Why Sony Should've Put Its Weight Behind Hi-MD 519
An anonymous reader writes "OSNews has an article making a case for Hi-MD: 'Currently, .mp3 players are all the hype. Everyone has one, and if you don't, you're old-fashioned. I do not have an .mp3 player. I tried to have one, but for various reasons it did not please me. I'm a MiniDisc guy. I've always been. MiniDisc has some serious advantages over .mp3 players, whether they be flash or HDD based.'"
Only applies to ipods... (Score:5, Interesting)
Why do I use a HD mp3 player? It stores a large amount of music. I don't want to have to juggle around dozens of cds or in this case minidisks, I have over 15 gigs of music on my mp3 player and I don't have the time to find the disk that I want when I want to listen to certain things, nor does the space it takes to store all the disks appeal to me. I like having a device which can store large amounts of data - after trips with groups I'll normally get a dump of all the pictures that the group has taken and put them on my mp3 player to transfer.
I've tried the mp3 cds (which was giving me 700 megs of storage compared to the 305 megs you get from older minidisks using the hi-md format), but I ended up having too many... and when I wanted to add music to it it meant that I had to burn a whole new disk... and I just plain didn't like using it... and my mp3 player has proven to be a whole lot more solid than any cd player I've come across (I've dropped it many times, left it out in my car through all the extremes of Michigan's weather, and its still been great).
Re:Only applies to ipods... (Score:5, Insightful)
I loved the hardware- for the time they came out they were the smallest thing out there. The removeable disks did provide an 'unlimited' amount of storage. The battery life was awesome.
But as the author of the article mentioned, the achilles heel of the whole operation was the software.
SONIC STAGE *is* a steaming pile of shit. There is no way around that- it is one of the worst pieces of software I have ever used. And because you are forced to use Sonic State to use a MiniDisc player you are completely screwed over.
At the time I bought them (3-4 years ago) the hardware was A++. But the software is so crappy I would give the whole thing a D+.
Sony can really manage to screw some stuff up. And that is one reason I am not excited about the PS3 with Blu-Ray.
(Why did I buy 4? Well, the first one was great, but I lost it after only 2 days. So when I bought another one, I also picked one up for my wife and daughter.)
Re:Only applies to ipods... (Score:5, Informative)
I decided to get a recorder that recorded to Compact Flash, the Marantz PMD660. Great unit.
1 Gb is good enough for me... (Score:5, Informative)
I can also live with about 128 kbps mp3s or even 96 kbps for some songs and I can fit enough albums on this thing to keep me happy for weeks, then I change them around. If I need space to transfer files, I just delete the music folders and use it as a jump drive.
I think the people are buying iPods just because their friends have iPods and they don't know that there other such "toys" out there with a different set of features that might work better for them.
Re:1 Gb is good enough for me... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:1 Gb is good enough for me... (Score:5, Informative)
That being said, the dynamic playlist generation in iTunes is by far one of the coolest features I've seen in software for an mp3 player. I can flag all my "most played songs" or flag all of my highest rated songs for a playlist. Want to rate your music? Create a dynamic playlist of unrated music. These playlists get updated everytime you sync your ipod to iTunes as well.
While this was a cool feature, I still intalled Rockbox http://www.rockbox.org/ [rockbox.org] on my ipod so I could use it as a portable hard drive and just copy my music to a folder.
Re:1 Gb is good enough for me... (Score:3, Interesting)
So, from my perspective, dragging folders around to manage music seems like turning a big crank on your car to start it. Sure, you could do it that way, but WHY?
Re:1 Gb is good enough for me... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:1 Gb is good enough for me... (Score:3, Insightful)
The UI is also, despite your apparent dismissal of aethetics, very nifty and easy to use. I've spent some time fighting the UI from Creative for a friend and yes, UIs are important to me. Oh, and I have the mini, not the nano, so scratching wasn't really an issue.
In summary: am I tool? probably not, thoug
Re:1 Gb is good enough for me... (Score:3, Interesting)
I wouldn't exclude any pc that runs Windows 2000, Windows XP, or OS X from the category "anything else." Also, I wouldn't exclude home or car CD players - and you can quite legally create a CD that contains iTMS songs on it and play it on your home or car CD player. The only things you can't do with iTMS music are 1. play it in electronic form on software other than iTunes (which, unfortunately, means no Linux or BSD), and 2. play it on standard mp3 players other than iPods. Annoying, but the DRM requires i
Re:1 Gb is good enough for me... (Score:4, Informative)
It has a base of 1Gb storage which is expandable using sd cards (so really its got unlimited storage), it has fm radio and works as a usb storage drive for both the onboard 1gb storage and for the connected sd card...
