I still think Minidisc was an under-rated format, and I've doggedly held on to my 200+ discs, 2 x portables and hifi separate. I can still rip CDs to MD, but stuff I've downloaded digitally can't be directly transferred, until now. Link above is to a blog where a bloke has made a browser-based thing to transfer music to a MD player. It's a bit slow, but very easy to use.
(, Sat 20 Feb 2021, 19:17, Reply)
there is a mechanical process that requires time - the laser heating a spot of material to the curie temp and then the magnetic head transferring the data the spin of the motor etc
half way thru archiving to hd before my last machine gave up the ghost a few years ago but never had a usb model so dunno - does it transfer both ways? disc to usb would be more useful to me and maybe even worth an ebay if it works surely reading from is faster than writing to?
(, Sat 20 Feb 2021, 20:22, Reply)
cheers - saved me a google. had enough trouble trying to rescue dodgy discs in the past so glad to avoid another md rabbit hole
(, Sat 20 Feb 2021, 21:07, Reply)
You used optical for recording in real time.
At the time you could get MD drives to hook up to a computer like a Zip drive, but hardly anyone bought them outside Japan.
(, Sat 20 Feb 2021, 22:10, Reply)
is a function of processor time not mechanical was my point i think - usb transfer is only shaving a few cycles from the process?
(, Sat 20 Feb 2021, 22:18, Reply)
ATRAC3 was used to fit vastly more audio on an MD than recording lossless PCM or original ATRAC. This effectively turned a Minidisc player into an MP3 player with removable storage.
If you wanted to do this you had to connect USB (before USB 2.0, mark you), and you had to use Sony's ATRAC3 format as well as their slow, shitty and generally unpleasant software.*
If you were hooked up to the optical in, you could only record in realtime but the quality was much better.
(, Sun 21 Feb 2021, 1:00, Reply)
bailed way before atrac3 - before 'lp' even
i fink i geddit now
(, Sun 21 Feb 2021, 1:06, Reply)
(, Sat 20 Feb 2021, 20:34, Reply)
Bring back OGG.
(, Sat 20 Feb 2021, 21:01, Reply)
I can remember my boss buying one decades ago (worked in a nightclub at the time) "its the future" he repeatedly said. It lasted about a day in that sweatbox of a club.
(, Sat 20 Feb 2021, 22:40, Reply)
If the fog itself doesn't interfere with playback, then the residue build-up over time traps dust.
(, Sat 20 Feb 2021, 23:57, Reply)
Recorded all the basic tracks for a Pretty Popular Film Soundtrack on it and it stands up very well when bumped up to Super Dooper Dolby 5.1
(, Sun 21 Feb 2021, 19:17, Reply)
Given I could record five or six albums on a disc, I could carry about thirty albums on me. With the extra battery bolted on I could get about 60hrs play, too.
(, Sun 21 Feb 2021, 22:52, Reply)