Need To know The Basics Of MD's - I've Never Even Seen One!

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MyOhMy

Member (SA)
Hello All,

The topic title should say it all. I've never seen a Mini Disc Player and/or recorder (portable or otherwise) or a mini disc and, just like BMX bikes, this whole MD thing just passed me by.

As far as I understand, the MD format is somewhere between the convenience of recording audio straight from a source (just I would onto a cassette) and a CD whereby tracks/file info can be searched for/play order determined etc., is this correct? I know there'll be more to it than this but have I grasped the basics?

Recording to cassette tape has it's limitations, a CD recorder (machine) is a bulky item but a Mini Disc Player/Recorder is more like a 'CD version' of a 'Walkman cassette player' but with much more capacity and funcionality - am I on the right track (no pun intended!)?

I'm considering buying an MD player/recorder, know almost nothing about them but know I need to understand more. Most of the little that I know I've gleaned from whatever info has been included in seller's info when trying to sell one, I've no idea what into they miss out that I need to know before making a decision.

I looked up MD info Wikipedia a while ago and find there's an awful lot to try and remember (remembering is not always as easy as it once was for me), in particular the section towards the end titled 'Recording modes'. There's no way I could remember all that but mainly 'cos it's 'new tech talk' in more than an earful size all at once.

Can someone help me sort what I need to know from stuff that I needed concern myself with?
For instance: With older CD players, they do not recognise .mp3 file extensions therefore an older CD player will not play these file formats even if the (CD player) claim is to play CD/RW etc.
What are the basics I need to know when looking to choose a MD player/recorder? (i.e.: can play files recorded from radio and files/.mp3/other created on a PC all on the same disc.
What can I totally ignore (i.e: all brands made before a certain date due to file format support.)
.
I'd like to keep this as simple as I can, I'd rather not get bogged down in lengthy discussions in the finest of details covering the whole history of the MD 'cos my head will spin with info overload!

Thanks, All.

[edited for a skellping tismake]
 

Terry

Member (SA)
There's an excellent Facebook group for MiniDisc. I've learned a lot there.

facebook.com/groups/minidiscgroup

There's a few different formats. I've found it a little inconvenient but I'm coming to grips with it.

I've never before been into MD but I've only very recently developed an interest. In a few weeks I've managed to land a handful of portables and scored a deck for free.

I can't answer all your questions, but the the good people in the FB group will be able to.
 

MyOhMy

Member (SA)
Terry said:
There's an excellent Facebook group for MiniDisc. I've learned a lot there.

facebook.com/groups/minidiscgroup

There's a few different formats. I've found it a little inconvenient but I'm coming to grips with it.

I've never before been into MD but I've only very recently developed an interest. In a few weeks I've managed to land a handful of portables and scored a deck for free.

I can't answer all your questions, but the the good people in the FB group will be able to.
Thanks, Terry for the reply.

It's nice to know you're getting to grips with the MD malarkey! I went to the fb page but they won't play with me unless I let them constantly spy on me, harvest my personal information, follow me around the web and then tell everyone else what they've found out about me - spoilsports! Ha, I'm a bit too long in the tooth to fall for that ol' trick!
 

Terry

Member (SA)
The whole website is pretty good, lots of info. Almost every model/brand/variant is listed.

If you want to "try before you buy" so to speak. I could send you one of my Sony's with a few discs.
 

T-STER

Member (SA)
Hey Mom,

Yeah I'm a big minidisc fan also and have a few units, I saw this post yesterday and typed an exhaustive reply then got interupted, came back and someone had shut my pc down arrrgggghhh.

I will help anyway i can!
 

MyOhMy

Member (SA)
Terry said:
The whole website is pretty good, lots of info. Almost every model/brand/variant is listed.

If you want to "try before you buy" so to speak. I could send you one of my Sony's with a few discs.
Thanks for the offer, Terry but I think I'll be spending a lot longer than I anticipated with this. I feel I've opened up a real can of worms and there was me hoping I could select 'XXXX' Model03 (or some such) 'cos it does everything all the others do except for 'XYX' - and I can live without that.

My, Oh My, why, oh why is all so comperlecayted?!