I have 3 sd cards which have each have different types of music on them and i have music that i listen too more often stored on the base flash drive
The SD cards beat the HELL out of sonys HI-MD as there are many many different sizes depending on what you want and they are solid state...
linky for those interested
http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Item(1208)-SDMX2-
Re:Only applies to ipods... (Score:5, Insightful)
The reason i dumped it (besides the hardware which eventually died) was because the ONLY way to get software on it was through the buggy Windows-only Sony Software that came with it.
Sorry Sony, even if you do fix the problems with it, you're way too late. I got a taste of the high capacity iPod with the extremely easy to use iTunes software and i'm never going back. Good luck with the whole rootkit things though.
This is one of the problems with Sony, they're in too many businesses. Their Music division has longed forced them to cripple their electronics division, or be exclusive to their record label. When one arm of your company is installing rootkits on your computer to prevent you from ripping CDs to mp3, would you really trust that same company with your mp3 device? I don't.
Re:Only applies to ipods... (Score:4, Interesting)
I've recorded lectures, a couple of concerts and when my band practices I records all jam sessions just in case we want to review something.
Re:Only applies to ipods... (Score:4, Informative)
This article is crap. iPods have flash storage in one incarnation. So, don't think a hard drive is sturdy enough? Buy the flash model. Space? The author admits a MD hold less than 350 MB. That's half a regular CD. Smallest iPod -- the 512 MB shuffle. More than that single MD disc -- and a MD player can only hold on MD disc at a time. Want to swap out that disc to increase your library? Do the same on an iPod -- hook it to your computer and you have a universe of music you can put on it. So, using the same logic behind the statement "MiniDisc offers unlimited storage space" means an iPod offers infinite storage space. Recording add-ons are available for the iPod (if you want to use your iPod for that). Battery life? Well, this article certainly does not do a scientific comparison. MP3 playback? Sony's history is to not really allow a device to play back MP3 without significant inconvenience. That has not changed, as the article author readily admits. It goes on and on, not coming up with anything meaningful to put in the MD column. Sony has put its weight behind MD and it has had some okay success in the past (especially overseas). Its present is mostly a consequence of these vested users. But people are all moving to flash or hard drive based music devices because of the very real world advantages in price and convenience due to storage space economies of scale and easy computer integration. Sony's solution is proprietary, in the bad sense of that word. And, by now, hopelessly out of date.
MiniDisc is not the iPod killer you are looking for.
Re:Only applies to ipods... (Score:2)
"The new Hi-MD format offers 1GB per disc"...
The line that you are holding against it is this one, again, you should actually have read it:
"In fact-- formatting an ordinary MD using the Hi-MD filesystem actually doubles its original capacity from 170MB to 305 MB!"
Re:Only applies to ipods... (Score:2)
PDA's, FTW! (Score:2, Interesting)
My AU$250 PDA (sure, I bought it off eBay, but that's not the point) is LESS than the RRP AU$389 for a 4GB iPod Nano, has survived umpteen drops and falls, which a HDD-based music player of the same physical size would not be able to do.
You can get 4GB SD memory-cards now, the same size as the largest iPod Nano, a
Re:PDA's, FTW! (Score:2, Interesting)
If you want to go for the comparison against a PDA:
Battery life:
HD
Re:Only applies to ipods... (Score:2)
What features are you talking about that don't exist on an iPod? You can record on an iPod, and the iPods are really quite rugged - and there are thousands of different protective cases available. the iPod is also not tied to iTunes. The article was uninformed about the iP
Windows only! Soon to die. Big downsides. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Windows only! Soon to die. Big downsides. (Score:5, Interesting)
Quoting:
"We did finally make the Minidisc machine everbody knew Sony was capable of," said Miyazaki, "but at a considerable cost." Some members of Sony's vaunted Shinagawa engineering labs have apparently felt the burden has been too high however; since January over two dozen engineers and scientists have left to join Google Japan where, it is rumored, a wireless portable audio device with a wow-factor exceeding the iPod is under development."
