Another MD fanatic Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 This is just curiosity at the moment. Anybody out there ever bothered playing around with Atrac CDs? If so what did you think? How did sound quality compare with MD? What bitrate did you use and which player did you use to play the discs back? All comments welcome. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfbp Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 Basically 750MB HiMD's, read only of course. The big problem is that they only play in portables and car radios. But when you can get 12-15 hours of music on one disk, very practical for travel, especially since no one (in their right mind) would ever steal on since they cannot play it. I did some work on the Linux-Minidisc project allowing one to upload and also play these, but the "team" there decided they didn't want it. I have not pursued it further, since then. See my profile - yes they are amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom B Posted April 16, 2014 Report Share Posted April 16, 2014 I record a favorite weekly radio show with Mini Disks. I transfer the files to my PC, and re-use the Mini disk. For a period of time I used the PC to make Atrac CDs, which play on a Sony CD player that handles all audio formats. It is a boom box I bought at the local Sony store when the model was closed out (ZS-SN10). Since availability of Atrac players is very limited, and the Atrac CDs will not play in my car, I have changed my procedures. Now I use the PC to convert Atrac to the .mp3 format. So while I have a number of radio programs on Atrac disk that I'm not throwing away, all the later disks are .mp3. I don't anticipate making another Atrac CD. The sound quality of both Atrac and .mp3 is not an issue for me. I gave one of these .mp3 disks to another end user who said there were sound quality issues. But I have to understand that's with his equipment (unknown) not mine. Since my Sony Mini Disk recorder will not start automatically with a timer, I am anticipating switching to an .mp3 recorder that will do that, and I'm looking for suggestions. (FYI - the radio program I like to record and 'time shift' is about the automotive industry, and described here - - I receive it with a Sangean HD tuner on an FM station's 2nd HD channel. The audio quality there is great, especially for a radio show that originates on an AM station.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmp64 Posted April 18, 2014 Report Share Posted April 18, 2014 This is just curiosity at the moment. Anybody out there ever bothered playing around with Atrac CDs? If so what did you think? How did sound quality compare with MD? What bitrate did you use and which player did you use to play the discs back? All comments welcome. Thanks 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freddyjollo Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Makes me laugh when I consider that a few people toted around portable cd players? any one here one of those people or know one who did? Must have made mini disc seem like space age? I nearly became one of those people but sense prevailed. Any one think there could be a retro craze for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmp64 Posted April 19, 2014 Report Share Posted April 19, 2014 Makes me laugh when I consider that a few people toted around portable cd players? any one here one of those people or know one who did? Must have made mini disc seem like space age? I nearly became one of those people but sense prevailed. Any one think there could be a retro craze for them? 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDietrich Posted April 23, 2014 Report Share Posted April 23, 2014 Makes me laugh when I consider that a few people toted around portable cd players? any one here one of those people or know one who did? Must have made mini disc seem like space age? I nearly became one of those people but sense prevailed. Any one think there could be a retro craze for them? My first CD player actually was a portable, a Technics SL-XP 300. I owned a portable cassette player as well, a now very famous unit, the Sony DD-33 (fragile thing; judging from the prices it´s very much overrated). I loved both dearly but when I got my MZ-R 30 they both became unemployed. But yeah, I´ve used all three of them whenever I went outside. Back to the OP: I´ve dabbled around with ATRAC-CDs when I got the Sony D-NE1... they are inconvenient considering you´d need SonicStage for it. They sound well but the D-NE1 mutes its optical output because of Sony's stupid paranoia of file sharers. Otherwise I cannot complain. Much better however are the Network players. Right now I´m listening to a Sony NW-HD5... marvellous thing. Sounds fantastic. Especially for its age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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