Any Minidisc Faithful Here?

[BulletProof]

I've been using MD players to fulfill my portable audio needs for years. I have an MZ-R909, that's been working faithfully without any serious problems for 3+ years.

Recently I made the mistake (maybe?) of buying a 20GB Ipod, which had numerous unforgiveable problems and benefited me with the joy of dealing with HP customer service. The only thing I can say about that is that it was quick; a 6 day turn around. They recieved my Ipod and sent it back to me with a note saying they could not find any problems, and in the process managed to scratch up the surface (no big deal here, i don't really care, but all they had to do was turn it on and try to listen to a full song to find the problem). Which is that the Ipod pauses sporadically and indefinitely when in one's hands and will do so even when on "hold."

So, I decided to send it back to buy.com and so far no problems (still in transit). But now I'm wondering whether I should try another Ipod, another mp3 player (iAudio M3 looks interesting), or go back the old dependable MD format, which now benefits from 1GB HiMD discs and NetMD high speed transfers?

And also, does anyone have any experiences with the new HiMD players?

 

[Da RicK]

I have a HI-md player and im quite happy with it actually
Only point is, the faster your computer, the better it is.
Why? Because it converts every song you put on a disk and this takes longer than the actual transfer
But I'm still a very happy puppy. You don't transfer albums every day, if you do transfer on regular base you can buy extra disks and most of all, a great battery life compared to all mp3-players.

 

[MÆST]

I was a minidisc faithful for a long time. My R900 died on me about a year and a half ago. About a year ago Sony made the Hi-MD announcement and I was pumped. I figured I'd wait till the release and get the NH900. However, Sony kept delaying the release. When it finally was released, reviews were less then steller. The Hi-MD blanks were nearly impossible to come by. The software was getting ripped apart by reviewers. (I had never used Sony MD software because my most up to date player, the R900, was before NetMD and the format's demise IMO). Not to mention the forcing of consumers to use their ATRAC format (which isn't really as bad as some people say ... I just don't like not having choices) About the same time, Apple announced the new 4G ipod. It was released on time without any problems. It was a hard decision, but I decided to go with the 20gb ipod. I don't regret it for a moment. Though I still frequent minidisct.com and follow the format.

 

[BulletProof]

I have a HI-md player and im quite happy with it actually
Only point is, the faster your computer, the better it is.
Why? Because it converts every song you put on a disk and this takes longer than the actual transfer
But I'm still a very happy puppy. You don't transfer albums every day, if you do transfer on regular base you can buy extra disks and most of all, a great battery life compared to all mp3-players.

Which model do you have?

 

[BillyBadAss]

I've been using MD players to fulfill my portable audio needs for years. I have an MZ-R909, that's been working faithfully without any serious problems for 3+ years.

Recently I made the mistake (maybe?) of buying a 20GB Ipod, which had numerous unforgiveable problems and benefited me with the joy of dealing with HP customer service. The only thing I can say about that is that it was quick; a 6 day turn around. They recieved my Ipod and sent it back to me with a note saying they could not find any problems, and in the process managed to scratch up the surface (no big deal here, i don't really care, but all they had to do was turn it on and try to listen to a full song to find the problem). Which is that the Ipod pauses sporadically and indefinitely when in one's hands and will do so even when on "hold."

So, I decided to send it back to buy.com and so far no problems (still in transit). But now I'm wondering whether I should try another Ipod, another mp3 player (iAudio M3 looks interesting), or go back the old dependable MD format, which now benefits from 1GB HiMD discs and NetMD high speed transfers?

And also, does anyone have any experiences with the new HiMD players?

Sorry to ask the obvious, but did you reboot the ipod, and if that didn't work, did you try formating and reinstall the ipod's OS with the latest version?

 

[PainAmplifier]

So, I decided to send it back to buy.com and so far no problems (still in transit). But now I'm wondering whether I should try another Ipod, another mp3 player (iAudio M3 looks interesting), or go back the old dependable MD format, which now benefits from 1GB HiMD discs and NetMD high speed transfers?

And also, does anyone have any experiences with the new HiMD players?

I've been using a Sony MZ-R700, (Portable) a MXD-D40 (My Burning deck) and a MDX-CA680X (Car stereo) for a 4+ years now...and I can't see myself going to anything else but a Hi-MD in the future. (Far future but that's another story...)

