MD players

[GermyBoy]

I am always hearing about how great MD players are. However, from what I know about them, and that is little, you can't just plug them into a computer to record songs. If I am wrong, please correct me.

Peace,
GermyBoy

 

[Nefrodite]

they aren't great at all they use a proprietary sony music format with its wonderful copy protection. newer mds can connect to your computer to "record" songs. but instead of directly copying and playing your mp3s or whatever, sony insists on reencoding everything into their attrac format. as for net md, only the 2x (1/2 bitrate) mode is acceptable, going any further just lowers quality too far. with good stuff like ipods coming out that can hold 5 GB of music already, md is just going to fade more and more think of md as a glorified cassette player

 

[GermyBoy]

Alright then...but I looked at the iPod earlier this week, as I need an mp3 player. The iPod says on there, not compatible with Windows. Is it really? Is there special software I need to use then?

 

[Bluga]

ipod aren't great at all, it can't even connect to windows, what's the use?. A mini blank disc costs only $1.



<< as for net md, only the 2x (1/2 bitrate) mode is acceptable >>



obviously you have no clue what you are talking about.

 

[GermyBoy]

Got any helpful links, Bluga?

 

[GermyBoy]

Just found www.minidisc.org. Are there better sites, or does that pretty much explain it all?

 

[Bluga]

you can check minidisc.org, there're quite a few articles and discussion boards there.

 

[PowerMac4Ever]

ipod aren't great at all, it can't even connect to windows

You obviously have no clue as to what you're talking about.

 

[MrBond]

I love my MD player. I queue up 80 minutes of songs in winamp, plug in my MD recorder into the VersaJack of my Santa Cruze, hit record on the MD and play on winamp. 80 minutes later, its done. That's really my only complaint, real time recording (although the netmd models are supposed to be faster). I do digital rips of songs off of my CDs with my DVD player, the quality is very good.

Still, with flash memory gettign cheaper and cheaper, it's almost just as good to go with a MP3 player. You don't have the digital ripping ability, and if you encode your songs at super high bitrates, you'll never come close to matching the capacity of a MD.

My MD player is getting less use now that I bought a pocket pc. I've got a 32mb memory card and can fit about 20 songs on it using WMA encoding, at no real loss in quality (or at least that I can tell through my car stereo). Paid about $210 for the pocket pc, which is pretty good for a mp3 player, mobile movie player, and a scheduler.

For minidisc stuff, check out www.minidisco.com. They carry just about everything you'd ever need.

 

[Braves]

I just got a MD player from a friend... it's a Sharp 831 MD player and I love it. The quality of music from my 128kbps mp3's is much better sounding on my MD player then it is on my 100$ RioVolt SP100 MP3/CD player. Yes, realtime recording does suck, but the mp3 player was usually too much for me. I don't need 15 hours of songs, 150 minutes is usually good enough to keep me busy for whatever I'm doing while listening to music. I can fit an extra MD in a pocket in my wallet and it's very convienent. All my friends commented on how the sharp MD player sounds a lot "sharper" then the riovolt, and seing how i got it for 50$ for the complete package, i'm a very happy customer (bought it from a friend in need of money).

 

[Nefrodite]

Originally posted by: Braves
I just got a MD player from a friend... it's a Sharp 831 MD player and I love it. The quality of music from my 128kbps mp3's is much better sounding on my MD player then it is on my 100$ RioVolt SP100 MP3/CD player. Yes, realtime recording does suck, but the mp3 player was usually too much for me. I don't need 15 hours of songs, 150 minutes is usually good enough to keep me busy for whatever I'm doing while listening to music. I can fit an extra MD in a pocket in my wallet and it's very convienent. All my friends commented on how the sharp MD player sounds a lot "sharper" then the riovolt, and seing how i got it for 50$ for the complete package, i'm a very happy customer (bought it from a friend in need of money).

are you using the same headphones to test this out? i've never used a riovolt so i wouldn't know. it has nothing to do with the mp3 format as your recompressing. i'm sure there are differences in quality of electronics in different mp3 players. i've had bad experiences with rios in the past. i had a solid state rio.



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ipod aren't great at all, it can't even connect to windows


just search this forum, theres full functionality for pc now. hell there are even neat utilities to download and display your to do lists/calanders like a pda too.

 

[Magicthyse]

As it happens, I have a portable NetMD, a regular portable MD and a few MD decks.

I think they're a very handy way to listen to music. No more, no less. They are easier to use (and less fuss to use) and feature considerably higher sound quality than many solid state and CD based MP3 players.

Newer MD's can record/play back in LP2 mode (132kbits) and LP4 mode (dunno, low). LP4 is tape quality, but LP2 is perfectly suitable for 'on the road' listening. The NetMD's feature a USB connection to download music from the PC to the MD at high speed - with quite a few limitations.

Although I have a NetMD, I use a Sony D-CJ01 MP3 CD player to listen to my MP3's.
If you can have both, I'd say go for a high-end NetMD unit (N707 or N1) and buy the D-CJ01 as well. If not, well - the D-CJ01 or iRiver SlimX is more convenient to listen to MP3's from your PC. Plus, you can play back regular CD's if you're outside and you (shock horror) buy a CD.

 

[VirusDub]

You guys are all forgetting one of the main attractive points of the minidisc format. They make amazing portable recording devices. Pair up any minidisc recorder with a good mic, and you can make perfect recordings of concerts, lectures, anything. That's something you can only do (up to this point) with MD (unless you have lots of money to spend on a DAT recorder).

 

[Magicthyse]

Originally posted by: VirusDub
You guys are all forgetting one of the main attractive points of the minidisc format. They make amazing portable recording devices. Pair up any minidisc recorder with a good mic, and you can make perfect recordings of concerts, lectures, anything. That's something you can only do (up to this point) with MD (unless you have lots of money to spend on a DAT recorder).

Apparently the new Nomad does this. I'll have to take a look... One of the things that sucks about MD is that you can only transfer to the PC in real-time, using a deck.