bye bye minidisc

I think you had a nasty MD player. There should be no humming at all. It should be perfect silence. My sharp had a humming if I used the power adaptor but I put that down to a bad earth since if I placed my finger on the metal body it would stop. No humming when using the battery though.

That was one of the most amazing things I had ever experienced as far as audio went. Before MD we used tape which no matter how high the quality was, it always has background noise. CD walkmans had background "hum" due to the motors but the first time I listened to a Mini Disc there was pure silence then came the music. It was amazing at the time. I also agree that MDs needed to be recorded via optical cables. Pretty much all my MDs where done that way.

Hey, I know. Post pictures of your MD players. No mini comp system and all that but your walkman type MD player. THere were so many cool designs out there. I'll post a picture of mine when I get home.

 

Wow, MD cought on pretty late in the states. I was using MD in early 1997 in the UK.

 

I recorded with an optical cable too, but at the time I couldn't tell much of a difference.

I don't think they ever really caught on in the general population. Most people couldn't tell you what a Minidisc is. However, I had one around 97 or 98. Best birthday present I ever got.

I'll post a picture of mine when I get it, which should be tomorrow or Wednesday.

 

I remember the drive humming very faintly, no humming on the earphones! Maybe my player was more broken than I thought.

 

It could of been a power issue. Like I said, my Sharp would hum if using the power unit but was silent when using batteries.

 

Here is my little baby I use now for copying MDs to MP3.


the back has a velvet like coating. Feels quite nice.





For those that don't know, Mini Discs came in all sorts of designs and specs. two of the below discs are gold discs that are said to give better quality. How true that is I don't know.

 

I had a Sony MZ-R900DPC.

Loved MD back in the day

 

Heh, I still use mine. I've got the MZ-N910 NetMd which was a huge disappointment when I realised you couldn't upload from the damn player! Well pissed off...



Also some of my old MiniDiscs:


I'm looking to get my hands on a Hi Minidisc at some point (including an MZ-RH1). I've always loved the format, it's just a shame Sony strangled it with DRM and wouldn't let go until it was too late (MZ-RH1 is the only universal upload recorder and also the last model they produced before the format died completely).

Such a waste.

Great for long term storage though, every recording I'd made from the 90's plays like I made it yesterday. I've owned the first recorder that was released in the UK as well back in the day. No minidisc recorder I've ever owned has faltered, never skipped a beat.

 

I remember this being the first advert I ever saw for Mini Disc (possibly the first full stop):



They weren't wrong about 'the odd little knock' either - my Mini Disc player came with a ratty recordable MD with some awful dance music on it. The door is busted, it's got grit in the case but the one time I tried it out it played perfectly! Curse that Digital Compact Cassette for creating enough market confusion for CD-R to catch up!

 

My Sharp MD recorder had a very sexy front loading slot. Man that was one beast for quality in such a small package at the time. It was a bit heavy mind you but the whole unit was made of metal. It once fell out of a second story window or 1st floor for us who use ground floors. The case split at the joint but it still worked!!! I bought it in 1997 and even though the battery died about 2001 I kept the MD player until 2005 and it had NEVER given me any problems. Optical in recording on such a cool little box has never been so much fun. Recording to a digital player just isn't the same

 

Different media? It's the format of the data that had the compression.

Anyone in Japan got a player I can borrow? I have a handful of MDs around here.... somewhere...

 

Here's my new Minidisc player, which I just got today - a Sony MZ-E40. It's a little bit bigger than I expected it to be, based on the pictures. It's pretty cool looking though, and it feels solidly built. It also came with the original case, which isn't shown here. I don't have anything to play on it at the moment, since I left all my MDs at home. Right now all I can do is look at it.

 

There's an MD in it, look closer, although blank, you can record something on it! Do it, now!

 

*sigh* No, sadly, I cannot. For you see, my Minidisc player is a Minidisc player, not a recorder. There are no inputs and no record button. It only plays. I am rather upset about this because I was not aware of it when I purchased it, but I guess I have only myself to blame for not doing more research. On the positive side, it is in excellent condition.

 

Oh... sorry :-/