portable MP3 player or MiniDisc?

[beatmix01]

I am in the market for some sort of portable music device. I have been looking at either 256-512 meg solid state mp3 players and MiniDisc players and I am torn between the two. Both have their ups and downs. Please help me decide!!!

 

[T3C]

Mp3

 

[x3m]

mp3

why? Don't need any discs, don't need to record in 1x or be forced to use some crappy progg to record (Net MD), usable as portable harddrive, smaller.

 

[beatmix01]

ok the mp3 players i am looking at are not name brands the two i am look at are the following....

256 meg MP3

512 meg MP3

 

[GaryShandling]

Originally posted by: beatmix01
ok the mp3 players i am looking at are not name brands the two i am look at are the following....

256 meg MP3

512 meg MP3

Both fugly as hell....go sony.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

CD-based MP3 player. If you must go solid, go hard drive.

- M4H

 

[johngalt9999]

It really depends on your usage. if mass storaqe, fast transfere rate is your top priority , then HD based mp3 player is the choice. However, if you prefer a better sound quailty, and would like to use live sound recording (concert, college lectures) then minidisc would be your pick.

I have an ipod (15 gig , v 2.0) which i love, but the battery life just suxor, last about 5 hrs max (instead of the 8 hrs on the specs sheet from apple). But its transferre rate is just freaking unbelieveable. I also have two minidisc player/recorders (MDLP veriosn and a new sony netmd Mzn -10). the design of minidisc player is very sophisicated and have a very exterior quaility (magnisum alloy ). the size of the player is smaller than ipod. The remote on the minidisc is what attracted me to purchase my first minindisc (sharp md-mt 770), it is functional and COOL.

 

[GnomeCop]

Just get an mp3 player. If you wanted to go the minidisc route, you wouldn't be contemplating this decision, you would've already bought an MD player.

 

[50]

Mp3...if your worried about size get the new RCA lyra 1 gb cheap Mp3 player when it comes out

 

[beatmix01]

ok here the reason i am concerned.. i dont want to go hard drive based. I already have a creative nomad jukebox. I'm looking for something that bast fits when say working out/ biking/ rollerblading

 

[Hankysmoo]

definitely mp3 player then

 

[bigshooter]

i use a minidisc player even though I have to record in real time. I normally just hook it up to my laptop when i go to bed and it's done an hour later (not a big deal since I'm asleep). I only use it for working out, so I don't change the music up a lot, i normally just have some old school stuff we used to lift to in high school, metallica anyone? minidisc's are cheap, and if you buy a little pouch for your player, you can carry 3 or 4 discs with you. That's a lot more music than you can carry on an mp3 player. The newer ones even come with a cradle that you can copy music over at high speed with, plus you can use 4x (or maybe higher) compression. I haven't played with this, but it claims you can fit 320 minutes of music on a minidisc and transfer at up to 32x or 64x depending on the model. This means you could copy a 72 minute cd over in a little over a minute. Cost between a decent 128meg mp3 player and a good minidisc player is about the same as well. Probably won't change your mind, but i thought I would give you some information to give you an option.

 

[Corporate Thug]

IPOD!

 

[Eug]

10 GB iPod

 

[johngalt9999]

if you want to use it mainly for workout, then get a non-hd based mp3 player, since u probably only need 128 mb of space . ipod is just too expensive to carry around for workout purpose. I would never carry my ipod in a gym.

 

[tdawg]

Originally posted by: bigshooter
The newer ones even come with a cradle that you can copy music over at high speed with, plus you can use 4x (or maybe higher) compression. I haven't played with this, but it claims you can fit 320 minutes of music on a minidisc and transfer at up to 32x or 64x depending on the model. This means you could copy a 72 minute cd over in a little over a minute.

1) Any high speed copying quoted by Sony is only applicable if all your MP3's are converted to ATRAC format. If not, then the player has to convert tracks to ATRAC format, which is what all minidisc players record in. From what I've heard, transfer/record times are very slow if your music has to be converted to ATRAC first.

2) Sony says minidiscs play MP3's, etc., but what it should say is that it's software is capable of converting most formats into their proprietary format (ATRAC). So when you transfer songs to a minidisc, you're actually recording them to the disc in ATRAC format.

3) Sony's security methods are very restrictive. You have to check songs in and out of your music library and you can only check out 3 copies of a song at a time. Also, for some stupid reason, the new minidisc players (NetMD) no longer allow you to move or delete tracks from the disc through the player. Any editing of a disc must be done by the software on your computer. This essentially makes minidiscs nothing more than solid-state mp3 player memory cards, but they aren't solid state.

4) You can fit up to 320 minutes on one disc using the 4x compression mode, but from everything I've heard, any music recorded at this compression is horrible. However, the 2x compression sounds as good as MP3's, from my experience.

