MiniDisk IDE??

aclane

Anyone heard of an IDE MiniDisk drive or similar??
I would really fancy such a thing if they exsist...

RicardoSmith

Sony do an external MD PC player unit. But it never sold well since a portable Net MD does exactly the same thing. They also do an IDE unit in some of their laptops and desktop PCs. But you can't buy it seperately.

Just buy a Net MD walkman.

Creamy Goodness

yeh a netmd does the same thing plus it's USB2 why not splash out the cash and get this much better than a mp3 player imo

aclane

Thanks people:)

po0k

Originally posted by Cr3m0
yeh a netmd does the same thing plus it's USB2 why not splash out the cash and get this much better than a mp3 player imo

or get something like an Archos and have far more capacity, not to mention a portable DIVX/XViD player

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by SyxPak
or get something like an Archos and have far more capacity, not to mention a portable DIVX/XViD player

Its hardly in the same price range. Also I'd be wary. Someone was complaining they wouldn't fix a screen that got broken. That would worry me on such an expensive gadget.

Inspector Gadget

Isn't the capacity of a Minidisc somewhere in the region of 140MB? That's not a lot...

(Though I suppose they're a LOT cheaper than 100MB ZIP disks :rolleyes: )

Gadget

tribble

Back circa. '96 there was a a DATA MD unit that plugged into you pc.
Similar to Zip drives.
But it needed special DATA MD disks.
It held 140MB.
It was also quite slow.
And it played music md's aswell.

RicardoSmith

The point of having an IDE unit would not be to copy data to it but to copy music on to it. The data idea never made sense.

http://www.minidisc.org/part_Sony_MDS-PC3.html
Is the unit that I've seen around. Theres some older versions of the machine but I can't find any Pics at the moment. Its kinda shoebox size. The net MD portables make it obsolete though.

MD make sense as they are cheaper and almost as small as a portable flash MP3 player and you can record on to them. Hard disk based mp3 players are generally a lot more expensive. Few mp3 units allow you to record straight on to them. Which is big downer for the people who use DAT and MD. Cost of memory cards for a MP3 vs MD is another issue.

Inspector Gadget

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
The point of having an IDE unit would not be to copy data to it but to copy music on to it. The data idea never made sense.

[snip!]

MD make sense as they are cheaper and almost as small as a portable flash MP3 player and you can record on to them. Hard disk based mp3 players are generally a lot more expensive. Few mp3 units allow you to record straight on to them. Which is big downer for the people who use DAT and MD.

[snip!]

This is quite valid; however, there are some limitations to what you can record with a Minidisc. The one that springs to mind is that (with the exception of a few non-Sony models, which eliminates the Net-MD type machines for now) you can't record from an optical source, which sucks.

Even the NetMD system has copy-protection built into the software; okay, I grant you, it's little more than an annoyance in practical terms, but the fact that it's there at all does not bode well for the future of the medium if Sony see its margins being threatened (which, I believe they are; I think SCEE - the Playstation division - was the only division to make a profit in 2002, I think?)

There is no doubt as to the economics of MiniDisc, though. Once you've gone to the trouble of producing a disc, they're cheap enough that you don't really have to consider overwriting it (unless you want to). Flash memory is certainly not that cheap yet - though, maybe, in time...

Just my 2c...
Gadget

RicardoSmith

My ancient sharp model records from optical. In fact its the preferred method of recording since it auto sets the track markers and sound level when you do it. As for copy protection...if I can hear it I can record it. It may not be quick but it works. Only when I'm legally allowed to of course...

Guy:Incognito

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget
Isn't the capacity of a Minidisc somewhere in the region of 140MB? That's not a lot...

Yeah but seeing as each disc costs about €1 that adds up 2 alot for cheap, they will hold up 2 320 mins on an 80min disc depending on which long play setting u use

Inspector Gadget

Originally posted by Stekelly
Yeah but seeing as each disc costs about €1 that adds up 2 alot for cheap, they will hold up 2 320 mins on an 80min disc depending on which long play setting u use

Erm, did I or did I not say:

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget
There is no doubt as to the economics of MiniDisc, though. Once you've gone to the trouble of producing a disc, they're cheap enough that you don't really have to consider overwriting it (unless you want to). Flash memory is certainly not that cheap yet - though, maybe, in time...
[/B]

Having said that though, the 140MB refers to how much data each disc can hold, not how much music.

