Last year I bought my third Sony MiniDisk player, a MZ-NH700. A third? Well the first was a straight MD-LP (4 CDs on a single disk) Walkman, which led me to get a non-portable one to attach to my Bose setup at home (my wife didn't want “big black speakers messing up the decor” and since the Bose has small, white, ceiling-mountable speakers, it was an easy decision...).
The third came about because although my first MD Walkman had a PC connection, transfers were done in real-time. So putting 5 hours of music onto a disk would take 5 hours. Which was highly frustrating, because various bits of software (Real, the Sony SonicStage stuff, etc.) could rip CDs onto my PC a lot faster. So the PC connection wasn't really that useful in the end (since I haven't ventured into the iTunesTM world yet and only listen to stuff I have on CD or vinyl).
The new MD is a lot smarter. For a start, it can cope with Sony's 1GB disks and secondly it actually has a useful USB connection and transfers are basically like putting stuff onto a flash drive (and the PC sees the 1GB disk as an additional drive if you want to transfer data/pictures and not just use it as a music device). And since the 1GB disks are now available through Amazon at 5 pounds a time, it's not an expensive option either.
Sony claim that you can put 45 CDs onto a single disk. Well, to test this out – and what the music quality is like at that level of compression, I've actually put 48 CDs and 2 CD singles on a disk. Admittedly, the disk lengths range from 33 minutes (Getz/Gilberto) to just under 1 hour 15 minutes (Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II - 24 Preludes And Fugues, Disc 2), but that's still an impressive amount of music to fit on 5 pounds-worth of small, pretty rugged, portable media.
And the music quality? I listen using Sony's MDR-EX71 headphones and on the compression/sample rate to get that amount of music on the disk (48kbps ATRAC3plus) it's quite frankly astounding – bearing in mind that I'm getting towards the age when my hearing's not what it was and I'm not pretending to have 'professional reviewer quality audio' abilities, but I defy anyone to have a serious complaint about the sound that comes out of this portable device.
Another thing that really appeals – and steered me away from the iPod/MP3 player route is the battery life (60+ hours) and the fact that the player I (deliberately) chose takes standard 'AA' size batteries. So I don't have to cart around a charging cradle, power adapter, etc. when I'm travelling – I just take one spare battery and know that wherever I am in the world I'll be able to get some more in the nearest drugstore or supermarket.
So if you're in the “iPod or another approach” situation, I can highly recommend the Sony NetMD technology - even at the highest compression/lowest sample rates.
So what have I put on that disk (and I have others to fill too...)? Well I shan't list the full 50, but here's a selection of titles I can highly recommend:
apart from the Getz/Gilberto, there's also Jazz Samba and Jazz Samba Encore, both Getz collaborations in the same vein
Miles Davis' absolutely classic Kind of Blue and Birth of the Cool
both of the books (4 CDs) of Bach's ground-breaking Well Tempered Clavier – originally written to prove that the newly invented piano could handle tunes in any key – its main innovation at the time over the tuning of keyboard instruments used until that point (and the first piece in the first book is possibly the most beautiful piece of music ever written). The recordings I have are performed by Jeno Jando
Ludovico Einaudi's Le Onde – very soothing
Lemonjelly's lemonjelly.ky and Lost Horizons – both obviously recent favourites in the BBC's factual programming section, as they feature repeatedly as backing music
Massive Attack's 100th Window – sadly overlooked in awards, but nevertheless superb
the 'usual' fare of Keane's Hopes and Tears, and Coldplay's Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head – 'usual' not meaning ordinary
Zero7's When It Falls, and also their compilation for the AnotherLateNight series (there's also Fila Brazillia's similar offering on the disk)
Radiohead's The Bends – I think their best work
Muse's Absolution – just wonderful
That's it for now, although I may return to music topics at a later date, just to report on what I'm listening to as the days pass.
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1. The MiniDisk will not upload to my PC any live recorded content. I have to capture analog output of the headphone jack! My tiny MP3 player/recorders can upload recorded content digitally via USB2.
2. The MiniDisk has a motor and makes noise that a mic picks up when recording live! My MP3 player is dead silent.
3. The MiniDisk has moving parts (a motor) and a rotating platter and write head. It is much more susceptible to breakage and I/O errors than a solid state MP3 player. Think jogging.
4. The MiniDisk is larger and heavier. Makes is less attractive for recording a meeting (sitting on the table), taking to a concert for recording, or jogging with.
5. The MiniDisk has poorer battery life due to the motor. The flash-based MP3 player/recorders out there last forever.
6. The MiniDisk does not have a built-in FM radio. Many gyms offer TV broadcasts on FM frequencies. And MP3 devices have TiVO like features to auto record FM broadcasts.
7. The MiniDisk is more expensive.
8. The MiniDisk uses a non-standard audio compression format. An MP3 player/recorder will record in MP3 at up to 256Kbps - extremely high quality.
9. The MiniDisk just came out with 1GB media platters. MP3 players have 2GB SD cards, and this capacity will increase (if needed).
Posted by Dave Brillhart on April 02, 2005 at 11:19 AM BST #
Dave
You make some good comments, based on your usage. I'll respond to each:
1. I can understand Sony's reluctance to make it too easy to transfer stuff digitally from an unknown recording source since they're in the music publishing game. It's frustrating, I agree, but I find that Audacity works for me - especially on 48KHz (better than my hearing!)
2. I don't record using a mic (and I think the majority won't). BTW, have you tried a longer mic cable?
3. I neither do, nor think jogging.
4. See the previous two points.
5. I can swap the battery for a standard 'AA' alkaline, which lasts 60+ hours. I don't have to wait inbetween for it to charge for an hour or so, I just keep on going. And rechargeable batteries - better than in the past they may be - are likely to degrade faster than any motor in the player. And I wasn't just comparing with flash players - HD players have a very poor level of battery life acording to reports I've had.
6. The next model up from the one I have has got an FM tuner built in. I don't know about the US, but FM in the uK is on death row: digital radio's the way to go.
7. Let's compare the cost of player, plus, say, 4 1GB removable platters/cards? Cheaper? Really? a 1GB MD is 5 UKP - less than 10 bucks. If you know where you can get a 1GB SD card for that money, I'd love to know. They're 10x the cost per 1GB at the moment in the UK.
8. I know I'll only ever listen to an MD on an MD player - which basically means Sony, so the proprietary bit here is meaningless. Secondly, I defy most headphones to cope with the difference between 256kbps MP3 and 48kbps ATRAC3plus - or even 96kbps MP3. Especially if I were to jog. But unlike you, I'm not in the music creation/publishing game, so it's not so important to me.
9. I would have thought that the MD format has probably hit the ceiling at 1GB. But given the price differential, I'm fine with that. However, when the 4GB SD cards emerge, that gives a realistic chance to flash video players (which would also play music, just like most DVDs can now), so I think there will be another technology step to come then and my MD may become disposable. But the media costs had better come down.
Your choice is obviously right for you. Mine works for me. Over time, I think that the flash route has more of a long-term future, but at the moment a) the media is too expensive and b) I already have one of my MD players permanently plumbed into my Bose system, so MD is more convenient for me. And if you want to have multiple platters/cards to plug in according to your mood, I would say that Hi-MD works out cheaper.
Posted by Bernard Wheeler on April 03, 2005 at 06:48 PM BST #
Posted by Hannah Mckenzie on September 03, 2005 at 05:42 AM BST #