MD or MP3?

[unxpurg8d]

ROFL Killbat....funnily enough I mentioned my MD player to someone on here, and his response was something like "great, now you can talk about them with Killbat, but of course by now he'll have hacked HIS into a nuclear-powered supermachine".

 

[pillage2001]

MD players rule!

I have a R90 myself and never regretted getting it at all. Forget about buying memory cards for crazy prices and get the disc for $2. The quality?? Do I have to say more? DIGITAL.

As for Mp3 CD players, they are way too bulky for my liking.

 

[unxpurg8d]

Honestly if I didn't have the stereo that records three CDs to three MDs with one push of a button I probably would be too lazy to bother hooking up my recorder and making MDs. I use MusicMatch to burn CDs with converted MP3s then pop 'em into the stereo, hit the button, and come back when they're done recording to MD.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I say MP3 player, because I can DL the entire Howard Stern Show from the newsgroups and fit it onto my Creative Nomad II MG for a day of airline travel!

If Sony makes an MD player that can play MP3s (thus permitting a single MD to fit hundreds of MBs of MP3s), it will own the market.

 

[Killbat]

Ppfft, I've got eight mix discs recorded, with one disc that I often update one or two songs at a time. (moving, deleting, totally dynamic, very neat)

LOL! Who said that, unxpurg8d? That cracks me up for some reason. It is nuclear-powered, but it's not aquatic yet.


[edit] Ooops, I did forget to mention most MDs' outstanding sound quality. I don't know where they found the DACs for these players, but it must've been an enchanted, golden cave or some damn unearthly place.

 

[sookaa]

without a shadow of a doubt MD is the way to go....


i went into a store to get an mp3 player and the sales guy had me look at an md player, i was hooked

perfect sound, an amazing 15 hours on my sony unit, no skip ever, super cheap media....just all around better in every way I feel


sookaa

 

[hpkeeper]

I have a minidisc player and I rarely use it... mostly because it takes forever to write them onto the disc because you have to play the entire song. MP3 players are great because it's a file... not a song, it plays the file... so you load the file on without playing the entire song, yet it is hard to find MP3's, unless you convert them yourself from the CD's you own. You can put any type of music on a minidisc player because it records sound. My advice is to get an MP3 player, you may have a harder time getting the songs, but it loads faster, which is a plus in my book.

 

The mp3 playing cd players ARE nice.
And you can fit lots of mp3s on 1 cd.
But, I dont like the size of cdplayers OR cds.
Minidiscs are just tiny, plain and simple.

 

[unxpurg8d]

Again, I'm pointing out Aiwa 3 CD to 3 MD at one button push Stereo for $149 just for you, hpkeeper.


Geeeeeeeeez....I think I'm gonna email those people and ask for a kickback!! LOL

Really though, with that and the Sharp minidisc player they've got for $80 on there you can have a nice little multipurpose setup for around $260. That stereo's got the best FM tuner in it I've heard in a shelf system. The being able to record three MDs at a time feature is what makes the MD format so great.

 

[pillage2001]

Well said sammyson.

 

[BigSmooth]

People who are saying the current MP3 CD players are bulky are correct. That is already improving, though.

JollyRoger, the MP3 CD player I have can play up to 320 KBps MP3s (including variable bitrate ones) and can use ID3 tags, and it was $200. You're right about the shock protection, though... I can beat my MD player with a sledgehammer and it will not skip. Not so with the MP3 CD player.

MDs themselves being physically smaller than CDs kind of loses its luster when you can fit 10 times as many songs on an MP3 CD as opposed to an MD. 5 MP3 CDs could have, say, 1000 songs, which would require around 40-50 MDs. And MDs are thicker than CDs, so my Case Logic 24-MD case isn't much less bulky than my 48-CD case. There are so many existing storage solutions for CDs and CD players that you can find something you like.

I also agree that the sound quality can definitely be better with MD (mmmm.... ATRAC...) but if you download/rip better quality MP3s, you're just not going to hear that much of a difference.

 

[Redwingsguy]

go MD!!! Shearer has some killer portable MD recorders/players especially the MT-77!! I'm saving up to buy it from him!

the MT-77 has a USB cradle that hooks up to your computer and can transfer Sound(like a USB soundcard) and labels!!(labeling was a pain in the arse before!)

All for just $355 bones, cheaper than that damn memory stick!

