For a better comparison-- It was kinda like the perfect intersection between cassettes and CDs. It was convenient for recording and re-recording like cassettes, but it had the digital clarity and programming ability like CDs. Oh, and they didn't skip. Their multitrack recorders were especially useful (the Yamaha MD8, for example), because the mixing board had all the convenient EQ knobs and faders like a tape ministudio, but the outcome was digital quality.
While it might not entice most people today, minidisc players were sold for close to twenty years, probably over a million units or more. Nowhere near how many cellphones and iphones there are today. Yet, i dont know if there is a revival or more like a resurgence of people who used them in the past amd are using them again, alongside people who never stopped using them. New minidisc being published this year by modern artists: MiniDiscDay.com – International Minidisc Day 2020 Heh, maybe it's a revival.
"Better" could also be interpreted as "different" due to the DSP that minidisc uses. Technically, the MD isn't be better than its CD source, but for some listeners, the result sounds more pleasing than the source. It's not really an EQ, though.
Great pix. Cool setup. There's a 4,000-member MD group on F/b, many of whose heads would come close to exploding just from seeing that.
IMBWBIMBR, You are not wrong in your thinking, but many/most of the portable players don't output digital signal. (Part/parcel of the digital protection system) I think that more of the console MD decks have digital output, and therefore, an option to use an external DAC.
Right. A couple of the earliest portables had optical out, but that's it. Not even all of the decks have it, but many do. Some of the better MD decks have very decent DACs on-board.
For me, I believe the potential of MD as a successor to cassette was enticing. Quality of sound, and a dynamic nature to the physical media - which makes it more interesting than a plain silver disk, offer charm and nostalgia as well. Of course, mo3 players took over and now have morphed into integrations to phones, and mainstream music consumption went another direction. However, the era of MD also coincided with a period where music still held hope - new stuff of the era was released on several formats and at the time there was starring to be a resurgence of reissues - injecting life into older stuff. CD provided basically a read-only format which the industry jumped on in preference to tape and MD - perhaps understandably. But MD continues to be the format that held versatile potential. To record with minidisk, you essentially need a dedicated unit (just as with tape). To record with CD you tend to need a computer - do when portable mp3 type devices came on the market, MD was dropped, albeit against the better judgement of some. It is a bit of nostalgia - but enjoyable, and the tech is tactile in a way that CD and mp3 (my generic term for digital music files) are not. Portable CD players are generally ungainly and larger than a hand, making them tricky to put in a pocket. MD. and even cassette Walkman type portables tend to be more aesthetically pleasing and practical as portables. I like buttons and clicks and consider that the MD era was a peak of design and production quality that dropped after that with manufacturing quality for popular tech becoming more throwaway and, as with phones, reliant more on software upgrades for continued functionality - until the market decided to go for a hardware /software combination that meant you can only expect a couple of years use out of your purchase. I still hold a minidisk disk in my hands and marvel at the engineering involved. ... I'm sad like that! I do not think there'll be a revival though, since vinyl and digital between them satiate most desires very adequately. Meanwhile some of us can have fun with some semi-old tech that keeps us amused.
A few years ago we visited a second hand hifi shop in Kyoto. Full of really amazing stuff, vintage McIntosh, Marantz, huge old Altec speakers and so on. The proprietor gave us a demo and played back some songs from a collection of minidiscs on what I think was a higher end Sony maybe? Big silver unit. Prior to that had not seen a player or disc since early 2000s! Really fun experience.
I listened to some dubs done via coaxial digital out on Sony's Noir discs from the first three Beatles U.S albums set in stereo on a MDS-JB940 and I struggled to spot anything "wrong" with the sound and actually felt being played back it was more satisfying with a lot of detail and layering of instruments. I have 23 year old MD recordings that play fine and have had to retransfer material in Mp3/Flac numerous times when a Micro SD card failed so while it may seem more of chore making the MD, it has longevity in its favour like most other physical formats.
I have a MDS-JB940 still hooked up. Been recording "needledrops" via analog for awhile, sounds very good on the portable player I keep in the car. I recently incorporated a DAC (M-Audio super DAC) into it to "convert" (via USB) my existing high rez audio on the PC (DSF, FLAC, ISO, etc). It's connected to the Coax input, running at 24/48 PCM. Recorded a few albums (using FooBar) and the results are almost better than the analog.
To my mind, it's better recording lps on minidisc then downloading, than recording via USB on the laptop
If you don't believe there's a MD revival check eBay prices for component decks. Portables can be had cheap, are still out there in working order, and do just as good a job as their larger counterparts. After all, MD lasted from 1991 till 2013. I think its biggest barrier to acceptance over here was the initial buy in cost. The first MD deck to hit the market (MZ-1) sold for $750, with most portables costing $200-$300 or higher. Discs weren't cheap either. There's still a pretty large following now that we can mostly afford them.
Do I read you right? Hirez from PC over USB output -> M-Audio Super output 24/48 digital coax -> MDS-JB940 digital coax input?
That's how I am reading it, too. MD decks can read 48 and then they downsample to 44.1. Could also set the M-Audio to 44.1 and let it handle the downsampling.
The prices of prerecorded minidisc on the used market seem consistently quite high. It's not a cheap format is it? And there seem to me, over time, to have been a suspicious amount of Oasis and Cher MDs for sale on the used online market ....
It depends on what they are selling for. Prices may be high, but. Also, plenty of Clash "Give them enough rope" around, as opposed to "London Calling". I suspect there was an overmanufacture of certain titles without taking into account if the potential purchasers had bought into MD. Contrast that with the prices Radiohead MDs are fetching..
Yes, and if anything, it's been a matter of convenience. I listen to some overnight programs on my local ABC radio, and they at times have special guests, interviews and segments. Thanks to the internet, after the broadcast, I can go back the next day and find the segment and play the audio back online, which I happen to either have a cassette recorder/player and a Minidisc player attached. I've been messing about with Minidisc again, and find it's 'Still' a great tool. I can record segments, and erase what I don't want, and can 'complete' the segment immediately. I'd be lost without my Tascam MD-350, one of the best things that may be 'better' than a cassette recorder long term. I'm still yet to hear if anybody has any trouble with 20 old MD recordings, unlike CD-R's. I'm curious to know....
Not had any problems whatsoever with any of my MDs - all play as if they were recorded yesterday. Such a shame that this format was abandoned. Best Wishes, David
My biggest regret is not removing a 6-disc MD Multichanger from a car I sold. I still have all the portable players (a variety of brands) which I picked up cheap over the years - none has failed me yet Best Wishes, David
A Sony Unit - had it fitted under the passenger seat and cabled to the Sony head unit. The control buttons on the head unit operated the multichanger directly. It meant on long journeys that I could have a couple of discs full of music for the kids, maybe a third with kids' audiobooks on and then a variety of music for when the kids finally fell asleep. Looking back now many years later, that combination gave me way more flexibility and also ease of use - and therefore safety - than the touch screen 'Infotainment' system built into my current vehicle. Best Wishes, David
I still have my old laptop going with the Sony software on it so I can download from my super minidisc recorder to Mp3. I don't think there's a current version of it. That's what I wish for.
Been through many hundreds of minidiscs. On rare occasions a problem child would turn up, but this was not due to the age of disc. Cannot say the same for some of the MD decks, though..they can be temperamental little buggers.
