Re: MD: MP3 versus MiniDisc
I got a MDS-JE510 which has NEVER had any problems, it plays on and on without any hint of the "known 510 bugs" Those bugs were allmost all related to the Malaysian units. I got the European model which was made in Japan and it is absolutely trouble free. Those Malaysian units take down the whole 510 range allso the perfect ones... I traded my 320 with my sister for the 510 she got in a Bundle4 we found at Mont. Wards during the summer. She never even uses the 320, but anyway, only bug I've found is the microswitch bug. -J.R. YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: MP3 versus MiniDisc
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 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. It's like the Sony-Sharp battle on this list. I must admit I'm a Sharpy, why? simple, I've got a 702 that has never failed on me. I've got also the MDS-S38 home-deck (a 510 in midi size) with all the 510 bugs in it (turning on, display flickering, grinding noizes). And a MDX-7900R car-head which sometimes doesn't want to accept a disk. (Randomly... Disks are ranging from HiSpace to Sony and several Maxell disks. They ALL give troubles (sometimes).) 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 I see a market for MP3, but unless they solve the high cost of taking MP3's with you (which is solved using MD), I don't see a very bright future. I've seen that there are some 'stand-alone' home-decks comming out. They enable you to record a MP3 and to store it on the internal HD. For me MP3 is a 'consumer-unfriendly' format. 1) you need a PC. 2) You just can't push the button and a WAV is converted into MP3. You need to fiddle around with settings to obtain the best sound! 3) It's to expensive to carry your 'music-database' with you. (Unless you've got a laptop). (Example: You're going on a two-weeks holiday. You want to take your favourite music with you: About 20 CDs (which isn't that much for a two weeks holiday). That makes 20MDs @ $4. In terms of MP3, you'll have a problem here... Either you buy a $2000 laptop, or you buy 20 32MB memory cards @ $100 It's also a format that will be brought to dead by the music-industrie. Why, simple, they just hate it that there is no copy-protection on MP3 and the underground MP3 sites that come with this. (type MP3 in altavista and you see what I mean. (80% of the responses are 'warez', 'games', 'mp3z' sites). Cheers, Ralph - may I say that one of the reasons MD is getting more popular by the day is MP3? -- === Ralph SmeetsFunctional Verification Centre Of Competence - CMG Voice: (+33) (0)4 76 58 44 46 STMicroelectronics Fax:(+33) (0)4 76 58 40 11 5, chem de la Dhuy Mobile: (+33) (0)6 82 66 62 70 38240 MEYLAN E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] FRANCE === "For many years, mankind lived just like the animals. And then something happened that unleashed the powers of our imagination: We learned to talk." -- Stephen Hawking, later used by Pink Floyd -- === - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: MD: MP3 versus MiniDisc
Just thought i'd pitch in here: 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 I see a market for MP3, but unless they solve the high cost of taking MP3's with you (which is solved using MD), I don't see a very bright future. I've seen that there are some 'stand-alone' home-decks comming out. They enable you to record a MP3 and to store it on the internal HD. Which is kind of useless, if there's no easy way to get the tracks back off again. I worked out a while ago that storing high-quality MP3s on HD was actually more expensive than MD - it may not hold true any more with HDs getting cheaper, but MD isn't far behind. You're right though - MP3 needs a cheap, removable media to compete. MP3 player owners harp on about "memory prices coming down", but I can't see SM or CF memory dropping below the $15 mark for several years to come. For me MP3 is a 'consumer-unfriendly' format. 1) you need a PC. 2) You just can't push the button and a WAV is converted into MP3. You need to fiddle around with settings to obtain the best sound! For me, MP3 players are far too much hassle. I have a lot of MP3s; I ripped my 200+ CDs over the summer so I could have all my music with me at uni without using up a couple of shelves. Problem is, they're mostly at 192k (I figured if I'm ripping them all, I may as well do them at a decent quality). At that bitrate, it's about 1.44mb a minute. 22.2 minutes on a 32mb card, or 44.4 minutes on 64mb. Either way, it's not a lot of music (most albums are longer). I could squeeze more on if I re-encoded them, but by then the time to re-encode (usually losing ID3 tags) and upload to the player is roughly the time it takes to dump it onto MD. I don't fancy going through all that every morning/evening just to have fresh music in my player every day. I'd rather fall out of bed, grab my MD player and a couple of discs and leave. It's also a format that will be brought to dead by the music-industrie. Why, simple, they just hate it that there is no copy-protection on MP3 and the underground MP3 sites that come with this. (type MP3 in altavista and you see what I mean. (80% of the responses are 'warez', 'games', 'mp3z' sites). Cheers, Ralph - may I say that one of the reasons MD is getting more popular by the day is MP3? I think there are a lot of people who get blinded by all the "free music!" hype, only to find that the easy-to-get free music is from mp3.com and similar, where good tracks are chucked in randomly with utter rubbish. Then if they go looking for their favourite commercial songs they're confronted with links that don't work, tracks put in geocities webspace (non-resuming), or several porn banners. Of course, a lot of MP3 trading goes on that isn't like this - but how would someone who's new to MP3 know about that? The majority of people still go into shops and buy their music. For them, the easiest way to get that music into a portable format is MD. -- Simon discmans are too big to be "portable" :) - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: MP3 versus MiniDisc