I find them a bit fiddly for titling and the likes, but then again maybe I just haven't found the right model...

Cheers,
Gadget

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget
Isn't the capacity of a Minidisc somewhere in the region of 140MB? That's not a lot...

(Though I suppose they're a LOT cheaper than 100MB ZIP disks :rolleyes: )

Gadget

Thats also uncompressed. Compressed it a good bit more. But for data storage a CD is much better costwise. For music playback and recording you can get a lot on it for for cheap.

Inspector Gadget

My approach with these things is to always quote the amount of data that a medium can physically store, as it's the only reliable figure.

Regardless of how/what compression is used, the disk will still only hold 140MB or so of data; what's changing is the data itself (by being compressed), rather than the medium itself or its physical limits.

Sorry for being a pedant
Gadget

Guy:Incognito

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget
Erm, did I or did I not say:



Having said that though, the 140MB refers to how much data each disc can hold, not how much music.

I find them a bit fiddly for titling and the likes, but then again maybe I just haven't found the right model...

Cheers,
Gadget

my appologies, i was skimming along the posts and missed ur reply, the netmd's totally solve the titleing issue, they come with software (similar to wmp) which has the function to get the album info online or if thats not an option u can use the keyboard to input titles, a la wmp etc

po0k

www.iriver.com + the OggVorbis firmware (when it's released) = teh win. I simply don't like the NetMD. If there was a 3rd party unrestricted manager I'd use it, but the iFP-195TC there looks lovely (if the flash was about a gig it'd be v. handy for certain purposes).

And portable hard disk players are very very cheap for the amount of storage they offer.
If you can get a suitably priced 2.5" hard drive you can double or quadruple the capactiy they offer.
Very very cheap when you consider the price per Meg/second of audio at a given quality.

RicardoSmith

The only HD units that can record are the larger ones though. The small HD ones can't record. I find the MD great for recording gigs of my friends band and other stuff...

John R

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget
This is quite valid; however, there are some limitations to what you can record with a Minidisc. The one that springs to mind is that (with the exception of a few non-Sony models, which eliminates the Net-MD type machines for now) you can't record from an optical source, which sucks.

I have never come across a MD recorder that does not have an optical in. The sony portables usually combine analogue and optical input in one port.


The NET MD sonic stage software is dreadful though, it is crap at processing mp3s especially vbr files, it puts extra copies of all files onto the hdd and is all some ridiculous exercise by sony to control how many copies you can make that doesn't work. They used to supply a second prog called Net MD Simple burner that can only copy cd's to MD.
The other main problem with NET MD is that you cannot copy tracks from the MD to your pc.

RicardoSmith

You can always record the analog on to the PC.

phaxx

Originally posted by Inspector Gadget
I find them a bit fiddly for titling and the likes, but then again maybe I just haven't found the right model...

It's a pain in the ass on the small players, it's a pain in the ass on most decks (I had one, lots of knob-twiddling. *ahem*) but I heard once there's an MD deck with a PS\2 connector for a keyboard.

Inspector Gadget

Originally posted by John R
I have never come across a MD recorder that does not have an optical in. The sony portables usually combine analogue and optical input in one port.

Quite right. I meant an optical out. Most do have an optical in, from what I've seen, but I think the point I was faintly aiming for was the inability to produce decent copies if music from MiniDisc.

Originally posted by John R
The NET MD sonic stage software is dreadful though, it is crap at processing mp3s especially vbr files, it puts extra copies of all files onto the hdd and is all some ridiculous exercise by sony to control how many copies you can make that doesn't work. They used to supply a second prog called Net MD Simple burner that can only copy cd's to MD.
The other main problem with NET MD is that you cannot copy tracks from the MD to your pc.

Basically, they don't care how much of your resources they swallow. Lovely, eh?

Your last comment harks back to what I was trying to say before; Minidisc is almost a read-only format, in that you can create decent-quality copies of music on MiniDisc (either using an optical link in real-time on any media you like, or using the NetMD thingy with the stuff Sony lets you use... bah) but it's very difficult to get something back off MiniDisc with faithful reproduction.

Sure, you can use the headphone socket as a line out and record it that way, but that's a bit of a step down (esp. in terms of noise) considering the alternatives available when writing to MD?

Gadget