MiniDiscs: The Future Is Now!

[nate]

in practical use the MZ-M200 isn't as cool as it looks. the eject button is easy to hit, volume buttons are hard to feel in your pocket. it also seems a bit delicate compared to other HiMD units. I don't really like to take it out of the house. I also never liked the wired remotes on any of the MD units and didn't use them except if I was set up recording off the comp.

the NH1 is a great one for walking around though, you can change the speed of playback to match your walking pace (not that I ever used that) mine died and I sold it + it's cradle for over $50 I think..it was a while back. but I was surprised how much i got for it considering it was dead.

I wonder what would happen if I hooked my MZ-M200 to my PS3 ?

I would dig in dash MD but nobody made a HiMD car unit.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

my friend's dad has an in-dash MD player in his jeep cherokee.

WANT!!!

Then again I'd need to actually go out and buy a car first.....

[Weekend_Warrior]

Buddy I just bought a deck for the first time two weeks ago and was born in 1992. I could care less what MD's sounded like 17 years ago compared to today's MD's and plan on listening to MD's using modern software and modern MD hardware.

Well, good luck. Hi-MD's are getting more and more difficult to find in stores. Best Buy and Guitar Center may be the only places I know of that might still carry them. But eventually they will be discontinued. The MP3 and WAV player/recorder markets are just too strong. Minidisc may have revolutionized portable recording for concerts and sound effects. But the modern MP3 and WAV recorders are becoming much more affordable and provide a lot of advantages over MD. Not having any moving parts would be the biggest advantage.

Also if there are ever any issues wit older junk data being left behind (which is honestly impossible given the nature of the format and how it handles the data, remember DAT Tapes and MD DISC'S are different technologies by a very VERY wide margin.) I could just run a format with my deck or the software on my PC and permanently wipe my disc to 100% clean status.

That was not possible in 1992. As for deck formatting, can't you only do that once?

Another thing to remember is that MD's unlike DAT's never actually make contact with the laser or magnetic head on the player compared to DAT's which rub the tape along a spinning head like VHS tapes causing physical wear and thus errors to the tape inside of a DAT.

Different formats, different rules.

It wasn't a direct comparison. And yes, I'm well aware of the DAT format and how it works. Thanks

[elvis]

Exactly, it wasn't until 2006 when Sony launched the MZ-M200 Hi-MD player with support for use as a flash drive/floppy type hotplugged storage unit, multiple formats natively with hardware instead of software, included all the accessories that people would want and then some, but then again like Sony usually does they shot themselves in the foot by selling it at an obscene price. I'd have already bought an MZ-M200 if it didn't retail for what it does, even on the second hand market it's price refuses to come down.

It wasn't Sony's first-party price per se, but rather the lack of third-party devices that was the problem.

People still buy obscenely priced Sony gear (I bought a Bravia LCD TV recently despite many other cheaper brands on the market), but it's only a small percentage of the market who do. For mass market penetration you need multi vendors at multiple feature/quality/price points (for every Bravia sold, there are hundreds of no-name brand crappy LCD TVs sold). Even one vendor covering all price points isn't good enough, and that's what Sony was missing when it came to MD gaining mass-market appeal.

I think even if Sony had sold low-end, cheap MD units, it wouldn't have taken off. What was needed was other manufacturers to implement the standard. Again, the only reason BluRay succeeded where MiniDisc failed was the fact that it was more than just Sony pushing the standard.

It's clear Sony's executive board learned their lesson from last time, and has seen the benefit in licensing their media formats out, rather than keeping them as proprietary as their hardware. And even then, they are changing their approach to the secrecy in their hardware (and the software that runs on it) too.

[t0yrobo]

At least near the end there were some cheap md players. Mine cost $80 if I'm remembering right. They didn't seem to be marketed very well though, I only knew of them because a friend of mine got one from a friend of his. For something like that to be successful you need to rope in the idiot teeny boppers who don't know jack, something that Apple is really great at.

[xxstatic]

Funny.....first time I saw a PSP I thought to myself...finally Sony found another use for the MD....

[lisalover1]

I've been curious about obscure, outdated media storage medium lately; I have no idea why. In particular, I wish I could get my hands on a Laseractive as a laserdisc player. I'm just not willing to spend thousands for one.

[nate]

there's lots of used and new sealed MD's on ebay..alot of the used MD are full of music too and often people list what they have by ebay rules they should be erased but they arn't. so possibly a decent way to get some free music too.

also Panasonic, Sharp Kenwood JVC and Alpine made MD player/recorders.

search Alpine Minidisc and you'll find some Alpine equalizers with a drop down face and a slot for an MD. I'm sure I've seen an in dash 3 MD changer too, not to mention a larger capacity MD changer for the trunk.

using an MZ-M200 for a portable drive just seems silly though...it's just 1gb. I mean, MD's are cool but functionality is kinda lame considering flash.

[Haoie]

Feels like 1995 all over again, huh?

[General Chaos]

My brother and I were pretty big into MiniDiscs. I've got two players, actually. One is a Sony sport model that I used to use when running and the other is a "nicer" version (can't remember the model). I still think they're just about the coolest thing.