MD or MP3?

[Zoson]

MiniDisc or Mp3 Player?
Which are better? Pros? Cons?
Personal prefrences?

 

[RSI]

None, and be content with what you have.

-RSI

 

[jAcKeL]

lol yeah wtf u greedy bastid!!!

 

[xtreme2k]

MiniDisc

 

[Zoson]

Why minidisc over mp3 player?

 

[unxpurg8d]

Minidiscs are WAY cheaper than either compact flash or smartmedia. You can trade 'em with your friends and not have to sweat the other guy losing it 'cause it was only $1 or so. They're rerecordable so a few will go a long way. Minidisc recorder/players are about as cheap as MP3 players now and not much bigger.


Want the rest of the list?

 

[Killbat]

MiniDisc media is cheeeeeeeaaaap. 74 minutes for $2.
Don't let people tell you that the real-time (1x) recording is a pain, because once you've loaded up a bunch of $2 discs, you don't need to reload anything. They're really hard to make skip (trust me) and battery life is nothing to sneeze at either, I get 7 hours with beat-up Radio Shack rechargables.

 

[unxpurg8d]

Killbat, have you seen the Aiwa stereo that has the five MD carousel in it? LOL if you haven't you're the only MD champion I haven't bugged into going and looking at it, I think.

 

[Killbat]

No, but I saw a three CD - three MD stereo at Service Merchadise a while back. For those occasions when you need to batch-record CDs.

 

[Zoson]

Cool, so MD is way better than mp3 player. I heard that there was a longplay md feature now that allowed for more than 72 minutes to be recorded onto an md? this true?
-Zoson

 

[Killbat]

I've read about a new MD format that can be double the length in stereo (joint) and even more in mono.

Why not do some reading HERE.

 

[unxpurg8d]

Aiwa MD/CD stereo system


LOVE this thing. One of the best toys I've picked up for myself.

 

[StageLeft]

For me minidisc sucks - so do the MP3 players - most of them anyway. THe new ones that play MP3 CDs are excellent though; thats what you want. www.nomadworld.com

 

[unxpurg8d]

Skoorb, the problem with those is that they're not very compact. MD players are much smaller and lighter. Oh. AND cheaper.

 

[Zoson]

what about that hard drive based mp3 player??? i read an article @ tomshardware that u could mod it to a 20 gb hd... it didn't look too difficult either... hell, i don't know where i would get enough mp3's to fill up the stock 6.4gb hd...

 

[Zoson]

So since MD's are so good, and have so much more benefits over mp3... howcome they arn't being pushed more over here in the US?

 

[Killbat]

That's a good question. Maybe MD is still suffering from price shock. They were introduced with outrageous prices. Plus, I suppose MD doesn't really "integrate" with the Internet-enabled PC that's so popular now.

 

[unxpurg8d]

Killbat, with an optical out capable motherboard it is. I think you're right though, the prices were SO insane when they came out that everyone still avoids them like the plague, and stores aren't carrying them now because they didn't sell well in the beginning. I have numerous MP3 players, and they're all collecting dust because the MD player is just so much easier and cheaper to use.

 

[Killbat]

Optical capable what? I did this, works like a CHARM! Super-cheap TOSlink

 

[kami]

I picked up a cheap D-Link mp3 player for $45 on sale. I would have never bought it if it wasn't so cheap but it's actually pretty nice. Good quality sound, it has an EQ, and good battery life. I would never pay regular price for it though.

 

[xPANAFOEx]

md because its cheaper

 

[beat mania]

MD players' sound output system is WAY ahead of those cheap mp3 players. I'm not talking about how ATRAC is like 270kbps or how you can record 5 320kbps mp3s on a SM, I'm talking about the actual hardware itself.
MD unit prices came down a lot recently also.

But I also have the nomad jukebox, with a 20GB hd, and I still haven't managed to fill up that sucker yet. I use it in the car and office.

I think my combination of HD mp3 + portable MD is perfect. I'm never without my favorite music. So to answer your question, why not both?

 

Minidisc owns joo.
They are VERY nice.
Media is cheap. And SMALL. And easy to record and erase.
The memory sticks are expensive, so its hard to carry say... 5 different mixes with you. Without draining your wallet.
And if you like break, burn, lose, drop, permanatly lend it to someone without them asking, or anyother bad thing.
Then your only out like 2 bucks, mabey 3 at most.
Its just so wikkid.
AND the ability in most cases to record on the spot.
With mic or optical or analog in.
Useful.
I thought about a MP3 player. But the media prices detered me.
So I picked up a SB Live Drive 2 for optical out.
And now tossing a mp3 on the MD is easy as say 3 clicks.
Ive yet to skip this sony mz-r70.
Id say go minidisc.

 

[BigSmooth]

I own a minidisc deck and portable, and I recently got an MP3 CD player (the portable kind). I have to say, for convenience, the MP3 CD Player rules. You can fit hundreds of songs on one CD and you can burn as many CDs as you want, and they are dirt-cheap. You can even use CD-RWs if you want to rerecord over old stuff. You can burn a CD in less than 20 minutes, while to make enough minidiscs to hold 200 songs would take a looooong time. And although they have some good points, I don't think the solid-state MP3 players compare because the media is SO expensive.

I loved my minidiscs for a while there, and MD still has some advantages right now, such as much better anti-shock, battery life, price, etc., but I think that those things will improve in the MP3 CD players. I would say Minidiscs are still better than MP3 players, but MP3 CD players are the best IMO.

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Ok, here is my Humble Opinion. I own a MiniDisc deck. For a long time I have been recording MP3's to MD in real time over my sound card. I have had excellent results. Only drawback is that I'm an impatient f*ck, so rarely do I sit down and compile MD's. The cool thing is that they are completely rewritable. I've been hesitating to buy an MP3 player simply because of the sheer cost and I don't like the idea of memory being the media. Too limited. However there are new MP3 players that play MP3's from a CDR/RW. I can assure you I'll be investing in one of these very soon. I can really get behind the idea of having 160 songs on one Disc, not to mention the ability to play regular CD's too. These players are pretty expensive though. About $370 for a decent one that can handle high bit rates and has a good shock memory. On the flip side. I paid $240 for my portable MD player/recorder. Bout the only thing I use it for is hooking up a Mic and recording guitar licks.

As far as media goes...

Lets see, I can get a 20 pack of MD's at Circuit City for $38.00, or I can get a 100 stack of CDR's off of the net for about the same price.

I can put about 16-20 songs on a MD, but I can put 140-160 MP3's on a CDR.

You do the math.

I think the extra 100 bucks to get one of the new CD/MP3 players is worth the investment.
But do your self a favor. Run a search, do some homework, and find out which one is the best for you. Some of them offer more features but are limited to a certain bitrate. Others have better playback quality but lack nice touches like a remote control, or built in recharging circuit. There are actually quite a few makes and models out there if you are willing to go digging for them.


Oh one more thing. As far as size is concerned, they are comparable to the early Discman's.

My .02
JR..