Now why isnt this on the frontpage instead of MD's sad death.So many bad things have happened to Sony just because of the constant struggle with the Entertainment division.. crapping up so much innovation. Google could prolly be THE company to set things right in portable music.
Other Downsides... (Score:4, Insightful)
B: Isn't as fast or durable as Flash-based MP3 players, for slightly less space.
C: Isn't as cheap as CD-based MP3 players.
D: Software is so bad it should be criminal. Used Sonic Stage to transfer MP3's to a Sony PDA. I now own a Treo.
E: Zero compatibility with anything but other Sony MD players.
F: Not all that small, really.
Basically, like the Memory Stick, the MiniDisk doesn't do anything better than any of the offerings out there. It tries to be middle-of-the-road, but manages to be nothing special.
Re:Windows only! Soon to die. Big downsides. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Windows only! Soon to die. Big downsides. (Score:3, Informative)
Penny arcade agrees! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Penny arcade agrees! (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry, but no... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Sorry, but no... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sorry, but no... (Score:3, Insightful)
Just wait (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Weird formats and other issues (Score:3, Interesting)
This is also somewhat true for Hi-MD, but I think Hi-MD player/recorders are reasonably priced [sonystyle.com] (start at $200) when you consider their high-quality recording capability. Also, 1GB re-recordable Hi-MDs are dirt cheap [sonystyle.com].
Why Sony made the right decision not to: (Score:2)
No way (Score:4, Interesting)
Even niche markets are an issue (Score:5, Insightful)
Unfortunately, I couldn't find one in production that fit my needs. I could not find any assurance that I could do what I wanted with a MiniDisc player from specs I was seeing online. I eventually figured out that the people who had the MiniDisc recorders all got them overseas (Japan for sure, maybe Australia as well?). I see the article author does have a recorder; I wonder if that's new or something, or if he got it somewhere other than the U.S. as well.
I have no other reason to want one of these devices, and with Sony's reputation of late, I don't need one that badly anyway.
Re:Even niche markets are an issue (Score:2, Offtopic)
Minidisc is a niche format with a cult following - DAT is an industry standard. Use it to record and you will be able to pop into just about any halfway decently equipped studio or theater sound booth and work with
Re:Even niche markets are an issue (Score:2)
Re:Even niche markets are an issue (Score:2)
I'm with the OP on this. I was looking for a portable recording system a while back and considered MDs because they're cheap, compact and go a long time between batteries. Trouble is, they're also hard to find with manual recording levels. As far as DAT goes, I was advised to try the Tascam DAP 1. It was OK, but costs more than A$2,500 and is fairly bulky. The SonyPCMM1 seemed OK, but the recording level dial was a bitch to set up. Anyway, with any of the DAT ge
Re:Even niche markets are an issue (Score:2)
Re:Even niche markets are an issue (Score:2)
Yet another proof that MiniDiscs could've been so much more if only Sony weren't such total dicks.
Surely most here can agree... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Surely most here can agree... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, nothing says proprietary formats like the ISO standard MPEG-4 audio layer.
Re:Surely most here can agree... (Score:2)
If AAC has an owner that charges a license fee for use, as MP3 does, then it is proprietary. AAC deployed with "Fairplay" is a DRM'd thing to avoid.
Algorithms should not be ownable like that.
Re:Surely most here can agree... (Score:5, Informative)
WTF?
Proprietary: Owned by a private individual or corporation under a trademark or patent: [reference.com]
From the aac licensing faq [vialicensing.com] If you want to make or listen too an AAC track, you have to pay the toll (directly or indirectly). While the license is reasonable & non disriminatory - it is most certainly a proprietary format.
Re:Surely most here can agree... (Score:3, Insightful)
By your definition, there is almost no non-proprietary format in the world, except maybe Vorbis, and even that is disputable. (Xiph has a trademark on it)
Re:Surely most here can agree... (Score:2)
All of which is irrelevant; even if the iPod were the only portable audio player using the AAC standard, it wouldn't be proprietary. Non-proprietary isn't synonymous with popular, however much Microsoft would like you to believe otherwise.
Re:Surely most here can agree... (Score:2)
Huh? What on earth are you on about?
Sony is killing itself (Score:3, Insightful)
The article forgets to mention the idiotic copy restrictions that MiniDisc players have along with the mentioned ATRAC/soundstage/can't drag 'n drop files limitations. They are basically shooting themselves in the foot because the record label is paranoid about copying. Nevermind MD, whatever happened to my cheap DAT device?