In the end how you use your portable MD will be the only thing you can examine to see if moving away from the format is a good idea.

But to help let's re-cap, in terms of MP3 devices, Mini Disc and the IPOD how each stacks up. (Rated in rough order of best utility)

Battery Life
1)MP3 - (Varies by device, depending on battery type. ~10-40)
2)MD (Extremely good battery life. 1AA~30+)
3)IPOD (~12) Being tied to a recharger is not very convenient...

Weight/Size
1) MP3 - (Varies by device, but usually very small and light.)
2) MD - (Carrying extra disc's can take up more space than the unit itself but everything is light and easy to carry.)
3)IPOD - Being HD based...it's heavy!

Media Versatility
1)MD - (If you need different music, just pop another disc in...carry extra's is simple and easy.)
2)IPOD - (20GB can carry alot of Music, but your tied to a PC to change it.)
3)MP3 - Varies by device, but usually space is at a premium. Again, you need a PC to change/add the music.


Unit Pricing (Ranges)
1)MP3 - (Varies heavily by device, but you can find some cheap ones if you look.)
2)MD - (Matches MP3 on the low end, and IPOD on the high end.)
3)IPOD - ($$$)

Media Pricing - (Kinda biased, but it has to be stated.)
1)MD - (Less than $2 for each MD blank and $6/7 for a Hi-MD blank.)
2)MP3 - (....buy a new unit?)
3)IPOD - (....buy a new unit?!)

Overall Versatility - (AKA Car-Home-Portables...)
1)MD - One format goes everywhere! (Might cost a bit for the head units though. :/ )
2)MP3 && IPOD (Tie, both are hand units only.)

Ease of Media Recordability
1)IPOD && MP3 - Roughly the same for each, rip to HD then transfer. Quick(ly) and fairly painlessly.
2)MD - (Arguably MD's Achille's heel as MD's are not nearly as fast as MP3/IPODs at transferring music by a lot. Also Sony has a long history of trying to maintain a close handle on music transfers in an attempt to ward off music "piracy".


In the end though...all you should be asking yourself are these two questions.

1) Did the MD player meet my usage needs?
2) Did the IPOD player meet my usage needs? (When it was working.)

And of the two which did it best. Either MD wins or IPOD is better...and if IPOD is better, you can then try and decide if MP3 is better than IPOD or vice versa.

 

[Balton]

^lol, biased

 

[Da RicK]

Which model do you have?

I've got the MZ-NH1

only thing getting used to, is the remote.

 

[Zur]

BulletProof, consider a usb flash memory mp3 player. These are a very convenient replacement for the nearly useless floppy drives and offer capacities of 128, 256 & 512 MB. They're instantly recognized and are treated like removable media so no messing with drivers. I recently got an iDream 256 MB USB MP3/WMA player (sold under different brands) and I'm very happy with it.

 

[Zarkazm]

...

Funny enough, the iPod isn't the only HD based player, so maybe splitting it in Flash/HD rather than mp3/iPod would have made more sense, as my player matches the iPod exactly (minus $$$) in your overview.

 

[BulletProof]

Fearless, I did look at the larger Flash players, but I think I do want the ability to have all of my music at hand without needing a computer.

Sorry to ask the obvious, but did you reboot the ipod, and if that didn't work, did you try formating and reinstall the ipod's OS with the latest version?

Yes I did both, and that reminds me, when it came back from HP it didn't even have the newest version of ipod's OS.

 

[Zur]

Well, 256-512 MB is enough for a quite a lot of songs and transferring them is easy. I'm not sure what a device like an iPod could offer extra except maybe advanced features like playlists.

 

[JaFO]

Sorry to ask the obvious, but did you reboot the ipod, and if that didn't work, did you try formating and reinstall the ipod's OS with the latest version?

Sorry to state the obvious, but shouldn't the iPods' software be mature enough by now that problems like that don't happen ???
Or are some stores still selling 'ancient' models ?

// ---
// BulletProof
If it's a new / fresh of the rack piece of equipment then it simply should not have any problems. They were either trying to sell a 'used' iPod or it was broken by default. Either way I'd have very little patience with a business like that.

