Mini disc

[Blacksabbath25]

Can anyone tell me why or what happened to mini disc as I loved it I used to have a Sony mini disc play and used to love mixing my music on the blank discs I thought the mini disc was a good replacement for tapes that we used to have and the sounded ok too

 

[MajorFubar]

It was effectively replaced by recordable CDs and MP3 players.

 

[manicm]

Sad it went down, often thought to sound better than mp3. Was considered excellent before demise.

 

[MeanandGreen]

CD-R killed it before it could take off.

At the time CD was the most popular format, Minidisc didn't really have any chance of establishing itself when people could make their own CD's to play in cars etc...

 

[macdiddy]

lack of pre-recorded releases from the major record companies at the launch of the format, I don't remember seeing many (if any) pre-recorded mindiscs at my local HMV, also as above CD was the format of choice in the home and car, anyone remember if cars came with minidisc players ( I don't think any did).

Weirdly enough recently I bought a "used once" full sized Sony minidisc player/recorder off ebay for £45 (and it was in mint condition), came with six new blank discs as well.

*music2*

 

[macdiddy]

lack of pre-recorded releases from the major record companies at the launch of the format, I don't remember seeing many (if any) pre-recorded mindiscs at my local HMV, also as above CD was the format of choice in the home and car, anyone remember if cars came with minidisc players ( I don't think any did).

Weirdly enough recently I bought a "used once" full sized Sony minidisc player/recorder off ebay for £45 (and it was in mint condition), came with six new blank discs as well.

*music2*

ps sorry for the double post, only thought I had pressed "save" once.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Yes I still have some album mini discs still somewhere kicking around and some blank discs too but no player anymore plus I had the Walkman mini player I used to listen to music while doing my job gardening and it never skipped or jumped one bit I thought they were good shame

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Yes I still have some album mini discs still somewhere kicking around and some blank discs too but no player anymore plus I had the Walkman mini player I used to listen to music while doing my job gardening and it never skipped or jumped one bit I thought they were good shame

 

[CarlDW]

I still have my full size Sony minidisc deck, and a portable Sony minidisc player, to go with a box of 'mixtape' and blank minidiscs. I enjoyed being able to create and edit my own albums, and the sound was good. I can see why it went the way of the Dodo though.

 

[Jota180]

I still have mine, a full sized one MDS-JB940 and a portable Sony (the one with the magnesium door) that I think stopped working.

 

[Macspur]

Love the format... bought a Sony off Ebay last year and use it regularly for mixing music mags.

Mac

www.macsmusic.blogbubble.net

 

[MajorFubar]

I don't remember seeing many (if any) pre-recorded mindiscs at my local HMV

Ours stocked quite a few in the mid/late 90s. Most likely they all ended up in a skip because they must've sold in penny numbers.

My local Home Bargains still sells blank CDs, Hi-8 video tapes, VHS video cassettes and audio cassettes, but just to prove how dead and unwanted the format now is, its stock of blank mididiscs went the way of the dodo about 5-6 years ago, maybe longer.

 

[iMark]

Can anyone tell me why or what happened to mini disc as I loved it I used to have a Sony mini disc play and used to love mixing my music on the blank discs I thought the mini disc was a good replacement for tapes that we used to have and the sounded ok too 

Here's what happened to Minidisc:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-21297024

I just dug up my old Minidisc portable recorder (the Sony MZ-G750) for my other half who will use it for interviews that will be transcribed. I bought it in 2000 and it still works flawlessly.
Back in 2000 I also bought a MXD-D3, a very good CD deck but also very good for dubbing CDs to MD. I also used it for recording and editing radio shows that I made with the timer recording on my VHS.

A couple of years ago I bought a second hand MDS-JE 520 deck. This has an optical out that I used to transfer MDs to the Mac (in real time....). At the moment I use that deck as the analogue to digital converter for recording LPs to the computer.

