Topic: Minidisc Recorder with Optical Out

[Brian Skalinder]

well i'm glad i was able to give you some entertainment at work.

Cheers!  

Rubbish. I'll reply when I get a chance today.  

either type something meaningful or nothing at all. "nothing", without any reasons, isn't really a decent rebuttal. also, stay true to your word and take the time to reply, rather than copping out.

Armen, I'm gonna chime in here because this is in the context of my broader post - he did reply later, effectively agreeing with everything I wrote:  "Thanks, Brian - you saved me a lot of time!"  Posting to indicate a forthcoming message is neither a copout (given he agreed with my post and stated as such) nor intended as a rebuttal.

Bah.  Who needs a 650MB disc when you can have a massive HD?!?

fair point. but what i was getting at was MD replacing small capacity storage devices, like floppy disc drives. i probably should have said this.

Ahhhh...gotcha.  Well, I also think MD won't replace in this context, either.  Flash/memory cards will, however.  They're already damn cheap, and they can already be used in portable devices like PDAs.  Just a question of time til the HD devices support expansion packs which allow interfacing with flash/memory cards as well.

i was kind of thinking about so far into the future that downloading a WAV file, with an 'average' internet connection, will be faster than it is to download an MP3 today. thus, IMO, MP3 will be supersueded by uncompressed music; and it will be the mainstream internet music format, not just something that concerns tapers.

Well...since MP3s are smaller file sizes, they'll always download faster, so WAVs will never be faster, even with super fast internet speeds.  What will happen, though, is the relative time to download will become less of an issue - the ratio will remain the same, but the units of time will become small enough that it won't necessarily be advantageous to download MP3 over WAV (unless you don't care and want to save HD space so you can fit 3 gazillion songs on your monster HD).

i was merely speaking HYPOTHETICALLY, trying to explain why i want minidisc to succeed. i am not deranged, i do not believe that MDs will take over the world.

I know, no offense intended, apologies if it came off that way.

i think possibly the point i was arguing was misunderstood.  

Definitely.  Thanks for clarifying.  

one day i will embrace HD... when they start making live recordings a standard feature, when they stop making the JB3 look like a friggin discman, when they stop crapping on about bloody MP3s and WMAs.

Agreed!!  I, too, don't understand why they made the JB3 in its current discmanesque form.  Totally dufus.  We're still a little ways off from effective HD recorders, though the JB3 seems a pretty good start for affordable, consumer recording, including WAVs - goodbye MP3 and WMA!

[zhianosatch]

Rubbish. I'll reply when I get a chance today.  

either type something meaningful or nothing at all. "nothing", without any reasons, isn't really a decent rebuttal. also, stay true to your word and take the time to reply, rather than copping out.

Hello, there, big fella! How long is a day? Eh?
Since you insulted the validity of my word, allow me to outline a few points to explain (in brief, I reiterate, for those who can't tell):

-Composing a well-thought out reply takes a lot longer than reading something.
-I read posts when Corel Draw 11 takes a few seconds to complete a process.
-Writing long replies takes up time that I don't often have at work. Most of my posts today were short and some of them were irreverent.

I did not post a "decent rebuttal" because I wished to let the TS public, who would presumably post replies of its own when I could not, know that there was another involved in the discussion. It's better than chiming in later as a lurker or bandwagoneer, someone seeming to agree with the majority's opinion because it belongs to the majority.
Be sure, this thread would get replies from me with the same basic content as Brian's. Seeing as how he beat me to it, I think it pointless for me to write my own replies or quote his with "yeah d00d, +T, right on".
Take my word for what you will.
Armen

[cpclark]

armen and brian are right on here, i used to use minidisc b/c it was a cheap way getting into taping, but the whole time i was just saving to buy a dat and a laptop  which i have both now, and MD has no chance in suceeding verse HD, why compress something when no compression at all can be applied at 24/96.  i just dont see the correct reasoning here for this kid to say MD should take over, sure its small and portable, but how long have they been out with now digi outs, over 10 years, shit they only sold mainstream music in MD the first couple of years it was out, the recording industry has moved on and cd-r is the main media around.  i dont see why some people like it so much to tape, i can tell right away if show is MD, just dont see the validity in the points that were made on the pro-MD side, ill leave the rest up to brian and armen in this thread, .02

[Brian Skalinder]

Opinions? Comments?

Heh...you asked for 'em, you got 'em!!  One thing there's plenty of around here, opinions.  Good topic!    

[cpclark]

Opinions? Comments?

Heh...you asked for 'em, you got 'em!!  One thing there's plenty of around here, opinions.  Good topic!    

thats one thing you  will def. find a lot of hear, many opinions from many people

[porphyry]

yes i agree that the topic produced more interesting debate than the topic itself.  

WAVs will never be faster, even with super fast internet speeds.  What will happen, though, is the relative time to download will become less of an issue - the ratio will remain the same, but the units of time will become small enough that it won't necessarily be advantageous to download MP3 over WAV

yes! thats what i was saying! am i that hard to understand?

i just dont see the correct reasoning here for this kid to say MD should take over

allow me to reiterate, one more time: i don't think MD will succeed over CDR or HD or whatever. i don't think it will replace floppy disk drives either.

i was merely rehashing, for my own sake really, the reasons for why MD should have done better than it has done, years and years ago. obviously today, with HD and such, it has no chance, but it could have replaced cassette six or seven or eight years ago, if Sony had done things differently.

perhaps i didn't make this clear enough, i don't know.   whatever.

i'm bitter about MD. i've invested a lot of time and money in it but have to accept that one day i'll have to do the same with HD.

the consumer electronics industry sucks like that.

