possible hot deal? Sony MiniDisc player, connects to USB and downloads MP3 from PC

[jhassi]

check it out click on minidisc to the left, scroll down to MZ-R37SPPC

They're selling a different one at Circuit city, the MZ-R70PC for $250 (funny, it's only $230 directly from Sony). The circuit city ad says "Portable MiniDisc Player/Recorder with Remote. Includes interface cable to record MP3 flies and USB port for fast downloads." MZR70PCBLUE

My question is: how many mp3s can a minidisc hold and how fast does the USB transfer? The max rate of USB is 1.5 megabyte (12MBit) per second, which is roughly 8x in CD terms. If this thing holds close to 150 songs (like a mp3 cd) and it transfers at the max 12MBit and it allows the adding/deleting of specific songs (like portable SmartMedia/CF mp3 players) this could be a very hot deal, especially since adding "memory" to the thing would only require popping in a new minidisc.

Last I heard MiniDisc uses a compression scheme similar to mp3 so the MiniDiscs are really 650megs, they're like 200 or something, which would kill the deal for me.

The problem with portable mp3 cd players is that I don't think you can delete a single song from a CD-RW and add a new one, can you? I don't think so, that would require something like DirectCD or the likes. Without that feature it means to add a song to a mp3 cd-rw you have to erase the entire disc and write all the songs again, extremely time consuming.

 

[Dx-treme]

where is the hot deal ? wrong forum you idi0t

 

[kimdani1]

I think you need to read about the fundamentals of minidisc. The question is not how many mp3's will fit on a minidisc. It's a matter of how long the minidisc is. A 74 minute minidisc will fit 74 minutes of music. That's the general idea. With the new compression schemes, sony claims to store >100 minutes on a regular minidisc with a resulting loss in quality. You don't really look at it like a ?MB minidisc will hold ?MB of music. Besides, MP3 compression is different from minidisc compression and hence whatever benefit is found in a compressed mp3 is lost as soon as you upload it.


The lame USB connector is simply taking the mp3 file, converting it to minidisc audio format and then storing it on a minidisc. You're better off getting a high quality minidisc player like the SONY MZ-R900 and then getting a soundcard with optical output and hooking the two up.

'nuff said!

 

[tomcat]

jhassi:
I immagine that this means that the minidisk is able to connect to the pc and convert mp3s to the pcm compression which minidisks use. I doubt the minidisk has an mp3 decoding engine... it just converts mp3s to pcm so the player will still only play about 70 minutes.

If sony were to open up the minidisk standard to allow manufactures to use it for mp3 then that would be a hot deal. 200mb of mp3s in a small minidisk package with each disk at ~ $10 would be nice.

 

[LiQiCE]

This Minidisc player simply has a USB connection that acts as a sound card. Similar to the old Microsoft USB speakers, this USB connection converts from a USB Digital source, to an analog connection that the Minidisc player can use to record. The one available at Circuit City, (the MZR70PC) includes a similar USB connection, but it converts to a Digital signal. Recording quality from a digital signal is obviously higher than on an analog signal.

These two Minidisc players do not support Sony's new MDLP technology, which utilizes their new ATRAC3 compression format, so each disk holds exactly what it says, (ie. 74 mins, or 80 mins). Newer players which support the MDLP technology can hold 120 mins. with little to no loss in quality, or 320 mins. with noticable artifacts on a standard 74 minute MD.

Recording time is "1x", or however many minutes you're recording. You're basically listening to the audio, and the MD player records it at the same time. So if you're recording 60 minutes of music from a CD, it will take you 60 minutes to actually put it on the Minidisc.

Much more information can be found from this web site: www.minidisc.org

The biggest advantage of Minidisc to an MP3 player right now is that discs cost roughly $2.00 a piece, so you just carry around a bunch of discs with you, and you can easily have more storage space than a 64MB or even a 128MB Rio or something similar. (I own both a Diamond Rio 500 with 128MB (2x64), and I just got a Sharp MD722 that was $99 at Massmerchandise.com).

Anyways, like everyone said, this is really not a hot deal, but anyone who is curious about Minidisc can find out information from the link above.

 

[jhassi]

<< I think you need to read about the fundamentals of minidisc. The question is not how many mp3's will fit on a minidisc. It's a matter of how long the minidisc is. A 74 minute minidisc will fit 74 minutes of music. >>



sounds like you need to read the fundamentals of minidisc. Minidisc doesn't have music in standard wav format, so while it might hold 74 minutes like a CD does it might not hold 650 megs like a CD does since it's not wave format, it's some kind of compression.

I said that in the post, how bout you learn how to read before you start flaming.

damn morons

 

[jhassi]

<< where is the hot deal ? wrong forum you idi0t >>



Does DX-treme stand for dumbass extreme?

This is the right forum, i think everyone hear would like to find a tiny, inexpensive portable mp3 player the uses cheap removeable storage that hold several hundred megs each.