T-STER said:
Hey Mom,

Yeah I'm a big minidisc fan also and have a few units, I saw this post yesterday and typed an exhaustive reply then got interupted, came back and someone had shut my pc down arrrgggghhh.

I will help anyway i can!
Dear me, I've been there and done that (more than once) - it's so infuriating!!! :bang:
 

MyOhMy

Member (SA)
So far, my journey for information has been very productive both in searches and the info provided on this thread through replies. I fact, there's an incredible amount of info out there. The more I read, the more I find out; the more I find out, the more there is to read. I need to get back to trying to blank out that which I don't need to know 'cos I'm beginning to suffer from information overload. There's even sites out there where MD geeks chat away to each other (or maybe themselves, I wouldn't wonder!) in geek-speak and I can't make head nor tail of it. Man alive, get a life, eh?!!!

I need to take this easy, a bit at a time (one of my 'bits', not 'bits' as in geek-speak 'cos that's complicated stuff!). *sigh*
 

TW5

Member (SA)
I found a MD deck some time ago at the thrifts
and some blank MD discs
deck says 'no disk' so im stuck there.for now.
but have not tried much more.
 

MyOhMy

Member (SA)
TW5 said:
I found a MD deck some time ago at the thrifts
and some blank MD discs
deck says 'no disk' so im stuck there.for now.
but have not tried much more.
Ah.......I feel there may be a few reasons why this may happen, for example: as time has progressed, all things MD evolved and/or changed/developed and this had some implications with compatibility. Don't give up, you've made a good start so far.

But that's not all!
Try this link for info about MD's/players http://www.minidisc....nidisc_faq.html from post #4 by Terry
(this page lies within a much larger site dedicated to all things MD, including a forum, error messages, all things MD explained, a comprehensive list of MD Players with Player details/specs, Q's&A's and so much more), it's like a one-stop-site for everything you need to know, easily navigated and easy on the eye.

MD info Wikipedia (from post #1) is wide ranging in a concise manner and also explains why and where compatibility issues may arise., explanations of file formats, abbreviations, development etc., etc.. This page may even tell you if your MD's are compatible with your Player but, if not, the link above ought to clear this up for you.

I hope you find this info helpful, another couple of trips to the pages myself and I may remember more of the things I need to know. We'll see.
 

goodman

Member (SA)
I'm not a specialist, but I think the best MD deck is Sony MDS-JB980

sony_mdsjb980_silver.jpg
 

MyOhMy

Member (SA)
Oh, thanks for throwing that into the mix - I never knew anything about those things either - let alone their very existence!!! :bang:
 

stosoorok

Member (SA)
OhMy why? :huh: There are moving parts. Solid state is the way to go!

BUT, I got too often questions like WHY you bought this old stereo, what are doing with that? Well... How you answer to that. :-D
 

MyOhMy

Member (SA)
stosoorok said:
OhMy why? :huh: There are moving parts. Solid state is the way to go!

BUT, I got too often questions like WHY you bought this old stereo, what are doing with that? Well... How you answer to that. :-D
My BB's have tape decks for record/playback but tapes have limitations and can be quite inconvenient.

I've many blank CD's&CD/RW's I use for burning mp3 files etc. through my laptop, I have more flexibility with CD's than with cassettes.

I can connect a portable MD Player/Recorder to almost anything (as far as I know) for recording/playback across platforms but I don't have this flexibility with cassettes or CD's.

The only other thing I thought of to use would be a portable mp3 player with a decent recording ability although I've not looked into this yet.
 

MyOhMy

Member (SA)
stosoorok said:
What about computer? You can "record", rip, save etc. :)
I've 1000's of songs on my laptop and many 100's of CD's, the main two things that appeal to me for daily use are 'Drag 'n' Drop' file copying and recording from radio. Maybe I should consider something like this (below) instead of a MD Player/Recorder:

goodman said:
Look this is just for you: MiCorder Digital MP3 Recorder

http://www.olenstechnology.com/product/micorder-digital-mp3-recorder/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rmdlGH2QQ4
I'm beginning to think I'd be better off with mp3 player/recorders instead?

I've never been one for fiddly little devices, I remember the good ol' days when you could prop an LP cover against a Cornflakes box to read the cover notes and stare at the artwork whilst eating your breakfast cereal..............................
 
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