4 ms·

MiniDisc is such a beautiful format that never took off in the US. I picked a used one up cheaply around 2001, then bought another (this one with MD-LP mode) a

MiniDisc is such a beautiful format that never took off in the US. I picked a used one up cheaply around 2001, then bought another (this one with MD-LP mode) a couple of years later. My first MP3 player was the original iPod nano, ca. 2007(?). Advantages: it's in a hard shell that has a 3.5"-floppy-like retracting shutter, so you have to work to damage the medium; it's essentially infinitely recordable; it's trivial to make mix discs (and to rearrange the tracks without rerecording); most of the portable recorder models had line, mic, and optical digital inputs, so you could record (in reverse order here) straight from CD (and from digital optical outputs on PC's), or from an in-person interview, or the ever-popular soundboard recording bootleg. Disadvantages: expensive, and few people had them so you couldn't count on being able to give one to a friend. Making a fully digital copy required some tricks (SCMS defeater, pro gear, or a very specific combination of decks). A bit-perfect copy could only be made with that very specific combination of equipment (MDS-W1 + anything that could TOC-clone, or 2+ of certain pro models).

PaulHoule 2y ago
Good blank tapes are maybe $3 now, you can buy minidiscs from Japan for about $1.5 which are not blank (have some Japanese rando's random recordings) but are perfect to re-record over. I have two MD decks and a portable recorder which is unfortunately broken because it is possible to record via USB with the portable recorder (NetMD) and have perfect metadatqaa.
- devilbunny 2y ago
  Never had a NetMD; the metadata would have been nice, but SonicStage was so hated that I never tried. Still have a couple of unopened MD-80's I bought in the UK ca. 2002. Back then every recorder you bought in the US was someone divorcing themselves from MD, so I ended up with like 30-40 used, which is plenty. It's not like most of my cassettes were all that well labeled anyway. What are you calling "good" blank tapes? Chrome? "Metal"? If you had the right setup you could get good results from chrome and very good from "metal", but for half the price per disc MD blows them both away. Too bad the MZ-1 was such a weak device. No battery life, heavy, bad ATRAC chip for recording (and all the reviewers could tell how bad it was because they could hear how much better prerecorded MD's were that didn't have to be real-time in their encoding).

PaulHoule 2y ago

Good blank tapes are maybe $3 now, you can buy minidiscs from Japan for about $1.5 which are not blank (have some Japanese rando's random recordings) but are perfect to re-record over. I have two MD decks and a portable recorder which is unfortunately broken because it is possible to record via USB with the portable recorder (NetMD) and have perfect metadatqaa.

devilbunny 2y ago
Never had a NetMD; the metadata would have been nice, but SonicStage was so hated that I never tried. Still have a couple of unopened MD-80's I bought in the UK ca. 2002. Back then every recorder you bought in the US was someone divorcing themselves from MD, so I ended up with like 30-40 used, which is plenty. It's not like most of my cassettes were all that well labeled anyway. What are you calling "good" blank tapes? Chrome? "Metal"? If you had the right setup you could get good results from chrome and very good from "metal", but for half the price per disc MD blows them both away. Too bad the MZ-1 was such a weak device. No battery life, heavy, bad ATRAC chip for recording (and all the reviewers could tell how bad it was because they could hear how much better prerecorded MD's were that didn't have to be real-time in their encoding).