 

[jhassi]

<< ... it just converts mp3s to pcm so the player will still only play about 70 minutes. >>



darn, that's what I was wondering, if Sony finally threw a $2 mp3 decoder chip in there (yes that's how much they cost, well the one in the Rio costs that much). Don't know why they haven't gotten around to putting a decoder in there, would make the minidisc players much more attractive, right now they're pretty much worthless, i don't know why people buy them, can't buy music for them (at least not in the US) and the only way to get music for them that i know of is to record it from a CD (or mp3 now).

oh well i'll go back to my mp3changer and keep waiting for the phatbox

 

[YipeeSkipee]

Okay besides the fact that the model in question MZ-R37SPPC sucks! (you shouldn't ppay more than $130 for this one without the &quot;special cable&quot


Actually he was correct, I think there are some technical problems in the original post, the compression format doesn't matter for a Minidisc. you have to think of a minidisc like a fancy cassette recorder. If its a 74min minidisc...then 74 min is what it will hold...the quality may be excellent or crappy, but it still is 74 min long NO MATTER WHAT THE QUALITY OF THE SOURCE RECORDING IS. MP3s are compressed files of say a wav file. Does the minidisc care if you record a wav or an MP3 file? no..its just like a cassette player in that regaurd. Further, just like a cassette player it recourds at 1x speed. (ignoring high speed tape to tape dubbing with a cassette player and with the exception of some minidisc recorders can record from CD at higher speeds, sony has a MD deck that works at 2x I think) so if you want to record a 74min MD it will take you 74 min. You don't HAVE to have a special cable to do this from a computer. If you sound card if of decent quality you can simply line out from your sound card to your MD recorder. Sure the quality will suffer, but if you are recording mp3 files, the quality has allready been reduced anyway so the effect is pretty minor. Now, given that, there ARE 80min MDs and there are even computer drives that store data on MDs (since it is a re-writable optical media I'm not sure why this didn't take off)...having said all that...FLAME ON!

 

[tomcat]

I think all you guys who are flaming jhassi need to learn a little first. Mod please lock this thread.

 

[Dx-treme]

dude, minidisc rules ! got my $99 sharp recorder/player from massmerchandise the other day.

if you have dvd player or soundcard that has optical out (stock on my up-coming dell 8000), you just plug the jack cable in and let it go.

if you dont have optical out, use the headphone jack going into the minidisc. the only thing is you have to monitor and set the recording volume.

if you want extra playtime on minidisc check out new sony MD ~$400 it can double the recording length of 74 min with compression without *much loss of quality and also it can 4 fold !! it with compression (but not recommended except for mono rec)

 

[db]

I have to agree with tomcat, if you don't know what you are talking about, don't post.
And flaming for no good reason is just plain childish. Go play on aol.

 

[Riskhk]

hey since everyone else is answering questions....is there a universal usb to md transfer cable. I have a kenwood mindisc player 2-3 years ago and that sub things seems cool

 

[HankD]

Look here for some links to all sorts of MD Info, slightly disorganized but more links to good info, reviews of equipment &amp; media, hints &amp; tips and pointers to the best prices for prefered items. Good hunting!

Hank

 

[MrBond]

Fixed link to Minidisc.org. BTW, I've got an MZR-37, and I haven't seen any evidence of &quot;suckage&quot; yet. It's a little longer then some of the new sony ones, but IMO, the ability to use relativly cheap AA's is well worth it (the extra length is mostly the battery case). It's damn easy to hook up to the computer, and recording couldn't be easier.

 

[Milkyman]

some sony models can record in mono, doubling the time that would fit on a MD
and yes, the mz-r37 is suck.

 

[kimdani1]

jhassi:
Think before you flame idiot! I never said anything about wav format. How did you become a senior member without learning how to read first? Other than the new compression schemes, a minidisc holds as much music as it states regardless of quality (as stated by another post).

You're the fool asking dumb@$$ questions...

 

[kimdani1]

Also, by the way, your deal sucks...

You started this whole slew of derogatory comments/flaming without provocation. Once again showing that senior status means absolutely nothing.

 

[bigshooter]

I've never flamed anyone except GUTB and that was a while ago, so I'll flame jhassi. Don't tell someone they need to learn more about something that you do not know yourself. You're original post wanted to know how fast the usb transfer was and how many mp3's it could hold. It will transfer real time, so if you have a 5 minutes mp3 to record to minidisc, it will take 5 minutes. The USB connection just converts from digital to analog for the MD recorder to record. Second you can't hold mp3 files on a minidisc with a minidisc recorder. I do think that someone once (or still does) make a minidisc drive for computers that you may be able to store data on, but you couldn't play it in a minidisc player, only in the drive on the computer. Oh and for the person who wanted to know if there was a generic usb to minidisc connection, there is. It's called a USB minilink cable. All it is is a usb to mini-plug adapter. Since all it is is a miniplug connection to the MD, it will work on any MD recorder, just like if you were recording off your soundcard with a straight miniplug.

PS:I agree with the people that said this is not a hot deal. this is not a hot deal, the price for the MD isn't even that good.

 

[dc]

bigshooter is correct in everything he stated. pretty funny watching people flame each other when most of them have no idea what they're talking about.

edit: the compression for audio md's is atrac. megabyte wize, a md holds ~140megs i believe.