[Brian Skalinder]

yes! thats what i was saying! am i that hard to understand?

This isn't exactly an ideal medium for communication.  Sometimes it takes a couple iterations before everyone's understood.  Don't sweat it.  

allow me to reiterate...i don't think it will replace floppy disk drives either.

Well, you fooled me!!  See:

but what i was getting at was MD replacing small capacity storage devices, like floppy disc drives.

I'm feeling pretty damn bitter about DAT, lately, with all the troubles I've had.  I am fired up for HD recorders!!  Stinkin' DATs...

[porphyry]

to avoid confusion, i probably should have begun my tirade with the heading

'what should have happened by now'

i admit responsibility for the misunderstandings.  

everything i said about minidisc was HYPOTHETICAL. i was saying it should have replaced cassettes, it should have replaced floppy discs, and here's some reasons why.

this is all the same stuff that floats around on minidisc community pages. we're all trying to convince each other that minidisc is not a dying obscurity.  

roll on HD. woohoo.  

[John R]

not to be one of armen's 'yeah d00d' types, i'll throw my thoughts into the fray...

i do not own MD, if i embraced another form of media storage, i'd never be able to see my floor.

as a DAT owner, i'd love for all MD owners to be able to move to DAT, this way the media would be interchangeable, and i wouldn't have some one coming up into my blissfully relaxed area at around 76 minutes waiting to change their media.  or wondering "where is the MD guy in the front of the chain all the other MD guys are waiting on?"

all MD guys should invest in portable power.  one sla will power an MD for the entire day.  

MD is a virtually indestrucable(sp) media, i love that.

tracking and editing can be done on the fly, i wish CDR could do that(in a perfect, affordable world)

for me the best place for MD would be making my own mixes for bombing downhill on board or bike.

jr

oh yeah, the digi i/o thing is kind of a bummer too

[zhianosatch]

My MZ-R700 is the most reliable piece of gear I've ever seen. Puddles of water and 6' drops onto concrete in a deluge, optical cable snapped off, and guess what keeps recording? It and MD media have proven their reliability to me time and time again.
But I can't keep doing it. I just can't. Disc flips are one thing I can deal with, and even the ATRAC sometimes, but my transferring process takes so goddamned motherfucking long to complete that spending $420 on a dying, troublesome format (the D8 I have on the way) is worth it.
I have to do so much to get a MD digital transfer to work that I don't even want to transfer any more. It's not worth my 4-5 hours per disc.
So DAT it is, for now. HD in the future.

[zhianosatch]

And John, making those mixes is what MD was made for and where it can't be beat by ANY removable media format.

[Lee]

but my transferring process takes so goddamned motherfucking long to complete that spending $420 on a dying, troublesome format (the D8 I have on the way) is worth it.
I have to do so much to get a MD digital transfer to work that I don't even want to transfer any more. It's not worth my 4-5 hours per disc.
So DAT it is, for now. HD in the future.

Um, don't DAT transfers occur in realtime as well?  (if you're getting a DDS drive, I guess this is a moot point).  That's why I got out of the DAT game as soon as I could.

Now WHERE'S MY 722!?!?!

[John R]

And John, making those mixes is what MD was made for and where it can't be beat by ANY removable media format.

i hear ya.

jr

[porphyry]

MD is definitely still worthwhile as a portable music format.

OK, so the discs don't hold a whole lotta music. but what other removable media does? they are very very cheap, too.

in my case, when i left australia to live in france and england (where i'm currently based) for a year, i was able to take most of my music collection with me on about 30 or 40 minidiscs, which all fit into a bag about the same size as you store a mini DV camera in.

my Sony mz-n10, along with a simple stereo microphone and battery box/bass roll-off from the sound professionals, also allowed me to tape all the concerts i've been to - and are going to go to - in england.

MD satisfied all the criteria:
- very small, doesn't take up much space (as opposed to CDs and discmans)
- the sound quality is fine (it is portable music, so you can't expect the earth!)
   --> i don't have to encode my music as MP3s
- can play my music on most stereos with simple connections

the most important thing though is being able to bootleg concerts by my favourite bands. i couldn't afford DAT or a JB3 on top of a minidisc recorder.

i also believe very much in removable, storable media. i like to have a physical object that i know, if taken care of, is going to keep my music as long as need be. this is one of the drawbacks of HD: at this stage, it isn't removable (at least not that i know of).

MD suits me fine. for now at least.

[Brian Skalinder]

the most important thing though is being able to bootleg concerts by my favourite bands.

We all, as tapers, suffer from the misnomer "bootleg" with respect to what we do.  Perhaps "record concerts" would be more appropriate language than "bootleg concerts".  Just a pet peeve of mine.

MD suits me fine. for now at least.

Cheers!  Different strokes for different folks.  I can't imagine taking all my CDs to England when I travel there for work...ugh!