2019 MiniDisc
I wasn't aware that you could get pre-recorded MiniDiscs duplicated in 2019 - so I was pleasantly surprised to receive one in the post.
Comments (62)
In the format comparison that starts at about 8 min, the MD blows the cassette away in terms of clarity and presence -- the difference is easily heard even after YouTube's compression. Your excellent video has reignited my interest in MDs as a good medium for compact but high quality audio storage.
It's funny the things we throw away to progress to the next thing. It's like an old car that you once had, My current car is technically better than any previous car I owned, but that old Mk1 MR2 I drove thirty years ago had a certain something that no current car can replicate.
MiniDisc completely passed me by at the time (even though I'm from the UK), and I went straight from tape to CD to MP3 as portable music. However, I've now bought a separates unit (is that the right term?), but alas pre-recorded discs on eBay are ludicrous prices. I bought a "used blank" which was half eighties music (good) and half Mariah Carey (not so good)! It's a nice tactical format, that's what I like. Clicks nicely into the machine. Sort of mechanism Alan Partridge would get excited about!
I suspect this has been mentioned before, but I found the lighting in this video too 'harsh'. Perhaps a bit more dimming on those new LED lights would help? It's all very bright now.
This was just a quick off the cuff hastily assembled extra video.
Top notch as always, thanks!
That was a bit of fun - thanks!
Did you use your new LED panels? They are really hot as soon as you move your head only 10 cm forward and your whole forehead gets blown out. Putting them further away and cranking them up more in power alleviates this problem (I'm sure you know this already, but just in case you don't, it is called the inverse square law).
This was just a quick extra video - put together inbetween working on other things.
I was so excited when minidisc was introduced. I bought a Sony deck and car changer. Later I bought a Sharp CD changer/minidisc deck. I always liked the convenience. The only prerecorded disc I ever owned was something put out by one of the record labels - not very good stuff. The printing is brilliant on the new disc!
Enjoyed the video Mat. Ordered a copy instantly! I also have an MZ-R3. I got mine new many years ago from the extended warranty company after my MZ-1 died. I also have the rather rarer MZ-2P at home as well (player only but looks like the the MZ-1). Thankfully I also have some later models too that should keep me going in Minidisc for a bit longer.
There’s just something about the design of the R3 that appeals to my eye...perhaps it’s the combination of buttons and a dial.
MD kit from BBC Wales. It's entirely possible that I used those very units as that's where I have spent a lot of my working life. I've just had a rummage around my equipment shelves and found a Hitachi RMD 100 dual drive CD - MD unit that was designed for, and would fit in a hi fi stack. It can do autonomous CD to MD transfers if that's your thing but is a great example of hybrid audio technology when uncertainty in physical audio formats was a thing. Would you like it?
That’s a kind offer, but I don’t think I’d ever get around to using it. Thanks though.
This makes me wish I still had my Sony MDM-111 minidisc drive that fitted into a 3.5" computer driver bay. Unfortunately this was a bit before USB and mainstream IDE so the thing was bloody SCSI. It went ok with the Iomega zip and jaz drives I had though. Now we have USB, maybe I'll keep an eye out for a Sony PIT-IN drive instead.
There are a couple of DS-HMD1 models for sale in Japan - I’m not sure if they’re similar, but they use USB.
Great video Mat. Is this a bit of a teaser to the follow-up video that you mentioned in your original Minidisc video?
There still may be a follow up featuring a couple of other devices...but I’ve no immediate plans.
Hooray, MiniDisc video! I'm always up for those.
I don't think I've ever seen prerecorded MD when I was still in the Netherlands. And prerecorded cassettes weren't very popular there either. Everyone who loved buying music in the 1990s just bought LP's and later CD's. And if you didn't want to spend the equivalent of 20 euros on a CD, you would tape it from someone who owned the CD. Or you could go to the library and borrow it there. Just before I emigrated, I copied a number of CD's onto CD-R. Nowadays everyone just downloads their music from Apple or Spotify or whatever; I guess nobody cares anymore about sound quality or the fact that they can take DRM protected music away from you anytime they like, even if you paid for it.