It's like the Sony-Sharp battle on this list. I must admit I'm a Sharpy, why? simple, I've got a 702 that has never failed on me. I've got also the MDS-S38 home-deck (a 510 in midi size) with all the 510 bugs in it (turning on, display flickering, grinding noizes). And a MDX-7900R car-head which sometimes doesn't want to accept a disk. (Randomly... Disks are ranging from HiSpace to Sony and several Maxell disks. They ALL give troubles (sometimes).) I got a MDS-JE510 which has NEVER had any problems, it plays on and on without any hint of the "known 510 bugs" Those bugs were allmost all related to the Malaysian units. I got the European model which was made in Japan and it is absolutely trouble free. Those Malaysian units take down the whole 510 range allso the perfect ones... 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. That's about the only pre on MP3, that it is shockproof, but I think that the modern MD units with 40 secs or more memory will hardly ever skip... And one other strange thing Look at the battery life some MD units play for as long as 50 hours on a rechargeable cell... Most of the MP3 units will not even make it to 20 hours and they got no moving parts in them at all Remco - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: MP3 versus MiniDisc
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, March 18, 2000 10:06 PM Subject: MD: MP3 versus MiniDisc 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. Probably because the people who#s units are working properly are happily using them rather than posting about them. I talked to a guy I knew and he said MiniDisc is on its way out and MP3 is on its way in. I heard that a few times. What I see in the shops says otherwise - you can get blank MDs in ASDA (a supermarket) now! 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. 15 hours of the same 30 minutes of music doesn't appeal to me. I usually take about 3 or 4 MDs out with me for variety. I also take a blank for recording on if I feel I want to. It has the same kind of features (being able to record from computer, computer, microphone) as the MD player, and the slots can hold a lot more memory on it. It seems upgradable. I just dont want to shell out $250 and have it be obselte in a couple of years. Well as of yet I haven't seen an MP3 recorder than can make near CD quality recordings from a microphone, but I would love to be proven wrong. I've tried a few MP3 players and I'm much happier with MD. Maybe in a few years when MP3 has caught up I may feel differently, but MD will have probably moved on then anyway. There's a financial risk with any technology, but I for one think MD will be around for a few years yet! Magic -- "Creativity is more a birthright than an acquisition, and the power of sound is wisdom and understanding applied to the power of vibration." Location : Portsmouth, England, UK Homepage : http://www.mattnet.freeserve.co.uk EMail : [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: MP3 versus MiniDisc
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. Like someone said. How many people are gonna say "Yeah, my unit works great!" You know, I got this leather wallet for my birthday and it's still doin it's job. That little piece of plastic with my picture on it that allows me to drive, well, I can still drive. 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. U...I think onetime we figured out how much it would cost to do the equivilent on MD and MP3 and it would cost over $1000 to get the storage space and quality you get from a portable and one disc. 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, and the slots can hold a lot more memory on it. It seems upgradable. Yes, for a price. MP3's take up room, face it. Compared to what we CAN do with much better quality, MP3's are just a waste of space and smartmedia and compactflash cards ARE NOT cheap (I just spent $80 for a 16MB Compact Flash card for use in my digital camera.) Also, theres only 2 portable MP3 units that record. The Rio does not have this. Nor does they Lyra. To get 74 minutes on a MP3 player you'd need to balence bitrate and card size (well duh) but that not the point I'm making. Largest cards that exist are 128MB (largest compact flash I've seen, there MIGHT be a 256) and thats at 192kbps. But, who wants to spend $300 for a friggin memory card. It's about $600 total for the Rio while you can get a MD portable and some discs for $300. Hrmm, I wonder. Not only do MP3's sound bad but, to fit a whole CD I'd have to spend close to $300. I've barely spent $150 on blank MD's and I have 24 albums and like, 7 MD's of mixes. One other thing. MP3 is way to overmarked to the point it's stupid. Have any of you seen Samsungs new digital camera. It's only VGA resolution but has a built in MP3 player and it's only like, $289. I paid like $250 for my megapixel Kodak even though it doesn't include the MP3 playback (like I'd want it anyway) I just dont want to shell out $250 and have it be obselte in a couple of years. Nothing ever becomes obselite, it just becomes rare or hard to find. Like Beta. I still use beta. Hell, I just bought South Park, Bigger, Longer Uncut on Beta. They're still making it, it's just harder to find. Even if it dies down in the US (which I don't think it ever really will, it's lasted this long aganist DAT and DCC and so far CD-R for Comsumer. Even if it does, it has strong ties in other countries. Thank god for the internet! MD is not going out, in fact, in some ways, it's just getting started. -J.R. P.S. (BTW, if anyone was wondering where I did my calculations for the MP3 stuff. I wrote an application (purposly NOT trying to plug) if you want it: http://www.crosswinds.net/~moshchat/dewdude/audiocalc.zip YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: MD: MP3 versus MiniDisc
I heard that a few times. What I see in the shops says otherwise - you can get blank MDs in ASDA (a supermarket) now! Yeah, CVS, Food Lion and Giant carry like, 3 packs. Dollar General had some at one point. Don't know where they got them from. But it was like, 3 pack for $3.50. Crap though. 15 hours of the same 30 minutes of music doesn't appeal to me. I usually take about 3 or 4 MDs out with me for variety. I also take a blank for recording on if I feel I want to. 3 or 4??? I take my whole case, about 30, 24 in the sleeves and 6 between the pocket that holds the plastic part for the sleeves and case top. Well as of yet I haven't seen an MP3 recorder than can make near CD quality recordings from a microphone, but I would love to be proven wrong. I've tried a few MP3 players and I'm much happier with MD. Maybe in a few years when MP3 has caught up I may feel differently, The circuts in MP3 only call for, at best, radio quality. And problem with MP3 is they THINK they're improving it when in reality they can't do much more. YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. - To stop getting this list send a message containing just the word "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
