MD: Use of MD portables in new CD/radio-equipped cars
Hi everyone! I was reading the discussion on the idea of adding MD equipment to newer cars that are equipped with CD/radio head units that don't have auxiliary inputs. As has been mentioned earlier, some of the cars such as the Oldsmobile that was cited at the start of the thread use highly-integrated setups like steering-wheel control, consolidated-display setups where the car stereo's status appears on another panel on the dash and aesthetic integration (mainly practiced with the VW New Beetle). There are some ideas that can be put forward to Sony and other manufacturers to deal with this situation. The key factor is that the practice that FM modulators aren't the only solution for this problem. One solution that was practiced during the 60s and 70s with add-on cassette and 8-track cartridge players was to have the units equipped with built-in power amplifiers. These units often fed a set of speakers and, in some installations, the OEM car radio was fed through the tape player, which meant that the radio played through the tape player speakers. The moment you pushed a cassette or cartridge in to the tape player, the tape-player sound would cut over the radio. In the 80s, there were a few CD players and CD-changer controllers that installed between the existing car stereo and they performed the same job as these tape players. Why can't we do this for MD? Sony could sell a Unilink-compatible CD/MD changer controller that has sound-adjustment controls and installs between the OEM car radio and the existing speakers. They could also sell a tuner-less MD player (either a single-disc uniter or a 3+1 disc unit) that has a power amplifier and installs in the same manner as those old tape players. They could also design a MD-Walkman controller that installs between the OEM stereo and the speakers and provides power to and takes sound from a remote-capable MD Walkman. The control factor emulates the remote-controls that come with these Walkmans. With regards, Simon Mackay - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: Direct video to TV monitor
When I setup home theatre systems I always use the TV's a/v switcher when possible, this does not necearily provide better quality (AS FAR AS I HAVE SEEN) however it provides greater simplicity for the non-techie people in households. You can switch the AV inputs on the TV by using the TV/Video button on remotes and keep the AMP off to watch tv if you have a sony (There is a one button trick to turn off the built in speakers on WEGAs) then when you want to watch a DVD or something with surround, just push the speaker off button and set your amp to it's 5.1 input. which was sperately routed. hope it helps. - Original Message - From: las [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, August 07, 2001 9:44 PM Subject: MD: Direct video to TV monitor This is a little off topic but the only tie on to MD that I can think of is that an MD player will be part of the system. Before I moved last year I purchased a very good quality Onkyo AV receiver (about $1000.00 list). As I have always done in the past I had originally planned to input all of the video signals into the receive and then use the video out on the receiver to a Sony Vega TV monitor that I bought. But it first occurred to me when I found out that the Vega has direct a component (Colorstream) input. So I attached my DVD player directly to the TV. It made sense to me to by pass the video portion of the receiver and take all of my other video outputs (there are at least 3 additionalcomposite/Svideo) video inputs on the Vega. While this would compliment things because I would have to match the video signal on the TV to the audio signal on the receiver, wouldn't this increase the quality of the video? I believe that there are no enhancements for video on the receiver, only loads of DSPs for audio. Any feelings on the matter? LAS - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: Sharp MD-MT877 vs. Sony MZ-G750DPC
Hey all. I haven't been on this list since about '98 or maybe '97 even (it was on a Rocketmail account, so I know it was before Yahoo took them over!). Is the list still alive? I personally got tired of MD when I got a cd burner -- much harder to share your music when you're the only one with a Minidisc player! Now, however, I'm taking public transportation again, and it's amazing how big a cd player suddenly is! Add that to the new MDLP stuff, and I can see it's time to get back into MiniDisc. I was dismayed to discover that Best Buy has more or less stopped carrying my lovely little toys (they only have the Sony MZ-R700DPC (if I'm not mistaken) and the saleman to whom I spoke clearly thought that MD was pass (somehow holding the belief that 64 megs of flash memory, holding about an hour's music and costing more than $50 on a good day -- and don't get me started on the cost of those MP3 players -- was superior to minidisc). So I hit the web, and