I really wanted a minidisc player when I was looking for a portable music player, but after reading all the cons of the NetMD minidisc recorders, I decided to go with an MP3 player. They are much easier to use, there are no security issues, and solid-state MP3 players never skip. I decided to go with the Ipod when I found it for a good deal and ended up trading up to the new model that came out this year. It's not solid-state, but the capacity more than makes up for it. Playlists can be generated on the fly now, and you can choose from every song in your music collection (size permitting), so you can listen to any song you want whenever you want. And the best part is you never have to change memory cards, discs, etc. For what it's worth, I strongly vote for an Ipod; you'll wonder how you lived without it once you have it.

More generally, though, I recommend an MP3 player over a Minidisc player.

tdawg

 

[farmercal]

Jeeze! I wanted the same thing for working out...I just bought a Panasonic SL-MP80 CD player that was capable of playing MP3's on a CDRW. It is very light, fit's nicely into the little case I bought, holds a lot of music in MP3 format and no matter how much I move it DOESN'T skip. I never have to carry extra CD's because the one disc holds more than I can listen to in the hour and half time that I work out. Hey - it works for me.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

For that much money you can go into a Best Buy and buy something much better at a lower price. Also, don't be keen of buying it with t hat much space, get one that is good even if its 32MB as long as it has an expansion slot, then just buy a stick of memory for it.

 

[FishTankX]

Originally posted by: beatmix01
I am in the market for some sort of portable music device. I have been looking at either 256-512 meg solid state mp3 players and MiniDisc players and I am torn between the two. Both have their ups and downs. Please help me decide!!!

I can state the advantages of minidisc players versus flash.. please bear with me.

Minidisc

Pros

Startling battery life
Cheap Media
(With an optical dubbing card) Incredible sound quality
Better sound quality than the majority of the MP3 players out there
Incredible durability (My Friends Minidisc player actually fell in a lake, and after some extensive drying, came out Okay!)

Cons

Heavier than the majority of the flash players out there.
Radio enabled units either more expensive or heavier than MP3 radio enabled units
With NetMD, you decrease the sound quality of the respective MP3 because you're adding Mp3 and ATRAC3 artifacts together. My experience is if you're dubbing with NetMD, use as high a quality Mp3s as possible.

MP3 flash

Compatibility with the majority of your MP3s (VBR is something that trips up a few players, though)
Light weight
inexpensive if lower capacity

Cons
Low battery life
Capacity upgrades are very expensive
Sound quality can be pretty bad, depending on brand.

 

[Sunner]

I just bought a new MP3 player.
Some quick specs:
Size is 80x10x25 mm.
Weighs about 35 grams.
Built in battery, lasts 10-15 hours, charges automatically when connected to a computer.
256 MB space.
Built in filemanager.
FM radio.
Very good soundquality for such a small device.

I don't see the point of MD players anymore, for mass storage, I'd get an iPod, for stuff like the gym, I got this one

 

[FishTankX]

Originally posted by: Sunner
I just bought a new MP3 player.
Some quick specs:
Size is 80x10x25 mm.
Weighs about 35 grams.
Built in battery, lasts 10-15 hours, charges automatically when connected to a computer.
256 MB space.
Built in filemanager.
FM radio.
Very good soundquality for such a small device.

I don't see the point of MD players anymore, for mass storage, I'd get an iPod, for stuff like the gym, I got this one

One of the 'Points' of MD is music swapping. The removable media is so cheap that it allows for alot of things you couldn't normally do.

 

[johngalt9999]

lcd remote on a mp3 player with recharable lithium ion battery will be the death of minidisc, but until then mp3 players still lack some of the above charkz

 

[Nebor]

My MP3 player uses a lithium ion rechargable battery. it's about 2.5 inches long, and removes from the player to hook into an included wall adapter. I also have an LCD remote for my mp3 player, which was included. It's the Samsung 700 series. I have 128mb on board, and 128mb flash cards. I never use the thing though, and it cost a lot when I Bought it. About 300 bucks.

 

[ripthesystem]

Originally posted by: Sunner
I just bought a new MP3 player.
Some quick specs:
Size is 80x10x25 mm.
Weighs about 35 grams.
Built in battery, lasts 10-15 hours, charges automatically when connected to a computer.
256 MB space.
Built in filemanager.
FM radio.
Very good soundquality for such a small device.

I don't see the point of MD players anymore, for mass storage, I'd get an iPod, for stuff like the gym, I got this one

So which one did you get Sunner... or did I miss it.?

 

[casio3476]

I have an older sony minidisc player (mz-r700) this unit does not have the high speed burning features of the newer netMD units, however it is an excellent piece of machinery.

Sound quality is more than acceptable in stereo and LP2 modes, and LP4 mode is acceptable if you are recording from the radio or through a microphone.


There are ways around Sony's restrictive DRMs on a few NetMD devices, one guy found a way to use NERO as a burning program, this enables the Minidisc to use many other formats not avaible through sony's software. I cant find the website now...



minidisc info

Also, the media is very cheap. Would you rater lose a $2 disc or a $50 flash card?