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The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

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Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#31

Post by kiksy »

arpa wrote: post #18
blablabla123 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But you could play the music over SPDIF and record it while playing. I cannot remember having had problems with that. (Until my self-built SPDIF adapter broke...) Also other than stated in the article, MD used its own compression format so you could put 700 MB uncompressed audio onto a 130 MB disc. But in times of > 10 GB storage it makes no sense anymore to use replaceable cartridges. Just put it all on the player.…

That is true, but the SPDIF playback/record is essentially dubbing :(

The model I had allowed for only 1 digital copy, after that generation it had to be analogue before another digital copy could be made.

Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#32

Post by INTPenis »

arpa wrote: post #3

What really killed this format is the draconian copy protection that crippled the software for getting the tracks on device (for NET MD players). Other method(s) of getting sound on MD was essentially dubbing, like you would with MC. Other players removed the artificial barriers of getting your music on device, and it turned out that antipiracy measures are not a feature... which is a shame, because the feel and soun…

You may be right for the vast majority of users but I was a nerdy power user already back then and this was never an issue.

I loved my MD player but what really killed it for me were affordable mp3 players. And I never owned an iPod. But I did own several other mp3 players, and eventually smartphones with mp3 playing capability (before iphone).

And once I got my first Android the game was over for MD in my view.

Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#33

Post by Synaesthesia »

failwhaleshark wrote: post #2

I remember this. It looked neat but was $$. The various extensions didn't help much. DAT was more practical for recording but also $$. The completely different ADAT can utilize consumer S-VHS tapes.

Interesting that DAT was blocked from commercial sales because it was too good. Basically CD quality audio copies with tiny cheap tapes.

Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#34

Post by e17 »

tinus_hn wrote: post #11
LeoPanthera wrote: post #4

They say history is written by the winners, but when it comes to technology, history is written by Americans. MiniDisc was a huge success for Sony, and was the winner of the tape-replacement format war in virtually every country - except the USA. It was so successful that Sony is still making blank MiniDiscs today. (Though they are not sold there, Americans can type MDW80T into eBay if they'd like some brand-new Mini…

Although it has found a niche it definitely wasn’t a ‘huge success’ in the Netherlands.

Nor in the UK

Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#35

Post by tinco »

zinekeller wrote: post #13
tinus_hn wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although it has found a niche it definitely wasn’t a ‘huge success’ in the Netherlands.

> it definitely wasn’t a ‘huge success’ in the Netherlands. Fair enough, the land of Philips :P (But in all seriousness, plain CDs were more popular in certain regions in Europe because "why have a different device for music?". It isn't as drastic as in America though, where it is a product that looks like and feels like never released to consumers.)

I remember wanting a Minidisc player, but they were to expensive. In elementary school we had portable CD players and in highschool I got a MPMan which played mp3s off an 128MB flash card.

Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#36

Post by kiksy »

kiksy wrote: post #30
LeoPanthera wrote: post #4

They say history is written by the winners, but when it comes to technology, history is written by Americans. MiniDisc was a huge success for Sony, and was the winner of the tape-replacement format war in virtually every country - except the USA. It was so successful that Sony is still making blank MiniDiscs today. (Though they are not sold there, Americans can type MDW80T into eBay if they'd like some brand-new Mini…

I had one of the later models that had LP features, so up to 4x the music on a disc at a lower quality. It was also a recorder, which was so handy, and something no iPod ever offered. Many of my friends had players, 1 even had an in car player. That's in the UK. I think the big issue was that many people assumed Minidisc was supposed to be a replacement for CDs, rather, than a replacement for cassette. It's understan…

Thinking about it maybe I do remember some marketing about it being a cassette replacement. A quick Google brought up this, which is assume is a Sony advert.

https://mobile.twitter.com/doctorow/status/12586000447118090...

Also

https://co.pinterest.com/pin/715579828285803543#imgViewer

Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#37

Post by aftergibson »

Lately I’ve been enjoying physical artefacts more and picked up a minidisc player and some blank discs. I’ve had fun printing labels out and putting albums onto it.

There’s also a pretty fun synthwave scene producing new work on minidiscs, the music is a guilty pleasure of mine particularly while coding so I’m having a lot of fun with the format.

Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#38

Post by kiksy »

ragingrobot wrote: post #15

I still have several portable MD players I bought new in the early 2000s. At the time, even on high spec PCs, the software was slow as hell to convert music to their proprietary format. MP3 wasn't speedy, but it wasn't nearly as slow as converting to ATRAC. I remember it taking on the order of hours to copy a CD to MD. The quality was better than MP3 so it was worth it in the end, but an annoyance nonetheless, and pr…

One of my friends had a later NETMD and I remember that only taking seconds to convert and copy MP3s to disk. The software was horrible though.

Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#39

Post by megablast »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #4

They say history is written by the winners, but when it comes to technology, history is written by Americans. MiniDisc was a huge success for Sony, and was the winner of the tape-replacement format war in virtually every country - except the USA. It was so successful that Sony is still making blank MiniDiscs today. (Though they are not sold there, Americans can type MDW80T into eBay if they'd like some brand-new Mini…

Pfft. Where is this true outside of Japan??

And don’t messed this up themselves by not allowing you to do a digital copy from md devices, since they’d just bought a music studio.

Also, rather than use mp3 like everyone else, they created there own format.

Re: The MiniDisc: the failure of a forgotten format (2020)

#40

Post by WalterBright »

My Sony tape deck needed some repair (the rubber parts dried up from age) and I took it to a Sony repair shop. They said it would be expensive to repair, and I could get a minidisc player cheaper and it would sound better.

They were right. That was the end of my reel-to-reel.

Recordable CDs terminated my interest in MD.

MP3 terminated my interest in CDs.

And so it goes.

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