went back to trusty old Minidisco. This brings me to the subject at hand. Now, I've always been fond of Sony. They make pretty good investments in innovation (seems like Phillips invents everything good and then sells it to Sony), and when the technology is young, they make solid devices. When the technology is mature, they can be counted on to make some of the best equipment in the high-end consumer market, and some very respectable budget equipment. However, they always seem to be rather conservative. For example, what the h3ll is up with all of their player/recorders using AAs and not having built-in Li-Ion support? My favorite thing about my old Sharp MD-SS312-H (which, I would like to point out, is still very sexy) is the gumpack Li-Ion battery. I can not stand buying a few packs of AAs every week. I won't do it. Now, I notice that Minidisco indicates that Sony includes a NiCd AA with their MD portables, but NiCd, unlike MD, IS pass ! I have enough headaches keeping my cordless phone batteries from developing memory -- I don't want to add my MD player to that mess. Does anyone on the list have any experience with the Sharp MD-MT877? It looks cool (though I must admit the Sony MZ-R700DPC is a sexy little b!tch), it apparently has a NiMH battery (I'm guessing it's a AA format, can anyone confirm? If so, I may be able to replace it with Li-Ion, but I'm not sure how the onboard charger would feel about that), but at least it's less of an insult than NiCd. The battery life is respectable, and that charging cradle is the deal closer. I love dropping my phone into a cradle and letting it charge, and I want the same for my MD. It's the small things in life... Then of course, there's the Sony MZ-G750DPC. IT's got a sexy look to it (I do so love turning heads when I pull that MD player out of my pocket... What kind of tape player is that?! -- hours of fun for the whole family), plus it comes with non-earbud headphones, which is nice.. might save me a few bucks if they're halfway decent... it comes with a PC link (I thought I was going to have to buy a SB Live! or something similar for the digital-out) which'll save a few bucks, plus it has a built in am/fm radio. That's nice. What I'm looking for is opinions. Purely subjective comments on their livability. How fun are they to have? __ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: MDLP
AS stated in my previous message, I've been out of MD for a while. I come back to find this wonerful new technology, MDLP, which turns out to merely be lower bit-rate sampling, much to my dismay. Can anyone comment on the sound quality? I personally can't tell the different between 320Kbps and 256Kbps mp3s, but I CAN (barely) hear the difference between 320 and 128. 128 is, generally, perfectly acceptable to me. Especially when using a pair of cheap PC speakers or earbuds. However, I've noticed that 92Kbps and lower really starts to sound like trash. I've read the LP faq (http://www.minidisc.org/mdlpfaq.html) and messed about with the sample files they have, but does anyone have any real-world experience they can share? Subjectively, how do LP2 and LP4 recordings compare to say, 128K mp3s? __ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: Sharp MD-MT877 vs. Sony MZ-G750DPC
=== = NB: Over 50% of this message is QUOTED, please = = be more selective when quoting text = === I have an R900, and I love it. Its battery is a gumstick NiMH, and it takes me bloody well forever to drain it. Granted I'm not CONSTANTLY listening to my unit but it gets used several times a day. It also comes with a little screw-on adaptor on the bottom that holds a standard AA alkie. I used the two in tandem while I was on vacation for about 9 days, for the whole trip down, while I was there, and the whole trip back (many many hours) and didn't put a dent in the batteries. Very efficient! The battery life is one of the things that's impressed me most with these new Sonys. That and the fact the R900 is feature packed. --- Mike Lastucka, B. Tech [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://sites.netscape.net/element5/ 2048 bit DH 0x16DC15CD From: Firstname Lastname [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: MD: Sharp MD-MT877 vs. Sony MZ-G750DPC Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 07:10:29 -0700 (PDT) Hey all. I haven't been on this list since about '98 or maybe '97 even (it was on a Rocketmail account, so I know it was before Yahoo took them over!). Is the list still alive? I personally got tired of MD when I got a cd burner -- much harder to share your music when you're the only one with a Minidisc player! Now, however, I'm taking public transportation again, and it's amazing how big a cd player suddenly is! Add that to the new MDLP stuff, and I can see it's time to get back into MiniDisc. I was dismayed to discover that Best Buy has more or less stopped carrying my lovely little toys (they only have the Sony MZ-R700DPC (if I'm not mistaken) and the