Ah, my favourite format. Once I have the energy, I'll fix my Sony Lissa set and perhaps I'll add Anders' MD too.
Blimey! It's the most popular purchase on his site and it's already on backorder! Just ordered it, keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks, Mat, for pointing us to this. And perhaps Anders could be tempted to bring his earlier work to MD as well... hint hint. ;)
I was a big fan of MD - still have the only 2 albums I ever bought (from a half-metre wide 'MiniDisc' stand at HMV, which I guess pretty much meant everything ever officially released in the UK). I know you're dying to know but I bought Bjork - Post, and Super Furry Animals - Radiator.
Appreciated the comarison between the cassette and MD, the cassette sounded really good with clear highs, and well pronounced Mids, I could detect a much higher noise floor when I was listening on my better set of headphones. I suspect that was a ferric tape? something i've noticed since I broke out my tape collection, and upgraded my decks.
Yes it’s a type 1. Looking at the waveforms I may be mistaken but it seemed to have slightly more dynamic range than the MD.
Neat.. I have one of Anders' minidiscs here too. Its the first one I've ever owned and I don't even have a player. But hey, that cassette sounded pretty darned good too!
I still have my NetMD machine, still works fine. I used to use it to create "mixtapes" on MiniDisc for when I was walking to class :)
It might just me but I didn't see a clickable link in the description where you can buy Anders's music. It would help the uninitiated that are too lazy to Google. 😉
I’ll add it...but almost no one visits the Video Description Text box any more, so instead I overlaid it onscreen a few times in the video.
That Denon machine looks really cool and sounds great. I love old industrial-looking, professional studio equipment like that. But since I have no space in my tiny apartment for such things, I will live vicariously through you. Great video. Thanks, Mat!
Me too, that machine looks great :-)
Now wondering what happened to my minidisc player.....
I couldn’t find my MiniDiscs when I wanted to make this video. I’ve got a box of pre-recorded ones...somewhere. This kind of thing never happens with records.
Does your original MZ-1 machine from your previous MiniDisc video still work? If so, does this MiniDisc play fine on that machine, considering that it uses a newer ATRAC codec?
I can’t remember what I did with it...but ATRAC is backwardly compatible (except LP and Hi-MD) - so will play on any age of machine. The MZ-R3 I use in the video is from 1995 which pre-dates ATRAC 4.5 by a couple of years.
For anyone who hasn't seen it, Mat's original Minidisc video is one of his best. Is there a term for being nostalgic about stuff that you're old enough to remember but let it pass you by at the time?
I was curous to look at the bitrates of CDs compared to Minidisc. According to Wikipedia Minidiscs are 292 kbps. According to Sony UK, CDs are 1,411 kbps, good qualiity MP3s are 320 kbps. Radio 2 on DAB radio is 128 kbps and that sounds just fine to me.
I like the idea of a 'short' video like this, a small item with some history, a quick update. Kind of disappointed, though, that you didn't take the minidisc apart to see why -- oh, never mind. It's new after all. Ha ha.
I have a radio with MD player in my car. I bought it and a standard size MD recorder long ago. I copied my cd´ s on MD, because i figured, CD´ s are to expensive for use in the car. Oh well, that was another time. Nowadays, everyone can copy CD on CD. But i have it, so i use it until today. Nice to hear, that MD´ s (even prerecorded) are still available. Thanks Mat.
The car Minidisc player you have, is that a built in dash car stereo? I know there were a lot of models for in dash car radios with MD, I even had a Chrysler Sebring with a MD Changer in it. You say you still use it, Your' in dash system still works? That is just amazing!
Thanks Mat. I heard the quality of a Minidisc is lower than a CD. Maybe it is. Well I can't tell the difference and that's what counts. I'm not an audiophile. I know a cabaret performer who used minidisc backing tracks for years, giving the person on the sound desk their portable player to connect. I wish Anders well with his venture. Sadly I don't have a minidisc player.
The answer of whether the quality of MiniDisc is lower than a CD is "It depends" -The digitally encoded audio signal on a MiniDisc has traditionally been data-compressed using the ATRAC format (Adaptive TRansform Acoustic Coding) and this yields the same 80 or 74 minutes of music as a CD, but at considerably lower quality. However, linear PCM audio recording and playback (which limits the capacity to around 28 minutes, that is the same lossless (uncompressed) quality and bit rate as a CD, was available in MiniDisc's last version, Hi-MD. These would be more rare to run across.