The only reason for choosing an iPod (or any other harddisk-based mp3-player) would be the 'need' to have your entire collection of music on one portable device. Since Apple's iPod isn't the only fish in the sea and most offer far better price/performance&quality compared to the iPod I'd do a little more research first. My iRiver H-120 has been good & rock-solid compared to the iPod you've had. It didn't even need an upgraded OS. And it certainly never suffered from crashes like my old Creative Jukebox used to have. Then again the Creative was a first-generation harddisk-based mp3-player.

Switching to a flash-based mp3-device would give you similar advantages/disadvantages compared to your md-player (ie : the need to buy media and decide which music to carry) and add a few hours/days during which you'd convert your music-collection to mp3 or .ogg or whatever format you like best.

If you're happy with your md-player then simply replace it with the same make/model you've had. If the new md-players are backwards-compatible with the old media then there's very little risc involved in choosing one of those new high-capacity versions.

 

[Zur]

Just something I wanted to add : the device I purchased also doubles as an SD flash card reader (same small cards as current digital cameras). This means you can extend it's capacity quite easily and capacities for SD cards go up to 1 GB.

 

[MÆST]

6 bucks (will come down) for a 1GB Hi-MD disc compared to 70 bucks for 1GB SD flash. If you want to be able to increase storage at will, Hi-MD is definitely the way to go. Personally, if I didn't a portable player, and for some reason I had a thing against ipods, and I could wait a while, I'd wait for either the 2nd generation Sony Hi-MD units or for Sharp to role out their line of Hi-MD units.

 

[BulletProof]

Well, the cost benefit for the larger flash players compared to HD/MD isn't enough to outweigh the limited storage. And right now its down to the Sony HiMD MZNH-1 ($300+5MDs or about $40), MZNH-900 ($255+$40) or the JetAudio iAudio M3 ($275). The M3 also has the added benefit of a radio tuner. So unless I'm convinced otherwise in the next week, M3 it is.

Btw, thanks for all your help so far.

 

[Da RicK]

battery life.....

 

[HuggyBear]

I -loved- both of my MD recorders, and I'd be using them to this day had not:

#1 was dropped by someone other than me
#2 was stolen and I couldn't afford to replace it

I wish to this day I had a MD recorder, because all the HD recorders I've messed with can't compare to the quality I got with a good mic and a MD recorder. I still have a hundred or so minidiscs laying around that I can't even use.

 

[MÆST]

The first gen Hi-MD units' battery life is significantly down from that of the old regular MDs (one of the reasons I decided to go ipod). For Hi-MD, battery life depends on many factors. Whether you or recording or playing, whether you are using reformatted MD or Hi-MD media, as well as the quality of files being played (PCM, Hi-SP, Hi-LP, MDLP SP, MDLP LP2, or MDLP LP4) Specific battery life stats can be found on the NH1 and NH-900 product pages. The Hi-MD battery life is down big time from the old MD units which could get 10 more hours on the recorders, and the player only units, could get 60 hours ... and that's not including external AA battery packs (the NH900 has one but the NH1 doesn't ... which might be a factor to consider if you do any long traveling). And if you plan on amateur recording, anything other then MD is stupid.

The main reason why I decided to go ipod over Hi-MD this summer was Sony. Since then, they've started to come around. They released a program allowing recorded material to be uploaded to your PC http://sonyelectronics.sonystyle.com/walkmanmc/wav.html and with the backlash to their ATRAC only HD units, they've slowly started to come around to MP3. Eventually this should affect Hi-MD units but I'm not sure if the current gen will be able to support it with a simple software update or whether they will need all new lines of units.

The JetAudio is a nice unit if you don't mind the lack of display on the main unit and that god-awful remote. But I have no experience in its use so that's the extent of my comment on it.

 

[JaFO]

Well, the cost benefit for the larger flash players compared to HD/MD isn't enough to outweigh the limited storage. And right now its down to the Sony HiMD MZNH-1 ($300+5MDs or about $40), MZNH-900 ($255+$40) or the JetAudio iAudio M3 ($275). The M3 also has the added benefit of a radio tuner. So unless I'm convinced otherwise in the next week, M3 it is.

Btw, thanks for all your help so far.

the iRiver H-120 (€ 300 here in NL) also has a radio-tuner ... altough I doubt you really need a tuner if you've got about 2500 songs to listen to

Anyway ... good luck with your choice.
It is after all is said and done your money