If Sony wants to survive as a consumer electronics company it should split from the music label.
second that, Sony is in a death spiral (Score:4, Insightful)
Sony needs to understand that they can either be a doomed content company or a electronics company, but not both. It simply amazes me to see how hard they have tried to kill their electronics sales in the name of content. I hope it's not lost on them that all this bad will surely has an impact on all Sony products. Somebody up there is clearly out of touch. If I were a Sony share holder, I would be pissed.
Some people just don't get it.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Some people just don't get it.... (Score:2)
Re:Some people just don't get it.... (Score:2)
I cannot concieve of a situation where you would need 30 minidiscs. You'd have maybe 5 and fill them as your mood dictated.
Additionally, you aren't as likely to put a harddrive head through a platter during high impact activity with a minidisc player. (Flash is your best bet of course.)
Re:Some people just don't get it.... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Some people just don't get it.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Which is much easier on an MP3 player. Instead of filling 5 separate discs, you just set up your software to autmoatically change the contents of the HDD or Flash memory as your mood dictates. Essentially, unless you are on a desert island and don't ever go near a computer, an MP3 player has "limitless" capacity - and it is much easier to manage.
Mod parent up! (Score:2)
Re:Some people just don't get it.... (Score:2)
Just an honest question: what is this new perceived need to carry around (and be able to listen to) your own music at any time?
Is it expressing individualism, blocking out other audible stimuli or something else?
I just don't get it - I prefer to listen to the music that I enjoy and focus on it, not use it as background noise in a work environment or (worse) while walking, cycling or driving.
Re:Some people just don't get it.... (Score:2)
It's not that "new" considering the Walkman has been around in one form or another for almost 30 years.
In my case, it's because I know what I like to listen to better than the radio stations do.
Re:Some people just don't get it.... (Score:2, Funny)
Must be some kinda reverse compression system you've got going on there.
Re:Some people just don't get it.... (Score:2)
Oh noes I got teh dorkies! Nows I'll never get laid!
You are very funny.
control isssues (Score:3, Interesting)
Greed (Score:3, Insightful)
SonicStage is really bad. (Score:5, Informative)
It's seriously one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used. I ended up creating 1GB audio cd images of my mp3s and then ripping them using a less offensive piece of Sony software. But eventually, it got to the point that I just stopped making new disks and got tired of the ones I had. The NetMD player ended up in a drawer for many months until I gave it away and bought a Rio Karma.
I read a few reviews before purchasing but I figured the software couldn't be THAT bad. I was wrong. The battery life and the price of media were amazing though and it was a nice little piece of hardware for the $130 I paid.
As an aside, the player skipped whenever I kept it in my shorts pocket, it wasn't as bulletproof as I thought it would be from reading reviews. It skipped way more than my Karma but the Karma's harddrive eventually died so I maybe I unwittingly vibrate like a paintshaker or something.
It was basically what killed the MD format (Score:2)
In fact, I would go so far as to say that when all of the Sony minidisc players became NetMD-type players I stopped usi
Oh, God please save us from SonicStage... (Score:2)
I bought one of the first Sony NetMD models and as an experienced computer support professional with yea
Re:SonicStage is really bad. (Score:2)
nonsense (Score:2)
As far as durability, I have dropped my iPod anumber of times. The iPod costs less than a Minidisk player and has the capacity of multiple disks, without the hassel of carrying ext
Sigh.... (Score:2, Interesting)
If you're a musician MiniDisc is better (Score:5, Interesting)
If you want to record music and lots of it, MiniDisc is the way to go.
Leave the expensive DAT for others, a Minidisc can get you up and running with
live recording and onto CD in no time.
Im not a fan of all their Atrac stuff, nor am I a fan of Sony's constant annoying
search to create their own standard. Some day companies will learn there's more to
gain from open standards than a gamble on closed standards. Sony for instance loses
nearly every time.
Betamax, Sony Memory Stick, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.
My new Minidisc from Sony is more open than their previous models.
Works great - musicians, HiMd with Mic Input ! Great sound, on the cheap.
Lk4
Re:If you're a musician MiniDisc is better (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:If you're a musician MiniDisc is better (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:If you're a musician MiniDisc is better (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyhow, I found the world of Compact Flash recorders. You can record stereo, non-compressed, plus a lot of the recorders have XLR inputs. Good stuff.
