hotister

What's the pros and cons of both different type of players? Thanks!

Cysco

Mini Disc= cheap media but movable (read breakable)parts. you also have to have CDs or other .wav files to transfer over to it. Some people say that you loose a significant ammount of sound quality with MD

MP3= expensive media but with no moving parts. With programs such as napster, you can easily find virtually any song you can think of for free. Sound quality really differs from player to player. Make sure you do your research.

I just recently bought a rio 500 mp3 player. It hold roughly 1.5 hrs worth of music and is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. I would reccomend getting an MP3 player. Sony has been trying to push the MD technology for years and it has never and will never take off. MP3 is the wave of the future. However, there is a MD player from Sharp that also plays MP3s. It may be worth looking into. What ever you do, make sure you research what you're buying. Not all MP3/MD players are made equally.

[This message has been edited by Cysco (edited April 05, 2000).]

Giantrobo

Well I lose little if any quality from my SONY MD recorder because I go straight from my DVD player(optical connection) to the MD recorder.

Skip the analog recording.

But you know, the average person WILL NOT NOTICE the difference.

I just never liked mp3s so I'm biased.

I mean, if your out on the slopes with your mp3 player. After that hour of music is played what will you do? Unless you have a player with memory that can be switched like a digital camera or you have access to a computer and the Net on the slopes you're screwed.

Just carry your MD's (74-80 minutes each double that if you record in mono) and you're set.

[This message has been edited by Giantrobo (edited April 05, 2000).]

Lush

Cysco: MD has taken off. It is an absolute necessity in Japan. It's just not popular in NA.

Hotister: Buy MD! MD gives you incredible editing options. Divide, combine, move, erase, and name, all in the palm of your hand away from home (if you buy a portable recorder). But beware, not all port. recorders have "divide", which is extremely useful (ie. R70). MD also gives you ability to compile songs from your fav artists. You could dedicate a disc to an artist and add songs as you discover the music. Another bonus: let say you have artist A,B,C, in that order on a disc. And then you find another song you want to add by Artist B. Well, rec it and move it wherever you want.
Later, if you find you really like MD, you could get a car deck or changer.
Finally, you can record from other sources like tv, tape, DVD (I use it to record commentaries in mono so I don't have to sit in front of the tv to enjoy it), and live sources.

As for sound quality, in a portable does it matter? At home, a basic MD recorder is no worse than a cheap cd player.

I am biased. I love MD. And proud of it.

Cysco

Lush: You said it your self. MD has not taken off in the US and I don't think hotister is from Japan. I bought a Sony MD player/recorder 5 or 6 years ago when they first came out in the States. I kept telling myself that the technology has to take off some time and it never did. I would say that MP3 has gotten farther in one year than MD has gotten in 6.

hotister: Your buying decision should come down to a couple factors. If you want a portable format to record your existing CDs onto and/or money is a major factor, you should probably get a MD player. If you want to take part in the whole "MP3 revolution" i.e. download all your music for free and trade with friends, I would get a MP3 player. Everyone in our office has an MP3 player and we are always trading songs back and forth.

In the end, both formats have their positives and negatives. It just comes down to what you are wanting to do with it.

hotister

thanks to all for your reply. Now, how about the sharp MD-MT15S Portable MD player? Is this a good buy at mobshop?? see this new cycle:
http://www.mobshop.com/cycles?cycle_id=224323

THanks!

kahuna

quote:<HR>Originally posted by hotister:
thanks to all for your reply. Now, how about the sharp MD-MT15S Portable MD player? Is this a good buy at mobshop?? see this new cycle:
http://www.mobshop.com/cycles?cycle_id=224323
THanks!<HR>

This is a great buy especially with the $50 off code "TopicaTip", If I remember correctly this coupon code was only good for the 1st 1,000 customers who used it. Where else are you going to pickup a portable minidisc recorder/player for under $90. Like I said before I will take this over a MP3 player any day of the week. I brought the same unit a few months ago from Accompany for $103.95 which I thought was a great price at the time and now here it is for $89.95 with the $50 off coupon code. So I went ahead and picked up 2 more for my two youngest daughters.

Bettter hurry this buy-cycle will not last the rest of the day, already close to 400 ordered.

Kahuna




[This message has been edited by kahuna (edited April 06, 2000).]

rheuter

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Giantrobo:
Well I lose little if any quality from my SONY MD recorder because I go straight from my DVD player(optical connection) to the MD recorder.
<HR>

Not true, because ATRAC technology simply compress the data in a 1:5 ratio, so even though you connect it from your player via optical cable, it'll still loss data for a simple fact that the cap. of MD disc is 120MB and cap. of CD is 650~700MB, now if both media can play 74+ minutes of songs, guess how can MD make it with only 120MB cap.?

I do have a MD player and PC but since NT doesn't support USB really well I don't have MP3 player (only play it from my HD) and just stick to my MD machine... actually I take that back, haven't used my MD machine for over 4 months, now I just rip CDs out and burn myself a custom copy CD-Rs, it's cheap, it's perfect quality, and I can edit it anyway I want, better than MD....

------------------
Rheuter http://www.dvdtracker.com/~rheuter.asp

freelans

I'm for MD,

Along with all the advantages mentioned above, I like to download MP3's and record them on MD's.

You can also hook them up to your car's tape deck and listen to your favorite tunes or movies.

Since blank Mini Discs are so cheap, you can have a collection of stuff without ever having to erase.

In comparison to CD burners, MD's can record up to 2 hours and 40 minutes (mono) and are rerecordable.

[This message has been edited by freelans (edited April 06, 2000).]

Giantrobo

rheuter:

Maybe so...

I can't tell the difference.