AudioSceptic
Major Contributor
Those were such big clunky things, and the cost was ridiculous for home use.Yeah, it would have been competing with the 250MB ZIP drive which already had a fair amount of market penetration.
Those were such big clunky things, and the cost was ridiculous for home use.Yeah, it would have been competing with the 250MB ZIP drive which already had a fair amount of market penetration.
and can you imagine that ATRAC could only manage 2:1 compression?
Edit: From the Wikipedia article
"ATRAC was devised for MiniDisc so that the same amount of audio a CD (which contains uncompressed 16-bit stereo linear PCM audio) can carry can fit on a disc far smaller. ATRAC reduces the 1.4 Mbit/s of a CD to a 292 kbit/s data stream, roughly a 5:1 reduction. "
MD came out in 1992, and so did DCC (Digital Compact Cassette from Philips). MP3 started in 1993 but didn't really take off until late 90s with the release of portable players like the Diamond Rio (32 MB!). DCC, which used the PASC data reduction system, was reckoned to sound better than MD, at least with the earlier versions of ATRAC, but was killed off in 1996 because it had failed to replace analogue cassette.I think when I jumped in when the “Net-MD” (USB cable drag-n-drop) model was the newest model in the shop at a premium and so I figure I was able to get a great deal on multiple players since it was towards the end of hope for MiniDisc.
Recording modes I remember were SP(Normal), LP2 and LP4.
And then PCM for 1:1.
SP used ATRAC compression but was meant to be indistinguishable from the source PCM.
Would be interesting to see how SP (292kbps ATRAC) compares to present day 320kbps MP3 (maybe it’s unfair since current day MP3 encoding must be much improved).
I still have lots of minidisc gear, and a few hundred minidiscs with a ton of music dating back to my teenage years, including LPs, radio, and cassette tapes, and mixes from CDs, archived onto minidisc. So, thankfully, all of that is preserved! Until the beginning of the modern streaming era (2011-2012 in the U.S.?), they still got plenty of use.
I was a huge fan of the minidisc community page:
https://www.minidisc.org/whole_page.html
The minidisc community page was at one time teeming with ads, and news about evolving digital technology; controversy over copy-protection DRM that Sony did not lift until it was too late for them to maintain their position in the industry; evolution from ATRAC compression improvements as it fell behind to MP3 in the transparency wars; to lossless PCM recording, if only after Apple ate Sony’s lunch with the iPod; controversy over net-md “oppression,” the passage of the DMCA and its impact on the technology; ways to hack MD players and recorders to unlock features in the firmware that were reserved for more expensive models; Sony’s music division being accused of stifling the potential of the tech division due to piracy concerns; and obviously, I could go on.
I think perhaps Sony could have in many ways been what Apple has become if Sony had been less conservative about unleashing the full potential of the tech they had developed. But they were seemingly held back by concern about protecting Sony-owned media rights and lawsuits from other music industry media titans.
Apple saw the opening and took it—end of the clumsy Sony SonicStage software and the MD Walkman, after the 2001 birth of ITunes and the iPod.
MD came out in 1992, and so did DCC (Digital Compact Cassette from Philips). MP3 started in 1993 but didn't really take off until late 90s with the release of portable players like the Diamond Rio (32 MB!). DCC, which used the PASC data reduction system, was reckoned to sound better than MD, at least with the earlier versions of ATRAC, but was killed off in 1996 because it had failed to replace analogue cassette.
MD was slow to take off in the UK and didn't really become popular until the late 90s, by which time the MP3 portables had started to appear.
I doubt that ATRAC was as good as high bit-rate MP3 or AAC. More likely is that it was similar to MP2, as used in DAB radio.
If MD had gained traction in the computer world in the mid-90s and also introduced NetMD and Hi-MD soon after, it would have stood a chance. Perhaps the portable CD player would never have appeared, and MD would have dominated the low-mid end while the iPod created a new portable player high end.
I think we can agree that MD was a great idea but Sony did too little, too late.
