MDs - I hate SONY!!!

[Gunbuster]

meh, bought a netmd not long ago. I must be the only one who's happy with them.
Had loads of old mds I re-used in LP2 which is still better quality than 128kb mp3s to my ear (I use much higher bit rate at home now). £120 + some free mds and a case. Replacable lithuim ion bubble gum battery. I had two left over from my old one, usually lasts a week. I bought it as a stop gap to a ipod or alike, but I've been so pleased I may just keep it till it wears out. 80p for 156meg on a disk.
It seems very popular to bash MDs now as they are old tech, personally I don't know what the fuss is about. No I'm not using crappy 99p earphones, I tend to use Sony Fontopia earbuds out n' about and Sennheiser Headphones indoors. I have friends with iPods and yes they do hold alot but £130 in my pocket is not to be sniffed at.

[CocoPops]

Being as my music is ripped using iTunes on my powerbook, I'll be buying an iPod after christmas.

I've asked the wife to tell people to buy my virgin vouchers for Xmas if they are stuck for ideas as I can then put the vouchers towards the 400quid that the 40gb iPod will cost.

[DsW]

Here are some interesting articles on ATRAC vs MP3 and MD players vs MP3 players...

http://www.techtv.com/callforhelp/fe...387517,00.html

http://faq.arstechnica.com/link.php?i=1292

http://www.minidisc.org/atrac_vs_mp3.html


Noticeably, all three give ATRAC the edge for sound quality.

cheers,
dave

[Aaron]

I think that last article might be slightly biased.

I agree that at 128kbps, mp3s are worse than ATRAC files ripped at the standard rate (292kbps?). However, a HD mp3 player will have a huge capacity so there's no problem with ramping it up to 192kpbs, 256kpbs or more. A MD player will always be limited by the size of the minidisks themselves. If you want a higher quality sound then you probably won't be able to store a whole album on the minidisk.

Don't forget that most mp3 players can also play other formats usually, including wav (can't get much nearer to CD quality than CD quality ), AAC for iPods and ogg for certain other players. Many players can keep up to date with the new formats via firmwire updates. Minidisk players are limited to the one format.

In terms of sound quality, I would personally stick with a HD-based mp3 player but to be honest that's not the biggest concern for me. I only use mine on the move where sound quality is less of an issue. For home use, I stick to CD, SACD, DVD-A (when I finally buy one ) and vinyl.

[unrealrocks]

Natively ATRAC on CDs is around 1140Kbps AFAIK. I draw the line at CD, anymore and I don't see the point ... BTW - DVDA aint all that great, playing one now - the quality is good although the major advantage that 5.1 music is great!

And once you've decided on using DVDA you need to get some hugely expensive HiFi setup!

[Howard]

I dislike 5.1 music tbh. Music isn't meant to be heard all around you... The music comes from infront of you at a concert/orchestra/whatever

The quality increase is stunning though IMHO.

[Enverex]

Originally posted by Howard
I dislike 5.1 music tbh. Music isn't meant to be heard all around you... The music comes from infront of you at a concert/orchestra/whatever

The quality increase is stunning though IMHO.

True, but it's still nice to be able to hear sound all around you and have all the instuments split up or so, depending on the type of music.

On that same note, does anyone know where the extra 2 speakers are supposed to go on a 7.1 system?

NS

[DsW]

Originally posted by NightShade737
On that same note, does anyone know where the extra 2 speakers are supposed to go on a 7.1 system?

NS

http://www.av-outlet.com/en-us/dept_140.html

[Gunbuster]

Just a note, my post wasn't ment as a bash of HD or solid state mp3/ogg/aac/wmv players just that I happen to be happy with my NetMD. Perhaps more so than I expected.
On a side note it would be nice if some of the solid state players started using the chewing gum batteries as they last much longer and are easily replacable. I just don't think AAs are upto the job anymore. Also it would be nice if there was a standard for the HD players too.
Example Chewing Gum Battery:
http://electricbirdland.co.uk/minidiscuk/batts.htm

[unrealrocks]

My dad uses those batteries in his player, he also has a few NiHi 2800mAh AAs and the AAs last longer ... if you buy the really high capacity batteries they last longer although can take a while to charge (but there NiHi so no memory effect so it don't really matter)!

[bouncin]

my old non net MZR30 sounds gr8 through my headphoones. and i also fail to see how it can sound anything but decent to anyone in the world.

[unrealrocks]

Originally posted by bouncin
my old non net MZR30 sounds gr8 through my headphoones. and i also fail to see how it can sound anything but decent to anyone in the world.

Thats the thing, it sounds decent BUT alot of people (like me) want more than decent, they want as close to the real thing as they can!

[bouncin]

so u want a live band or musician in a little box in ur pocket. a little sarcasm there but honestly what do u mean by the real thing ive been to a lot of concerts and performances that sounded really crap and thats as real as it gets isnt it. if u want a decent sound its got nothin to do with the md player you just got to get the right headphones.

[td5]

Try googling for "sony SonicStage" , I found a website offering it (it was selling MD's on the same site too) and it proves to be MUCH more stable than openMG v2.x although more fiddly.

[DsW]

Originally posted by unrealrocks
Thats the thing, it sounds decent BUT alot of people (like me) want more than decent, they want as close to the real thing as they can!

I'm sorry - but the only way that you're going to have a portable player sounding any better than a good quality MD recording is to have a portable SACD or DVD-A player (do they even exist yet?!) and top of the range headphones.

Lets face it - if you really want top of the range audio you'll be listening to it at home on a full-blown seperates system.. not on a portable player!

cheers,
dave