Re:If you're a musician MiniDisc is better (Score:3, Insightful)
Works great - musicians, HiMd with Mic Input ! Great sound, on the cheap.
Lk4
I use an already owned laptop and a free copy of CDex. It supports line in recording at all your favorite bitrates. No need to buy a new piece of hardware (unless you need a RCA or 1/4 inch to 1/8th inch adaptor).
Capture to Wave or encode to MP3.
thats not why minidisks failed. (Score:3, Insightful)
oh that's rich (Score:4, Interesting)
Sure they do, if you buy unlimited discs. You could also buy more flash drives for your mp3 player and carry them around or you could be satisfied with the hour after hour of songs most mp3 players offer (4 gB with the iPod nano). To say that mini discs have unlimited storage is intelectually dishonest. That's like saying that floppy disks have unlimited storage.
Recording options (Score:2)
Is MD still the way to go? Is there a good digital audio recorder out there? What sort of microphone should I get?
Re:Recording options (Score:2)
The death of minidisc (Score:2, Informative)
1) At the time, you had to record a Minidisc from a CD at 1 to 1 speed over an optical cable. No way to rip to a PC and transfer. You could rip an mp3 at 8 to 1 speed.
2) Because you had to record from a CD, playlist management was a pain.
Until the iPod, MD was still competitive because
1) Flash players relied on memory cards which were expensive.
2) HDD players ate batteries and had crappy runtimes. And they were heavy
No, really, MD was never alive. (Score:2)
No MD-ROM.
Proprietary format.
If you want a disc, what's wrong with a 3.5 inch DVD+RW?
In the long run, no moving parts(flash) will be the obvious choice.
MD could make a comeback when Zip-Discs do.
I hate Sony but I love my MD MZ-R70... (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes there are new MD players out there. They now can record in non-compressed PCM, which only yields 15 minutes of record time per disc. However, Sony totally overcomplicated the interface with bells, whistles and a jogwheel. I couldn't figure the new one out...I will have to study TFM to figure it out for my friend Jim. The MZ-R70, however, is very easy.
I hate Sony. I really really HATE Sony. But their electronics, particularly their vintage stuff, still rocks.
HDD / Flash will win out in the end. (Score:2)
Really, storage capacity is limited to the size of the size of your pockets. And as for battery life, well, I never need to change the AA battery in my iPod... it doesn't have one. It plays for about 12 hours and odds are, it will probably find itself connected to my Powerbook before that battery runs out.
I used to think minidisk was useful as a portable reco
Quality of Sound (Score:2, Insightful)
The big failure is Sony's attempt to lock in their own lame software, restrict the functionality, and limit the use of MD. These would have been a great challenge to the Zip disks 10 years ago. Imagine being able to move data and music back and foward on a USB port.
Instead Sony tried to lock MD down, limited licenses to a few partners, and starved
Sorry I bought my HiMD (Score:5, Informative)
I've also tried to use it for playing music when I am at the gym but again the soundstage software makes it hard to import the music tracks I want.
Overall the device is mediocre for all it's published uses. This is because of the software and interface.
Missed opportunity (Score:3, Insightful)
Sony, of course, kept the MD music-only (at least in the consumer market) and the niche that they could have OWNED instead went to Iomega and their shitty ZIP ("click-of-death") carts (which were $20 apiece and held 100MB, still a great deal back then).
I'm a former MD addict and this guy's an idiot (Score:5, Informative)
1) CDs suck. There's a reason why we stopped using 5-1/4" floppies. 5" media is just too large. It doesn't fit in your hand. It doesn't fit in your pocket. Carrying a large number of them is about as fun as lugging around a coffee can.
2) CD player with optical out + MD with optical in = perfect sounding copy of a CD in a compact, sturdy package.
3) Human beings covet. They want pretty shiny objects they can hold and line up like conquests on a shelf. While some might argue their directory listing is just as sexy...it's more likely to make eyes glaze over than pop out.
4) It's nice to be able to loan someone part of your collection or make that mix tape without handing them a $300 player (remotely authorizing their computer is again, vastly unsexy as a gift)
5) My high-end MD in 1997 looked better and was smaller than any other audio player, and that includes that newfangled Rio thing that had just come out.
6) Boy, did I love being able to record long classroom lectures without losing key parts while my classmates swapped tapes.
