Almost tempted to come back to the MD world...

[BLC]

Hello all

After reading about Sony discontinuing portable MD players, I started writing a blog post about MiniDiscs and discovered this place while researching/reading up...

I bought my first MD player/recorder back in around 1998 (a Sharp model, can't remember the exact model number), and it was a revelation (at the time). It certainly wasn't the cheapest, but it offered almost unlimited storage (limited by how many MDs you can carry/buy), a re-writable disc format and brilliant audio quality. It was a little bit of a faff to record on to at the time, but I soon figured out a dirty little hack to get optical out of my PC; a friend of mine discovered that if you hooked up a red LED to the two-pin "Digital" output of a CD drive, you could use this to record to a portable MD player with an optical cable. It took a lot of gaffer tape to keep the cable "attached" to the LED, but it worked. I used this for a few years, before I bought a Diamond Rio PMP300 - that got stolen, so I went back to my Sharp MD player for a few years. I got back from University and bought myself the Sony MZ-N710 NetMD. This was even better - I could still do digital recording, but I could also transfer my burgeoning MP3 collection digitally - even if SonicStage was utter trash. Eventually I managed to drop my NetMD, which pretty much killed it - it would no longer read or record discs - so I moved on to my first iPod. From there I bought another iPod and eventually abandoned iPods altogether; I now use Spotify on my Android phone.

Reading so much about MiniDiscs - and seeing that I'm not the only nutter that liked them - has really started to make me miss using them. I hardly ever listen to even my music collection these days, as Spotify is so much more convenient and has pretty much all the albums/artists I listen to. But I do miss the physical pleasure of discs and the much better sound quality... It's very tempting indeed to pick up another MiniDisc unit again - especially when the exact model I had is dirt cheap on fleaBay... I'm certainly not tempted enough to buy a Hi-MD unit though!

I've written in more detail my blog, if anyone's actually interested enough to read (no, I didn't sign up here specifically to spam you).

[PsychoPimpKiller]

Very nice. I suggest you get at least an MDLP portable with a USB connection and some MD's so you can make some recordings. I have 2 ipods, a 160GB classic and a 64GB ipod touch. While I like them because I can take a whole bunch of music and/or video with me, I still like using Minidiscs. I have 10 MD units (3 Hi-MD & 7 MDLP) and close to 300 MD's sitting around. While Hi-MD is nice, MDLP is cheaper and more readily available. Hi-MD discs are getting expensive, too. Plus, I know a local band that lets me record their shows and I use MD to record them. I also like to make mixes MD's (like mix tapes I used to make back in the day).

[BLC]

Indeed the N710 supported both USB transfers and MDLP. Hi-MD really is too expensive; the major benefit to them I can see is the increased storage capacity - that's not what I'd use a MiniDisc player for though. If I need storage space, I can just buy a 64GB SD card for my phone - that'll be far cheaper than getting a Hi-MD device.

If I hadn't dropped my original N710, the chances are I'd still be using it now and I'd have never "jumped ship" to the iPod... Very tempting indeed!

[PhilippeC]

I just write some advises about recording in real time with a computer to wdraham http://forums.sonyinsider.com/topic/26923-mz-rh1-wow/ that are good for you and your blog readers.

[Odyssey]

I joined the MD users with an MZ-R50 and just kept going. It seems after you have your first unit, there isn't any going back. The Cassette was good in its noisy time but the MD is so much more superior.

I did not use SS, I have been old school and always recorded with either the mic or Line in and played line out. I have used the opticle on occasion but generally never need it. My recordings are always very good, even my mic recordings of nature sounds.

If you still have your damaged unit, there is a guy on this forum that does repair and may be able to help you.

I've known a few people that have the IPUD but they always look like they are so cheap and some have tole me they fall apart or stop working.... I don't know, never had one. Since I do remote recording, the MD has always been great for on the spot editing/recording and I just don't see anything else able to do the same thing.

Hope you enjoy the MD as much as you did in the past.

Keep Those MiniDiscs Spinning! WHY ELSE ARE YOU HERE?

[BLC]

Sorry to dig up an old topic, but I thought I should update it!

Not long after posting this thread, I talked myself into buying a NetMD. I picked up a Sony MZ-N710 on ebay for around £30 - the exact same model I had years ago... The battery doesn't charge any more - as can be expected from such an old piece of kit - but it still has all the original accessories, including the external AA battery adaptor.

Damned glad I did: the sound quality, even on LP2, far surpasses anything I've ever heard out of my phone or any of my iPods... I don't mind the fuss involved with real time recording, either; it forces me to think about what I actually want to listen to, rather than just dumping a pile of music onto an SD card and hoping that there's something there that I'll listen to.

If you still have your damaged unit, there is a guy on this forum that does repair and may be able to help you.

Sadly not, I remember throwing it out some years ago; I knew I should have kept it, but was under the influence of one of my girlfriends cleaning sprees!