At 8/7/00 2:11 AM, las increased the world's knowledge by typing:
>As some one stated before, Sony should come out with a very basic unit.
>No editing features
>or they should be hidden under a flap labeled "for advanced users only".
>
>They need the equivalent of the simple cassette deck for many Americans.
>But Sony is a
>Japanese company. They my have their name on our records and movies now,
>but I think that
>they stay totally away from the creative end. If Sony had it's own people
>making movies and
>records for the US market, they'd be out of business by now.
I disagree, sort of. I understand your suggestion for simplicity, but I
don't think that's the issue. MD's are already dead simple to record with
like a tape. Just stick the disc in and hit record. (Unless you're using
a Sony portable and have to contend with that STUPID End Search button.)
If you want to do editing on a tape, you simply wind to the spot that you
want to record over and start taping again. If you want do simple editing
on a MD you can't use the same approach because MD is a random access
medium instead of a linear medium like tape is. But I don't think the MD
approach is really any harder. In fact, it's EASIER to do more advanced
editing if that's what you want to do.
No, I think the issues are different. They would be cost, understanding
MD's convenience, understanding MD's reliability, understanding MD's
quality, availability, and compatibility with new technologies.
As far as cost goes, all you have to do is compare the price of a
minidisc recorder and a bunch of blanks to the price of a tape recorder
and a bunch of blank tapes. There is a SIGNIFICANT gap between the low
end of the MD market and the low end of the tape market. There is also a
gap between prices at the high end, but it's not as significant. IMHO,
this price gap is giving people enough sticker shock that they're saying,
"I don't care if it IS better, that's too much money." Granted, things
are getting better, but not much. Blank prices have been falling into an
appropriate range. But recorder prices have been staying the same while
manufacturers cram everything into smaller and smaller units at the cost
of usability and expense. Now they need to focus on usability and cost
cutting. (My R50 is significantly easier to use than current models,
including my Aiwa C80.)
But, I think the biggest problem is simply consumer education. Everyone
who has seen and heard my MD recorder in action wants one; especially
when they understand MD's advantages over other media. But this
information gets lost in the noise when someone ventures into an
electronics store. Think of it, you have hundreds of square feet of huge
electronic noisemakers (big screen TVs, monstrous speakers, racks and
racks of stereo equipment, etc.) it's VERY easy to overlook these tiny
little devices that would take no more than 4 square feet even if the
store carried every model made. Add to this the fact that you can only
find MD in dedicated electronics stores, and that those stores don't
usually carry more than two or three models and the consumer either won't
even notice them or conclude that it's a niche market. (And it currently
is.) The MD industry MUST find a way to educate the consumer and make MD
systems available everywhere that tape recorders and CD players are,
including electronics departments of major department stores, mom and pop
stores, music retailers and ESPECIALLY music instrument retailers.
Here are the things consumers need to learn about MD:
-- Convenience. Consider how convenient these tiny things are. You can
fit any portable player/recorder in any pocket you have. (Except maybe a
watch pocket.) Can you say that about a CD player? NO! Can you say that
about a tape player/recorder. Not usually. You can take them anywhere you
can take a portable tape recorder. Can you say that about a CD recorder?
No. You can rerecord and edit a MD any time you want. Can you say that
about a CD? NO! Is it as easy to edit a tape? NO! Can you quickly jump to
any spot on a tape like to can on a MD? NO! You can carry more MD discs
in your car than either tapes or CDs. You can even carry a bunch in your
pockets. You can't do that with CDs or many tapes. Can you get more time
out of a tape by changing a setting on your recorder? No, not unless you
have a special (read: expensive) recorder. MD also provides the ability
to make one digital copy of your CDs. This means that I can have a copy
of my favorite CDs in the car while the original CD stays in my office
where it's both safe, and available in my office. Many people do this
with a tape, but the quality is not nearly as good and they have to worry
about flipping the tape over during the recording process. A MD copy is
as simple as pushing two buttons: record on the recorder and play on the
CD player.
-- Reliability. Can you use a tape for as long as a MD? No. Can you
rerecord a tape as often as a MD? No. How about a CD? NO! How about a
CD-RW? No. Are you REALLY comfortable handling a CD in a car? No. There's
no protection for the CD so scratches WILL happen, especially if you drop
a CD in the car. What happens if you leave a tape on a speaker or other
magnetic source? (Say goodnight, Gracie.) What if you leave a MD there?
No problem. How about in a hot car? Tapes do not like frequent exposures
to high temperatures. How about your original CD? If it melts, you have
to buy a new one. If a MD melts (I haven't seen it happen yet) all you
need to do is make a new recording.
-- Quality. Again, and again I've heard that MD is ALMOST as good as CD.
Maybe if your ears are good enough to pick out a certain cricket in a
large field full of crickets. I think it's time to change this statement
to say that it's INDISTINGUISHABLE from CDs in all but studio conditions.
And it simply blows tape completely away.
Here are some improvements that are needed to MD:
-- Availability. I've already mentioned this above as far as availability
in stores. There are also two other points though. First is the number of
models available. Most equipment models never make it to the US. We have
some tiny portables, a few deck models and a few car units avaiable.
That's about it. Shelf systems are only rarely available, and boom boxes
are nonexistent. We need a bigger range of models (low to high), boom
boxes, alarm clocks, shelf systems. Admittedly, this is hard unless the
market is there, but the market won't be there unless there's actually
something available that people want to buy.
And they need to be available for display. At one store where I've bought
a lot of stuff, they don't have the portables on the floor for display
because they have a tendency to grow feet. At another (Circuit City) they
all look like they've been through a war. The manufacturers need to
develop floor displays that let consumers see and understand the units
without either of the above problems. At one of the stores, there is a
Sony display that demonstrates how convenient it is to record from a CD
to a MD. Both units are permanently clamped to the display. This is a
good approach to understand how MD works and compares to a CD. But the
consumer can't handle the unit and see how it feels and look at all the
sides. Maybe they should take a cue from the cellular phone industry and
create non-working display models that look and feel the same as the
actual units.
-- Compatibility with new technologies. Long ago, Sony made the decision
to make data MD incompatible with audio MD. This decision is coming back
to haunt them with the popularity of MP3. It's time for the MD
manufacturers to create a computer drive that handles both data MD and
audio MD. (The record industry also needs to find a way to make money
from the convenience of MP3 because it's obvious that consumers are not
going to give it up, but this not my main point.) When it's dead simple
to stick a MD in your computer's drive and copy a file to the MD just
like any other computer disk, then the MP3 "player" market can be easily
supplanted by the superior and more cost effective MD technology.
Wow. I didn't expect this to turn into such a tirade. But here it is. I
congratulate you if you've read this far. Sorry 'bout that. :-}
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ed "What the" Heckman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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