saleman to whom I spoke clearly thought that MD was pass (somehow holding the belief that 64 megs of flash memory, holding about an hour's music and costing more than $50 on a good day -- and don't get me started on the cost of those MP3 players -- was superior to minidisc). So I hit the web, and went back to trusty old Minidisco. This brings me to the subject at hand. Now, I've always been fond of Sony. They make pretty good investments in innovation (seems like Phillips invents everything good and then sells it to Sony), and when the technology is young, they make solid devices. When the technology is mature, they can be counted on to make some of the best equipment in the high-end consumer market, and some very respectable budget equipment. However, they always seem to be rather conservative. For example, what the h3ll is up with all of their player/recorders using AAs and not having built-in Li-Ion support? My favorite thing about my old Sharp MD-SS312-H (which, I would like to point out, is still very sexy) is the gumpack Li-Ion battery. I can not stand buying a few packs of AAs every week. I won't do it. Now, I notice that Minidisco indicates that Sony includes a NiCd AA with their MD portables, but NiCd, unlike MD, IS pass ! I have enough headaches keeping my cordless phone batteries from developing memory -- I don't want to add my MD player to that mess. Does anyone on the list have any experience with the Sharp MD-MT877? It looks cool (though I must admit the Sony MZ-R700DPC is a sexy little b!tch), it apparently has a NiMH battery (I'm guessing it's a AA format, can anyone confirm? If so, I may be able to replace it with Li-Ion, but I'm not sure how the onboard charger would feel about that), but at least it's less of an insult than NiCd. The battery life is respectable, and that charging cradle is the deal closer. I love dropping my phone into a cradle and letting it charge, and I want the same for my MD. It's the small things in life... Then of course, there's the Sony MZ-G750DPC. IT's got a sexy look to it (I do so love turning heads when I pull that MD player out of my pocket... What kind of tape player is that?! -- hours of fun for the whole family), plus it comes with non-earbud headphones, which is nice.. might save me a few bucks if they're halfway decent... it comes with a PC link (I thought I was going to have to buy a SB Live! or something similar for the digital-out) which'll save a few bucks, plus it has a built in am/fm radio. That's nice. What I'm looking for is opinions. Purely subjective comments on their livability. How fun are they to have? __ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
RE: MD: MDLP
Having just recently got into MDLP, I'm very impressed. LP2 to me is brilliant, fine for all uses. I like good sound quality, but I'm not bothered to the extent that some people have been commenting on over the past few days, and to me, it sounds the same as SP. LP4 definitely has some degradation, but is again fine for me recording 5 hours of FM music off the radio - as you say, particularly when using a portable on the train, or via a casette adaptor in the car. I wouldn't use it for recording CD's to listen to on my home deck though. -Original Message- From: Firstname Lastname [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 08 August 2001 15:41 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: MD: MDLP AS stated in my previous message, I've been out of MD for a while. I come back to find this wonerful new technology, MDLP, which turns out to merely be lower bit-rate sampling, much to my dismay. Can anyone comment on the sound quality? I personally can't tell the different between 320Kbps and 256Kbps mp3s, but I CAN (barely) hear the difference between 320 and 128. 128 is, generally, perfectly acceptable to me. Especially when using a pair of cheap PC speakers or earbuds. However, I've noticed that 92Kbps and lower really starts to sound like trash. I've read the LP faq (http://www.minidisc.org/mdlpfaq.html) and messed about with the sample files they have, but does anyone have any real-world experience they can share? Subjectively, how do LP2 and LP4 recordings compare to say, 128K mp3s? __ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: MDLP
