Okay guys, I know we are all md freaks (or at least enthusiasts) but
please don't take this post the wrong way.
I know MD encodes at something like 320kbps, using an algorithm at
least as good as, and in ATRAC 4 and later probably better than even
the best mp3 coder (Fraunhoffer?). Actually given Sony could throw an
awful lot more man-power behind any project than an internet thingy, I
bet ATRAC 3 is on a par with the best MP3 encoder at the same very-
high (for MP3) bit-rate.
Thing is I have been using Napster lately, to download mp3 music most
of which has been at 128kbps, and to be honest it is to my ears quite
acceptable, provided it was recorded properly. Having just downloaded
and listened to Kate Bush Wutheing Heights, there were definite probs
with the high freq stuff, sorta muffled artifacts added to them but
overall, in any listening environment other than my home I doubt they
would be detectable.
No way is solid-state media gonna replace MD in the forseeable future
unless some breakthrough happens, and I think that is rather unlikely.
I mean, they said 10 years back disks as storage would be dead by now,
too slow, no real improvements on current speed and capacity likely,
blah blah blah. Just look at hard drives now- 30gig drives for about
UKP110/US$180 with seek speeds of under 10mS, the heads can find the
data in under a hundredth of a second- that is one helluva engineering
feat!
How has solid-state storage progressed? The answer is not very much.
It slowly comes down in price. Very slowly. Very slowly indeed! The
cost of HDDs seems to be tumbling now, capacities are rocketing and
prices tumbling, whereas increased use/demand for solid-state media is
holding their prices high.
I could pop into the local city center (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England)
and buy at least ten or more minidiscs from different outlets. It's
not an enourmous metropolis, maybe 250k population but I could get
disks from: Richer Sounds, Dixons, Virgin Megastore, Fenwicks, HMV,
Tandy, Maplin, at least two other independent small hifi chains with
shops in the center, and I've probably overlooked shops like Comet, a
Co-Op department store which sells almost everything (inc MD) and a
few others.
Now where would I buy my MP3 players' memory card? With the exception
of maybe Dixons, Tandy and Maplins I doubt I could get one, and even
then I'd be dubious as to whether they'd have the correct type-- the
flash media format battle is far from over I think.
My most recent trip into the city showed even the previously expensive
places for blank MDs like Dixons have dramatically cut prices, okay
not to Richer Sounds sub 1 ukp per disk type level, but a lot better
than the old ukp3 or 4.
All we need is for the next generation of portable MD to have a PC
interface of some type, and the ability to playback mp3 files and the
current breed of mp3 players will be as dead as the do-do. Surely the
MP3 decoder is pretty straightforward and could be included in
parallel with the ATRAC codec?
Sorry this email is far longer than I intended it to be, I guess I had
a few things I wanted to get off my mind :-)
Cheers,
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| | Gareth Bell - [EMAIL PROTECTED] | |
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| | ICQ: 36892193 http://website.lineone.net/~princegaz/ | |
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