Well, it's just a recordable MD that has been printed on. Would have been cool, if you could have them made like they did back in the day, with the lid only on the bottom. The lid on recordables are exposed on the top, because it needs to erase/record from the other side.
You're right! I looked everywhere to get the pressed type for my last album. I'm under the Sony label, and when the inventor of the format says there is no way your gonna get a pressed minidisc, with just that slider on one side, then there really is no way it's gonna happen. This is the best we can get today though and I am happy to have it over nothing. I am glad he used the proper terms like "Duplicated" instead of "replicated", but maybe pointing out that it is still a burned copy might have been the way to go? When I saw the title I almost fell over, then I watched the video and realized it was just a silk screened, burned minidisc. Still amazing!, but not as impossible as it did sound.
I’m always a bit bummed that minidisc didn’t take off too well in the US. I did own a player at one point, but I think I got it when I lived in London. The lack of prerecorded stuff and the fact that most people had already spent years building up their CD libraries is what really did it in, I think, although I always loved minidisc’s tactile feel, compact form factor and high tech vibe.
That minidisc case, it can be bought in packs of almost any size on Ebay very easy from a suppler in the Netherlands, so if anyone is planning on down sizing their collection and tossing those big retail cases, PLEASE text me, lol but like tech moan said, those little ones are CD style, super cheap and very cool and actually very strong really. sorry for the off shoot on techmoans page, I am just way too passionate about Minidisc and music formats.
It's really interesting and very cool!
I LOVE that this company silk screens on these blanks!!! That is so cool! I did know they still make the discs, I am headed to Tokyo this summer after the DCC movie premiere, which is actually kind of funny, to get MiniDisc stuff and do a record signing. I think Anders music is great, he really is talented. I am so happy he is out with another recording. I love minidisc so much. I have Blue Wicked on the full retail package case, but that is SO hard to find and it has to be so expensive because of it. the new small CD style really is neat and Techmoan is right it really is cool. For the price you can't go wrong. They are still burned like we still have to, they aren't pressed minidiscs, sadly the plants that did that in the United States are no longer doing that. So we will have to settle for "burned" discs, but OMG LOOK HOW COOL THAT LOOKS!!!
I used that Marantz model at university, for a radio journalism course.
Nice intro, don't know if it's new, but looks cool.
It's an alternative one that I break out occasionally for these slightly out of the ordinary videos. In my head I hope it distinguishes them in some way - but in reality it just confuses.
Like the new credits and comparison. That is amazing and surprisingly good quality. Look forward to more.
Once MD had sorted out its (very) early Gen 1 ATRAC encoding issues - most people who were being honest in a blind listening test would be unable to determine the difference between a CD and a MD. Of course try telling that to an audiophile.
Great video - I always enjoy these little unexpected tidbits :) BTW - I know Brexit is coming up and all, but until then doesn't the new EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement scrap those duties you'd have had to pay previously when importing?
I don't think anyone anywhere has a clue about anything at the moment. Give it five years or so and I might turn on the news to see what's supposed to be happening.
Thanks for the Cassette/Mini-Disc direct comparison... it shows you how intolerant we've become over background hiss in the digital age (even though MD has sampling issues) it was the excellent comparison that made the video for me!
I picked a particularly quiet part of a track so that the hiss could be determined - once the music gets going it's far more difficult to spot. However since all these recordings start in the digital domain - MD seems like a great home for them.
Ordered my copy yesterday. Hopefully this gets a success for Andres. Pre recorded MDs are really rare, I just got about 10 discs within the last 20 years. The feeling to listen to a not self recorded media is completely different. Can't wait to get it with the post.
Sorry, thought the 'extra video' in the beginning meant it was Patreon only.
Sorry - just trying to set expectations at the beginning as it's a simpler video subject than normal. I'll no doubt still get complaints...well I would if I read them ;-)
I think you should release this.
I do intend to - it's Patron only for a day or so.