I have a Sony MZ-N707 that I bought soon after I graduated from university. I used it daily on my commute to work and loved it. I then bought my first ipod around 2005, the minidisc player went into its box and stayed in my closet for over a decade.
My two ipods (ipod 4G and ipod classic) died over a decade ago, both from harddrive failures. 2 years ago I took out the little Sony, pop in a fresh AA battery and it works faultlessly. Very impressed.
I used it daily on my commute
I then bought my first ipod around 2005,
Sony ES minidisc deck made recordings that sounded better than the original CD!!
You are right. The first Sony portable CD player was in 1984, much earlier than I thought, perhaps because I was still recording vinyl LP onto cassette for use in the car! Even if I had CDs then, I wouldn't have taken them away from home. Too expensive to get damaged or lost, and too much bulk if you want a decent choice on the move.Thanks for all the information.
Yeah I assume the same as well, modern day MP3 will likely kick ATRAC’s butt.
Regarding portable CD, not sure how all the timelines overlap but I remember already having a Discman (Sony portable CD player).
And so when I saw the MiniDisc players on “clearance” I thought they were amazingly compact light weight alternative.
I always thought it was odd seeing other’s with their sensitive bulky Portable CD players, “how come nobody else is using MiniDisc??” I thought.
The experience must have been in some weird spot within time and space.
At the rates when purchasing lubricants from the Sony Tools Catalogue one would think they should last forever! Prices are through the roof but in some instances only that stuff does the job.I took out the little Sony, pop in a fresh AA battery and it works faultlessly. Very impressed.
The first Sony portable CD player was in 1984, much earlier than I thought,
Even if I had CDs then, I wouldn't have taken them away from home. Too expensive to get damaged or lost, and too much bulk if you want a decent choice on the move.
it seems the lack of prerecorded MDs was a major factor in its initial failure to take off
I did the same with my MD portable yesterday, reminded about it by this very thread! It was fun playing an MD that I hadn't taken out of its case since 2005. My only iPod was a 20 GB 4th gen in 2005. I used it until the iPhone had more than 20 GB, when I bought my first iPhone, a 3Gs with 32 GB in 2009. I now have an iPhone with 512 GB, which can hold all of our music at AA 256.I have a Sony MZ-N707 that I bought soon after I graduated from university. I used it daily on my commute to work and loved it. I then bought my first ipod around 2005, the minidisc player went into its box and stayed in my closet for over a decade.
My two ipods (ipod 4G and ipod classic) died over a decade ago, both from harddrive failures. 2 years ago I took out the little Sony, pop in a fresh AA battery and it works faultlessly. Very impressed.
Maybe, but CDs are just too big to carry a selection around with you. It might've appealed to me using MP3/AAC on CD-RW, so I could get a decent amount on one disc, but then the iPod came along...Makes sense, since the Discman I had was one of those modern round & thin models, with a remote identical to the MiniDisc player I had (cylinder shape like a AA battery but longer and with an LCD display and “twistable” ring used to change tracks).
Very similar to below. I even remember that color border on the inside, but I remember the overall colour being more blueish. . . Human memory is terribly unreliable. . .
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From what I remember at the time, everyone was carrying around Portable CD players. So I guess the Compact Disc with it’s shiny thin silhouette won over the masses.
(Nobody wanted something that reminded them of a Floppy disc even if it was more durable than a CD and lighter in weight overall by not needing much of a case - MiniDisc)
Japan was the probably the only place where they were able to actually sell (move stock).
I still have a few blank “ES” labeled MiniDiscs, they are white and gold color.
So that’s what they were for. . . The “ES” Deck.
At the time of purchase I just assumed they were the “best” quality MiniDiscs.
(I mean they do have the words “High Quality” on them)
Collecting cool looking minidiscs of all brands, colors and styles was half of the fun! Ann assortment from my collection (with no duplicates):
What a great shot! Did you set it up just now?Collecting cool looking minidiscs of all brands, colors and styles was half of the fun! An assortment from my collection (with no duplicates?):