The biggest problem with Minidisc was that that it was so hard to transfer recordings to the computer. Only with the last version, the HiMD, that made it possible to record in uncompressed CD quality, easy transfers through USB were possible.

IMHO the MD was an incredibly clever successor to the cassette, especially with the editing possibilities. Unfortunately Sony crippled the system so easy transfers were not an option and the ATRAC compression remained proprietary.

Back in 2011, I seriously considered buying the last portable, the MZ-RH1, but it lacked an optical output so it was not the best option for transferring my old discs. For portable music listening I had already switched to an iPod nano and my favourite radio shows are now available as podcasts. I have never done a lot of microphone recording so I didn't use it for that.

I still like my old Minidisc gear. It seems very well made. But I don't have a lot of use for it anymore because it has been superseded by other, more user friendly, formats.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

Can anyone tell me why or what happened to mini disc as I loved it I used to have a Sony mini disc play and used to love mixing my music on the blank discs I thought the mini disc was a good replacement for tapes that we used to have and the sounded ok too

Here's what happened to Minidisc: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-21297024

I just dug up my old Minidisc portable recorder (the Sony MZ-G750) for my other half who will use it for interviews that will be transcribed. I bought it in 2000 and it still works flawlessly. Back in 2000 I also bought a MXD-D3, a very good CD deck but also very good for dubbing CDs to MD. I also used it for recording and editing radio shows that I made with the timer recording on my VHS.

A couple of years ago I bought a second hand MDS-JE 520 deck. This has an optical out that I used to transfer MDs to the Mac (in real time....). At the moment I use that deck as the analogue to digital converter for recording LPs to the computer.

The biggest problem with Minidisc was that that it was so hard to transfer recordings to the computer. Only with the last version, the HiMD, that made it possible to record in uncompressed CD quality, easy transfers through USB were possible.

IMHO the MD was an incredibly clever successor to the cassette, especially with the editing possibilities. Unfortunately Sony crippled the system so easy transfers were not an option and the ATRAC compression remained proprietary.

Back in 2011, I seriously considered buying the last portable, the MZ-RH1, but it lacked an optical output so it was not the best option for transferring my old discs. For portable music listening I had already switched to an iPod nano and my favourite radio shows are now available as podcasts. I have never done a lot of microphone recording so I didn't use it for that.

I still like my old Minidisc gear. It seems very well made. But I don't have a lot of use for it anymore because it has been superseded by other, more user friendly, formats.

that is what i think the mini disc was a good successor for the cassette player its funny how hifi companys still put the tape input on amps still but tapes have been gone for years now

 

[iMark]

Major Fubar said that in his local shop he can still buy all sorts of tapes, but minidiscs have gone. The funny thing with minidiscs is that the discs themselves will probably survive all of us and will be around when tapes have crumbled. Obviously, in 30 years it will be extremely difficult to find a working MD player so I recommend to transfer your valuable stuff to the computer while your machine still works.

Another funny thing with minidiscs is that you can (could?) easily buy them second hand. Discs can be erased and reused (except for the pre-mastered ones) without any loss of quality.

I think the HiFi companies still use 'Tape 1' and 'Tape 2' on their amps to distinguish them from other Line in options. The Tape ones have both in and out, thus creating the 'tape loop', through which you can monitor your recording. But on the Mrs. Sony microset we use in the bedroom, the aux input is called MD. I think it dates from 1998. Shame it doesn't have an output, just in case we wanted to transfer some old cassettes.

 

[MajorFubar]

Major Fubar said that in his local shop he can still buy all sorts of tapes, but minidiscs have gone. The funny thing with minidiscs is that the discs themselves will probably survive all of us and will be around when tapes have crumbled.

I'm not too sure about that. Maybe pre-recorded MDs to an extent, but recordable MDs use magneto-optical recording technology and aren't so permanent. In most cases if the TOC gets corrupted for whatever reason, you're screwed.