This is entirely subjective, and I imagine you're going to get a zillion replies from people quoting bitrates and compression ratios. Myself personally, I've used LP2 compression often for recording 160 min mixes of electronic music from Shoutcast servers. To tell you the truth, even with an excellent pair of earbuds, the quality loss is barely noticeable. Doing a test, I did a digital recording from a CD three times. Once normal, once LP2, once LP4. Normal sounded great of course. LP2 was barely (and I mean BARELY) discernable from the normal recorindg. LP4 is where you really start to hear the compromises being made, but depending on what you're recording, LP4 could be fine (voice material like recording a meething, for instance). These are just my personal experiences. My ears aren't messed up and I don't have a crummy pair of earphones. :) --- Mike Lastucka, B. Tech [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://sites.netscape.net/element5/ 2048 bit DH 0x16DC15CD From: Firstname Lastname [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: MD: MDLP Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2001 07:40:49 -0700 (PDT) AS stated in my previous message, I've been out of MD for a while. I come back to find this wonerful new technology, MDLP, which turns out to merely be lower bit-rate sampling, much to my dismay. Can anyone comment on the sound quality? I personally can't tell the different between 320Kbps and 256Kbps mp3s, but I CAN (barely) hear the difference between 320 and 128. 128 is, generally, perfectly acceptable to me. Especially when using a pair of cheap PC speakers or earbuds. However, I've noticed that 92Kbps and lower really starts to sound like trash. I've read the LP faq (http://www.minidisc.org/mdlpfaq.html) and messed about with the sample files they have, but does anyone have any real-world experience they can share? Subjectively, how do LP2 and LP4 recordings compare to say, 128K mp3s? __ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: Sony MZ-G750
At 7:10 -0700 08-08-2001, Firstname Lastname wrote: Now, I've always been fond of Sony. They make pretty good investments in innovation (seems like Phillips invents everything good and then sells it to Sony), and when the technology is young, they make solid devices. I agree with you. It's a shame that Philips (with only one l, it's a Dutch company) isn't able to do more with their inventions. Then of course, there's the Sony MZ-G750DPC. IT's got a sexy look to it (I do so love turning heads when I pull that MD player out of my pocket... What kind of tape player is that?! -- hours of fun for the whole family), plus it comes with non-earbud headphones, which is nice.. might save me a few bucks if they're halfway decent... it comes with a PC link (I thought I was going to have to buy a SB Live! or something similar for the digital-out) which'll save a few bucks, plus it has a built in am/fm radio. That's nice. Sony doesn't carry the one with the PC link in Europe, but I got the Sony MZ-G750 a couple of months ago. It's a great little machine. Audio quality is great, but I haven't tried the MDLP option yet. My disks wouldn't be compatible with the Sony MD-DX3 in my stereo system, which doesn't have MDLP. The radio is OK, but nothing special. But it's nice to be able to listen to the radio without having to carry another device around. Battery life is great too. About 40hrs of playback with an ordinary AA-battery. One thing I like very much about the portable recorder is the fact I can take it to a friend, plug it into his amplifier and record a CD or LP. (With decent equipment even LP's sound alright on MD). I didn't like the earphones that came with the MZ-G750 at all, so I got another pair. I now use Sony MDR-EX70LP. Much better sound and very comfortable. They go completely into you or and shield off external sounds very well. What I'm looking for is opinions. Purely subjective comments on their livability. How fun are they to have? It's great fun to have this machine. Everybody is always asking what it is:) And after my explanation of the things you can do with it, the non-techies are flabbergasted. Since my iMac is connected to my amplifier through USB/iMic I don't miss the PC link, but I can certainly recommend using USB for recording from your computer. I would say, get the machine as soon as you can, you don't want to miss a day of fun with this little gadget. The only thing I don't like is the titling of tracks, but I don't even use that on my MD-DX3. I'm from the analogue era where we used to take a look at a cover to see which track was playing, so I couldn't be bothered with titling. iMark - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MD: . the R700 is ugly
Hello- I finally got to see the R700 up close, at Tower of all places. I was put off by how ugly the thing is. Compared to my R50 which is curvy and delicious looking, the R700 is a brick. Pretty thick and with straight angles and everything. The color is ugly too, and only one headphone output?! Anyway. I do see myself buying a portable MDLP recorder at some point, but it won't be for a while. I haven't seen the R900 yet, and I'm super-excited to see the R909. Although my next purchase will have be a minidisc player for the car. That's got to happen. //future-shock/ http://www.wam.umd.edu/~payvand [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: MD inferior to MP3: it's not computer-literate
The Mironics interface uses the parallel port, not the serial port, Sorry about that, got confuzzed over which port it used Stuart Howlette - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word unsubscribe to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