That said, this is the year 2006 and this guy has to be a complete idiot for not realizing that the MD has an incredibly superior replacement:
FLASH MEDIA.
Your average SD card or even CF card makes an MD look like a brick. MDs are not as indestructable as this yahoo would lead you to believe. The door eventually gets flukey just like 3-1/2" floppies did. I mean, it's a moving part and (especially on compact players) takes a lot of force to slide back and forth. Once the door is bent or starts catching, you end up either removing it and fearing that you've essentially rendered the point of having a media caddy useless, or losing your $1-2 investment.
Flash media, meanwhile, is ROCK SOLID. For crying out loud, someone shot a bullet through one and still pulled off the data it. And, MD will never win awards for access times. MD was fine for a linear activity like playing a CD, but jumping tracks is also just like a CD...you wait. The only thing Sony could be doing with Hi-MD is switch to a packet-based system...which is going to be murder on fussy drive mechanics.
Yes, flash media is expensive. But you can fit the equivalent of 8 or 9 MDs on a $35 flash card. True, a 1GB MD costs a lot less but this is the same song as Zip, or Jaz or SyJet or any other removable media. And how well have they worked out? A few years from now, a 1GB removeable media will seem as antiquated as a floppy disc. Meanwhile, flash capacities will continue to grow.
The only missing part of the equation is larger selection of players where you can remove the flash media. This is how they all started out (Rio etc) and honestly, I don't know why they have fallen out of favor. It adds maybe a few dollars to the price of a couple hundred dollar player. It can do the exact same magic, but with the all the advantages I described in the above MD praise.
So I think this guy needs to wake up and smell the present. I still think my 400 MDs look pretty as hell, and evey now and then I'll relax somewhere with my faithful Sony. And if I ever need to record 300 minutes of speaking, it's still the only thing I use. But the music that's on those 400MDs is now held on a portable hard drive and whenever I have a need to share it, I just copy it over to a USB thumbdrive. If I was still a Sony guy, it would be a MemoryStick. Maybe someday Apple will decide to bless a certain form of flash media like Sony has with the PSP but until then, my target platform is still the laptop.
So, while I can appreciate the romance involved in the MD, it's over. There are smaller, faster, sturdier and ($/MB) cheaper options. He can tilt against windmills if he wants to but, I'm ready to look forward to 8GB, 16GB and 32GB flash devices.
-JoeShmoe
.
MD locks me out of my own music (Score:5, Interesting)
I loved the idea of MD, but I hate, absolutely seethe with hate, to let Sony abridge my copyrights by putting DRM and copy-limitations on my work, just because I chose to use their cheap media. No thanks. CF-recorders may start at the $400 price point, but at least they don't seek to lock me out of my own work.
I really don't care how badly Sony wants to control things. When they try to control *MY* work, I tend to get very, very upset.
Re:MD locks me out of my own music (Score:2)
A case for MP3 playing CD players (Score:4, Interesting)
1.) These devices are cheap. Cheap as in, you can buy a CD player that can play MP3s at walmart for $25. These players are much cheaper than the flash/HDD MP3 players making them much more accessible to people who don't want to break the bank on something they won't use every day.
2.) The media is much cheaper than the Mini Discs. Most players can even read from CD-RWs. The cheap media is also a plus over the priceier MDs. (Your "unlimited storage" costs less; MDs don't come on spindles of 100 last time I checked.) You can also play your music in a computer if you wanted to using CDs rather than MDs.
3.) You can use MP3s! You don't need to transcode to Sony's format. But some people will probably want to reencode lower bit rate MP3s anyway.
Summary: Cheaper, non-proprietary, works with your existing hardware and software, some players have excellent battery life.
true advantages over mp3-cd? iPod? (Score:4, Interesting)
45 hours on 1 GB? that's 53kbps... 1 GB (1GiB) is still 18 hours @ 128kbps.
One disk costs EUR 7.00, so here's a little price comparison for people who want an mp3-player (and don't use the recording or video functions) (all prices in Euro's):
1 GB iPod Nano: EUR 159
1 GB hi-MD: 150 + 1*7 = 157 : roughly the same price
2 GB iPod Nano: EUR 209
2 GB hi-MD: 150 + 2*7 = 164 : MD is the best choice, but the iPod has no moving parts.
4 GB iPod Nano: EUR 259
4 GB hi-MD: 150 + 4*7 = 178.00 : MD is the best choice, but the iPod has no moving parts.
Here's the gap between occasional music listeners and music lovers. Non-existing market according to Apple. You either have a handful or a lot of cd's. My iPod 3G 15GB is too big for most people while I can't even put half of my collection on it. Maybe the hi-MD could fill this gap up.