 

[Jota180]

Can anyone tell me why or what happened to mini disc as I loved it I used to have a Sony mini disc play and used to love mixing my music on the blank discs I thought the mini disc was a good replacement for tapes that we used to have and the sounded ok too

Here's what happened to Minidisc: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-21297024

I just dug up my old Minidisc portable recorder (the Sony MZ-G750) for my other half who will use it for interviews that will be transcribed. I bought it in 2000 and it still works flawlessly. Back in 2000 I also bought a MXD-D3, a very good CD deck but also very good for dubbing CDs to MD. I also used it for recording and editing radio shows that I made with the timer recording on my VHS.

A couple of years ago I bought a second hand MDS-JE 520 deck. This has an optical out that I used to transfer MDs to the Mac (in real time....). At the moment I use that deck as the analogue to digital converter for recording LPs to the computer.

The biggest problem with Minidisc was that that it was so hard to transfer recordings to the computer. Only with the last version, the HiMD, that made it possible to record in uncompressed CD quality, easy transfers through USB were possible.

IMHO the MD was an incredibly clever successor to the cassette, especially with the editing possibilities. Unfortunately Sony crippled the system so easy transfers were not an option and the ATRAC compression remained proprietary.

Back in 2011, I seriously considered buying the last portable, the MZ-RH1, but it lacked an optical output so it was not the best option for transferring my old discs. For portable music listening I had already switched to an iPod nano and my favourite radio shows are now available as podcasts. I have never done a lot of microphone recording so I didn't use it for that.

I still like my old Minidisc gear. It seems very well made. But I don't have a lot of use for it anymore because it has been superseded by other, more user friendly, formats.

These big companies like to gamble on being the sole owner of a propriatary format because that guarantees the money comes flowing in but the risk is they lose the format war and a massive amount of money and any people who buy into it ultimately lose out too.

 

[iMark]

Major Fubar said that in his local shop he can still buy all sorts of tapes, but minidiscs have gone. The funny thing with minidiscs is that the discs themselves will probably survive all of us and will be around when tapes have crumbled.

I'm not too sure about that. Maybe pre-recorded MDs to an extent, but recordable MDs use magneto-optical recording technology and aren't so permanent. In most cases if the TOC gets corrupted for whatever reason, you're screwed.

I have never had any trouble with TOC's that got corrupted. But if it happens, there's always the option of cloning a TOC.

http://www.minidisc.org/cloning_procedure.html

 

[iMark]

These big companies like to gamble on being the sole owner of a propriatary format because that guarantees the money comes flowing in but the risk is they lose the format war and a massive amount of money and any people who buy into it ultimately lose out too.

I agree up to a point. But what to do if your technology is better than the competition's? I remember that after the CD came along, the tech companies wanted to sell digital recorders to comsumers to replace cassettes. Philips came with the idea of DCC, digital cassettes with recorders that could play both old and digital cassetes. Sony had invented the Minidisc. Two very different philosophies for the same idea: a replacement for cassettes.

For me, Minidisc was revolutionary because you could edit after recording, without any loss of quality. DCC was clever too, but 'just' a digital version of the old cassette. Obviously I can now do edits on my computer, but before 2000 that was quite difficult to do.

Another thing that was and is great about Minidisc is the quality of DACs and ADCs that were used. Machines that were designed over 15 years ago, still sound good and probably still work.

 

[MajorFubar]

I agree up to a point. But what to do if your technology is better than the competition's?

Largely that's irrelevant, it's all about how well you are at marketing, and whether or not you can convince the consumers they need your tech in their lives. For example Elcaset failed even though it was superior to Compact Cassette, and that's even accepting Sony licenced the technology to other manufacturers, such as Tascam (with TEAC branded machines) and Matsushita (with Technics machines). But it answered a question no one asked, because Compact Cassette users were by and large happy with their lot, nor did it tempt open-reel enthusiasts to convert because they already owned a format which sounded better than both Compact Cassette and Elcaset.