3 ms·

I had a couple of MD players/recorders (they could do both from memory) back in the day - I still view them with a fondness I have never been able to muster for

I had a couple of MD players/recorders (they could do both from memory) back in the day - I still view them with a fondness I have never been able to muster for any other class of device. Something about the size, intricate control buttons and switches, the jewelled MD disc case just made the whole thing delightful to me as a 15 year old. Perhaps it was also due to me developing my own taste in music at the time that I am linking the nostalgia of that to the players themselves.

nrp 3y ago
I had a Minidisc player as well, and I know exactly what you mean. In my view, these devices were the pinnacle of Japanese industrial design broadly, and Sony Design Center specifically. The rituals around using them were the digital equivalent to playing a record.
danparsonson 3y ago
Totally get this. I recently revived my Aiwa MD player and now I listen to a disc or two when I'm cleaning the house - there really is something charming about the form factor that pushes my techie buttons. I just love handling the thing, it's a minor work of art.
- jhoechtl 3y ago
  In my opinion it also has something to do with actually having a haptic feeling when dealing with music. Put something in, select, press play. This is especially true for MD as they were a rad less flimsy than CDs. I had a Sanyo portable MD and it was a rock-solid device.
glial 3y ago
I have the same sense of nostalgic fondness for the hardware. The software, however, was terrible. If I had a nicer software solution for managing files on my MD, I might go dig it out of the closet.
- crtasm 3y ago
  If it has the NetMD feature you can do so in a web browser now: https://github.com/asivery/webminidisc https://github.com/asivery/webminidisc
  - nrp 3y ago
    This thread is making it very difficult for me not to pick up a Minidisc player on eBay. Relatedly, it makes me wonder if there is space for a Minidisc equivalent to https://www.wearerewind.com/ https://www.wearerewind.com/
    - ace2358 3y ago
      I hope so! No offence but tape sounds like garbage compared to MD. Not to mention the features of md and way better than tape.
nuancebydefault 3y ago
I bought a (non-portable) minidisc player around the time 1995. I found it was the most advanced CE device for its time, certainly for its price, 300 euros or so. It had a very user friendly and capable UI, for example, with a couple of rotations and clicks of the dial you could stitch together recorded songs. The matrix display was bright and well legible. You could fit around 20 songs on a very small optical disc. It was quite advanced, it encoded and recorded audio in decent quality real time. It had an optical SP/DIF output. After some years the recording feature did not work anymore, it now makes sense why, after reading the article. It was a truely amazing and handy audio recorder/player. If it was still functional, I would still have used it for another 20 years or so. Edit: found a 1998 review (1) about an MD very similar to mine. (1)https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/sony-mds-je520?amp https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/sony-mds-je520?amp
- RedShift1 3y ago
  I have that model and it still works. Very good A/D and D/A converters in this model, I used it a lot for that.
  - ace2358 3y ago
    I’ve used my Sony desktop md deck as a soundcard a bunch. Optical out of my Mac Pro (under the desk) into the MD unit, this use my headphones out of that (my headphones don’t reach the audio jack on my Mac Pro). Such a clear sound!
dehrmann 3y ago
Remember that scene in the Matrix when Neo sells an exploit(?) on a Minidisc? In 1999, they felt like the future. Plus the mobile players felt so mechanically satisfying to use. What I really miss about them is they're theoretically great for long-term storage. The case was fairly robust, and data should be incredibly stable because the disc has to be heated past the Curie point during recording.

nrp 3y ago

I had a Minidisc player as well, and I know exactly what you mean. In my view, these devices were the pinnacle of Japanese industrial design broadly, and Sony Design Center specifically. The rituals around using them were the digital equivalent to playing a record.

danparsonson 3y ago

Totally get this. I recently revived my Aiwa MD player and now I listen to a disc or two when I'm cleaning the house - there really is something charming about the form factor that pushes my techie buttons. I just love handling the thing, it's a minor work of art.

jhoechtl 3y ago
In my opinion it also has something to do with actually having a haptic feeling when dealing with music. Put something in, select, press play. This is especially true for MD as they were a rad less flimsy than CDs. I had a Sanyo portable MD and it was a rock-solid device.

glial 3y ago

I have the same sense of nostalgic fondness for the hardware. The software, however, was terrible. If I had a nicer software solution for managing files on my MD, I might go dig it out of the closet.

crtasm 3y ago
If it has the NetMD feature you can do so in a web browser now: https://github.com/asivery/webminidisc https://github.com/asivery/webminidisc
- nrp 3y ago
  This thread is making it very difficult for me not to pick up a Minidisc player on eBay. Relatedly, it makes me wonder if there is space for a Minidisc equivalent to https://www.wearerewind.com/ https://www.wearerewind.com/
  - ace2358 3y ago
    I hope so! No offence but tape sounds like garbage compared to MD. Not to mention the features of md and way better than tape.

nuancebydefault 3y ago

I bought a (non-portable) minidisc player around the time 1995. I found it was the most advanced CE device for its time, certainly for its price, 300 euros or so. It had a very user friendly and capable UI, for example, with a couple of rotations and clicks of the dial you could stitch together recorded songs. The matrix display was bright and well legible. You could fit around 20 songs on a very small optical disc. It was quite advanced, it encoded and recorded audio in decent quality real time. It had an optical SP/DIF output. After some years the recording feature did not work anymore, it now makes sense why, after reading the article. It was a truely amazing and handy audio recorder/player. If it was still functional, I would still have used it for another 20 years or so. Edit: found a 1998 review (1) about an MD very similar to mine. (1)https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/sony-mds-je520?amp https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/sony-mds-je520?amp

RedShift1 3y ago
I have that model and it still works. Very good A/D and D/A converters in this model, I used it a lot for that.
- ace2358 3y ago
  I’ve used my Sony desktop md deck as a soundcard a bunch. Optical out of my Mac Pro (under the desk) into the MD unit, this use my headphones out of that (my headphones don’t reach the audio jack on my Mac Pro). Such a clear sound!

dehrmann 3y ago

Remember that scene in the Matrix when Neo sells an exploit(?) on a Minidisc? In 1999, they felt like the future. Plus the mobile players felt so mechanically satisfying to use. What I really miss about them is they're theoretically great for long-term storage. The case was fairly robust, and data should be incredibly stable because the disc has to be heated past the Curie point during recording.