30GB iPod: EUR 329
30GB hi-MD: 150 + 30*7 = 360 : iPod is better
60GB iPod: EUR 439
60GB hi-MD: 150 + 60*7 = 570 : iPod is better
Add to that the ease of selecting playlists (of any size you want, not limited to 1GB) instead of carrying a wallet with md's around, and I don't see why I should buy a hi-MD recorder. The only advantage over mp3-cd players is the size.
Another thing, if you want certain songs on multiple playlists (disks) with the hi-MD player, you need to copy them on multiple disks, decreasing the actual capacity even further. On my iPod I have a couple of similar ("all music", "best", "hard", "easy",
Before the
He forgets DCC [wikipedia.org]
Now, I think that that is a pointless battle: you won't beat Apple in its current winning mood. Forget it. It ain't gonna happen.
True.
Cognitive dissonance (Score:4, Funny)
TFA is way off base (Coming from a Mini-disc user) (Score:3, Insightful)
First off, durability. I dropped my minidisc player exactly once... and that was the end of it. There is something to be said about all of those mechanical parts, from the ejector mechanism to the laser head reader, etc etc. Thing never played again.
He quotes unlimited storage space... in case 60 gigs isn't enough for you. This same argument could be made for MP3 CDs, which hold almost as much as the 1 gig minidiscs, and are a whole hell of a lot cheaper and easier to find. Either case, nobody wants to carry the stupid things around all over the place.
He comments on how MD users expect high quality but that they put up with SonicStage (and ATRAC/MP3 only recordings)
The author obviously has an illogical bias towards this particular media. To be honest I think the whole thing reeks of fanboy-ism.
Some of these MD guys are in denial (Score:4, Interesting)
2GB SD costs $50 (slickdeals.net/techbargains.com) and nowadays flash MP3 players are dirt cheap, tiny, durable, and feature-rich. Minidisc players have slow access times, inferior interfaces, and cumbersome transfer procedures.
Most people do not want to deal with the hassle of juggling dozens if not hundreds of discs to carry a large collection. A 1.5-ounce 4GB flash player can carry a decent amount of tunes. And there are 60GB hdd-based players coming in at under 5 ounces that are slower than flash, but faster then MD (and are reasonably durable).
He makes one good point: Sony should've used a backward-MD-compatible disc in the PSP. Otherwise his post is simply an example of someone blinded by years of frothing-at-the mouth fanboyism.
My little story (Score:4, Interesting)
The next couple of years saw the release of Iomega Zip drive at 100Mb and was a worldwide smash selling millions of units while the Sony MD limped on like some forgotten part of evolution. They could have taken that market in 1991 but obviously didn't fit in with their music division plans - such a shame.
Of course now, Sony has a unreliable and unattractive reputation in pro-audio and is going nowhere whereas when I started (end of 80s) Sony Broadcast ruled the whole business. Basically a company in decline not helped by different divisions actually competing with each other.
Re:Wait, (Score:2)
Re:Wait, (Score:2)
Yes, Sony developed the spec, but this isn't betamax. There's a whole bunch of companies behind it.
http://www.blu-raydisc.com/general_information/Sec tion-14009/Index.html [blu-raydisc.com]
Am I the only one who's tired of knee-jerk Sony-bashing? Yes, they've fucked-up on a few things, but there's no need to crucify them.
Re:Wait, (Score:2)
Re:Wait, (Score:2)
I know the score.
But that doesn't mean I can't complain.
Re:Wait, (Score:2)
There's a difference between "fucking-up a few things," and fucking-up almost every single format they've ever tried to introduce, while simultaneously screwing over their customers with DRM on purpose. That kind of behavior is limited to a "special" (in the same sense as "special education") kind of company, and provides a clear enough pattern that, like Microsoft, we can
Re:Karma Dispenser Post (Score:2)
So, yes, I'll respond to your post.
Re:Karma Dispenser Post (Score:2)
Re:People actually still care about minidisc? (Score:2)
However, now, there are so many better solutions, and they either use Hard Drives or Compact Flash. Marantz, Edirol, Fostex to name a few. I own a Marantz unit for the last two years and the thing is amazing....