2, buit not Type-S, therefore does not benefit from the playback improvement that newer Type-S machines like the JB980 or 780 offer. The recordings themselves aren't affected by Type-S, just playback.

It is true that the MDS-JB940 lacks Type S. It has Type R, which means little in LP mode.

But the JB940 does have a current-pulse DAC. Even my MXD-D400 has only a hybrid-pulse DAC, although it does have Type S. From what I have read, the current-pulse DAC is supposed to be superior. I doubt any of Sony's *JE* series has a current pulse DAC, although some do have Type S.

I play LP through a hifi setup from both the JB940 and the D400, although those hifi setups are so different that I really cannot compare the sound. I also use LP in a portable (MZ-R500), which I do not think has Type S, but the LP sounds OK there anyway. And I play LP in my car unit, the MDX-CA680X . I don't know what v. of ATRAC it has. Does anyone?

[ceramiccactus]

'Been using MD since 1997, and have no plans on stopping...

in fact... i just ordered the rh1.

Edited January 26, 2009 by ceramiccactus

[Taliesin]

Using it from 5 or 6 years ago. And never, never, never want to leave it apart. I have a MZN710, 2 NH600 and 1 RH10, and a lot of blanks...and I'm looking for more recorders/players and blankdisk.

Minidisc are the best f**** machines I have had, and its quality in superb. I have listened some ipods, and...no comment.

Yes, MD only plays music (well, HI-MD carry data, but you understand me). They can't play video, ebook, games, internet browsing... But what the hell!!! I want to listen music, nothing more, and I want it to do in thbe best way...and that's when MD enter. And now I have begining to record with it...and it's fantastic.