Hi David, Thanks for taking up your questions on MD-L. I'm even happier to answer them here. > I was really into MiniDisc until I went to the Switzerland Web Site and its > seems that every player had problems with it and eventually whether it takes > 1 month or 1 year, the player shuts down. Okay, careful, you're looking at a page *devoted* to equipment problems. People are not invited to report e.g. "unit working just fine for years!" there. And of course it is false to say that every unit will eventually fail. I have a nice MZ-R50 and MD-MS701 that have never had problems. > I talked to a guy I knew and he said MiniDisc is on its way out and > MP3 is on its way in. He said in never shocks because it has no > moving parts. This sounds great, and also it will last 15 hours > regardless of what you're doing. It has the same kind of features > (being able to record from computer, computer, microphone) as the MD > player, There's only one MP3 unit (an Aiwa) that will do high quality recording (encoding) inside the unit. Most can only be downloaded with music that was encoded on a computer. > and the slots can hold a lot more memory on it. It seems > upgradable. Really? I haven't seen a portable MP3 unit more than 96MB of memory (64MB on board, plus 32MB in the slot). That's 3 hours of music at the low quality setting. Bigger memory cards are certainly coming, but prices are still at the $100/hour level. > I just dont want to shell out $250 and have it be obselte in a >couple of years. This is the part I don't understand. Assuming you're right, that MP3 is coming in and MD is waning (or at least isn't as hot as MP3) then think about what is going to happen to MP3 player prices. Right now we're at the very beginning of solid state audio, with exorbitant prices being charged for units with pretty skimpy features (no recording capability, limited music capacity). MD is mature in comparison, with equipment and media at reasonable prices. The $250 you pay today for an MD *recorder* will hold its value much better than the $200 you pay for your MP3 *player*. Prices for MP3 players stand to plummet, there's almost nothing to them but memory! I think MD is a much more flexible format, personally. It will do everything MP3 will, at higher quality, on more robust media, at lower prices, and with a field recording capability that leaves MP3 in the dust. I just don't find anything compelling (yet) about those overpriced little MP3 boxes, sorry. Maybe I'd feel differently if I listened to tunes during high-g sports activites. Rick ----------------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
