MINI DISC Confusion

[kycomputerdr]

Hi Guys.

I have a Sony MSDJE510, from what I understand, one of the first units made. I am in radio and I got it for my station. The reason why I got it was I wanted to put all songs not available on CD to the MD and play them on the air. Well, then recordable CDs came out and MP3 files, so I kind of gave up on the idea of using MD. To be honest I figured it would go the way of the Digital Cassette.

However I see more and more informtion on MD and am seeing more portable players out there. However, I am finding out, that they are a new breed of MD. So may I ask, what use is my old MD recorder/player?

It only has about 10 hours use on it if that much and 15 MD discs. Are they only good for the junk yard?

[KJ_Palmer]

If you haven't got a large old-MD collection or aren't particularly attached to the old stuff perhaps you ought to let them go. There is a fair bit of compatibility between old and new, but it might not be justified in your case.

Personally, I'll be keeping a lot of my old MD equipment for playback of my existing discs (about 200 of them). My old-MD decks will be still useful for DAB radio recording, so I can have the new and old stuff existing side by side for a while at least.

[jadeclaw]

Hi Guys.

I have a Sony MSDJE510, from what I understand, one of the first units made.  [...]  Are they only good for the junk yard?

Not one of the first, it is already fourth generation.

Aside from that, there is a better place than the junk yard - Ebay!

60 to 90 bucks are always in for a deck in decent condition...

[MDX-400]

However, I am finding out, that they are a new breed of MD.  So may I ask, what use is my old MD recorder/player?

It only has about 10 hours use on it if that much and 15 MD discs.  Are they only good for the junk yard?

Hi-MD would be the "new" format of MD you're referring to, and it isn't really the first "new" MD-related "upgrade" since your JE510... Hi-MD is the newest "edition" or "flavour" of MD and it is on the brink of being released (but hasn't been as of right now).

Since your unit there have been a few improvements in ATRAC revision; I believe the JE510 is ATRAC 4.0 which isn't bad. (As jadeclaw said your unit was already 4th gen, much better sound quality than the "first" units that came out.) There were two improvements there after ATRAC 4.5 and then Type-R (Sony used a name instead of 5.0).

Thereafter there was MDLP which used ATRAC3 (a different codec from ATRAC and not to be confused with ATRAC 3.0)--it doubled (LP2) or quadrupled (LP4) the normal (SP) play/record times. Of course the longer the playtime the lower the quality.

Now Hi-MD adds higher capacity discs and an even newer codec (ATRAC3plus) to the mix, making for a slew of bitrates/formats available to record/play in.

There's TONS of info out there, particularly on the minidisc.org main page--look at the Equipment Browser and have a good read of the various FAQs available as they have a wealth of knowledge

As for compatibility, well, your JE510 would not be compatible with anything other than ATRAC (SP/SP mono) recordings, but on the plus side all newer units (like those with MDLP support and the even newer Hi-MD units) will be able to play/record in ATRAC (SP) and use your current MDs.

As for what use your deck has--it's all up to you really. As Jadeclaw said you can get $50 or more for your unit on eBay if you want to sell it. On the other hand if you can make use of it, I'd say do just that. A lot of ppl still use SP for most of their MD useage and many ppl still own/use SP-only MD equipment (myself included ). You really should consider using the deck, MD is quite a versatile format in terms of editing features and has very good sound quality in SP.

If you really have no use for it, however, I'd say sell it to someone that will.