Making a comeback...?
Apr. 22nd, 2004 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpOne of the indirect effects of the fire on the Mir space station in February 1997 (how well I remember it!) was my introduction to the Sony MiniDisc and the equipment for using it.
The MiniDisc is a compact device that looks like a 3.5-inch diskette, except it's smaller. When I first ran into them, they were capable of holding 74 minutes of audio. We used MiniDisc recorders in 1997 to capture space-to-ground audio in the immediate aftermath of the Mir fire, as again four months later, in the aftermath of the collision of the Progress with Mir. I was so impressed with the quality of the sound and the small form factor of the recorder, I bought one, to my later chagrin.
Ultimately, the MiniDisc never made it to the big time, mostly because CDs became so easy to burn, held pretty much the same amount of music, and could be played in devices that were much more widely available, not to mention far cheaper.
The other day, I was in Sam's and saw that Sony is again promoting the MiniDisc format. The MiniDiscs themselves remain unchanged, but the new player (part of the Walkman line) has been gutted of the electronics needed to record audio. Instead, you can transfer audio from a computer to the unit in formats that allow up to 5 hours of music to be stuffed onto a MiniDisc. (Alternately, you can also play an old style, 74-minute MiniDisk.)
The price (under $70) is far below the price point of the "junior" version of the iPod I've seen advertised and even further below that of the "full" iPod. Granted, the storage capacity of an iPod is far greater, but it's not likely I'll often be in situations where I will need to have more than 5-10 hours of music available at a time, not to mention the user interface questions I have about the small LCD screens on the iPod and similar devices. The battery life of the new Walkman is impressive, too (about 15 hr using one AA battery, which blows the battery life on my CD player and especially my Zaurus just completely away).
* * * Today's radiogram load was minuscule compared to yesterday. You'll hear no complaints from this peanut gallery!
Cheers...
The MiniDisc is a compact device that looks like a 3.5-inch diskette, except it's smaller. When I first ran into them, they were capable of holding 74 minutes of audio. We used MiniDisc recorders in 1997 to capture space-to-ground audio in the immediate aftermath of the Mir fire, as again four months later, in the aftermath of the collision of the Progress with Mir. I was so impressed with the quality of the sound and the small form factor of the recorder, I bought one, to my later chagrin.
Ultimately, the MiniDisc never made it to the big time, mostly because CDs became so easy to burn, held pretty much the same amount of music, and could be played in devices that were much more widely available, not to mention far cheaper.
The other day, I was in Sam's and saw that Sony is again promoting the MiniDisc format. The MiniDiscs themselves remain unchanged, but the new player (part of the Walkman line) has been gutted of the electronics needed to record audio. Instead, you can transfer audio from a computer to the unit in formats that allow up to 5 hours of music to be stuffed onto a MiniDisc. (Alternately, you can also play an old style, 74-minute MiniDisk.)
The price (under $70) is far below the price point of the "junior" version of the iPod I've seen advertised and even further below that of the "full" iPod. Granted, the storage capacity of an iPod is far greater, but it's not likely I'll often be in situations where I will need to have more than 5-10 hours of music available at a time, not to mention the user interface questions I have about the small LCD screens on the iPod and similar devices. The battery life of the new Walkman is impressive, too (about 15 hr using one AA battery, which blows the battery life on my CD player and especially my Zaurus just completely away).
Cheers...
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no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 01:52 pm (UTC)In addition, the new ATRAC3 format (which allows more than 74 minutes of audio on a MiniDisc) is much lossier than the old ATRAC format; if you want to load, say, pre-existing MP3s onto the player, you're going to take a noticible quality hit.
And the Sony software doesn't let you convert your MP3s to ATRAC (it's only implemented in hardware), just ATRAC3, so there isn't any way around the lossage.
And, of course, there's Sony's DRM, which doesn't allow more than first-generation copies of a MiniDisc recorded from a digital source, and provides essentially no way of getting data (even data recorded directly to the disc from the player!) off the disc save through the headphone jack, with the accompanying loss of quality.
In conclusion, while the price for the NetMD players is certainly right, and the hardware capabilities are impressive enough, the devices are crippled by bad software and Sony's DRM. I'm much happier with my iPod than I ever was with my NetMD player.
On the other hand, your mileage may vary. Just wanted to share my experiences.
no subject
Date: 2004-04-22 02:50 pm (UTC)OTOH, my goal is to find something I can listen to for more than a couple of hours without having to change batteries. My Zaurus is limited both from the perspective of storage (CompactFlash is still an expensive way to go) and battery life (the "extender" I bought might, on a good day, double the life of the built-in battery, but that's not saying much). If I had the $$, I'd seriously consider an iPod, but then again, one of the nice aspects about a cheap unit like the MD Walkman is that the financial hit is not that big if it gets lost/destroyed/stolen.
OTOH, the fact that you're happier with your iPod than with your NetMD is something to consider, too.
Cheers...