Minidisc portables R.I.P.

[PhilCohen]

Although it would seem to be old news to me, someone at the Steve Hoffman forums has posted that Sony has discontinued the manufacture of portable Minidisc players & recorders. Even as a Minidisc user, I thought that Sony had discontinued the portables 1 to 2 years ago. Sealed units now bring 5 times their original selling price from third party sellers on Amazon.com

I've never had any problem with my Sony MDS-JB940 home recorder, or my most recent portable(Sony MZ-N420D), but the portable is my 3rd or 4th unit, and if it ever fails, I'll have to pay through the nose for a replacement. And such a purchase would be risky. The most recent portable I bought was stillborn, and had to immediately be replaced by Sony. Sony sent a refurbished unit, though I had never gotten one second of playback from the original unit. Today, who knows if they can even repair a Minidisc player.

Don't get me wrong; I own an iPOD too(160gb iPOD Classic), but if I had to compare the sound quality of an iPOD playing 256kbps AAC audio(through headphones, not earbuds) versus a portable Minidisc player playing discs recorded in the 80 minute mode with ATRAC DSP Type "R", the Minidisc player sounds better.

I never tried to record with my latest portable,which can't record directly from a CD player, and which uses unwieldy, restrictive software useable only with a PC(my computer is a MAC). Sony did a lot of things that hurt the Minidisc format, and while the format was intended to replace cassette, there was one unfortunate parallel with the cassette format: consumers soon found that the pre-recorded software offered by record companies was inferior to the cassettes and Minidiscs that consumers could record on their own decks. The fairly few pre-recorded Minidiscs ever released used a substandard early version of Sony's ATRAC data reduction technology(ATRAC was subject to 3 subsequent improvements, and they were significant improvements)

 

[bikdav]

Good Point

It's interesting that you brought up this subject. I still own a Sony MDS-JE510 that I bought at a garage sale. I don't currently have it hooked up, but I'm keeping it for a spare recording source since cassette is all but extinct and didn't sound that great anyways. When I was using it, I did all my recording in analogue _ which "allegedly" doesn't sound as good as digital _ to make recording a very easy task for various reasons.

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

Sony did a lot of things that hurt the Minidisc format, and while the format was intended to replace cassette, there was one unfortunate parallel with the cassette format: consumers soon found that the pre-recorded software offered by record companies was inferior to the cassettes and Minidiscs that consumers could record on their own decks.

Personally I never “got” the Minidisc, or the DCC or DAT for that matter. By 1992 when the Minidisc was introduced, the CD was already well established as offering sound quality as good as or better than vinyl albums, with the portable convenience of cassettes. CDs could be played in the home or car or boom box, negating the need to record your albums to a secondary media to play in your car or at the beach. The only advantage I can see for Minidisc would be for people who were interested in listening to nothing but their own custom “mixes.”

For my own edification, maybe you could share the reasons for your affection for the Minidisc? I’d be interested to know!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[MidnightSensi2]

The only advantage I can see for Minidisc would be for people who were interested in listening to nothing but their own custom “mixes.”

For my own edification, maybe you could share the reasons for your affection for the Minidisc? I’d be interested to know!

Perhaps not asking me, hehe, but, I remember people who jogged liked them, because they had a buffer that prevented skipping, or at least helped.

 

[its phillip]

True, they were better than portable cd players if you were active because of the antiskipping, and because of their size...but flash based daps nowadays are so much better.

To the OP: If you think the sound quality of your minidisc player is better than that of your ipod with lossy files, try using ALAC or switching to another player and using flac

 

[MidnightSensi2]

True, they were better than portable cd players if you were active because of the antiskipping, and because of their size...but flash based daps nowadays are so much better.

To the OP: If you think the sound quality of your minidisc player is better than that of your ipod with lossy files, try using ALAC or switching to another player and using flac

Yeah, I was just trying to think why it was even a step up in the first place when they first came out.

A vaguely remember the studios doing some re-releases on them, so they must have had someone thinking it would take.

 

[PhilCohen]

Personally I never “got” the Minidisc, or the DCC or DAT for that matter. By 1992 when the Minidisc was introduced, the CD was already well established as offering sound quality as good as or better than vinyl albums, with the portable convenience of cassettes. CDs could be played in the home or car or boom box, negating the need to record your albums to a secondary media to play in your car or at the beach. The only advantage I can see for Minidisc would be for people who were interested in listening to nothing but their own custom “mixes.”

For my own edification, maybe you could share the reasons for your affection for the Minidisc? I’d be interested to know!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Well, at the time Minidisc was introduced(in the days before iPOD's), it was a way of listening to digital audio from a player more compact than a portable CD player, and without the risk of using your CD's outdoors and possibly scratching them or getting them dirty.

 

[its phillip]

I still have jvc and sony MD decks, and a possibly broken jvc md player. I didn't have any retail MDs though.