Mp3 vs Mini Disc

[traviss187]

Looking into getting a new mp3 or mini disc player and was hoping to get some pros and cons of each, or just start a debate, eaither one is fine with me -thanks for any thoughts/sugestions

 

[funkdog]

why not a mini-disc mp3 player? Maybe I read your question wrong.

I have a 64mb Intel mp3 player, get about 1 1/2hrs worth off of it. Battery life is about 6 hours on 1 AA battery.

Also have the Napa 8cm mini-cdr mp3 player, about 3 hours of mp3 on a disc, with battery life being a dismal 4 hours on 2 AAA batteries.

I prefer the mini-cdr player over the intel unit, still small enough to fit in the back pocket, 8 minute skip protection... just gotta get a battery charger and some NimH batteries and I'm all set.

Had one of the first Sony MiniDisc players, hated the fact that you had to actually play the songs and record them, havn't tried the newer ones with the USB copying... so I can't tell you about them, they sound cool, 1 battery for something like 50hours playtime...

<b>"These are my thoughts, your mileage may vary."

 

[arkus]

Excuse my ignorance, but I can't see a single advantage of Mini-Disc over MP3 apart from cost. Am I missing something?

 

[confoundicator]

First of all, when you say mini-disc vs MP3 I have to assume that by "MP3" you mean a flash memory MP3 player. If that is the case then one advantage of a mini-disc player is that once you've made the discs you don't have any down time to change music. My Nomad MuVo 128 takes something like 8 minutes to fill with music (about 3 hours of MP3's over USB 1.1). But then it'll run 10-12 hours off of a single AAA. Any other advantages? I don't know, in a pinch mini's can be used as shuriken.

-Never argue with an idiot, they'll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

 

[funkdog]

not a single advantage??? Can you carry something to fill it up when you've heard the same songs over and over for hours at a time? I can carry the mini-cdr unit (which plays mp3's, in case you weren't sure), and a stack of burnt cd's in mp3 format... well over 50 hours of music in my back pocket.

Mainly use it at work when I have to work overnight.

The intel unit, stock, holds about 1 1/2 hrs of music... in a 8 hour nite, hearing the same songs 3 times in a row gets kinda old.



<b>"These are my thoughts, your mileage may vary."

 

[confoundicator]

Yes, that's what I said. Advantage of the mini is no down-time to change music, as in sitting at a computer. I listen to mine going to and from work, so whatever your needs are will dictate the kind of player you get.

-Insanity is trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

 

[funkdog]

Sorry, my reply should have been aimed at the guy in front of you.

<b>"These are my thoughts, your mileage may vary."

 

[poncho]

Ive been weighing up the minidisc vs mp3 decision as well, though everyone here seems to be refering to flash mp3 players. I have been looking at the Zen jukebox from creative which ships with the 20 gig notebook hd. Comes with firewire (and usb for those with out firewire) so transfer times is no prob and supposedly has 12 hour battery life. Anyone have any experience with one of these players. Tis slightly dearer then the minidisc players Ive been looking at but 20 gig is a whole lot of music!!!

There is no right and wrong. There's only fun and boring.

 

[alltaken]

ok i got a minidisc player!!!!!!!!


advantages

1 AA battery lasts me 48 hours (some come with up to 90 hours playing time on a batterie (i think))
yes that means i leave a single battery in for weeks!!!!!!!

each disc holding 2 CD's worth is still better quality IMO than an MP3 at 128Kbps

you can quikly change disc's

mine has a radio built in. (on the remote control)




compared to a HDD based MP3 player a minidisc player is very tough. mine won't skip (unless you knock it at the perfect time, its skiped 2 times in 1.5 years of running with it)

the discs are very cheap (i have over 30 MD'd but most are empty)




disadvantages.

well if you want a HUGE selection of music you won't really get it unless you take a few minidiscs (like 3)



no other disadvantages.

they are pretty good.





p.s. they have a MICROPHONE option for live recording in stereo. they can be used to record audio STARIGHT from DVD players using SPIDF optical stuff.

i would recomend a GOOD MD, over anything else.


BTW i hate MP3's because of the sound artifacts, i have all my cd's encoded in FLAC a free loseless audio codec, this means when converting to MD from computer they don't get RE-ENCODED. if you already have a large MP3 collection i suggest a MP3 player, because then you will not be RE-ENCODING which will lose information.

e.g.
MP3 on your computer sounds the same on an MP3 player
MP3 converted to ATRAC (the MD format) will sound slightly worse no-matter what quality setting it is on.

if all your music is from CD's the i suggest MD
but if its from MP3 then i suggest an MP3 player

Alltaken

 

[Syndil]

I too have a minidisc player. Several actually. I have a <A HREF="http/www.usa.denon.com/catalog/photo.asp?s=home&p=DMD-1000&f=Dmd1000.jpg&c=57" target="_new">Denon DMD-1000</A> Minidisc deck, a <A HREF="http/www.minidisc.org/sonyim/MZ-R37_S_01_low.jpg" target="_new">Sony MZR-37</A> portable MD recorder, and a <A HREF="http/www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDX-C8970.html" target="_new">Sony MDX-C8970</A> head unit in my car.

The reason I went with Minidisc is that I wanted a way to listen to my extensive CD collection without having to risk damaging my originals. I could either have gone with CD-R based MP3's or MD's. I chose MD simply because the ATRAC compression used by MD sounds much better than MP3 compression.

But, if you're not a "golden-ears" and you can't tell the diff between ATRAC and MP3, then you are probably better off with MP3. CD-R's are much cheaper than Minidisc's, and MP3 capable CD players (portable, car, what-have-you) are becoming commonplace whereas MD never really caught on in the US.

And no, you can NOT store MP3's on Minidisc. You can play an MP3 and record it to Minidisc, but that's really not a good idea. You'll be applying ATRAC compression to an audio source that's already been compressed. I can't see how that would be a good thing, although I've never tried it. At best, you'll have something that sounds like an MP3 stored on a medium that is capable of much better quality. Really makes no sense to go that route.. may as well go with cheaper CD-R's.

However, an MD, IMO, is much sexier than a CD-R, and all MD's are rewritable, so you don't have to keep buying new ones when you want to expand/change your music collection. Just erase one and re-burn it. Not that that's really an argument, though, considering how dirt-cheap CD-R's are.

Also I should mention that newer Minidisc players that use the ATRAC3 compression (also known as MDLP or "MiniDisc Long Play") can hold 160 minutes in LP2 mode, or 320 minutes in the more compressed LP4 mode. All on a single tiny minidisc. I have not heard ATRAC3 so I cannot comment on its quality VS. MP3, however.

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[Howard]

A flash-based mp3 player has no moving parts inside, making it more durable than any md player. Sony likes to use encription softwre on their mp3 players (probalby does the same on their MDs) which slows down transfer speeds.