MiniDisc or Nomad Jukebox 6gig?

Shamo

I am thinking of either getting this Sony MiniDisc or a Nomad Jukebox 6Gig

I think the Minidisc would be better though as its compact and doesn't weigh as much as the jukebox although it can hold 6gigs of mp3s.

What do you think?

DiscoStu

if you got the cash get the nomad, there really aint any contest. 6gig, easy to use, a whole whack of eax effects, almost totally solid state(except the hd) so no skipping, incredibly easy to put music onto and take off.........hmmm its only the greatest portable audio device ever made.
i really want one.

harVee

yes but....
the nomad can't record live, this is a massive disadvantage if recording interviews, sounds, and for me in particular, records. Ripping vinyl is just too much hastle.
I have a phillips expanium, and an old mindisc, and i use the minidisc player much more.
that's just me though so...

chernobyl

I must be mistaken cus my Jukebox has a line in for a mic?

Also the Jukebox has dead cool accessories, i just ordered the new remote and headphones.
way cool....

Goodshape

I'd go for the Nomad. MD's strike me as a nice replacement to CD's, but you still gotta fiddle around with all this extra media.

6gigs is about 1,800 tunes. If a walkman's all your after, then what more do you want??


Hmm.. second thoughts, I've just seen the Nomad Jukebox 6gig... that things HUGE!

Personaly, I'm sticking with tapes untill the MP3 player hits the market.

chernobyl

You get a carry case though, so you just carry it with the case strapped to you like a belt.
It is really heavy if compared to a mini-disc or a disc-man but not too much so.

Cake Fiend

How about an mp3 CD player?
mmmm <--- compact and l33t.

_CreeD_

The Nomads are very handy for travel but the sound quality is not great. I got the 20gb model to stop having to cart round all the mp3 cds I used on an older Philips Expanium MP3 cd player. While the capacity is great, the overall sound quality is well below the Expanium (The EAX effects are crap imho, a lot worse than on the PC). Also it eats batterys. it uses 4xAA, and in fairness they do supply 8x1800mah rechargeables (So they have 20% more capacity than Duracell ultras, great batteries....tangent...) and they last maybe 2-3 hours....
Get an Mp3 cd player, they're much better value. The latest Expanium (The older versions didnt have in-track FFWD and ID tag display, new ones do) is a great buy.

chernobyl

Originally posted by _CreeD_
but the sound quality is not great.

thats dependant on 2 factors, bitrate and your head phones.

I use only 196 and up and spent plenty on a good set of head phones as the ones supplied look too "spacey".

Hobbes

I would go with the Nomad.

1. As already mentioned, sound is based on the compression and your headphones. I don't have any problems with the sound (I bought good headphones).

2. 6GB's is a LOT. I have tons of crap on mine and there is still 3GB left.

3. You don't have to keep buying mini-disks. Just erase what you don't want.

4. Nomad can also act as a portable disk.

5. It can record live (but only in WAV afaik). I used that to convert tapes easily to MP3.

6. The size is a little bigger of a discman. It's not designed for something like jogging but you can use it fine.

7. You can customise playlists on the fly and save them.

It eats batteries but comes with rechargable ones. I wouldn't recommed putting normal batteries into it (unless your rich).

chernobyl

It will only run on NimH batteries which are recharageable batteries, as for jogging, its not desgined for it, but you can now buy a carry pouch for it [online] that is designed for exactly that.

_CreeD_

Compression...Headphones....what strange and interesting concepts.....;).....Guys I use Lame and encode at an average 256 MTRH vbr (Command line --nspsytune --vbr-mtrh -V0 -q0 -b128 --lowpass 19.7 --athtype 3 -Z -X0 for the absurdly interested), the quality's great. Also I've listened to the player with a pair of Sennheiser HD526 and Stax SR-001 Mk2's (using a pair of Aiwa HP-CN5s (noise cancelling) when I travel now). That of course is all moot since I'm comparing the sound to another player that used the same music and earphones (And did a much better job). I stand by what I said, if you compare it to other decent MP3 players at even half the price it does not match up in sound quality. The sound is too 'shallow'. It's like listening to an MP3 on a very cheap PC soundcard, it's still clear and enjoyable, just disappointing after hearing it on something better.

If you want a walkman for small trips, buses/trains etc the Minidisk is a better option. For Handiness (Speed of download, no extra disks to carry etc) the Nomad is better for long trips.

Kali

long journeys with a nomad? i thought the battery life was terrible on it?

my md (mzr-500) lasts about 40 hours or so with a single duracell... and with lp2/4 compression you can throw anywhere from 2 to 4 cds worth of music on a single disc.. with no noticeable degradation in quality... only time i ever have it plugged in is when im recording.

plus your hardly going to fit a nomad in your pocket.
and i'd warrant you can erase a minidisc much quicker than you can erase all files on a nomad... so hobbes "keep buying mini-discs" point makes no sense.

_CreeD_

Okay, kinda being devil's advocate here but why miss a chance to be pedantic .

It is handier for long trips in that you could carry between 3,500 and 4000 songs with you without needing a bag full of disks (I used to use a minidisk and about a 1/3 of my travel bag was taken up with the things). Battery life is a pain, but if you need it for long trips you just get some extra blanks, the player charges them when plugged in and the adapter is universal.

Also you can transfer an average mp3 to a nomad in about 5 seconds, minidisks unfortunately still need to be recorded in realtime. As for erasing the files, I did about 3gb in ~20/30 secs last time, so again on that its faster too.

You're right though, you wont fit it in your pocket.

Dustaz

Ill never understand why people choose MP3 players over minidiscs. The simple fact is that MiniDiscs are just way more versatile. Unlimited storage (come on, MD's are tiny), great battery life, better i/o options and more compact. My minidisc has never skipped btw.

chernobyl

Originally posted by Dustaz
Ill never understand why people choose MP3 players over minidiscs. <edit>Unlimited storage (come on, MD's are tiny),

Thats eaxctly why i got a Jukebox, i have my music in one single place, i know where every track is and can be loaded in 5 seconds, not the scenario of dumping 20 mini discs onto a table a searching endlessly for "that" disc, which turns out, was already in the player.