 

[GoSharks]

well, i'll just say that md units are built much better than the mp3cd players. the mds are mostlikely built in japan, and are made of 90% metal. the mp3 cd players, the are most likely to be made in china or some other country where they are not know for build quality. also, the cd players are plastic, which hurts thier durabilty.

having a metal md is cool

 

[Zoson]

So the MP3 CD players skip a lot? Anyone know about the Sony MZ-E900 MD Player? Is it good?
-Zoson

 

[Nutcase99]

MP3 player!! Get the Phillips eXpendium! It's a cd player that plays mp3s that are burned onto cdrs!!

So now whats cheaper? CDRs? or MDs?

 

[ETLA]

I have both,, I think both are nice....MP3 you don't have to carry stuff...MD you need to carry some kind of bag but anyhow I think MP3 players are better I have NOMAD2 it's nice and have FM radio too

 

[xtreme2k]

MD is more of a "Japanese" product whereas MP3 is more of an "American" product. Thatz why it wasnt be pushed enough in the States.

In my Opinion, MD owns MP3 player. MD might be slightly bigger but the fact that MiniDiscs are so freaking cheap that you can buy so many of them. I personally have about 200MD. How many smart media/compact flash will you buy? I doubt you will buy more than 128MB since they are so damn expensive.

 

[xtreme2k]

Also, MiniDisc just looks good overall. Japanese are best at designing stuff really. An average MD remote controller (and the player itself) looks 10 times better than any MP3 player. Also, talk about battery life. My Kenwood Play-back only play last 55hours on like 2 batteries. I see those Mp3 player straggling to make it pass 20hrs.

MP3 CD Player are irrelevent to this topic.

 

[randomlinh]

ah.. the good ol' MD/MP3 debate. For me, anything CD player like is outta the question because of size. I don't care if I can have 1000 songs, thats a pain to sift through if i'm looking to find something specific.

Here's what i've been through:
Rio300 (MP3, 32MB)
Rave2000 (MP3, 64MB)
Sony Deck/Player Combo (MD)
A different sony Player (MD)
Kenwood cd player (CD)
Nomad II (MP3, 64MB)
Sharp MT15 (MD).. this has yet to arrive, bought it from someone here.

For me, I just like the MD technology. And with mp3, 64MB is 1-2hrs, depending on how I compress it. And it actually worked well for me at school, walking around, listening to music... changing every few days.
Why go back to MD? I never really got a chance to make a bunch of discs, and I found recently it would have been very handy. As if I go anywhere w/o a computer (mine specifically), i can't change music on my mp3 player. Yes, the 1x time will be annoying, the reason i got rid of my set in the first place, but if i make some premade ones instead of shuffling 3 discs like i did before (was too keen on the whole mp3 thing at the time), i think it'd be ok. plus, i love them little discs.

Pricewise, I think either one is just as expensive. With the really cool MD's on the very high end, those things are expensive....

 

[wake]

MD's are great, extremely versative, re-recordable, compact.
If you like listening to the same thing over and over, MD is for you.

But if you have the time to download/convert mp3s, and want to have practically unlimited storage capacity, go for the MP3 player.

When affordable 72GB MP3 players come out next year, you may regret having purchased an MD player.

 

[lagvoid]

i would want a mp3 palyer IF they were cheaper and they could hold more songs...because the ones that hold lots of songs are soo expensive i would go md

 

[Huma]

I passed on mp3 players because of cost of media for the compact ones, and size of unit for the cd based ones.

since the MD had small, cheap media, it won. Sound on my mz-r70 is excellent. I just need to get better/smaller headphones. I'm trying to grab some sony mdrex70lp's now. Super comfortable in the ear canal style ear plug type.

 

[Redwingsguy]

MP3 players really cant hold that much sound yet still! Say on the Rio500 you upgrade to 128megs, but most of my mp3's are in 320kps so I'd be SOL, probably fit 30mins?

 

[dcdomain]

What unxpurg8d said. I own both... been in the minidisc community for a while, picked up a Nomad II when it came out... piece of crap... too light and cheap feeling for my tastes. Gave it to my bro who digs it. So to each his own. But I'll tell you what, MD's are mad cheap like the others said. I own like 50 of them, my bro? He owns one smart media disk. Well two, but he never uses the 32mb one... Perhaps if you have a digital camera already that uses the same media, it wouldn't matter as much...

 

[SSP]

MP3 players suck. 32MB once at least. Not enough space to store a lot of songs. I've used both, and MD have better quality (you have to use 128bit MP3's to save space... so there goes quality [more like kuality ]).