[der Kopf]

Does anybody know of the compatibility between Sony's N-series of MiniDisc players and OS X? I've been doubting for months now if I should buy one of those or an iPod (one of the main reasons in the beginning of the iPod being the small HD). Tending to the MD because of the legacy, I must have fifty of those discs lying here, incapable of being played.

[xanderwilson]

Originally posted by der Kopf:
Does anybody know of the compatibility between Sony's N-series of MiniDisc players and OS X? I've been doubting for months now if I should buy one of those or an iPod (one of the main reasons in the beginning of the iPod being the small HD). Tending to the MD because of the legacy, I must have fifty of those discs lying here, incapable of being played.

MiniDiscs are great (and I think I'm one of the few proponents of them these days), but no, they don't work the way they should with Macs. I assume you're talking about the NetMD stuff? I don't think Sony's made any Mac conduits for them. That's the bad news.

The good news is that NetMD kind of stinks anyway. You can only transfer from the computer to the MiniDisc, not the other way around. Which sucks for me because I use the minidisc recorders for field recording. But Sony in its very finite wisdom decided that there should be no easy way to get the content onto your computer. The worst part about it is there isn't even a digital output on ANY consumer or prosumer minidisc deck or portable. So if you record an analog signal to digital, you'll have to convert it back through analog if you want to have it digital again. At some point in this conversion, you'll wonder if you can't get a truer sound out of microcassettes.

Sony's making a minidisc drive now, I hear (or I will), built into its high end desktops (not availalble separately) for just over $2000. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if you could write but not read the minidiscs.

As for whether minidiscs or the iPod is the way to go for personal digital music: this is not what minidiscs were designed for. They do okay at it, but when compared to a 5 gig hard drive with a great interface and even more compact design than the smallest MD player on the market (and that latest one from Sony is incredible!), there's just no tolerating 5 hours of mono music per minidisc.

Again, I like the minidisc format a lot. But I wouldn't recommend it as a replacement for the iPod.

Alex.

[tr]

i like the minidisc format, but if i was just concerned with bringing my music with me, then i'd go with the iPod. see, what really shines for minidisc is the ability to record. that's mostly what i use it for, on the fly recording, recording quick demos and such, when i don't want to waste a CD. and of course, i use it to take my music with me.

and for me, i don't know if i'd ever get an iPod. they're cool and all, but they seem a little fragile, with an HD in there and all. my MD player is just a super strong little metal box, and the music is on discs that i can just toss in my pocket or bag. the MD system can take a beating, and i don't have to worry about getting fingerprints or scratches on it.


tr

[vmpaul]

I don't think Sony has ever made anything that connects to a Mac? Take that back, digital video's & cameras. But in the computer realm, I think they just ignore us. The Clie (sp?) doesn't even sync.

I was a big MD user for many years. I have dozens of discs. My MD just broke after 5 years of faithful service and was in a quandry as to go MD again or try the iPod. After researching message Boards and Newsgroups the overall consensus I got was that NetMD was a piece of crap. So it was either stay with the real-time recodring or go for the firewire. Plus, I'd have to spend more time on a PC : ( .

I went iPod and am really happy. Much more conveinent than the MD. I'll probably get a small cheap recordable because I have sooo many discs still and like the recording function.

[tooki]

Originally posted by xanderwilson:
The worst part about it is there isn't even a digital output on ANY consumer or prosumer minidisc deck or portable. So if you record an analog signal to digital, you'll have to convert it back through analog if you want to have it digital again.

Nonsense!

While the portable players and low-end decks generally do not have digital output, the better decks generally do. My Sony MDS-JB930 has two (one optical, one coax). The new version, the JB940, has them, too. The Kenwood MD-2070 fits the bill as well.

Outside the U.S., many more models with digital outputs exist (and many of them are dual-voltage), so you may want to look for one if you're traveling in Europe.

Even so, while I agree that there is a theoretical generational loss, it's only audible after many, many generations (older MD decks had much more distortion, but the modern "Type-R" encoder is superb). So don't worry about using the analog in/out if you have to. I'd be much more worried about the lousy analog inputs on the Mac.

tooki