Minidiscs: Will they survive?

[Henris]

I have a Sony MZR-909 from 2000, imported from Japan. Still works great! This is pre-Net MD, so I am used to going through an imic and recording both ways real-time. If I were to upgrade to HI-MD, I want to make sure that I can get high-quality recordings when recording my concert band (I'm a band director). CD-quality using no compression sounds great, but I want to make sure that I can upload to the computer and burn unlimited copies. If I can't, even with the other features, I may just have to purchase an iriver ihp-120!

What has been scaring me recently was the absence of minidisc sites on the 'net as compared to 2000. Minidiscussion.com has so few people on it, as opposed to a few years ago when it was THE forum to be part of. Many links on the site have also been discontinued, and many people have moved on from minidisc. Minidiscs are still popular among musicians, though, as many other band directors in Hawaii still own them. HI-MD would be PERFECT if it would just allow perfect uploads of personal recordings that can be burned limitlessly. Any new news?

[Fray Adjacent]

I hope HiMD breathes a life into MD that it never had before. I just recently purchased a NetMD unit, but I've known about MD since it's birth. I had a friend that bought a nice deck and portable recorder back in '95, and it was the coolest freakin thing I ever saw, but couldn't afford the whole setup I'd need to make it useful. Then the advent of the MP3 format turned my home computer into my stereo (using WinAmp). Then with a car deck that will play MP3s from CDRWs, I didn't see MDs as really practical or effective for me. Until I decided to do some travelling.

So I'm going to be doing some travelling soon, involving plenty of time on a plane. I went down to the local Fry's and checked out the aisle of portable MP3 and CD players, and noticed the NetMD unit. Then I looked at the cost of media, and decided that it would be more effective for me than something like an IPod. I got to figuring out how to use it effectively, and recorded about 10 discs worth of stuff.

Then I found Minidisc.org and read a lot, and read about HiMD. The capacity was a great quality, but what REALLY makes me think it will take off is the data capability. I will be able to have a cache of a few MDs to back up things like my website and my pictures. And if I really really wanted to, about 6 HiMDs could back up my entire MP3 collection.

I have already mentioned HiMD to a couple friends, and on another forum (a car-based forum) and a lot of people thought it would be a great format. I know I will plan on getting a HiMD unit soon after they are released, and will look forward to Sony (or someone else) to come up with a nice car unit, and will get one as soon as they are economically feasible (for me). I'll be converting to HiMD as much as possible.

The MD is just a superior format to regular CDs, and I hope HiMD will make the world know it.

[Henris]

You're right about the format and data capabilities being cool. I like the fact that the disks are not easily destroyed like hard disk recorders. Can you imagine losing all your music instantly because you drop the recorder, or just because the hard drive got corrupted? My computer's hard drive crashed after only eight months of operation. My school computer died one day after purchasing it! Minidiscs are way more reliable.

Having said that, all I want is the ability to burn CDs of music I upload onto the computer without restrictions or loss of quality. If I can get that, I'm sold! I don't wanna spend thousands on higher end equipment, but I want the best bang for my buck, so to speak.